Now with that out of the way, let's get on with this. First off, let me begin by saying Rosario + Vampire is one of if not my favorite harem manga ever. Let me repeat, MANGA. This thing is not the manga, not in the slightest. The first few episodes seemed promising since they were following the manga however I always got a sinking feeling whenever the preview came on since they decided to advertise a different pair of panties for each episode. Nevertheless, I continued on and boy did I regret it.
Story 3/10 - Like I said, the first few episodes seem promising mainly because they actually follow the manga and are paced reasonably well. However, things begin to fall apart by the time the trip to the human world arc takes place. After this point, the story more or less takes a back seat until the final two episodes which has always been a pet peeve of mine. I am sick of romcom shows that think they don't need any plot progression until the last two episodes, I'm looking at you Girls Bravo. Anyway long story short this is not the manga's plot, it is a watered down version with only the bare essentials.
Art 7/10 - This coupled with the sound is probably the best part of this anime. The characters and backgrounds look nice and everyone is animated pretty well. I'm not going to go any further into this since I've never cared that much about this field.
Sound 6/10 - Like the art, the sound is pretty good. The OP is pretty catchy in my opinion and I honestly love the ED and really highlights what this anime should have been about, Moka kicking lots of ass and looking damn good while doing it.
Characters 5/10 - Here we go, this is where the differences with the manga really become distingushed. Let's start with our MC Tsukune, instead of manga Tsukune who is thrust into an unfamiliar environment, relies on Moka for a while until that isn't enough and gets powers of his own that he learns to control, we get just another generic MC who relies on Moka for the whole season except for the last damn episode. Speaking of Moka, part of her appeal was the whole mysteriousness of her other self and how she became that way, but the people making this anime didn't seem to care. In the anime, Moka never evolves past the beautiful, perfect nice girl with a badass alter ego, granted it takes a while before she does so in the manga. Next up is Kurumu, or Tits Mcgee. Even in the manga I never particularly enjoyed Kurumu but she does have some genuine moments in the manga. Unfortunately the most important thing she does in the anime is sing a song in a bikini..... moving on. Yukari the witch is next and I like how they portray witch in this world as between human and monster but not really belonging to either. In the manga she really stands on her own as a character during the club trip arc however even that is ruined in the anime which also includes another character Rubi who, even in the manga, I found her affection towards Tsukune unnecessary. Finally we have everyone favorite character, Mizore. Mizore is what made me want to keep watching since she is my favorite character, but alas even she couldn't save it.
Enjoyment 5/10 - From what you can tell, I did not enjoy this anime, I can only see it as an insult to the source material. Aside from the character introduction episodes, no part of what made the manga so great is in the anime. Where is the school festival arc? Where's Hokuto and Kiria? Those guys are part of the reason I love the manga so much.
Overall 5/10 - My biggest problem with the Rosario + Vampire anime is that they took a series that started out as just another harem comedy but turned into a thrilling monster action series with harem elements and assumed that what it was in the beginning was what everyone liked about. I would've scored it lower but I just couldn't grade an adaptation of something I loved so low.
So yeah, this was my first attempt at a review. I'm sure my arguments aren't that great and I could have gone into more detail in some places, but I just wanted to throw out my 2 cents. I'm open to any discussion or counter-arguments.
