Sirius

Once in a while, I tend to enjoy a vampire theme show that is packed with action heroes and drama. Unfortunately, I can’t remember any series of similar nature that intrigued me from these past few years. Many of them run with recycled concepts that includes Beauty and the Beast romance tales or the same survival themes over and over again. Then came along this show called Sirius the Jaeger.

It’s quite unusual for P.A. Works to jump into a show with a vampire genre. They’re mostly known for their slice of life shows and coming of age stories. Sometimes, they can pull out a surprise ... or two like Spring 2016’s Kuromukuro. However, this isn’t mecha so you’re not going to encounter giant robots. Instead, Sirius the Jaegar deals with a time of crisis when vampires are on the loose in the city. In the year of 1930, we are introduced to a group known as the Jaegers who act as specialized hunters with a goal to exterminate vampires. The plot focuses on a young man named Yuliy with a vengeance to kill vampires after his hometown was terrorized by them.

Sirius the Jaeger marks its spot very early in the show with its beautiful setting of the 1930s. The dark domain of Tokyo looks and feels like it’s a time era for revolution. In fact, the first minutes of the episode had my eyes glued just at the background setting. P.A. Works are well known for their well-polished cinematography and production quality. In this series, they didn’t disappoint with that in any way. The eerie alleyways, artistic architectures, and the old fashioned vehicles are just a few innovations to admire. Still, I think what people mostly are interested in here is the story. Vampire storytelling tends to be very niche these days that often involve in soap-opera like modern stories. For this show, it takes on a darker tale of revenge and self-discovery.

In wasting no time, we discover quickly that vampires are ravenous monsters with little care about mortality. In essence, they are beings with a desire to eat and kill humans for their own desire. Some vampires in the show are more sophisticated than others but most if not all possesses a insatiable appetite. They attack a party in the first episode while Yuliy and his gang of Jaegers hunts them down. It established them as a mercenary-like group who work like professional hunters. Yuliy tracks down a vampire named Agatha and the expression on his face says it all. It immediately gave me the impression that his hate of vampire runs much deeper than just what they are. Through flashbacks, we also learn about his past and how he became the person he is today. It’s a tragic story that changes a person forever and he still seeks vengeance for his loss. Meanwhile, the vampires themselves have their own goal in the story and that’s to find a mysterious object known as the Ark of Sirius.

At the heart of the show is still Yuliy. No matter how you look at it or accept him for who he is, it’s very plot driven about his character. Yuliy is bent on revenge although he also cares about his comrades and certain people in the show that he encounters. This includes a girl named Ryouko who gets involved in his affairs. While not being an official member of the Jaegers, she does learn much more about the nature of vampires and occasionally provides assistance. The series also made it obvious that she develops affections towards him although their relationship doesn’t really become a loving couple. This falls under a bit of the character cliché that I’ve seen over and over again in vampire theme shows. However, there are several other characters in the show that are worth looking into. First, there’s Williard, a man who acts as commander of the Jaegers. He genuinely cares about his comrades and the show makes it clear how far he is willing to go to make the world into a better place. Dorotha is introduced as the main female of the group. With her expertise using firearms, she provides invaluable assistance on their missions. Similar to Yuliy, we also meet Philip, who shares a hate for vampires. Fallon offers more of the muscle for the group as the Jaegars needs a balanced team to get their business done. As impressive as this cast is, don’t expect too much characterization on them. Yuliy is the one that gets the most spotlight and his character relationship with others is quite important.

One of the most prominent character relationship in the series is between Yuliy and a man named Mikhail. Rather, they are actually brothers but now stands on the opposite side of each other. While Yuliy plays the role of an action hero, Mikhail follows a darker path that resulted in him becoming a vampire. As such, he is now the very embodiment of what Yuliy despises in the world. Their complicated relationship is told through meaningful dialogues, flashbacks, and how much each have changed. It sort of gave me the impression of a show called Owari no Seraph so for those who are familiar with that, this anime may be a treat for you. On the other hand, the vampire side of this series is mostly clouded in mystery. We meet characters like Yevgraf and Kershner with mysterious motives. Others like the vampire girls in the series are mostly added to bring in more action. There’s even a mad scientist named Klarwein who allied himself with vampires for his experiments. I’m also quite disappointed that one of the vampires advertised for this show got killed off way too quickly. In retrospect, I think there’s a big gap between the antagonists of and heroes of this series in terms of presentation. And unfortunately, the vampires took the pitfall.

Original series made by P.A. Works can be a bit of a hit or miss. But as I mentioned before, it’s hard not to take eyes off of the exceptional visual quality of this series. From the very first episode to the end, everything looked fluid and in style of the 1930s. Vampires are designed with a menacing look and their action speaks for themselves. Expect graphic violence to happen often in the show including blood being spilled by being bitten brutally or limps being torn off. It sells its fan service to make the vampire society look as dangerous as they can be. The Jaegars themselves also have distinctive looks especially for Yuliy’s trademark blue eyes and hair style. Others such as Mikhail and Yevgraf are dressed in a more gentleman-like manner as a deception of their true nature. I should also mention that characters in the series all speak in their native tone regardless of their origins. Most of them deliver their personalities to the bone. Similarly, the theme songs in the show adds a feeling of dark melodrama with and unsettling mood.

I think in the end, Sirius the Jaegar is a show that took on the vampire theme and made it into an action thriller with a feeling of suspense. P.A. Works remains one of my favorite studios for not just their production quality but also being able to continuously reinvent itself. For this particular show, it managed to do that by taking on a darker side of storytelling. To me, that’s a thing of beauty.

Vampire series that are actually worth a praise are rarer than tinder users looking for serious relationship. My expectations were similar: 5/10 experience offering momentary satisfaction and some sucking. Turns out it has a story to tell, presents it with some humor and it's something bit different from the usual.

