First Impressions: Rosario + Vampire

I knew it! From the moment an anime adaption was announced for Rosario + Vampire, I knew it was going to go downhill. Was I right? Absolutely.

First and foremost, I think I should say this: I'm a fan on the manga. So should you expect this impressions article to compare the anime to the manga, and not on it's own merits? Yes, you should. I'll not go into an in-depth comparison, but some of the things that are, and are not, in the anime really irked me.


Plot:

The story is about Tsukune Aono, a normal human teenager. Tsukune isn't exactly the a greatest student so he was really happy when he was finally accepted by a high school. The only catch is the high school is for monsters only. That's right, monsters. As in fairy tale type monsters. I am somewhat familiar with the ensuing plot, and monsters from legends of all cultures make their way into this series. I've never exactly studied such things in depth, but I was accustomed to some of the ones later on, so I'm sure you will be too if it's not exactly your forte.



Our hero Tsukune, gets run over by a girl on a bicycle. How convenient for him, because she's somewhat attractive and we all know attractive girly girls flock to injured boys like flies flock to strawberries covered in honey and Aunt Jemima's Butter Rich Maple Syrup. This girl happens to be a vampire named Moka Akashiya.

Ahem! Sound familiar? Well it should. It's not, word for word, exactly like something else, but you can guess where this is going, no? Do I sound irritated enough? I'm trying my best.

Other monsters are jealous that Tsukune, this seemingly ordinary guy, gets to hang around said beautiful girl. They are monsters. Instinct and emotions are more prevalent than common sense and rationality. Even though it is against the rules, these monsters change from their human form to their true form. Tsukune has no supernatural powers (yet) so he can't fight. He'll have to rely on Moka to protect him since she seems to be much stronger than any of your typical run-of-the-mill monsters. Not only that, she looks down on them and she's an elitist. And I'm going to leave it at that.

Rant:

I'll try to make this as fast with the smallest possible amount of whining. First, the anime has 95% more fan-service than the manga. I find it absolutely appalling. It's pointless, irrelevant, distracting. It adds absolutely nothing to the show, therefore it retracts.

Tsukune is a wimp. He's supposed to be right? Nothing is really wrong with that, but this time around Tsukune is a wimp that is completely obnoxious. I used to find him quite amusing freaking out over the littlest things. Now, not so much. He's completely void of emotion. Why should I care if he gets hurt or is about to die?

The anime has 100% less of the shonen feel the manga had. A fight happens in every chapter/episode. It was the part I most looked forward too. Moka might be pretty, but once you take off the rosary, she turns into her true from and decimates any foes standing before her (for now). The fight in the anime probably lasted two seconds. She just kicks him. We see it from far away. It was absolutely nothing spectacular.

That is one thing they did do right - the portrayal of vampire Moka. A bit less of the psycho-crazy look in her eyes, but still pretty sweet.

I could go on and on. But I have a feeling this is as best as the show is going to get. More and more female characters will enter the story so I can only assume the horrendous fan-service will only multiply. Will this show be a true harem romo-com? Or will it be about a group of friends fighting together and trying to live normal lives as human high-school students, like it's supposed to be? Which one will attract the most money/popularity? Ecchi, fan-service laden, harem comedies are much more popular than shonen series', right?



Bottom line:

Move along people. Nothing to see here. Nothing you haven't already seen, sans the monster twist. If you want a good romo-com, this isn't it, because it's not supposed to be. I recommend the manga through and through. I feel like I'm judging the anime way too much, too early. If it turns out for the better I'll write an apology or something of the sort. From what I've seen so far, it doesn't look like it will turn out that way.