DESCRIPTION

CAST

REVIEWS

• 

  vampirevore

  80/100
  If you can accept the limitations it’s working with then you’ll probably appreciate it quite a bit

  As always, a generic warning that this is spoiler free as usual but Does include reference to things that You might consider a spoiler, so maybe skip straight to the end if you consider references to just some of the events of the first episode to be a step too far.

  Vampire in the Garden is a new Netflix anime title from the madlads over at Wit Studio, who have yet again delivered a distinct and interesting story as they continue to build their reputation beyond Attack on Titan. I’ll be honest and say I watched this entirely on a whim, with therefore no real expectations and no intention to review it. But what was initially a blank slate with sloppily drawn character and plot outlines very quickly became a beautiful and engaging piece of art in its own right, and even though it was such a Short story it definitely felt like one worth talking about by as early as the second installment of its five episode run. To give you the general outline, it’s a story about two girls - one human and one vampire - who decide they no longer want anything to do with the hatred, duties and violence of the war between their people. The pair jointly go on an adventure to discover Eden, a paradise where vampires and human beings can live together without fear or conflict.

  The first episode tried to get too much done in too little time, and I thought at first that that would be how the entire thing would play out, because how can you really develop a story and a full cast of characters to any appreciable degree in such a short time? The simple answer is: you don’t! And this anime (past the first episode) didn’t even try to, in an approach that shouldn’t have worked as well as it did. You pretty much get thrown right into the deep end around the beginning of episode 1, with Momo (our main character) taking part in a military operation against a group of vampires, and she is - in a character defining moment - unable to open fire on a vampire that had the appearance of a child. Naturally, at this point you don’t know what exactly is happening or why it’s happening other than the general sense there’s a war which you nonetheless have no idea the scope or duration of or even what exact factions are involved, who was the aggressor and who’s in a better position, and by the end of the story you still don’t have this information delivered to you for the most part. Ordinarily that would be the hallmark of a poorly conceived or poorly constructed world and story, but in this case it achieves the exact opposite effect. It does a fantastic job of not biting off more than it can chew while still teasing things that hint at a much larger world, and the way it does that is by pulling away from the war and focusing on the narrower perspective of Momo’s journey and her feelings towards and relation to obligations and violence, a struggle and journey she shares with Fine who is our other main character for this story. Each individual stop on their adventure felt like getting another small window into a much bigger world, with the sense that a lot took place before and after and even parallel to what the audience got to see. In that way it gave me the same feeling as something like Jin-Roh or Maquia, which are Random Comparisons of course but still examples of the kind of storytelling featured here.

  This show does have a distinct visual style, but it didn’t always land well, particularly with regard to the character designs. The vampires all have white hair and eyes that look like they have cataracts, it doesn’t Look especially nice and it makes individual vampires harder to distinguish between at points. This isn’t too big of an issue since we don’t actually end up spending an awful lot of time with more than just a handful of characters who are easily recognisable, but it is worth mentioning. Recognisable doesn’t mean Good of course, but honestly the designs aren’t anything you wouldn’t have seen in a million other anime already anyway, so you most definitely won’t mind them. The animation on the other hand was always quite good, which I suppose is as expected from Wit, but it’s still not something you should ever take for granted and it wasn’t Flawless either - there’s a few moments where we get slow panning shots and still frames but once again if you’ve watched any other anime at all you’ve probably already gotten used to that. As a final note on the actual visual aspect of things, the art did look exceptionally good at points, a fair number of individual shots and even just the backgrounds were wallpaper worthy, my complaint about the character designs was more of a nitpick than anything else in the full context of things.

  The overarching message was as simple as it was heartfelt - to take charge of your own life and not be shackled by the past. It’s effectively what Fine says to Momo in episode 1, and it’s a goal that the two of them then spend the next four episodes striving towards, before coming to the realisation that there is no paradise beyond what you choose and build for yourself. And in that context, they may have found their Eden within each other’s arms, as their relationship embodied the unity and selflessness that they so desperately searched for. “The past” you need to break free from can of course be interpreted in a few ways, the most obvious of which in this story being the cycle of hatred and bloodshed that the humans and vampires seem to have been involved in for so long, but I personally quite appreciated the writers once again narrowing the scope of things to a more personal level. Momo had to grow beyond her abusive parent to truly embrace herself and her dream, Fine had to grow beyond the weight and pressure of a crown she never wanted. They’re pretty easy to relate to or project yourself onto, and that might’ve contributed to why I became so invested in both characters in spite of how short everything was.

  So to go over everything, this is a short, sweet story with a bumpy start but overall excellent worldbuilding through its minimalist approach. Don’t go in expecting insane art or the best visuals ever, or a massive cast of characters that gets fully explored, it’s only five episodes after all. If you can accept the limitations it’s working with then you’ll probably appreciate it quite a bit. I for one appreciated it enough to give it a score of __80 out of 100__, just on the borderline between my favourite pieces of media, and things that I thought were just Good without enough appeal to bring me back to them.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  R2R

  65/100
  "Let's find our own Paradise"

  https://anilist.co/anime/108357/Vampire-in-the-Garden/ 5 episodes, 2.5 hrs, *Easy binge*

  ---

  There isn't anything particularly bad about this Anime, unless you wanna ponder on how much it chooses not to tell. It only tells what it wants to tell in it's short runtime, which really could've have been more impactful as a movie but is still a pretty decent watch.

