The story is somewhat stable: Yuliy (the writers were probably going for the Russian-sounding "Yury", but hey, that's just my theory) is part of a globe-trotting Vampire-exterminating outfit which is based in London. They track down a head Vampire in Shanghai, who then scuttles off to Japan in search for safety, and a mysterious artifact called the Ark of the Sirius. Hi-jinks ensue, much blood is spilled, many Vampires are ashified and many plot twists are found, but basically the rest of the story is a race against time to find said Ark, before the Vampires find it.
"Now, we all know what a Vampire is (hopefully), but what is a Sirius?" I hear you cry. Well to be honest, the series doesn't really explain as such. They seem to be non-humans, with a rather ancient and complex culture, all the while living rather simplistically in a secluded area in (what I suppose is) the North of Japan, possibly rather close to Russia. During the whole series, the Vampires refer to them as "dogs" or "wolves", so it could be more or less safe to assume that they're a kind of werewolf-proxy which are on the brink of extinction, but they don't really take a wolf-like form: the closest they get to that (and only a couple Sirius seem to be able to do it) is a form of berserk rage they display when in danger, or angry, which apparently can consume then if they lose control (their eyes shine Will-O'The Wisp blue, and veins of the same colour appear on their skin). But this ability isn't really explained much either. Yuliy (who is a Sirius by the way) uses it a couple times, most impressively in the second episode, while fighting against a female Vampire (but that gets cut short) and even more impressively some time later while fighting against the head Vampire, but more or less stops using it completely after that. And I must admit I found that somewhat disappointing.
The characters were okay, nothing to write home about (still trying to work out why a British Intelligence agent looks so much like a cowboy, but hey, Japan), there's a vague, one-sided, slightly force love interest which goes nowhere, the Vampire-hunting posse is relatively fun (with backstories which aren't fleshed out enough as far as I'm concerned, but this is a 12 episode anime, so I guess time was of the essence). A few other side characters which fill gaps more or less snugly, including a lisp-less, limp-less hyperactive, slightly daft Igor with only one pair of thumbs who's not very interesting; a twist-filled elder brother covered in scars; two loli Vampires and a Head Vampire (not the one who fled Shanghai, another one) who wants the power of the Ark for a "good" reason and is more or less a Dandy.
The art in itself is magnificent, the "beast-form" of the lesser Vampires remind me quite a lot of the Vampires from the Castlevania Series (the one on Netflix), some 3-D CGI pops up from time to time but it isn't too shocking (unlike that which can be found in "Giniro no Kami no Agito" for example). The recurring blood splatters are sufficiently splattery, the dying animation (the ashification) of the vampires is rather well done and the overall imagery is very nice.
The background music is good, but it doesn't really stick in your mind, so it's somewhat forgettable. The overall sounds are rather good as such.
So yeah, over all, this anime was a rather enjoyable watch, combining shônen-style combat and plot with the darker, grittier side of Vampires, all the while being very enjoyable artistically. This anime is a good way to spend a few hours, if you have nothing else to do or if you want to sit back and relax after a hard day's work.
