Karin

Vampires—supernatural beings that feed on the life essence of the unsuspecting at night—have been around for centuries. However, high schooler Karin Maaka is unusual, even among her own kind. Unlike her vampire family, ever since she was a child, Karin has suffered from polycythemia: a rare disorder which causes her to periodically produce excessive amounts of blood. And the more blood she produces, the more anemic and lightheaded she gets, ultimately leading to frequent nosebleeds.

Her only solution? Force her excess blood onto random strangers, which surprisingly causes these "victims" to become livelier and happier than before. With her siblings—Anju, her reserved yet affectionate younger sister, and Ren, her womanizing elder brother—helping her abilities remain a secret by altering the affected humans' memories, no one is the wiser. That is, until Karin's newly transferred classmate, Kenta Usui, finds her behavior suspicious. And to make matters even more complicated, Karin feels her blood reacting unusually to Kenta's presence.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Maaka, Karin Main

Yahagi, Sayuri Japanese

Usui, Kenta Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Maaka, Anju Supporting

Inokuchi, Yuka Japanese

Maaka, Ren Supporting

Suwabe, Junichi Japanese

Maaka, Elda Supporting

Shiratori, Yuri Japanese

Sinclair, Winner Supporting

Miyata, Kouki Japanese

Maaka, Henry Supporting

Matsumoto, Dai Japanese

Boogie-kun Supporting

Nojima, Hirofumi Japanese

Tokitou, Maki Supporting

Takahashi, Mikako Japanese

Maaka, Carrera Supporting

Shinohara, Emi Japanese

Matsukura, Yuuji Producer

Chiba, Makoto Producer

Danno, Yoshito Producer

Suzuki, Tomoko Producer

Reviews

Jul 2, 2025

Camtheman1221

Recommended

Although it seems that I give 10/10s to almost every show I watch, and need to start being harsher, this show deserves it. Genuinely, this show is a hidden gen, for my time at least as it came out 20 years ago as of now. It's unique and well made. In comparison to many things I've watched over my short anime career, this is a very interesting concept and one I haven't seen before. I feel as if this quality hasn't been present in newer animes, and that is unfortunate. No kiss at the end but I think that's actually a good thing, she gave ... Kenta her blood, symbolic of a kiss. Some characters can be annoying but they provide good character development for the more important ones, and let's not forget Buge-kun. Definitely tedious to find the English sub of this show, but that was what made it so much more interesting, and God that opening for the show is wonderful, even if it a little more erotic than the show actually is. A great show that you need to watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Apr 27, 2023

Ker0w0

Mixed Feelings

Coming from the manga, the anime is kind of a letdown. It goes on its own side path, making Karin develop a love-triangle relationship with Usui and the mysterious main character they hide for half the season who did not exist in the manga. I feel it's also raunchy in some parts for no reason, like the opening. Otherwise, if you're coming in on a fresh start, you may genuinely come to enjoy this anime. It's a cute and funny rom-com and gives you something to watch for a couple of days. Plus it was made in 2005 so if you like older anime this ... is a good one.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 30, 2016

Animeprophet951

Not Recommended

It is a trick as old as time, to flip conventions on their heads and have the reverse of a common idea play out. We´ve seen it time and time again, sometimes deep and tragically other times bubbly and funny. This element, that we call "irony" and in other cases "parody" is what the premise to "Karin" promises us.

Like any good romance, the show takes a great focus onto it´s two main characters Usui Kenta and Karin Maaka. Setting aside the random detail of Usui´s stare, the story doesn´t really play into anything too unconventional. It´s plot and a lot of character interactions are ... practically transcribed form the great book of clichés and the show seems to have little self awareness about it, as it takes such story elements far more seriously than an audience which is aware of them ever could. The usage of tropes doesn´t really make something bad, though, as it can be used as a platform to save time and focus on other things, but the way the plot takes itself so seriously in spit of the lack of attachment the characters have to it , makes it feel expendable and mostly just a way of parading the characters.

By no means, however, are the characters bad. In fact, I would argue they are the best aspect of the show, which is excellent considering this is a romance, a genre which relies on how much and in which way we want characters to interact. Every character, in both isolation and in their relationship with the other characters feels unique and develops organically, which in turns allow you to not only root for them and their progression as characters (even the psychopathic doll) but also look back and suddenly feels nostalgic about those previous moments that you understand better and better over time. As far as characters go, the show is definitely cohesive and through, contrasting with the plot in that the tropes it does use are meaningful, whereas in the plot the tropes fill like just filler.

With felt less cohesive was the mix of drama and humor in this show, which I think wasn´t handled too well. There was an intended progression into darker set ups as the show went along, and well, that much was accomplished, but the insistently repeated jokes that weren´t all that good to begin with (some jokes even being distinctly bad such as a certain Winner Sinclair) and the over the top reactions of pretty much every character to just about everything made the earlier goof feel exhausting and the usage of a plot saturated with cliché turns was enough to dismiss a lot of the drama for me. The first part did allow some contrast with Maaka´s sister, allowing her presence on screen to almost always feel like a breath of fresh air and while the drama wasn´t too effective as drama, it did make me think more deeply about the themes of the show: our nature as people. What makes you be you.

This surprisingly deep and even more surprisingly well-explored thematic grants the show a whole layer of new potential. Whether you allow yourself to go with the tide and can enjoy the humor and drama as they go along without concerning yourself with the disparity or you choose to swim deeper into the river and find the golden themes at the bottom, the show has something for you to taste and to help you immerse in what the characters are going through. Even the ending allows the relief for those that follow through with the drama and also resolves the issue in a way that is rather consistent with it´s worldbuilding that far instead of pulling a deus-ex-machina. The only complaint about this I would have is that the answers the show appears to present to it´s conflicts are vague and dreamy at best which could be rather disappointing.

Overall, Karin is a very "middle" show, good enough to be watched and enjoyed by almost everyone, excelling in the middle but being a little rough on the beginning due to us not caring enough about the characters yet and in the end , due to the repetitive content (unless you have a particular taste for certain themes or the humor of the show). It´s not something I´d go out of my way to recommend to anyone, but it is not a waste of time either , providing and enjoyable twist on the vampire romance trope.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Karin Episode 18 Discussion Flaecy - May 30, 2010	16 replies	by atomiccattus »» Nov 23, 10:10 PM
	Poll: Karin Episode 24 Discussion ( 1 2 ) jacobpaige - Feb 5, 2009	57 replies	by n3mpl0yed4star »» Nov 12, 4:37 PM
	Poll: Karin Episode 23 Discussion babykeiji - Apr 2, 2008	18 replies	by n3mpl0yed4star »» Nov 12, 3:26 PM
	Poll: Karin Episode 21 Discussion Kucai82 - Aug 12, 2009	18 replies	by n3mpl0yed4star »» Nov 12, 2:20 PM
	Poll: Karin Episode 20 Discussion Kucai82 - Aug 12, 2009	16 replies	by n3mpl0yed4star »» Nov 12, 10:03 AM

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