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Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut (TV).




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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Oct 03, 2021 11:58 am Reply with quote


Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut (TV)

Genre: science fiction
Themes: space, vampire

Plot Summary: 10 years ago a long war divided the world into two superpowers: the Union of Zirnitra Republics in the east, and the United Kingdom of Arnak in the west. Both of these superpowers now test their ambitions against each other in a space race. In 1960, the Union's Premier Gergiev announces Project Mechtat (Dream), a prestigious plan to launch manned missions into the final frontier.

To this end, the Union establishes the isolated city of Laika 44, where cosmonaut candidates compete for planned manned missions to space, and scientists develop the technology to make it happen, all in an environment of secrecy. Lev Leps is a backup astronaut candidate, and his new companion, Irina Ruminescu, is a vampire. As part of a daring new Operation Nosferatu, Project Mechtat will use Irina as a test subject for various conditions expected in space, and ultimately as part of a manned mission, with Lev overseeing Irina's training as a cosmonaut. For reasons of their own, both dream of going into space.

Oct. 3, 2021 (Sundays; FUNimation)
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Yttrbio
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Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3649
PostPosted: Sun Oct 03, 2021 2:19 pm Reply with quote
I don't know what I was expecting, but I came away pretty disappointed. With the beauty of space and the intrigue of the Cold War, we get a typical "girl treated as object in science experiment, but this guy sees through it."

It's interesting that the soviets in this universe claim to have landed on the moon before actually getting a human being in space. It says some interesting things about the nature of automation, communications, and computing.

I'm a little unclear on why it's important to test things out with a nonhuman, since they seem perfectly willing to lie about it.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4070
PostPosted: Wed Oct 06, 2021 6:23 am Reply with quote
The Right Stuff... oh yes, I recognized some of that framing... but told from the East's POV and with "vampires".

Unfortunately my problem with the series is the "vampires". If you take an evil undead creature and remove all the drawbacks but keep the superhuman qualities, you just end up with a superhuman. Yet they're rare, endangered and feared despite Irina stated having a lifespan exceeding 200 years.

I'll watch and see if they ever explain why; If it's manga sourced, it will get explained later but I have less trust in Light Novels; If a writer can get away with something in the first novel, they won't bring it up in later novels.

It's a single Light Novel... Oh crap.
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Snomaster1
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Joined: 31 Aug 2011
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PostPosted: Sun Dec 05, 2021 4:01 am Reply with quote
If I'm honest here,this anime has an interesting premise. It takes the Space Race of the 1950's and 60's and gives it a fantasy sheen. It also tells it from the Russian's point of view. I gotta admit. Having a vampire go into space sounds good and they've recently began dubbing the show. The dub's pretty good but if I have one complaint,it's that they didn't use any Russian or Eastern European accents.
Now,there are going to be those who think that I want the characters to sound silly in this but that's not it at all. I feel that the show would feel more authentic if the accents were there. It would make it feel more real to me if a Russia-inspired country had them. There are going to be those who disagree but that's how I feel about it. Altogether,"Irina:The Vampire Cosmonaut" is an interesting show to see. I just wish that the English version had some accents,that's all. I know that it's a nitpick,but that's what I think.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Dec 20, 2021 4:54 am Reply with quote
Episode 12 (finale)

Well, that was a nice turn, that Lev was able to reveal the truth to the people that Irina was the first cosmonaut, allowing Irina to talk to the people and the top guys actually stood behind it in protecting Irina and criticising the people who might try to erase her. It even went far to seem to push for vampire acceptance, based off the cuts that imply that vampires will be amongst the astronauts on the international space in more modern times. The whole thing does feel a bit uncomfortable in the pro-Russia sense, since even no days it is not exactly really progressive.

In honesty, I love vampire stuff, but I didn't enjoy this series as much as I might have hoped. I did like some of the vampire stuff, and other things, but it was losing some of its lustre to me pretty quickly. But honestly I was actually surprised that Irina actually made it to space so early in the show, as I kind of assumed that it would probably be the ending of the show, but then it shifted gears to Lev going to space too, and in the end had Lev reveal the truth to everyone once he had the power to do so as a hero. Those were some nice surprises. Maybe it could have done even better to me if Irina was not literally the only real vampire representative, as I can't even remember any of the other ones even speaking, which does make the idea of stopping discrimination against them feel a little weird when there was not really a voice other than Irina's.

My rating for the show will be Decent (6/10), it wasn't bad, but I kind of wish that I was more excited for more of the run.
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