Portable loli vampire, at your service.
First of all, let me apologize for not making a post sooner. Winter leaves me so letargic and sluggish, making me more useless than a dazzled Fuuko. Finaly Winter 2008 anime season has started, bringing along several long awaited projects. One in particular is Rosario + Vampire, the awaited anime adaptation of the Shonen Jump manga created by Akihisa Ikeda. Now, you’ve probably read Impz’s summary post about R+V ep 1 so I don’t need to repeat myself on what it consists. What I wish to add is my own view of the anime adaptation: It may be Gonzo, but it doesn’t suck as most blogger are depicting it!
It Is Just Me Or…
Rosario + Vampire is a manga that I know for quite some time and that I’m eagerly following it (among my other 50 current mangas -.-Y). So I’ve waited for the start of the show patiently. But when it was finaly released I was surprised by the negative view of R+V anime around the blogger community.
Aroduc, Omni, Hinano and several other bloggers reviewed the first episode, criticizing several aspects such as sub-par animation, off-beat tempo, “excess of fanservice”, crappy 3d and the most common reason, “It’s Gonzo.”. Now, my poor soul was entering panic mode after reading what the blogosphere was saying, but I did the usual about opinions: I went to check it for myself.
It was for my surprise that the episode wasn’t that bad as my fellow bloggers have painted; in fact I found it very pleasant and a nice start for the anime. The bad points they had described I’ve found them exaggerated or unfounded….well all except the 3d stair scene, I’m still trying to find a reason why the hell Gonzo made it. But hey, it could be worse….it could be 3d dragons.
Gonzo’s Reputation
Gonzo was always an animation studio with random quality. We have pearls such as Last Exile, Samurai 7 and Romeo x Juliet but also toxic wastes like Dragonaut: The Resonance, Witchblade and Burst Angel. But what’s funny, bloggers seem to only remember the bad ones. Each time Gonzo makes a new anime, it is always criticized with the same comment: “Gonzo never made a good anime since Last Exile”. Well sorry to say, but making opinions from the start based on preconcepts isn’t the right way.
Rosario +Vampire Strong Points
One thing I got used about reviews is that’s easy to criticize and harder to praise. But on the case of R+V, if you pay attention, there are several aspects who are interesting and contributes for my positive view of the show. The first one I’ve noticed was the soundtrack, which ranges from Candy Pop on the quiet moments to Dramatic Trance in the action sequences, which suits perfectly with the show’s style. Another sonde related detail is the quality of the sound design, which is above average for a regular anime. The adaptation of the manga events is well made too, with the usual slight change of details to fit the anime media better and to give the scenes more life.
Panties….
The Panties Issue
The last thing I want to refer about the R+V reviews is the remarks about “low quality and excessive fanservice”, more accurately the amount of panty shots. While I agree with the point of view of the recent posts about fanservice such as the one written by Crusader, the case here is that this isn’t exactly intended to be interpret as arousing fanservice. Sure, we get to see flashes of Moka’s lower underwear and a nice cleavage, but the point here is to serve as a comedic element, setting up Tsukune and Moka in several embarrasing moments, which leads to his uneasiness around Moka. Which leads to my statement…. It’s just panties!
So, Should I See It Or Not?
In the end , what’s the veredict about R+V? The answer is simple: it’s too soon to have a formed opinion. Yes, so far there are alot of reasons for this show to have success but one episode is never enough to have a full view on what the show’s capable. Similar situations happened before, such like what happened recently with ef – a tale of memories: the first episodes were badly criticized but as the show progressed the same critics changed their opinions and recategorized it as great. But from what I’ve seen from the first episode and if Gonzo keeps somewhat faithfull to the manga, this will be an enjoyable show to be seen.
24 Comments
“In the end, what’s the veredict about R+V? The answer is simple: it’s too soon to have a formed opinion.”
Awww man, what a copout. Laaame.
In my own entry on R + V I chose not to bother judging its quality. The very idea of trying to assess it objectively (especially given its genre, and we’ve only one episode) is a little odd.
However, I would like to point out that panties are never ‘just’ panties.
Such a show can not be taken seriously.
Is there a chance that this show might be good? 10%
However the 90% and all of anime history point to the fact that this will be another cheap, immature, and plain waste of an anime and time.
@Orion: the veredict is about the anime in general; alot can change in a couple of eps. But if you read ahead, my opinion about it based only on ep. 1 isn’t bad.
@IKnight: Panties can be just panties, specially on R+V, since they aren’t depicted on a erotic way.
I think you’d notice if the panties were removed (I mean, if there were no pantyshots, not . . . !)
ergo they must have some role to play in the show.
At least, that’s how I see it.
saw someone’s review about it. All the screencaps that i saw are pantsu all the way. XD is it nice?
although i am not going to watch this show XP didn’t like the manga, so i wdn’t follow the anime, i have to say, i remmeber gonzo as one with excellent animation LOL just to show that there are people in the anime community who thinks the other way about gonzo (though i am just a cat LOL). Some of my mecha/semi-mecha/maybe not so mecha series came from gonzo – vandread, gatekeepers and yes last exile and oh yes Kiddy grade and oh yeah trinity blood. Bearing in mind that some times, gonzo is just the folks that gives the money to produce the series but without money, no animation will be made so *shrugs* Everyone have different taste *shrugs*
Well, I would have wished that they did not have that many pantsu scenes because it is actually a decent romance comedy series that will work out. I do not think that the series will be that different from the hundred of anime series before it, but it doesn’t mean that the same formula will not work.
