Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san

Regardless of how I approach shows about vampires these days, I often try to keep my expectations low. It’s not uncommon that so many vampire tropes relates with horror fiction, romance relationships, and survival dramas. Most of them feels like watching some cartoon with defiled couples in a telenovela. However, watching Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san (Ms. Vampire Who Lives in my Neighborhood) gave me a different impression.

Based on a 4-koma, this anime is easy to recommend but not may not be so easy to appreciate. It’s essentially a slice of life series that focuses more on making fun of the otaku and vampire culture rather than ... a complex story. I’d say the plot is forgivable at best with each episode tying the overall themes together. But really, don’t try to look for any sort of real story development. The storytelling is more about the misadventures of the character cast than anything else.

With that out of the way, several things to also take note is humor and character connections the cast establishes with each other. From the first few episodes, it became obvious that schoolgirl Akari Amano takes a liking to a 360-year old vampire named Sophie Twilight. While this strikes as an oddball formula to set up for the series, it works with the fact that the creators wanted to establish an important relationship from the start. Not only does Akari and Sophie develop a close bond, they also begin to share similar interests. The most evident involves with otaku culture. But what evokes hilarity is a lack of common sense from Sophie considering her nature. She still has the mind of a child despite being over 300 years old. The creators made Sophie into an antithesis of a vampire. She’s not violent and has no desire for human blood. While she shares common traits of a generic vampire (like being weak to sunlight), Sophie also enjoys interests of an otaku. These include going to comic conventions and collecting otaku goods. It’s something you’d never expect a vampire would behave but the bottom line is that Sophie is nothing like the vampires you’d see in traditional horror flicks.

Oh and she’s not the only vampire. Later in the series, we meet Ellie, a vampire girl who has known Sophie for a long time. One thing noticeable about Ellie is her characteristics that relates more closely to how vampires would behave. The show also pokes fun of Ellie’s personality by making her behave like a brat on many occasions. Still, she’s not malevolent and often acts more like a child similiar to Sophie. Thanks to her new friends, Ellie does learn more about the human society. Beyond that, we also get to meet Akari’s best friend Hinata as she also gets involved with our lovely vampires.

There’s probably not many reasons to watch this show altogether but if you’re looking for a humorous slice of life anime, this is one to aim for. As I mentioned before, character chemistry is important that shows how close characters grow together. Akari and Sophie is the most prominent pair as the two become what seems to be more just friends. While this show isn’t truly a yuri, there are definitely moments that suggests a bit more than subtle romance. Akari’s attraction towards Sophie is obvious that even gets played for laughs when she gets nosebleeds. There are also many moments when Akari makes excuses to see her. For the more distinctive humor, the show plays around a lot with otaku context in particular with Sophie’s hobbies. She’s pretty much an indoor girl who spends her time watching anime, reading comic books, and buying otaku merchandise. As she is a vampire, the show also injects humor about her nature such as drinking blood (non-human), being weak to garlic, or sunlight. But as the title suggests, Sophie is pretty much a neighborhood vampire who really is harmless.

As the art style also suggests, this anime is decorated with fluffiness and charm. The main female character are made as cute as possible with Sophie being the primary example. At someone her age, she looks like a doll that even other characters comments on. Similarly, Ellie retains a youthful appearance that will be deceptive to the naked eye. However, do take notice that the show has some fan service. While it’s nothing explicit, it exists and some scenes can raise some eyebrows considering the appearances of these girls. As someone who has read portions of the manga, the anime does manage to capture the overall look of the show.

This series is probably one that people won’t be talking about for a long time. That’s okay though as I don’t see there’s much really to talk about beyond the character connections and comedy gags. The story really isn’t very impressive from the start and there’s little overall character development. Watching this anime is mostly aimed for those who want to experience a slice of life comedy and a dose of vampiric otaku culture.

