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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Rosario + Vampire: Season One Review

Rosario + Vampire: Season One (Limited Edition) $35
Wow, Vampires and anime, I guess that's what my main site focus has been about been lately. The fan service filled delight known as Rosario + Vampire: Season One recently released from Funimation might have fueled that.


I'm gonna start by how a friend who saw just a glimpse of this a few years back before it was dubbed went insane by how much fan service this dolled out. It might be beyond or equal to Sekirei Season 2 fan service and definitely more than Heaven's Lost Property, which is saying a lot. Funimation must have wanted a boobie filled Christmas this holiday season with all these titty filled title released at once.

So lets go into the oddball harem anime that gives us monster babes in high school.
Tsukune Aono can't seem to make it to a new high school, which doesn't make much sense, but maybe in Japan you have to pass tests to enter different high schools? Anyway,  he's Dad went drinking one night and picked up a brochure to a mysterious high school.

Every thing's fine on his first day. Why all the graves and tombstones leading up the Yokai Academy are nothing to give any mind to. Ooh, a hot girl with pink hair crashed into him. The class starts and the teacher seems like hotty with a cat fetish. Oh, wait what did that guy just say, this is a school for monsters? Yes, Tsukune has made the common mistake of thinking a high school called Yokai (Monster) Academy would be normal.





Ahhh, he starts freaking out, but not enough when the totally cute pink haired girl wants him to stay. Moka Akashiya wants him, not for his body, but for his blood. Yup, she's an uber cute vampire. After a fight that is incredibly fast, so fast that a cut vampire bat/ hamster thing tells you, you see Moka's transformation into a S Class vampire, because in Japan there is of course a classification system for monsters? Moka transforms into a stronger more ass-kicking version of herself when the Rosary above her breast (this is what there narrator says) is taken off. Somehow only Tsukune can take it off. Now Tsukune wants to leave, but on the other hand hot babe.

 Everyone loves the smell of Humans. Well at least in Yokai Academy, this leads to day two when a hot big boobed succubus with blue hair goes after Tsukune almost kills him, loses to Moko who transfroms to defeat, rather, rinse, repeat, the succubus Kurumu Kurono is part of Tsukune's harem.

Shortly after that the young witch Yukari  falls for Moka, not Tsukune. This goes into some long boobie grabs. Eventually monsters attack and magics in the air. The adorable witch Yukari now loves Tsukune. This harem soon adds a Snow Women, with ice powers, in the perpetual lollipop licking, stalker Mizore Shirayuki. A more adult witch falls for Tsukune after another battle, the gothic Ruby Tojo. This battle with her was probably most insane and scary in the whole first season.

So if you haven't got it, hot girls who are monsters or monsters go after Tsukune Aono every episode. The battles are short and there's usually a lot of lead up. Attempted murder on campus seems to be fine as no charges are ever brought up by the school and though some of the monsters are way past the line they just appear in class the next day after trying to kill Tsukune with not even detention. It's a very silly monster school.

I have to say I like the girls with their different yet anime predictable personalities. Moka has both the nice girl and tough chick in her with her transformation. Kurumu Kurono is after Tsukune all the time with boobie rubs or any chance to rub her knockers all over him. Yukari is the little sister angle, but she's also got some lesbian action towards Moko, she's also kind of a brat. Mizore is the withdrawn girl whose shy. Ruby, Ruby is crazy, but in the second season develops more.

When they all fight for Tsukune it's comedy gold. This is a fan service anime with stories about peeping toms and the love of the student body for Moka. Though most stories have the same actions over again, many times I found myself laughing at the hi jinks of the high school characters and dirty ideas the prance through with a monster vibe.

Mermaids tricking other students into their club to eat their essence made no sense, because I'd think that get in trouble for killing another student, so maybe it's temporary. Then there just panty shots and a huge female body of students who all look fine.us

Towards the end of the first season it gets darker, which I don't like, just go with comedy and dirty humor, don't try and go dark. The Discipline Squad takes over the school...Wait, Discipline Squad, I just wrote about the Disciplinary Squad in Sekireis. I guess it's another common theme in anime like a classification system for everything. Anyway they start harassing the school clubs and Tsukune's harem is on the newspaper club so this leads to a fight that really had no place in the anime. The other problem is I couldn't take the main bad guy seriously in this arc, because it's the same voice actor from Excel Saga who voiced Lord Lplazzao.

The other problems is that sometimes the animation can be poor, I remember seeing a scene with CGI gravestones from a first person perspective that looked really ugly. Moka's transformation with bats looks awkward and some times looks bad when the bats are absorbed into her? It seems like one time they coated her as a bat  suit around her and then after that the transformation became her absorbing bats. Yet, other times animation goes high like the fight with Ruby.

Nothing wrong with the audio with both Japanese and English dialogue, video was fine. Funimation likes a simple interface for the menu, but it has one fun little switch. When switching between menu's you change what Moka's wearing.

Even with these dark episodes it goes right back to fan service anime in the end and that's the way I want it. The melding of monsters and hot babes brings a fun series of high school hi jinks to anime fans. I got hooked on the characters and have to say enjoyed Season 2 even more, which I'll be reviewing shortly.