Well after watching almost a whole season of story-less fanservice, it's time to look around and find something different for this next season ...

ANN says: Action, Horror, Supernatural but not much else.
However, the image is looking rather loli-goth and hopefully not a good representation of the shows content


ANN's manga (2006) storyline that it's supposedly based on is:

After millennia in hiding, Mina Tepes, the Princess of the ancient covenant and ruler of all vampires, wants change. Using the vast wealth of the Tepes line, she has paid off the entire gross national debt of Japan and in so doing, gained the authority to create a "special district" off the coast of Japan that is to become the future haven to vampires the world over. Now, on the eve of the landmark press conference announcing the existence of vampires to the world, terrorists and rival factions plot to assassinate Mina before she has a chance to make her world-changing announcement.

The manga pic (which doesn't help) on ANN is:


Manga has 7 volumes so far (about 5 or 6 months per volume) and also 3 volumes where released in the USA last year ... but none this year.

I haven't read any of the manga.

It starts 7-Jan ... 3 weeks - Thu night on AT-X

There's a preview out already (I just noticed) that I'll check and comment on also.

Edit: OK, they seem to like having her topless - that should get the interest of some here ...
Hopefully, however, it should have plenty of horror and gore ...
Gave me the impression of a Lycan / Vampire issue between her and the boy? Not sure though if he is a Lycan
(Underworld, the movie, was released 2003 - so maybe the mangaka got some ideas from there? I don't know)

....

Sadly Kano - I think it is representative, though probably mixed in with those listed genres. This was mentioned on Sankaku a long while ago - naturally pointing out the most questionable content in their article.

[spoiler=squick]Apparently her being [something I can't remember, being the princess maybe] requires her to be a virgin. The visual gynaecology exam for confirmation of course is plainly shown in the manga and on sankaku with the aid of a special chair, lack of clothes and creepy old guys performing the deed.[/spoiler]
So... yeah. Another one to keep from the kids I think.

Ah well - there are very few I do actually let the kids watch anyway :P

They have plenty of other stuff to watch on their iPods and on their PCs and on TV and ...

OK the raw of EP 1 ... hmm ... I can't see this being any good unless the first episode was in no way indicative of the rest of the show ...
However, it does seem possible that it was just a bad idea for an intro ... considering the majority of it :P

Edit: TT's been down again for more than a day ...

Ok, so I hope Im not misplacing my expectations again.

My first impression.... ITS RIPPING OFF HARUHI S1's start (in the form of a strange show) :P
Character Designs was good I like it very much, I'll give it both my thumbs and perhaps a pint of my blood. :D
And lastly, Shaft... hope they wont go overboard how they do on this one, with Bakemonogatari's success beneath them, hope they are not drunk enough from that...

How strange...

Sankaku is vaguely positive about the first ep not using loli service. They of course reposted the pages of the gynaecological exam immediately after to bring it down again.

Randomguy Omni thinks it's a fair episode but a poor use of an episode out of a 12 ep run.

Kurogane is a fan and thinks it's yet another adaptation fail.

Well, the sub made no difference, still have the same opinion of the first show as before.

Again, if it has nothing to do with the rest of the show, it may not be total fail ... it may have just been a bad idea for an intro :P
(It does, however, seem likely it was just a fail bad idea for an intro that isn't like the rest of it)

... Yes I am indirectly agreeing with you SM about the Haruhi comparison :)

Quick update from Kuro - Ep2 has him in despair for it is indeed adaptation fail.

Just watched Ep 2 ... just finished now :)
Well as usual I don't care about adaption coz I rarely read the manga anyway :P

But I gotta quote something I said in the 1st post! :D :D

Anyway, back to Ep 2 ... yeah I'm glad that Ep 2 is nothing like the Ep 1 total fail.

Overall, I liked Ep 2 ... mainly due to the fact that the Mina/Akira past has already been shown so that it's not something we have to wait to find out about somewhere a few episodes later ...