Story:

Even after 3 gigazillion different anime series about the same subject, the vampires still haven't learnt no matter who kicks their asses and how. This time our blood-sucking vampires are on rampage and give no shit about anything or anyone, baka. Lucky for us, intergalactic jazz band lands to Tokyo with their airship, and starts ... kicking vampire butts in a way that goes beyond your wildest imaginations! Unless you have already seen the movie 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' in which case you will be entertained in the animated manner.

The story is pretty bro. Our main characters are part of this vampire hunting organization which is almost like a mafia where everyone is part of the family. They go from place to another and save the day because they are real heroes and real men (/women). All of this is pretty based, of course, but its cliches are mainly presented in comedic manner, making sure viewers realize that the author is well aware that these are general tropes under these settings.

Characters:

Little boys descending ropes while one handedly using a minigun. Rambo and Arnold make way, new GAR Jesus is in town and he weights like 60lbs. Another dude is probably Donatello's cousin or otherwise has mastered his art. There is also a dude who wears a monocle because he used to slaughter vampires before it was kewl. The real main character who can tell from the smell of a flower how well its roots are doing.

The vampires aren't typical villains who go insane and love murder because they do. Rather, seem to have similar thing going on among themselves as the vampire hunters have. Our characerts are also not heavily protected by plot armors and nakama powers because characters can actually die in this narrative.

Production:

Interesting choices exist here. The approach is rather similar to Princess Principal which had similar settings within almost the same time period. We get tons of scenery and design from the early 20th century from cars to city lights within the atmospheric towns. The art isn't amazing, but slightly above of the current medium quality. The series is not super detailed either, but some ideas have been executed in quite respectable manner, moon shots, for example. Seiyuu works aims to deliver seriousness and achieves it. The OP is also my personal favorite from this season, easily.

Enjoyment:

This series is fun as heck. Vampires drop like it's Skrillex with bass. It's almost hard to contrabass how well Jaegar succeeds with its entertainment value.

I'm usually against writing a review for a series so early on but I've been reading some knee-jerk reactions so I wanted to offer an alternative perspective on what I think is a refreshingly great series in a very long time. Don't skip over this one.

A lot of people are hating on this piece because of the whole vampire/werewolf cliche. To be somewhat candid, if you hate cliches you probably don't actually like anime. Cliches are what defines genres in this scene and it's really not indicative of a series being bad or not (although it can definitely seem that way since so many bad ... anime use a terribly large number of cliches).

Forget about that for a second and you'll find beautiful artwork, an engaging story line, great soundtracks, vibrant characters, smooth plot progression, well balanced tropes, and just an overall well coordinated anime. Now at the time of this review 4 episodes have come out so I'll definitely end up changing my final score for this anime (will almost probably drop from a 9 to an 8 in the middle and definitely drop again towards the end) and I really wish MAL would block people from reviewing anime until the whole series comes out but in any case here's my 2 cents on this in the hopes that you won't be deterred by the cliches!

You know what we have a lack of lately? Good vampire anime. Which is a shame because vampire anime can be diverse from the typical Horror anime to a more light hearted comedy anime. Normally, vampire anime land in the former with vampires either being the main villains or just being bad asses as the main character. Thankfully, P.A works has given us a vampire anime following a group of vampire hunters hoping to wipe them all out and stop any plans that they may have. But is the anime just style or does it have substance as well?

Sit back, relax and burn all ... copies of Twilight and then show the fans what a real f*****g vampire looks like as I present to you the anime review of Tenrou: Sirius the Jaeger.....wait. When did they decide to change the name? Oh never mind. Lets begin shall we?



Story: 4.5/10

In this world, vampires have been manipulating humanity for a very long time, influencing events so that they can maintain a food source, like the entire Earth is just one entire farm for them. However, once people starts realising what's going on, they will retaliate. Enter the Jagers, group of vampire hunters vowed to hunt down every single vampire. One Jager, Yuliy, has a bigger reason than most since he is the last survivor of his village which was destroyed by vampires. That is until his brother, Mikhail, returns from the dead and says that the vampires are looking for their peoples' greatest treasure, The Arc of Sirius. So Yuliy and the Jagers must stop their plans and kill all vampires that stand in their way to obtain The Arc of Sirius.

Sounds like a pretty good base for a story right? Well, when you start watching it, yes. The show does start out good with some bad ass vampire slaying and an overarching major plot element that is building in the background. But it then starts to slow down and the momentum of this show starts to halt. Now I blame this on the fact that the story just doesn't have substance to it. There are side plots in this show that don't get developed enough to make them interesting and can make them forgettable. But these side plots could have helped make the story more dynamic and added some context to some of the characters motivations.

The focus is always placed on stopping the vampires from obtaining The Arc of Sirius, but it stumbles in that area too. It lacks detail and context behind some elements in the plot that can help make the plot more interesting and dynamic to help give intrigue of what the actions of the heroes and villains could cause to the main plot of the show. I've watched all episodes and I still have no idea what The Arc Of Sirius actually is. Instead, things just simply happen and we then move on to the next part of the story.


Characters: 3.5/10

The shows biggest weakness is without a doubt its characters. Outside of one character, the cast of characters are just either boring, bland or just one note. Yuliy exemplifies this because he has no unique qualities. He is single minded and filled with revenge against the vampires for destroying his village. He sees his life have no purpose outside of killing vampires and when he hears about The Arc of Sirius, he realises he has a purpose in life but he must do it alone because only he can do this task and must shut out everyone. Talk about being boring and generic. When I saw that Uemura Yutto was voicing Yuliy (who also voiced Hiro from Darling in the Franxx this year, who I also thought was generic and boring), I knew that we were getting a generic character. What Yuliy says and what he does doesn't surprise or intrigue me because his motives are nothing new or unique from what I've seen from other main characters so I get an idea what he will say and do next.