Amano Akari is a high school girl with some strange tastes and hobbies. She loves things occult and gothic, and is especially fond of collecting dolls that other people find extremely eerie. That’s not to say Akari is “a goth,” or “emo”—she is cheerful, excitable, energetic, and expressive. What other people find scary, she finds cute. So, imagine how this oddball reacts when she meets a real vampire—the attractive Sophie Twilight. It’s not long before Akari has moved in with her beloved vampire friend! (Slice-of-Life, Vampire, Comedy, hints of Shoujo Ai.)

Story: 5/10

It being a slice-of-life without any real romance or serious drama, the anime ... does not have a central plot. This was a letdown for me because, while watching, I constantly imagined how much better the show would be with even just a little more direction. The main story could have explored the hinted shoujo ai relationships between the girls, with the conclusion being the establishment of the couples. Alternatively, the creators could have taken seriously the jokes about Akari becoming a vampire, focusing on her acclimation to them, and ending with her transformation into one. I still greatly enjoyed Tonari Kyuketsuki; it’s an endearing, silly, and ironic show about how a supernatural creature tries to live a normal, quiet life. Still, with so much story opportunity squandered, I must give it a 5/10.

Art: 5/10
The character designs are cute, and the main setting of Sophie's house is nice to look at. However, there was nothing particularly creative in this show's art-style or animation. It's about average, not much different from any other anime featuring cutesy, chibi art-styles. I give it 5/10, which isn't to say it's bad, but only to say it's normal and unremarkable.

Sound: 6/10
For sound, it’s pretty much the same deal as with the visuals. It's not poor quality, but it just lacks anything to make it stick out. There was nothing special in the sound effects, music scores, opening song, or ending song. The voice-acting was fair, but even if each main cast member is extremely talented, this is not the kind of dramatic series where they can show their true talent. I will note that I was impressed with Akari’s seiyuu, Sasahara Yuu. I’d never heard her in anything before, and it seems like she’s just starting her anime voice-acting career. Miss Sasahara did well in portraying a girl who has very unusual tastes but is completely harmless, and also adorable in a weird kind of way. I give the sound for Tonari Kyuketsuki a 6/10 “Fine.”

Characters: 7/10

The show did not focus all that much on character development, so while the characters are all cute and funny, they lack some depth that could have made them even better. Sophie is the best of the cast in terms of originality and time spent expounding on her personality. What would a 300-year-old vampire be like if she lived in modern society and didn't have to hurt humans to keep fed? What would her personality be like? Where does she get blood? How would she react to having a young human girl trying to become close to her? Watch and you'll find the surprising and humorous answers to these questions.

The other main protagonist, Akari, is primarily a comedic character. She's got quirks, hobbies, reactions, and expressions that are always genuinely funny. Her character could have been improved if the show spent some time explaining exactly how and why she became interested in things occult and gothic. In the second half of the final episode, Akari's character shines in a new way. Removing the abundant humor temporarily, the last scene communicates how much Akari cares for Sophie-- not just as a doll to be pampered, but as a special someone to share a home with, to spend time with, and to depend on.

In the interest of keeping the review short, I won't analyze the other main characters, Ellie and Hinata. They were also good characters. Each has a handful of peculiarities that keeps them amusing and unconventional.

Personal Enjoyment: 8/10

I found Tonari Kyuketsuki delightful for a number of reasons. A lot of vampire anime either glorify, romanticize, and idolize vampires, or gore-ify vampires in a bloody setting where they’re all savage beasts by nature. Tonari Kyuketsuki does follows neither path, instead depicting the vampire myth as comedy. There is variety in type of vampire, too. There’s the patient, well-adjusted, and harmless Sophie, in addition to the mischievous and potentially dangerous vampire Ellie. In this way, there are no extremes of either glorification or gore-ification.

I loved that the show used some dark humor in addition to the situational, ironic, and reactive-types of comedy. (For example, take Ellie's hobby of enjoying a literal bloodbath. Or look at the vampires' reactions to movies that show blood and anime that shows “delicious” virgins.) Another reason I enjoyed Tonari Kyuketsuki was that there was very little fan-service. I am easily irritated by the sexualizing of "loli" characters.