I really think that the pedo interest in this show is a bit bizarre coz it's really nothing at all ... so far ... but then again maybe it doesn't take much to get a pedo excited? I don't know. Though, I guess the OP doesn't help.
However, even the shade gel scene seemed pretty docile IMO.
Though I would wonder ... do people like Negima! for that reason also? (Eva)
Hopefully they have no intention of animating that part Strange_One mentioned.

More violence and gore please :)

Just so you know the manga was liscenesd by seven seas quite a long time ago.

I`ve been collecting the manga.

I`m abit worried of the start of the anime.
The first episode was fine since it was pretty much introducing the viewers to vampires but the second episode with the whole amnesia c*ap was really a load of *******.
I just hope it gets to the manga`s storyline fast.
The trailer did show a scene from the assasin arc, which is really going to be exciting.

Nice to see they kept the dance with vampire maid(omakes from the manga)

I guess I`ll keep my mouth shut since no one has read it.

Currently the first 5 volumes have been released in english.

Meanwhile ... back to ...

Ep 3
I guess the issue of Mina being queen should ensure Akira doesn't become a paedophile ... hopefully.

Anyway, he has Meiren if he needs that :D :D

The end was rather unexpected ...

Certainly nothing in this yet to turn me off watching it and I still hope that it will be true to the ideal of vampires and monsters ... death and destruction :D
... well the ending was.

Though, it is a pity that even this show has the usual hints of fanservice with the school skirts ...
I guess most anime has become that way now ...

EP 4... uggh too tired to post EP summary...


Anyways, I dont really get any sort of pedophile && || lolicon feeling from Akira towards Tepes.
Well, Mina can be provocative and "sexy" that would make REAL pedo's froth at the mouth, Akira IMO seems to be not into that kind of thing.
All I can perceive as far as my human sensory organs can detect, kinda close to a onii-chan and imouto sorta relationship.

Oh, and after finding out that Mina's VA is aged below 20...
Wow... just wow!
No wonder it kinda feels odd when she speaks in an old-fashioned way(IMO its just different... Probably its just me nit-picking though)...

[Spoiler=Ep 5]Well there's still plenty of death and destruction happening :)
Hmm - this turn of events showing that Mina is deceiving Akira is a little unexpected.
First the School President, then the ring and I also wonder who setup the attack on Akira and Yuki ...

Pity Akira didn't take advantage of Yuki at the end ...
Though he doesn't seem to want to take advantage of Meiren either ... the boy's got pitiful taste ...[/Spoiler]

[spoiler=EP 6]Akira goes rebel against the princess...


[/spoiler]

WTH?! is with this development!

[spoiler=EP8]Hmmm. the rift between Yuki and Mina has already been filled after Mina read something written by Yuki... A sort of novel with words such as:



And they seem to be close enough to cuddle each other :wub:

The appearance of Mina's personal Beowulf Elite Eight, Oh gawd that sounds cheesy, is cool... Fujoushi service perhaps?


Why oh why! isnt it unfair!? The laws of Physics in anime in which if you pull on a female character, the chances are it'll end-up like such:


Oh, Vera the Black Ruby :wub::wub:

[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Go Figure... :heh:]


[/spoiler]

Well, Ep 8 started almost like a "Well that tidies everything up for now"

But, C.P. - was Yuki referring to Mina and Akira? No obvious C.P. there so far.

Time now for Arc 3 ... Telomere, Hysterica (Francesca)

Edit: (I'd call Arc 1: Mina/Akira and Arc 2: The School)

Just decided to start this series. Alright so far, but with only twelve episodes scheduled they're not going to be able to go very far beyond the current arc in the manga, which is a shame.

Unfortunately, SFW is dragging their heels with this release so I DL'ed the RAW anyway even though I can't understand it. It wraps up the Francesca/Hysterica arc, BTW.

I thought there was a manga-thread for DitVB, but oh well...

I think it was kano who warned me that v10 ended on a cliff-hanger.

V11 raw is out...

:rant: ...another cliff-hanger...