This also applies to the Yagers as they are just as uninteresting as Yuily. Willard is the level headed leader of the group. Fallon is the happy and strong "bro" character. Dorothea is the smart but sexy female character. And Phillip is the back talking, sarcastic t**t character. The fact that I dismissed these characters with one sentence just shows how uninteresting they are. Willard is the only one that has some intrigue due to his backstory but not enough to get me interested. There is even a love interest, Ryouko, that goes nowhere. Like seriously, she has no relevance to the plot whatsoever and normally ends up being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The only interesting character is Mikhail, Yuliy's brother. Since he became a Vampire after their village was destroyed, he essentially becomes a point of conflict with Yuliy's desire to kill all vampires. But even though he his essentially the enemy, there are hints that he might be indirectly helping Yuliy stop the vampires from obtaining The Arc of Sirius. He becomes a more intriguing character than Yuliy because you don't know where his true loyalties lie until near the end of the series. Does he want to help Yuliy or does he merely manipulate Yuliy to trust him only to betray him later on?


Animation: 10/10

This show's animation is fantastic. Whether it is from the art direction or the fight scenes, everything in Sirius the Yager looks superb. The 1930s setting is greatly captured here with the character and environment designs being very distinct from one another. Now, in terms of the animation in the fight scenes, it is important that the fight scenes are fluid through the animation itself or though its use of clever cinematography to capture each scene. Thankfully, P.A works capture this very well and the fights are just an enjoyment to watch every single time due to the fluidity to it all. It helps distract the viewer of the poor story and characters because it is fun just seeing them slaughter vampires and show them who's boss.


Sound: 7.5/10

The OST is something that also captures the scenes but not enough to make it stand out. But unlike other shows, I know that it is there and is does help set an atmosphere and I appreciate that. Rather the sound effects were more noticeable to make it sound more realistic and add to the scenes. This especially true in the fight scenes where the clashing of weapons helps us feel the impact of each swing and clash.

The opening "Sirius" by Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets is a very solid opening. Its use of silhouettes in its imagery help set a rather dark and broody atmosphere with the song being catchy enough to make the opening enjoyable to watch and listen to. The ending is again, very solid. It helps emphasise the fact that Yuliy and Mikhail were very close as brothers and had a lot of fun together before being torn apart when the vampires attacked their village. Kind of sad when you think about it.


Conclusion

The main problem that I have with this show above everything else is that the overall show is just....boring outside of its animation quality. It's difficult to review something that does not do anything good but not anything bad, but instead is just bland. I said earlier that does this show just have style or does it have substance? No. It is all but style and little substance. The high quality animation can only carry this show so far before its story and characters have to help carry this show but it then stumbles when this happens. It doesn't develop its plot well enough and its overall characters are just too one note and boring to make me care. I like to prioritise story and characters to look for good anime since animation and sound only enhance the anime. This show is the opposite of this and it is a shame because I wanted to enjoy this show. It looks and sounds good but unfortunately, that is all there is to it.


My Personal Enjoyment: 5/10

Overall score: 6.1/10 Recommendation: Don't Bother

Watching this series reminded me so much of spectacular vampire-supernatural series that have gone by like Hellsing Ultimate or Owari no Seraph. It's a good series through and through, and although there are many whom have milked the genres and put their own spin on it (only to fail badly), Tenrou: Sirius the Jaeger offers something up its sleeve to the point of being captivating, and yet being so underrated.

Story:
Similar to series like Princess Principal for the old 20th Century London-esque time period, we have the usual Van Helsing or Constantine type of shows, where said person arrives in some place that is chock-full of ... vampires to hunt, then meet up with people (presumably the Japanese government) that liaise to do and deal the same treatment: investigate, plan, seek, kill and destroy the source. That's what Yuily and his team of vampire exterminators are here for this purpose.

For Yuliy, it's a fight that has been overbearing since his childhood days: The village of Dogville, the people residing there may look normal, but with Yuliy being the last of its kind as Sirius, there presents an unescapable fate with what is the triggering catalyst: "The Arc of Sirius", a ball-shaped item of powers unimaginable meant to keep both Jaegers and vampires away that could reshape humanity according to the user's wish. This is protected by Yuily's father, in preparation for the future to come, and for both survivors of the massacre, Mikhail (older brother) and Yuliy (younger brother) must both protect at all costs. Midway, the unexpected betrayal ensues that Mikhail changed sides to help the vampires (with Yevgraf), presumably to keep his life intact from protecting Yuliy from the vampires. With that in mind, Yuliy has a number on his shoulders to not just fend off vampires alone, but to awaken his brother back to his senses.

For such a story, it's refreshing to have an omage to certain series and the tried-and-true methods past. However, you're gonna have to plunder through boring and slow parts (say for the majority of the series), but when it picks up steam, that's when the story gets more interesting and engaging with the ever-so-constant build-up towards the end.

Characters:
The "Jaeger" team: Yuliy, Dorothea, Philip, Professor Williard + the side counterparts (Fallon etc.)
A merciless band of vampire slayers crafted from their usual expertise, I must say that these characters, as fun as there is to watch their every move, they give the sense that for all their strengths and weaknesses, they balance well together, making up for the subtle differences which testifies their skills to a T. And if you can tell from the usual cliche of a team of men and a woman, where the female is the damsel in distress? Sorry, but that ain't the case as Dorothea is a skilled shooter herself, firm and able to be trusted with much.

The commoner team: Ryouko, Hideomi (and I know I've missed a few others)
For once, I thought that her love obsession with Yuliy was just for show...but for her to follow Yuliy along with his plan is underwhelming to say the least. At most, she's just there for story exposition to make Yuliy's life a bit more interesting, but other than that, a filler character. At least there are people in the Japanese government would be concerned

The vampire team: Yevgraf, the vampire Twins (vaguely shown), Kershner, Klarwein, Mikhail (through blood pact), the catalyst Agatha
Yevgraf is the epitmony of evil: the Devil incarnate himself. Awaiting the Arc of Sirius that has been laid dormant for the vampires for an insane amount of time, he does not stop at anything to achieve his ambitions, at the expense of others. The fearsome enemy who uses a blood pact to hold those who has been resurrected as vampires, and then sees them as a tool to help aid in his efforts. Kershner is no different, except that he sees it as being Yevgraf's strategist and most capable helpline to him. Same issues and characteristics with Klarwein, the insane experimentalist (equal to Back to the Future's Doc Brown). All are committed to seeing Yevgraf's vision happen, with the side-effects of being tools just for the moment.

