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REVIEW: Dance in the Vampire Bund Episodes 1-12 Streaming


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garfield15



Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 1515
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 10:11 am Reply with quote
Craeyst Raygal wrote:

Secondly, and all apologies to the loli fans amongst us, but why was it necessary from a story perspective for Mina to have a sub-High School age body?
spoiler[So that she wouldn't be impregnated by those three high vampire dudes. They're waiting for her to become a full-fledged woman and she hasn't yet (that they know of anyway. As we know, her true form is an adult)]

Or it's just service. Who knows.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 10:27 am Reply with quote
Yep, very fair-minded review - I don't even have a quibble with it. I enjoyed the series a lot and the snazzy production values certainly factored into it. The pacing and story-telling was a bit choppy as Carl pointed out. I'm reading the manga right now and it's letting me fill in some of the blanks. I look forward to owning this series and putting a brown paper wrapper around it so that people don't think I'm a sex offender.
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hissatsu01



Joined: 08 May 2006
Posts: 963
Location: NYC
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 10:33 am Reply with quote
I find the review to be rather generous. I think I would give it a C/C+. It's a really mediocre show in most ways. The two really squirm-worthy scenes in the entire show and Funimation's mini freak-out over them gave this show a lot more attention than I think it would have gotten otherwise.

The pacing is awful. The music is for the most part just there and not memorable, though there are a few nice tracks and I liked the OP. Mina is far too often the damsel in distress for being the supposedly powerful queen of the vampires. And the animation is a bit too inconsistent for me to ignore. I usually don't mind much, and SHAFT generally fixes stuff like that for the DVD/BD release, but there's an episode where Mina's height constantly changes from shot to shot in the same scene. She goes from waist high to shoulder height and everywhere in between. It was distracting and actually had me laughing after several height changes.

Overall, I think it's a rather forgettable show, and Japanese sales have been pretty bad. I don't think this one will get another season, unless someone feels like blowing money away.
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Veers



Joined: 31 Oct 2008
Posts: 1197
Location: Texas
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 10:36 am Reply with quote
Craeyst Raygal wrote:
Secondly, and all apologies to the loli fans amongst us, but why was it necessary from a story perspective for Mina to have a sub-High School age body?
You know, I thought about this, too. In the story, the reason she gives is that her adult form does not blend in with humans (and what garfield15 said in spoiler tag).

The best thing I could come up with, from a serious storytelling-related perspective, is that as an audience, we would not feel that an older-looking character doing the things Mina does or saying most of the (non-weak-and-dependant-on-Akira) things Mina says are as... weighty as they are coming from someone that young looking. It's the same kind of dissonance used in Higurashi, for example. Seeing a character that young say and do things like Mina does, in a story with the tone that Vampire Bund has, gives her character a sense of inhumanity--it is a way to use visuals to convey to the audience that she is very much not human; not normal. Is it the only way to convey that? No. But I still think it is an effective one.

Of course, the other way to look at it is the cynical view, which says that there is no good reason for it; it's just a way to sell units. But I don't think that is the case here; not with the tone of storytelling that Vampire Bund has.
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asimpson2006



Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 3151
Location: USA
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 10:37 am Reply with quote
Blood- wrote:
Yep, very fair-minded review - I don't even have a quibble with it. I enjoyed the series a lot and the snazzy production values certainly factored into it. The pacing and story-telling was a bit choppy as Carl pointed out. I'm reading the manga right now and it's letting me fill in some of the blanks. I look forward to owning this series and putting a brown paper wrapper around it so that people don't think I'm a sex offender.


I've been curious about this show for a while, I'll probably pick up the manga the next time TRSI has a Seven Seas sale.

I haven't watched the anime yet, though I will probably start watching the streaming episodes this week.
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Kyaa the Catlord



Joined: 18 Sep 2006
Posts: 300
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 10:46 am Reply with quote
The one thing this review needs and really should be required is a link to where this video is streaming somewhere in the review. Overall, the review is good but that piece of the puzzle is oddly lacking.
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Keideki_sempai



Joined: 20 Oct 2004
Posts: 6
Location: AZ
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 1:56 pm Reply with quote
*SHOCK AND AWE*

I don't think I have ever seen an Akiyuki Shinbo title, especially one with this much loli in it, get a good score on ANN.
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Dakaran



Joined: 17 Jul 2009
Posts: 347
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 3:54 pm Reply with quote
Keideki_sempai wrote:
*SHOCK AND AWE*

I don't think I have ever seen an Akiyuki Shinbo title, especially one with this much loli in it, get a good score on ANN.


There is little to no lolli in it and in my opinion I have not seen anything wrong in this anime..
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Sceleris



Joined: 12 Oct 2004
Posts: 43
Location: Sweden
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 6:03 pm Reply with quote
hissatsu01 wrote:
I think I would give it a C/C+. It's a really mediocre show in most ways.

Seconded. For me, it was just utterly unremarkable. I've no preferences for or against loli, vampires or Shinbo/Shaft, but this show was just forgettable. The only impression I remember it making was that I thought the mouth movement looked kind of odd. But that's just me.
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Megiddo



Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Posts: 8360
Location: IL
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 6:17 pm Reply with quote
Dakaran wrote:
Keideki_sempai wrote:
*SHOCK AND AWE*

I don't think I have ever seen an Akiyuki Shinbo title, especially one with this much loli in it, get a good score on ANN.