  Lively Vampires, Lifeless Humans

  The story takes place in a world where humanity is at the brink of existence... (Bit of a tangent here, but I find it funny how often this line is getting repeated like, HUMANITY IS AT BRINK OF EXISTENCE, like I forgot how much weight that line carries and how much I got used to it xD...)
  Anyway, vampires started to take over the world in both mass and land, while humanity corned itself with nothing but a tower of light as their hope (& guns). Humanity uses some kind of holy light and guns to fight the vampires, while the silver haired vampires just kills humans by sucking their blood, who also have the ability to fly and can also transform into some beast when injected with some kind of drug.. Yeah, humanity's clearly loosing. Humanity also abandoned music and all other semblance of culture, to avoid vampire keen senses, while vampires adopted all of humanities abandoned culture into their own. While the silver haired vampires dance in the moon-lit nights, humanity... does nothing but survive.
  While all that might sound pretty generic and 'done-to-death' formula, the real interesting part is not about the setting but about the journey of two women from each side.

  To the Paradise

  The main focus of the story is about two characters, 'Momo' & 'Fine' (it spells more like 'Fin-a'). Momo is a human solider who hates her lifeless military job and wants to find more about art (mostly music). She has a lively personality under her dead lifestyle. The only thing she loves more than anything, is her friend 'Merina', but you know how innocent friendships in war settings end...
  'Fine' is a vampire and possibly a queen or similarly high ranked individual in the vampire society, who looks livelier than anyone in the room, but is actually dying inside, partly because she refuse to drink blood anymore and partly because of her regrets (which I'll get into it later).
  Both of these women hate their own society for taking away their freedom and at the end of episode 1, when Fine asks Momo to run away with her... (you guessed it). But this run away quickly becomes a journey to find a paradise, a paradise where vampires & humans, sing and dance together. Throughout the runtime, you'll see the laughs, the joys, the fears, the tears, the dreams & the hope these two women carry with each other in their journey, as small as it had been.
  The anime decided to leave their past, in the past, means it doesn't bring up either Fine's tragic flashback or any other side characters backstories and just hints at what could've happened through flashes of memories that doesn't long more than a few seconds. You'll only know what happens right now and you have to get the full story of what's happening & what happened by those small hints. This isn't as complicated/confusing as it might sounds. The creators decided to speed-run, what could've been a 1/2 episodes worth of flashback into 1/2 seconds of mere flashes onto their past and you can more or less interpret what happened with those small hints.

  ---

  Conclusion

  This is on the same level of entertainment as Bubble, except the action is average when compared to Bubble while the drama is better than Bubble, though only just passable. The dub was not bad and pretty alright. And the soundtrack, especially the lead VAs opera (is what it's called, I think) at episode 2 is beautiful.
  And here this ends. Watch this if you're bored.

  Deja Vu?
  Continue on AniList
• 

  Sheggz

  70/100
  This was quite a watch. It's not earth breaking but was quite a fun watch and had it's moments.

  If you've watched anime before, you've definitely seen a story like this. About a rebellious girl choosing something else over what the general norm is. You definitely consider her annoying depending on your stance on dystopian worlds. But as a character she wasn't that bad.

  The other characters in the story besides the main tool had fair motives but nothing too deeply covered. So many aspects of it were surface level so they didn't go too deep in areas. However, doing this as a series and not as a movie really helps convey more.

  They were decent elements about it, a very likable twist here and there. Nothing over the top, just a good watch. If you've never seen a similar story before, it may hold some ground for you or even evoke emotions. It has a wonderful animation here and there a good fight here and there, and some very decent dialogue.

  The composing was fair enough, nothing that blew me away particularly but it never felt as if it was contrary to the scene. The use of music as a cultural tool was very good and the world that was built was a very reasonable one. Nothing necessarily felt out of place, motives were based on solid ideas, there were no shock value deaths.

  What I do think is the best part of the series is its tone. From the first minute to the last, it quickly fleshed out itself as to what it was trying to portray. And as it went along it continued that philosophy.

  It doesn't go down the what's good and what's evil route but it does implore a bit of a trolley effect with a few parts but the tone that was set from the beginning held throughout.

  Nonetheless, whether I think it's worth a watch doesn't really matter. But if you or someone else considers this is something to give of you, you won't be disappointed. Maybe not entirely satisfied depending on what you're looking for, but you won't feel as if this piece of work was just trope after trope.

  It also did well to set up what a vampire society would be like, with a similar vampire hierarchy as to what we have. Everyone the main characters come in contact with have their own little motivations, whether it be running a hotel, sustainability, care for their family, vengeance whatever it was it felt real. It did not insist on itself. Trying to seem deeper than it was. It set up a story, put out a conundrum and had its characters go along.

  Side note, the music that was played in the series, each song or ballad was played in its native language which I found very pleasing. So the exploration of music which is a big part of this series in its own way, did not feel as if it was a second thought. I really liked; and I said it before, how they went about the aspect of culture and how it was ruined/ taken from the humans even though it was initially taught and as time went along things got misunderstood.

  This is my first review so I may have repeated myself quite a lot. But overall I think it's a fair show and if you feel like giving it a chance you should, hopefully I'll have better structure to any future review that I may have.

  Continue on AniList

SIMILAR ANIMES YOU MAY LIKE

• ANIME

  HorrorShiki
• ANIME

  ActionDevils' Line
• ANIME

  DramaTsuki to Laika to Nosferatu
• ANIME

  ActionOwari no Seraph
• ANIME

  ActionNO.6
• ANIME

  ActionDance in the Vampire Bund
• ANIME

  ActionTenrou: Sirius the Jaeger
• ANIME

  ActionMARS RED
• ANIME

  DramaVanitas no Carte
• ANIME

  Actiontakt op.Destiny
• MOVIE

  ActionShisha no Teikoku
• ANIME

  ActionKoutetsujou no Kabaneri