An overall (almost) well-rounded character lineup, but the problem of being one-dimensional is truly the weakest connection here.

Art and animation:
Whenever P.A. Works are down for almost any anime, I'm a hardcore fan for whatever shows they make for their beautiful artwork and great animation, and Tenrou: Sirius the Jaeger doesn't disappoint. Since it's an action-oriented show, what better way to call forth a director who handles good action, and that name is Masahiro Andou, known for his works on Fullmetal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell and more.

Not to mention that this series is a major departure from their usual SoL or coming-of-age of works past, but what's best to know is that everything about it is left intact, and is safe to say that this series stands out because of impressive art and animation. Good game and a job well done.

Music:
Damn, yet another area where the series nailed it to perfection. The OST is a spectacular pickup just for the series alone. Both the OP and ED helped set the pace for the series to follow, shadowing the events that lie ahead for everyone (especially Yuliy and Mikhail), and is a blast listening to. As with any action series, the SFX really gets loud under load so much so that it causes some distortion and causes a major distraction sometimes. It's noticeable, yet it feels just about any other action anime would be at its best caliber.

Tenrou: Sirius the Jaeger is quite the production, but production itself can't tell the whole story, and that's where the series' Achilles Heel start to show up: The slow and methodical story along with the characters, emotionless and only care about their field of range (or mission). After being burnt by so many vampire series, I'd say this is at a level where it's neither good nor bad, but the hopes of knowing whatever the heck is going on here is least to say the best. Good try, but one could hope there's improvements to be made. Recommendations though? Just purely for action alone.

well if you a fan of Vampires and werewolfes is sure a nice ride too catch
and i really will keep watching but still, somehow it feels like it can make so much more of itself and it doesnt. Soo many things going on on top but no one realy explaining details here at all what people would be interested ... like the think how mikhail packstory and stuff you get just always the side of the yeagers but not what the vamps are about and their reasons -- really angers me .
and also really bad = ui watched the 4th ep yesterday and have ... too say come on
finnaly a little action and than the ep is over wtf i mean from a ep with 24 mins i enjoyed the last 7 mins soo not really satisfied since it really could make soo much of this show but it seems the love is missing totally in it.
still love the art/ seiyuus and ost + hope also the story gets more thrilling from now on

Sirius made me realize something that'd been on the back of my mind for a while now, like a sneeze that won't quite come out. In a way, I feel like that describes the series in a nutshell.

The plot is the story of all time: a protagonist driven by revenge and a tagtag bunch of misfit hunters race against several factions to obtain a McGuffin, one of which involves the MC's sworn enemy, and which acts as the... antagonist, I guess. Now, formulas work for a reason: you just have to know how to work around them. Tales as old as time will continue to ... be retold for generations to come, and thousands, millions will fall into obscurity, while a few will survive, even if not by name, as inspiration for future artists. As a creator, which one would you rather be? How do you wish to achieve that? What separates your tale from the rest? What gives it meaning?

Now, it's not to say that 'mediocre' series can't stand out in their own way (just look at SAO). There's a something that makes them stand out, a concept, an idea, a character, regardless of whether the product as a whole passes the MAL vibe check or not. That's fine. Quintessential Quintuplets, for example, might not be high literature, but its character interactions and surprisingly heartfelt story has inspired many with stories of their own, so that even if/once it's forgotten, its impact will remain and, again, I wouldn't call it the pinnacle of anything. It's aight, but it works.

What's aight and doesn't work? This series. Many others (maybe most), but this one was what finally got that sneeze out, except that, instead of catharsis, I got phlegm.

The characters, save for one, maybe two, feel like salad dressing diluted with water because the restaurant you got it from can't be damned to do anything above serviceable. The protagonist started out fine, honestly, a silent, strong type with an interest in botany, who's also kind of weird and out of the loop, and whose actions baffle the rest of the squad until they have the necessary bonding. See? Doesn't sound too bad. Alarm bells rang when at the end of the first episode he began screaming about revenge, but, sure, I told myself, sometimes people act very differently under extreme situations.

And then... poof. No more plant talk. No more quiet weird OP kid. For the rest of the series it felt more like I watched a puppet show where the puppeteer forgot to disguise himself, and no matter how much I tried to block them out, they were always there, with the face of someone who worked 70 hours this week and not someone proud at their own creation. The protagonist then acted the way millions of others have because that's what other stories have done, screamed about revenge when needed, had a breakdown when apt, cried when Emotional Beat happened, and like... sure, in a vacuum, the scenes might have been well-done, but people/characters have PERSONALITIES for a reason. Not everyone reacts the same way. By the end, he was nothing more than a vessel for the story to story, and for me to get depressed.

So if that's the main character, imagine the rest. EXCEPT! Except for arguably the second most important one. They were the only one whose actions felt as though he were the one in charge, consistent with what was established, and had actual conflict, both inner and outer, which lead to legitimately emotional payoffs the rest of the puppets failed to pantomime. They were my favorite by far, and probably the only thing I'll remember about this show once I'm done with this rant. A minor character seemed to be following the same line, but unfortunately he didn't have much screentime, and the puppeteer found his string, so his IQ dropped and he got drunk in order for the story to story. There's a third one I was fiercely protective of, moreso because her archetype is usually hated than her being or doing anything (because her archetype never is or does anything). I wouldn't call her good, though, just... she was cute. Yeah.