There is little to no lolli in it and in my opinion I have not seen anything wrong in this anime..

You realize we're talking about Vampire Bund and not... some other vampire anime right? When the main character is a blond hair loli it's kind of hard for there to be "little to no loli" in it.
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Dakaran



Joined: 17 Jul 2009
Posts: 347
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 6:33 pm Reply with quote
Megiddo wrote:
Dakaran wrote:
Keideki_sempai wrote:
*SHOCK AND AWE*

I don't think I have ever seen an Akiyuki Shinbo title, especially one with this much loli in it, get a good score on ANN.


There is little to no lolli in it and in my opinion I have not seen anything wrong in this anime..

You realize we're talking about Vampire Bund and not... some other vampire anime right? When the main character is a blond hair loli it's kind of hard for there to be "little to no loli" in it.


I see the story not fuss about lolli and Mina is being played perfectly. If someone sees one, there is something is twisted, period. My opinion of this anime is set in stone because I've watched it entirely and it was splendid. Keep in mind I've seen all other seasons of vampire anime to compare them with this one. This show doesn't try to be anything but a vampire show and it does great for that.

You can like or not but my decision won't move. This anime is strong and well done in my book, if anything else it's too short to tell the full story adequately like it could but it still kept me watching it episode after episode without ever thinking " HEY! There is a chibi, half-pint" or " Gosh, a nake vampire queen" when we're watching vampire anime, it's natural sex, blood and supernatural will be at the rendez-vous. Comparing it to Hellsing, Tsukiyomi, Vampire Knight and others, this one was much more my style. I was expecting it to be brutal and very dark, so I'm happy it's not a lovey-dovey, as a Vampire the Masquerade and Dark Age player and fan.


Last edited by Dakaran on Mon May 10, 2010 6:55 pm; edited 7 times in total
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geremi99



Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Mon May 10, 2010 6:35 pm Reply with quote
Sceleris wrote:
hissatsu01 wrote:
I think I would give it a C/C+. It's a really mediocre show in most ways.

Seconded. For me, it was just utterly unremarkable. I've no preferences for or against loli, vampires or Shinbo/Shaft, but this show was just forgettable.


I completely agree with both of you.
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Ganryu



Joined: 05 Mar 2005
Posts: 106
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2010 9:38 am Reply with quote
Veers wrote:
Craeyst Raygal wrote:
Secondly, and all apologies to the loli fans amongst us, but why was it necessary from a story perspective for Mina to have a sub-High School age body?
You know, I thought about this, too. In the story, the reason she gives is that her adult form does not blend in with humans (and what garfield15 said in spoiler tag).

The best thing I could come up with, from a serious storytelling-related perspective, is that as an audience, we would not feel that an older-looking character doing the things Mina does or saying most of the (non-weak-and-dependant-on-Akira) things Mina says are as... weighty as they are coming from someone that young looking. It's the same kind of dissonance used in Higurashi, for example. Seeing a character that young say and do things like Mina does, in a story with the tone that Vampire Bund has, gives her character a sense of inhumanity--it is a way to use visuals to convey to the audience that she is very much not human; not normal. Is it the only way to convey that? No. But I still think it is an effective one.

Of course, the other way to look at it is the cynical view, which says that there is no good reason for it; it's just a way to sell units. But I don't think that is the case here; not with the tone of storytelling that Vampire Bund has.


I honestly think it's the author who wants to do something different. Looking around on various websites it seems most of the other stuff he's done mainly involves women (often naked) with huge tits.

Of course it might be some kind of marketing ploy, but that also seems questionable seeing that almost all fanservice in DitVB is loli but the audience that would enjoy that isn't, afaik, the largest target audience possible within the otaku demographic. Ie the choice of loli nudity as a marketing ploy seems as the suboptimal choice.

Look at Strike Witches. It has loli fanservice but also stuff that isn't obviously loli. It caters to multiple audiences. Personally I think it's just what the author felt like doing for whatever reason.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23669
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2010 10:00 am Reply with quote
Well, unless Nozomu Tamaki comes forward and says why he decided to make Mina a loli, all we have is speculation. Personally, I find it an interesting choice simply from the juxtaposition of having a incredibly powerful monster looking like a cute little girl. So you have her spoiler[ordering the kidnapping of the PM's grandson] in one scene and her happily skipping rope with some kids in another. Plus, I enjoy the comedy of her quasi-romantic overtures to Akira, who, in that context, is very uncomfortable with her child appearance. It's also interesting to have Akiyuki Shinbo involved to contrast this particular vampire girl premise with Moonphase.
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LauraOrganaSolo



Joined: 13 May 2006
Posts: 109
PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2010 11:36 am Reply with quote
I like violent vampires and have been curious about this show/manga since it aired. I was so excited when I saw "Episodes 1-12 Streaming but then I read

Quote:
Ragged enough, in fact, that it's difficult to spot the unintentional gaps in continuity (due to Funimation's controversial edits) amongst all of the intentional ones.


Thanks but no thanks, guess I'm going to watch it fansubbed as my budget is extremely strapped at the moment. Sad
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