While I don't like fan-service-based shoujo ai like Citrus, I am a big fan of shoujo ai that tells a good story with characters that feel genuine. I fantasize about girl-girl couples often as I watch anime. So I liked that there was some suggestion of girl-girl couples in Tonari Kyuketsuki. Besides the opening song, which features the girls kissing each other's cheeks or holding hands, there is also enough subtle content in the show to justify making yuri ships. (Main options-- Sophie x Akari, Hinata x Akari, Hinata x Ellie, and Sophie x Ellie.)

Things like the occasional dark humor, the lack of fan-service, the hints of shoujo ai, and the unique, comedic swing on traditional vampires all made Tonari Kyuketsuki entertaining for me. If you enjoy those aspects, give it a whirl. The characters are cute, funny, and fairly interesting. Just keep in mind there's nothing exceptional in art or sound, and there’s no real plot. If you can handle that, you'll love the show.

Final Note: It's difficult to be critical of anime like this, where my personal and emotional enjoyment ranked so high. Still, I try to be a rational reviewer as I compare it to many, many other anime. That's why, even though my enjoyment level was high, I must put the overall rating at 6/10 Fine. That’s as an anime critic. As a casual watcher who hadn’t seen a lot of anime, I would have given it 8/10 Very Good.

I'm gonna ask you one question: Do you like cute shit? Then watch this show.
Most of the show revolves around this really cute little vampire girl who's basically an otaku and meets this one girl in middle school or something in her neighborhood because she wanders off into a forest and accidentally ends up at her mansion. So then the middleschooler wants to be best friends with the vampire and that's basically the whole show. To be honest, the art and animation can seem a little meh at times if you have amazingly high standards but it's still probably better than the anime adaptation ... of Tokyo Ghoul :re which is funny when you think about it. Mostly everything is just like cute and soothing. Watch it if you want something to not think hard about. The plot is kinda dumb if you use too much logic so don't use any logic. Middleschooler's parents don't really care that their daughter has yuri fantasies of the vampire girl and that she just keeps wandering off into the woods to meet her pale ass, neither should you, got it?
Story has some meh developments and conflicts where the vampire is scared of losing the middleschooler and the middleschooler wants to be kind of more useful, but all in all, not much happens. Still pretty enjoyable, even though 0 things happen story-wise. The middleschooler basically wants to get pretty yuri up in here with the vampire, but the vampire's just interested in her hobbies and likes having the middleschooler as a friend to chill out with. Although, I would be lying if there weren't times when their seemed to both be romantic tension between the two. I guess the show is just fine? Yeah, despite doing nothing, it's still doing better than half of the stuff that comes out every season for me. Maybe that's just cause I like mellow, low-key stuff. I dunno, watch at your own discretion.

Overall: 6/10 - I thought it was super cute. It’s definitely not something I’m raving about that everyone has to watch, but I wouldn’t steer anyone against it.

Art: 6/10 - I like the design and art, but it’s not really anything special. I think the art is fine, it’s cute, but it’s really just that.

Characters: 7/10 - I do adore these characters, I thought they were super appealing when I first started the show, and I don’t think they’re bad at all. The excitement didn’t stay strong the entire time, but I never dreaded seeing anyone at all.

Storytelling: 6/10 - It’s slice of life and ... CGDCT, there’s not really a story to tell. It’s mostly funny situations these girls get into, and I like how they interact and how these problems are displayed and occur. It doesn’t feel ham-fisted, but I think sometimes it was a little repetitive.

The Art:
I genuinely didn’t know they were high school aged until they really started pushing the emphasis on that fact (stating it outright a few times) the last few episodes. I definitely prefer that to the alternative that I thought there was (middle school), but it was a super surprise. They... Do not look like high schoolers to me! I had no idea, genuinely.

Otherwise, I really like the background and set design. The colors are nice and I enjoy the outfits and clothes of the girls. I really think the style is fine, it just doesn’t stand out to me. It’s cute! But that’s about it.