The rest are the water dripping off the salad dressing; you take it off and nothing changes. The antagonist was boring, had a glimpse of something more, then turned into an Antagonist because they also found his strings. When will anime stop doing that thing where their villain loses all semblance of self to laugh maniacally, gloat about conquering the world, and start indiscriminately killing allies to show how Evil they are? Stop. It's like hitting a candyless piñata. Just cancel the party at that point.

The plot is lettuce without condiment, and I already summed it up above. It doesn't matter. It exists because Stories have Plots. Themes? Eren Yaeger (story was called Sirius the Jaeger and got renamed LOL). Animation and music were great because P.A. Works. Seriously, what is it with their original shows (save for Angel Beats and Nagi no Asukara) having great production values but mediocre to terrible writing? Out of all things to emulate, why Guilty Crown?

So anyway, I wouldn't be wasting my time with this review if it weren't for the last episode, because it was, in my opinion, legitimately good right until the end. Why couldn't the rest of the series have had that, you know, actual humanity? Sure, there was still the antagonist being an Antagonist and the rest of the characters not mattering, but the final encounter and ultimate MC's goal almost reflected this story's sad excuse of a theme, on top of a resolution that could've been good had the GODDAMN puppeteer not found the strings. Stop it. Stop adding stuff you say elsewhere just because you thought it was "cool".

That's what this story lacks, I think: humanity. There's plenty of anime I enjoy and consistently rewatch that doesn't pass MAL's vibe checks, but which feel like the writer cared. That's all I ask for: heart. Hell, even Seikon no Qwaser did the revenge plot better, and that was a fetish show with plot as an excuse. It helps that the characters had actual chemistry (no pun intended If you know you know).

What did this show accomplish? A passable character, to make me want to rewatch a gross fetish show, and despair.

(PLEASE stop doing that with the villains. On my knees. Begging.)

I am confused by the reviews that I’ve been reading. I have never considered to write a review until now. I feel like this show needs to get the defending it deserves.

No, the anime isn’t perfect. The show pacing is a little rushed and there were times where the main characters revealed something or made some sort of revelation that got me thinking, “huh already?”. They definitely could have drawn some things out more, but it didn’t take away any of the enjoyment out of the show for me. The anime also doesn’t shy away from blood (lots of vampire sucking action going on) ... and it delves into darker themes. If you are a little squeamish and are looking for something lighter hearted, you should probably avoid this one.

However
The plot is interesting, the artwork is BEAUTIFUL, the sound (there honestly isn’t much music throughout the series, and I’m that beach who skips the intro and credits so I wouldn’t know if those songs are any good), and the character development seemed well done and typical of most anime. At first, I was worried that the main character was going to be emotionless and robotic throughout the series. However, it is soon revealed why he is the way he is and the reveal is presented in a way that makes the viewer root for him.
Throughout the series there are some unexpected plot twists. I found myself never really knowing where the show was going to take me. I binged the first couple of episodes because I wanted to know what the relationship was between the reporter, military, vampires, gangs, and shipping companies had to do with one another. The creators also took the cliched trope of vampire vs. werewolf and put their own creative twist to it.

Overall the show has been enjoyable, and I hope anyone who reads this ignores the other reviews and give this anime a shot.

Honestly it started ok with the first episode, but then the story felt extremely rushed. It felt like I was missing episodes, heck hole story plots. It just jumps from one thing to another with no prepose. There a bare bone story here. There is not a lot to say about this anime's story. Other than I have seen this story done before and WAY better than this.

It's just pretty moving art at this point. There's is nothing else here.
... It's so boring and incredibly bland.

I honestly wouldn't waste your time with this show. I know I have.

Be good or be bad, just don't be boring!
I hate dying of boredom in the things I watch.

- Story -
Seems like a fairly standard story involving different factions, the main two being the Jaegers and the Vampires. As of episode 4, the pacing feels a little slow for my taste. Most of the story elements are all things that we have seen before in other anime, and they are told in a very familiar way, as well.

- Art / Animation -
Very solid and consistent so far. The fight scenes are 90% the reason why I'm still watching this.

- Sound -
Sound is great, especially during fight scenes. No complaints here.

- Character -
This is where the anime fails for me. In the first ... episode, we are introduced to Ryoko, a character that falls in love with the MC (not sure why). Her character feels completely useless to the story and she does not seem to serve any purpose other than the writers wanting to shove an unnecessary love story down our throats. She is given way more screen time than she deserves, screen time that could have been used to develop other interesting characters (i.e. the MC or the Jaegers).

To be fair, she is the character that is most removed from any of the conflict in the show, therefore offering us a unique perspective. Unfortunately, her perspective is boring af, she is simply uninteresting and irritating. IMO, some of her actions are irrational and make little sense for a girl her age, and make her character even more insufferable.

Because they are giving her a fair amount of screen time, I believe they are planning some type of arc for her trash character. Which is a shame, because I just don't see it paying off, and I would have liked to learn more about the other characters.

- Enjoyment -
As you can probably tell so far, I really enjoy the fight scenes, they are certainly the highlight of this show for me. However, the slow pacing, partially due to the writers giving a shitty useless character too much screen time, is really making my viewing experience unenjoyable.

- Overall -
Story feels unoriginal, but not too cliched or tropey.
Animation and fight scenes are great, so far.
Ryoko is a shit character and I hope she dies.

TLDR
Would have been a perfectly fine - good anime if it weren't for a POS character.

The nature of P.A. Works is defined by the company's ability to sustain itself with primarily original works with only the odd adaptation here and there with major influence by the company itself.  And so here we're presented with 'Sirius the Jaeger', P.A.'s take on vampires and a war against them.

Story:

In the town of Dogville lies an ancient artifact known as the 'Ark of Sirius', an object filled with such insurmountable power that all major countries in the world (seemingly) wish to possess it.  It's here where we meet the last Sirius, Yuliy, and the vampire hunting Jaegers who try to uncover and thwart the ... plan of the vampires that've set foot in Nihon land in search for the Ark for unknown reasons.

