Alright, well, this is probably one of the worst shows I've ever watched; just thought I'd get that out there immediately in case you didn't know my view on this. I'm very pleased that everyone else seems to realise how poor this show's quality is, otherwise I'd probably have to press the eject button on my 'anime fan' seat and get out of this community as fast as possible.
What drew me to this show initially was the art, which is what usually gets me watching a show in the first place. The art of this show is surprisingly (given how horrendous everything else is), very good; phenomenal in fact. I was particularly drawn to the eye design of the characters, which is something I can always appreciate when it comes to anime art.
Even the concept of the show, 'a family of attractive vampiric brothers sharing a living space with a young girl', was something that took my interest. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I sure as hell wasn't expecting this blowout.
The main character of this show, Yui Komori, despite being quite attractive, is unfortunately somewhat mentally dull. I would hazard a guess that she's missing some key thought- processes, in fact. The way in which her character interacts with the rest of the show's characters is just vacant, and very uninspiring. You feel that there is no dynamic to this girl's reactions to her surroundings, and the reason you think this is because you're dead right; she's probably the most boring character in the entire show, and that's seriously saying something.
Diabolik Neck Biting should be the name of this show, because there are no 'lovers' present; this is merely a 'story' (I say story very loosely) about a girl running away from a group of adolescents and young men trying to bite her for sexual pleasure. While there may be a few scenes here and there giving the illusion of a 'story' existing in the show besides that of said neck biting, the actual, real 'story' is about a girl who serves no purpose in this anime other than to have her neck bitten repeatedly. I'm talking, at least 5 neck biting scenes per episode, and there can be as many as 3 or 4 different people biting her in the one episode. The entire synopsis of this show should be changed to the following: 'Girl enters house and finds herself in an endlessly repeating cycle of vampiric rape'.
Just when you think the supposed 'story' that the show is trying its very best to tell is actually creating some kind of valid background to the whole situation, the neck biting makes a dramatic return, and reminds you why you're actually watching the show, or at the very least, the only reason why anyone would want watch the show. Who would actually want to watch it knowing how bad it is? I have no clue. I really don't think that someone with a cannibalism fetish, a blood fetish, or just a biting fetish would find this pathetic excuse of a show to be 'entertaining', or even arousing! It's difficult for me to even describe the execution of these neck biting scenes, because it feels like, as I have said, this neck biting deal is the whole entire point of this show. It gets repetitive by around episode 2/3, and this continues for the entire show. It's so pointless that it leaves me stunned for words.
There are no 'lovers' to be seen, but the quality of the show's episodes is diabolically horrendous, so I suppose the anime's name does have some relevance to what's happening in the show. I would really liken this show to your average H-Anime like so:
H-Anime - Possesses a weak story that is not designed to interest anyone, but rather exists to create a context for the sex scenes that serve as the true purpose of the show.
Diabolik Lovers - Possesses a weak story that is not designed to interest anyone, but rather exists to create a context for the neck biting scenes that serve as the true purpose of the show.
Diabolik Lovers, long story short, had a much better life ahead of it in the H-Anime world. Except, this show has close to zero nudity. It fails as an H-Anime, despite having all of the prerequisites save for the show's rating, and also fails as a normal anime. Completely. I will repeat this again:
The only positive aspect to this show is the art. Diabolik Lovers has some of my favourite anime art, yet it's one of the worst shows I have ever watched. That's a real shame, because the potential was there for something good to exist here, but it was thrown head first out the door to pander to a seemingly brain- dead demographic who value 50 neck biting scenes across 12 episodes over a legitimate story- related purpose. Fine if they're dedicated sex scenes, and the anime's rating is Rx, but not fine if it's an R - 17 anime that's not even allowed to show nudity.
Excluding the art, this show is up there as one of the most astounding anime failures I have ever had the displeasure of watching, and quite frankly, I don't know when I'll get around to watching the second season. If it's more of the same, I'll probably drop it before the second episode, because I honestly have better things to do with my time. In fact, I think any person who has any value in their lives whatsoever would be able to find something more productive to do with their time than watching this series.
Do not watch this show, even if you like Vampires. You will never want to watch another erotic vampiric biting scene again in your entire life, and your whole perception of what makes a vampire 'cool' will be annihilated for all eternity, if Twilight hasn't already done so. Please take yourself over to Hellsing Ultimate and give this show a miss; at least Hellsing Ultimate has a sex scene, and that was an INTERESTING show! Just forget you ever heard about Diabolik Lovers; I honestly wish I could forget.