The Characters:
I find Akari, our main character, a little boring honestly. She’s fine, but she’s not my favorite. The show begins with her, and she is absolutely obsessed with dolls. She hears a rumor that there’s a living doll in the neighborhood, she goes to find it. This “doll” is in fact Sophie Twilight; a vampire! Akari is obsessed and forces herself upon her and into her life to be her friend and live with her. There’s really no addressing how this is handled with her family and so forth, it’s just a set up for the rest of the show. I don’t think this is a bad thing. Definitely I like the role swap, where Akari freaks the vampires out with how enthused she is with her ‘creepy’ dolls and her begging for them to suck her blood. She always wants to play dress up and play with Sophie’s hair and be as close as she can be.

Sophie is fun, she’s somewhat aware of the modern world and is kind of a weeb, she really likes anime and manga. That’s most of what she spends her time on too. She learns to care for Akari and is actually very concerned with her health and wellness. She doesn’t fully understand human things but tries her best. I enjoy her, but she’s not much without the rest of the cast. That’s not a horrible thing, they’re meant to work together after all.

Hinata is Akari’s friend from school. I forgot how she comes into play, but Akari is always inviting her over to hang out and do things with her. Hinata is “boy-ish”, tall, and is more developed than the rest of the cast. She can be childish and likes to dress simply. She gets into a conflict with my favorite character, Ellie, because she’s able to be seen as more adult but doesn’t really want to be. Hinata has a crush on Akari and fantasizes about her in a similar fashion to the way Akari fantasizes about (and acts with) Sophie. She’s sometimes jealous of Sophie but this never becomes a point of tension, it’s only joked upon.

Ellie is another vampire, and is an old friend of Sophie’s. She’s my favorite of the whole cast. She’s upset that she was turned into a vampire so young instead of when she was older, but still perceives herself as an adult. She flirts with the other girls and buys a sexy Halloween costume, she’s pretty into herself. She also very much prioritizes her beauty and fashion, using blood on her skin for it’s benefits and it’s known that she uses the blood she purchases for bathing. When the group goes out, Ellie often says that the girls look yummy and tasty, and she wants to bite and hunt them. She was also asleep for 100 years and was living in America, so now that she’s in Japan, she’s pretty unfamiliar with tech and the culture. It’s fun to watch her learn things, I really love this character, even if she’s kind of a lot at times.

There are two other characters that come up a few times, but I don’t remember their names. I just know one is in an occult club and has a crush on the other one. They.. I think are dating? I don’t really know; they are at least perceived as dating, but I could say that about pretty much everyone here.

The Storytelling:
Like I said, it’s a slice of life. There’s not really a ‘story’ here, but I do like the way the show plays out. You get a good sense of the vampire’s weakness in the sun, to the point it kind of gets repetitive? There’s a lot of struggle that focuses on wanting to do XYZ, but Sophie and Ellie can’t be out in the day for too long! They try anyway, and the sun really takes it out of them. The scenes aren’t agonizing though, and it’s sweet to see the girls take care of each other.

Otherwise, it’s mostly about the girls getting used to each other, Akari learning to live with Sophie and vice versa. The vampires learn about humans, the humans learn about vampires. They all get kind of silly and tease each other here and there, it is definitely girls love, they flirt with each other and play and fawn. It isn’t a will they won’t they, which I really enjoy. It is just ... They’re all hanging out and act like this and maybe not outright love each other, I would not call it a romance show, but they do definitely get pretty close.

I think the pacing is good, it never feels out of place, and the jokes usually land well. There’s a scene here or there that surprised me or threw me off, one happening between Hinata and Ellie, and the other with Akari and Ellie, Ellie being the instigator of both.

The last episode is... I do not like it. You just go and see and meet all the characters again, but it's so boring and feels so slow... but I do think the last scene is pretty cute, I won’t say much else, but it sort of redeems the episode I guess.

I did like the show, it wasn’t bad. I probably won’t come back to it in the future, but I don’t regret watching it. I wouldn’t put it high on any list, but I definitely wouldn’t tell anyone to strike it from the record. It’s a fun, lighthearted watch. I would refer to it on maybe a rainy or a sick day, where maybe it’s a little hard to pay attention or you’re sleepy, but you still want something to pass the time.