Spanning a vampire defeating plot that lasts a cour, Sirius is a show set in 1930's Japan that follows many of your typical revenge plot tropes in order to sustain its story.  Yuliy, being the last surviving member of his people after they were slaughtered by vampires, sets out to 'KILL ALL THE VAMPIRES' in order to get his vengeance.  It's a show that has a decently paced by the numbers story that doesn't try to overstep its boundaries before the conclusion.  It's because of this that I find few positives to note cause nothing about its storyline is even that memorable, yet still manages to be a decent viewing experience despite that.

That being said, given how this is a P.A. Works show, the importance of the story lies in its ending, as the company's history of floundering to the finish line becomes evident the closer episode twelve reaches.  Reason being is the show just throws down reasons in front of the audience for things like like why the vampires are searching for the Ark in the first place towards the end like it fixes the innate issue.  The attempt at sympathy and explaining previously untouched details so close to the end doesn't impact things too much, but instead misses the show's overall potential as the motivations and overall storytelling could've been drastically improved had it been revealed and built upon earlier, instead of being an "Oh crap, we forgot to add some things" moment that muddies the overall ending.

Because of this, Sirius the Jaeger ends with the same P.A. Works standard of 'Good idea, bad execution', as some aspects like the Sirius as a people was one that had potential, but failed due to the show never bothering with giving them the time they needed to be fully fleshed out.  Its slower climb to the climax ultimately hurts it, which is a darn shame considering the amount of innate potential that could've happened should the series have gotten its feet off the ground a little sooner.

Overview:
+ Decent pacing
+ Good slow buildup
-  Way too fast of a climax

Characters:

Personally, I describe Yuliy as a discount first season Eren Jaeger, as our protagonist's main quirk in the series erupts from his desire to avenge his people after vampires slaughtered them all seventeen years ago.  Thankfully rage isn't his only character trait, and we instead get to see a lost puppy looking for answers for a greater majority of the series.  There honestly isn't much to say about Yuliy, as the plot is pretty much the only drive he has to even do anything.  His motivations come from the events of the story, and any decisions he makes only seem to be a natural progression that results in the show's conclusion.

And this sadly is a fact that the rest of the cast faces as the show's is the only real driving motivation for them.  Any actual motivation for Yevgraf, the show's supposed antagonist, is revealed so late (episode 11) that there's almost no reason for the audience to care because of it.  Sure you get some quirkiness like banter between the Jaegers and the apparent obsession of the vampire mad scientist Klarwein, but most of that is just fluff and doesn't add anything to note aside from drawing lines in the sand to note who's on what side and add the illusion to flavor in an otherwise straightforward and kind of bland show.

Overview:
+/- Entire cast is just kinda...there

Art:

Now, this being a P.A. Works show, I don't actually have a lot of complaints for it because of how consistent the company usually is in its production.  A few off scenes here and there did happen, but Sirius is otherwise a show that's presented in the P.A. Works style with very few negatives to really speak of.  It's crisp, there's fluidity in the action, this is one of the company's aspects that deserves its share of praise.

Sound:

Aptly titled "Sirius", by Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets is a song rock/action piece that's really grown on me to become one of my favorite openings in recent memory.  Its mix of soft and louder tones at various points in the song lend it to become something that I find worth being memorable and repeat listens to.  Again, a feat that P.A. Works is surprisingly good at achieving.  By comparison, "Hoshie" by sajou no hana is a more somber piece that I find isn't as memorable as its OP sister, but still has its fair share of memorable points being a song that ties more into the emotional aspects of Yuliy's existence as the last Sirius, which exemplifies the point more even if the show doesn't do much to aid it.

Personal Enjoyment:

The mantra I have for P.A. Works as a whole seems to always trail back to "Good ideas, bad execution".  It's happened to Charlotte, it's happened to Nagiasu, Angel Beats!, hell I'll even extend that notion to Kuromukuro despite that project's rockiness from the start.  Because of this, I came into Sirius with very cautious expectations, reminding myself that things still can and will go wrong later down the line, which was an unfortunate truth that came into being, though thankfully the crash wasn't nearly from very high up.

That being said, I still found Sirius the Jaeger to still be an enjoyable viewing experience.  While I don't trust that the company will ever find its footing, it's nice to see the diversity in their works and how they still have the heart and soul to create original projects even though they don't always work out like they may have originally intended.  Many things like the lore of the Sirius and that copout of an antagonistic motivation, as well the mess that was Ryouko's sideplot (which wasn't even a necessary aspect of the show aside from cheap excuse for some romance) REALLY could've used work, but it's still all in all a decent show that makes a good callback to original portrayals of vampires as people preying, grotesque, transformed creatures of the night.

My recommendation would be to watch it if you feel inclined, as its good for a piece of non-fanservicy entertainment, but not one that can garner a lot of praise due to numerous flaws and overall lack of anything new to bring to the table.  Not much more can be said, but I'm at least glad P.A. Works is taking smaller risks with their original content.  Wouldn't want another Charlotte incident, now would we?

I came into this series with low expectations and came out with an extremely mixed set of feelings.

Having binge watched this series over the course of three or so days, I can safely say this is probably the most mediocre anime I have ever seen. That's not to say it's bad, but that is to say it's nothing special or groundbreaking at all either.

In short, it's a fairly poorly executed idea for an original anime series with some high hopes from its backers, a respectable studio at the helm, but just an absolutely poor execution of just about everything in this series, from start to ... finish.

My immediate complaint with this series when I first started it was the amount of information, names, and players being dropped on us that felt like an overload of information, a confusing mess for what was beginning to sound like a series with a large conspiracy in its plot.

However, the series immediately removes all of that by at least the sixth episode, where the anime makes things simple and brings us down to our simple dilemma of “Hunters vs Vampires”.