Now, I just hope they do not go into the onsen episode and other classic generic episodes that soon. I prefer to have less fanservice, more laughter. No, fanservice does not equate to more laughter, especially not the pantsu shots at least.
By the way, I want my loli to appear now.
I really don´t see a reason for starting the show with a girl riding a bike and positioning the camera in a low view so basically everything we see are her panties, for a short break and then we have the same thing, but this time in a sideway view.
Walking trough school can be made in a lot of ways, why do it have to be at an angle that leaves her panties fully exposed?
It would have been enough for them to walk in the halls with her clinging onto him.
An Orc that has that long tongue? I don´t know why but I didn´t think Orcs had that long tongues. But anyway, “chuu” is enough to have me watching the show since I do fancy the whole “sealed horrifying monster in sweet girl” line :p
Orc might have been a translation issue, the manga later reveals that this certain monster is a “half-breed” or a excuse to introduce own monster concepts. Not that this is bad since guessing the “classics” before the shocking relevation is usually easy.
I like the manga but I don´t know if I will continue to watch the anime if the exessive fanservice continues.
Nobody has mentioned that Gonzo produced the first series of Full Metal Panic, still one of my favourite animes and well worth seeing again.
Full Metal Panic has panty shots from low angles in the first couple of episodes (just to get our interest up?)and that was pretty much it for the rest of the series.
Their lousy animation of a jumbo jet was the only jarring note in an otherwise excellent series very true to the authors original vision.
Rosario + vampire has rather more panty shots than FMP did but Gonzo may well tone it down a little after the first few episodes. I don’t see how they can tone it down too much though unless Moka gets a longer skirt!
I’ll watch at least a few more episodes before deciding.
You can’t really compare a show like this to something like ef or Clannad, where the first episodes split the fan base. The criticisms are different in each case, other than the Shaft/Kyoani sucks argument.
I don’t even care about fanservice. My main concern with Rosario is that it’s a love comedy, but there are hints of a “serious” subplot, which never turn out well in these types of shows because its hard to take the characters themselves seriously. Still, I’m interested enough to keep watching, and I usually like bad shows like this, as long as they keep the angst low.
Well…you may think that panties are just panties,
but i’d be willing to bet large sums of money that the producers of the show added these scenes to serve as fanservice in order to attract a certain audience ^_^.
The serious subplot works for R+V though, despite what you may think. If you’ve read the manga, it becomes highly addicting. I would know, I’m experiencing major Rosario cravings ;_;
@Igunis: Lol, I’ve created another addict….
My God did anyone else think that this anime had one of the most unoriginal plots ever (panties and all); however, I continued to watch and hope that somehow I would be proved wrong – I’m still waiting.
The point with Gonzo: That’s for, like, every other anime company out there. (My continuing beef with Gainax, $unrise, SHAFT, and KyotoAni withstanding.) Either you praise them, or you want them to burn to the ground. I still think Gonzo is a good company despite their issues. They made Chrono Crusade, Trinity Blood, Glass Fleet, and Pumpkin Scissors.
Also: First impressions are extremely important nowadays. So it wouldn’t matter if you’re a fanservicy panchira-filled mixture of “@-school” and “Darkstalkers.” If you have a male lead, he’s a loser, he gets injured within the first ten minutes; the show is thrown in the “Ignore” box (with the rest of this season’s anime).
http://randomc.animeblogger.net/image/Rosario%20to%20Vampire/Rosario%20to%20Vampire%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2006.jpg
The male isn’t as weak as you think.
That is all. *whistles*
@Slightly Bald Wizard: Yes, he isn’t that weak
@Igunis: no spoiling
How about conjecture?
a) The teacher’s statement (and Moka’s confirmation) that humans shouldn’t be able to enter (the barrier surrounding) the school.
and a possible b) Tsukune can soak up quite a bit of damage, and can pull off Moka’s rosario…
possible guesses?
a) Tsukune is not a normal human–say descended from a monster hunter family, for example
b) he’s born a monster, so effectively sealed away he never knew–but maybe his parents did…
Or he could be non-human in the sense that he has damage immunity from vending machines…
Or what the teacher meant was that humans couldn’t cross the barrier on their own. Tsukune made it thru because he was brought across on the bus.
Just started reading up on the manga and do I like how the main guy does indeed become more interesting. I think I’ll enjoy the anime, best way to summarize it is it seems it’ll perfectly fill in the gap left by last season’s Goshusho-sama Ninomiya-kun. Kinda bummed that it might only be 13 episodes but I guess they will move at a rather brisk pace since they have a voice actress down for Mizure (the ever awesome Rie Kugimiya).
I agree with Extrange on Gonzo being decent. People tend to forget that production companies will put out various shows to please the mass majority. The overall quality of the graphics in Gonzo are very good ie, FMP, Speed Grapher, and Basilisk, and I also appreciate the risks that they tend to take with their shows. I do think that Gonzo does a better job on shounen type of anime, rather than that of the shoujo type. I don’t think that the anime community shuns Gonzo, since I was a fansubber myself. I always see heavy traffic on Gonzo productions, but then again, what do I know…