The whole issue with this series is this waste of time in its writing to effectively convey this world to me. What year is it? What sort of alternate history is this? What exactly is the politics like? What safe assumptions can I make? And within the span of the series, these questions become fairly clear to you the viewer, but it can come off as overwhelming at first, then again that could be just me.

But at the heart of this series is the issues in its writing and pacing. I honestly feel like this could have been something fairly decent, but the pacing of its plot, getting to know its characters and world, and so forth is so marred by a feeling of a rush that shouldn’t even be there.

A rush to what? The next action sequence? This series is a yawn in its fights, so if that’s the offering on the table, I must refuse because there is not a single fight where anything felt interesting at all.

Going back to writing, I can’t help but feel like this script was rushed out the door just to be animated. The only proof I have is the fact nobody on staff with any form of English capabilities asked “Hey, is Dogville really what we are going to call this one important place?”. Nobody asked that, ever. So either someone never noticed, or someone played a really big joke, because that was a nuisance of a name right there.

All in all, I recommend just passing on this series and watching something else. You might be able to get a more enjoyable experience from 2006s “Black Blood Brothers”, which was something this series made me nostalgic for in a lot of respects. There’s no similarities really, just some nostalgia really.

Plus, this series absolutely failed in making our protag turn into a werewolf. I was sitting here for many episodes waiting for that to happen, and it never did. It’s so obvious that’s what was going on here, and it didn’t happen.

There’s better anime than this out there, and there’s far worse anime than this. I wouldn’t have written a glorified blog post called a review if I hadn’t watched this series to the end and didn’t have hopes it would get better. It sort of did, but not in a way that would have redeemed it.

This anime confuses me so much.

As some others have pointed out, it's rare for PA Works to go into this kind of action, thriller anime.

It started out brilliant. The first few episodes were clever. It made no shounen anime-like pitfalls, no cringes, and very clever directing, full of unexpected and interesting cuts. I was sure that this would be a strong runner for the best anime of the season.

But from this anime, I realize a lot of series could be measured using a two-number metric. The first number is the episode where you cringe for the first time. The second number is the episode where ... you feel like everything is falling apart; the art quality is no longer brilliant, the directing is no longer interesting, the plot has succumbed to cliches and boring tropes, the characters no longer have a distinct shine.

For me, for this anime, these two numbers were 7 and 10.

Ahhh this anime frustrated me; because SO many elements were done wonderfully. But there were just some foundational things that made it a complete mess.

Let's start with the good:

1. Character Design and Setting--BEAUTIFUL. All the characters are visually bright, diverse, interesting and modern despite the time period of the setting. Quite a few hotties here, and that's never a bad thing.

2. Action-- FANTASTIC! From the start, it's fast-paced, engaging and there are many moments where I was literally on the edge of my seat. There's a fairly badass train scene that I watched multiple times, actually.

3. Story (Kind of)--There's also some bad with this, ... but this is the "good" section so let me focus. The back story in particular was very well crafted. It made me care, and I easily became invested within the main characters after a few short episodes.

Now the bad:

1. Story-- Waaaay too complicated and overwrought. There are literally three organizations at play (and some of them have multiple code names... I had to watch it twice to figure that piece out), and it's just too much. They could have taken out an entire organization and had the same story line. I ended up just ignoring it and focusing on the other things. I'm not here for all that.

2. Silly Female Character that Doesn't Belong--Need I say more? Every time she came on screen, I literally yelled, "What is your purpose??" It's like she accidentally wandered in from the shojo anime next door, and no one has told her where the exit is. So frustrating. But to be fair, she has guts. No one told her where the exit is, but she's doing the best she can in the meantime.

3. The Ending--Sucks. They spent the entire story leading us as an audience in a particular direction, then they TOTALLY dropped the ball. Why would you do that!? And you mean to tell me that no one in this entire project saw this blatant misstep?? Nobody said, "Hey guys, maybe we shouldn't end it this way?" I can't understand.

Overall, it was a fun watch. Ignoring the politics and complex details of the plot-- the hotties, beautiful artwork and action scenes are what drove me to finish.

Do I recommend? Sure. But with caution. When they start to get weirdly and overly political, just ignore it and focus on how pretty it is.

Steampunk vampire series. Need I say more? I'm in! Unfortunately there's some problems with execution in the process that hindered the fun of this show.

The good, style! I loved the character designs. The environments they get to play in are varied and interesting. There are lots of cool fights. Everything you'd want is there, so where's the unfortunate part?

This show has a serious pacing issue. It moves a mile a minute, never taking the proper time to set up conflicts and build the stakes. By the time you get to the climax, you don't really know what will happen if the bad guy wins, ... you just know it will bad, and that is supposed to be enough.

They flesh out a handful of the key players and the rest of the not that massive cast of heroes and villains are lucky if they a couple minutes of backstory to flesh them out. So when there's a scene where two of these characters are in a bad situation, I feel zero tension because I don't really know these folks beyond being bad ass.

The problem here is they were telling an origin story, unfortunately that origin story clearly had at least two major story arcs in the manga, and the studio decided to jam them together and trimmed too much fat. The style and action are great, but I was having trouble caring as I was not very invested in the characters or world.

I've always liked vampire anime so when this came out on Netflix I was interested. After watching this anime I felt very confused. This anime had so much going on at the same time, sometimes it was too much to keep up with. I wouldn't say that this was a bad anime, I just think its an ok anime. It was rushed and a lot to follow. I wouldn't highly recommend it but if you're just looking for something to watch this is a nice anime to try because it doesn't have to many episodes. Because of this, I give Sirius the Jaeger a 6.

When the first episode aired, I seriously was in awe. I found Tenrou: Sirius the Jaeger attractive in the art and I was drawn to its world, eagerly waiting for a new episode each week with great expectations that were never truly met.

I was struck by beautiful animation and introduced to a plot about vampires, action, fight and interesting characters. And the way the first episode ended was when I said to myself: it's perfect, what else could I ask for?

[ STORY ]
Well, thing is, story-wise, I don't find it engaging. It lacks depth to actually make me invested in what's going on and it ... feels to me like everything's a bit messy and thrown around here and there so the pace is weird as well as the progression of the plot which by episode 7, we still don't know a lot of. It just feels so "meh".

I also don't know why they try to force "romance" (because I don't really know what to call it) in there when it's clearly unnecessary. I'd rather focus on the plot than having an annoying character serving absolutely no other purpose than being MC's forced love interest to use yet another cliché trope that I can see as being the anchor of the MC for existential purposes (considering that this whole thing is taking up from 40% to 50% of an episode...).

[ ART ]
The art is really good and to me, it's one of the strengths of Tenrou: Sirius the Jaeger. The animation is fluid, the fights are animated well and delightful to watch and I just love the whole universe they recreated and the vibe it throws.

[ SOUND ]
Well, to be honest, as I write this I don't even remember what the soundtracks or the OP sound like so it sums it pretty well, I'd say. Forgettable.

[ CHARACTERS ]
The same goes for the characters. The chara-design is very unique to each character and very enjoyable but it's a bit disappointing that we don't get to dig deeper into their stories and their personalities. It'll all on the surface and just as the plot, they lack depth.
Our MC gets a good backstory though, but the way he evolves to the present day and connects with the plot doesn't do it for me (especially because they use a trope that we could easily foresee). It could have been so much better. In the early episodes, I was expecting a strong character development coming from him with which we could connect strongly but it never happened.

[ ENJOYMENT & OVERALL ]
It's still entertaining as is but mainly because I watch this weekly. I don't think I'd binge-watch the whole thing with what I've seen so far but maybe there's still a way for this anime to repent, eh? Though I don't think so.
Also, I don't really care about neither the plot nor the characters and what's happening which is a shame. I really try to connect but I just can't.

Animation are sometimes really good and sometimes really bad.

Character and sound are fair. Each one of them has their own personality, but does not really effect the story line, and never deeply develop.

The really main problem is the story: boring, old, predictable, and stupid characters.
You are able to know exactly what is going to happen by watching just a few episodes.

Spoiler for Stupid scene:
It is just simply a hero movie where stupid bad guy trying to take some power, and how the main character save the world (but the bad guy have no idea about what power it is, and DID NOT GET ... ANY POWER AFTER GETTING THE POWER, BUT HE LOST HIS MIND BECAUSE THE POWER IS TOO STRONG. Seriously?)

Upon watching the trailer, I have high expectations on this anime. I'm hunting for good anime to recommend to my friends so I dive into everything and this happens to be one of the anime I anticipate. Let's get on the review.

Title: 5/5
Well the title make sense since it's about a Sirius who is one of the Jaegar, hunting vampires.

OP/ED: 3/5
I prefer the ending song of this anime. Try to listen to them! It's good.

Art: 5/5
Amazing graphics. I thoroughly enjoy the graphics.
...
Sound: 4/5
It's good but I still feel like it can be improved. More could be polished and added especially during the dramatic moments.

Plot: 4/10
On first look, I don't feel like this is cliche. It draws me in. However, the pacing of this anime is slow. I actually need to push myself to click the next episode. I wasn't eager to know what happen. As the story unravels, it becomes mediocre and soon, it becomes cliche. Orphan, special, beastly (follow his instincts a lot), tragedy falls upon them, revenge, etc. Basically, you know the drill. It's taking a long time to reach the climax and even the climax, it feels like I'm left hanging. It does not exactly show the true power of the Ark, does not exactly show it's speciality or why everyone is fighting to obtain it. There are unnecessary fragments inserted between the actual plot due to unnecessary character but we'll get back to that part later.

Fighting Scene: 8/10
I love it. I like the 'goriness' it portrays. It's likeable enough but I do feel like I want more. It is not censored but not described in detail. Good but can be improve. Good but just not there. BUT, I expect more power, more intense fight considering it's a fight between vampires and a sirius which is a Jaegar on top of that. I'm expecting more stunts and I expect more power from the Ark. More power from the so-called speciality of a Sirius.

Characters: 4/10
I'm not going to dive into each character. Just the good ones and also the bad ones.

Misha: I love love love him. He is cool character, limited strength due to not being a noble. A bit cliche though but his character make sense.

Yuliy; Eren. You watch this, you'll understand why I put Eren in this review. Eren at least shows his power he has but Yuliy, it just isn't enough. I don't feel the specialness in him. I need more. MORE. The main character feels like Eren- feels a lot like the characters that shares the same archetype as Eren. Has an element of Owari No Seraph.

Ryouko: Alright, lets get to the nasty part. I don't think her character is necessary. I hate weak pretending to be strong character. Her love interest for Yuliy is definitely not needed in this anime. I got annoyed whenever she tries to tag along with the group. Like seriously, I definitely feel her character is a pain in the ass.


Over all: 33/50

It's a mediocre anime for me. Some annoying characters, can be improved. I recommend this anime for those who would like to enjoy gory scenes.

I do not usually write reviews, and in fact this is going to be my first one. It made me extremely sad how criminally underrated this anime is. my review is going to be short, but i hope i can make my point clear.

Once in a while we may find anime that gives us utmost enjoyment, reminds us why we even started to watch anime in the first place and why we love it so much. Sirius the Jaeger is exactly the anime, that reminded me of that. I do not remember, when was the last time i got so hyped about particular anime ... from the first episode. Sirius the Jaeger has almost everything, Art, Story, Action, Sound were splendid. The only thing i wished throughout watching this series, was that it would be longer and for more background character development. The story may be fast-paced for some viewers, but even though it was not hard to follow and did not lack any major points, overall leaves you quite satisfied, plus considering that it is only 12 episodes, you realize that the pace of the story development is quite acceptable, at least it was for me.

In conclusion, if you read this short review i would suggest you to totally give it a try, i can say i did not regret it and probably neither will you.