*Note: I
have not played the visual novel so I’m reviewing only the anime*
This fall
season the Japanese visual novel Diabolik lovers got its very own anime release
to go with its short manga series, Diabolik lovers anthology, and several other
drama CDs. It is usually classified under the shoujo-vampire genre, but Ii
myself would just put it under reverse harem. Produced by the anime studio
Zexcs, who some might recognize as the creators of Chrome Shelled Regios, it
started airing on October 24th, and ended on December 2nd with a span of 12
episodes plus one re-cap episode. The length of these episodes was usually
around 15 minutes each. One should also note that the anime was rated
inappropriate for individuals under 17.
Plot
As stated
before, I would classify this particular anime in the reverse harem genre. The
setting in itself is pretty typical; one girl surrounded by a bunch of handsome
boys that all seem to be inexplicably drawn to her because of her various
pheromones. The pheromone being blood in this particular case. Add the fact
that it is an adaptation of a visual novel and you should be able to tell this
probably won’t be a deeply insightful story. Most of such animes are usually
sugar-coated lovey-dovey soap operas that seem to involve a main character as
dense as air, and a rainbow of attractive stereotypes that fight over her. The
story doesn’t involve any real plot line and is mostly centered about how the
girl manages to get confused over every declaration of love thrown at her.
However,
diabolic did manage to surprise me in that sense. While the same aspects of
reverse harem anime were still there, but were handled a bit better in my
opinion. Intentionally or not is left for debate. The girl is still put into a house inhabited
only by guys, but she is a sacrifice for the vampires. They occupy her like
flies occupy a jam-covered toast, but that’s because she’s their main food
source. In the end, it’s also clear why she was picked out.
Characters
More than
the plot I was intrigued by the characters. They weren’t as flat as I first
expected them to be. Yui was a refreshingly slightly
more dynamic lead than those I’ve seen so far. I wouldn’t go as far as
saying she has the same strong personality as Haruhi from Ouran high school host
club, but I prefer her to Ema from Brothers conflict any day.
The boys
are interesting in my opinion. I do spot some typical, if not cliché
characteristics like “the serious glasses type”, “the little boy type”, “the
delinquent type” and so on. However I think that these traits are explained as
we go into their back-stories a bit. There is still some character development
lacking, but I believe the anime length and story format are to blame for this
and that the game explains it much better. The second thing I also like about
them is that the anime lets them be
vampires. While there is no real vampire
model, it is interesting to see them being portrayed darker, more mischievous
and also with potential to be very dangerous.
Visuals
The artwork
in Diabolik lovers really suits me, with thin lines and a ‘softer’ look. I
really like to note that the eyes are my favorite part. However, what did
bother me was the animation. There were a lot of very awkward movements, or
where the frame was focused on a mute character while someone else was talking.
It leads one to suspect that the budget for this anime wasn’t that high,
especially when considering the episodes were almost 10 minutes shorter than a
the ones from a regular anime.
Sound
I am not
that big of a fan of the opening Mr. Sadistic night by Hikaru Midorikawa
and Kōsuke Toriumi.
I am not
that big of a fan of the opening Mr. Sadistic night by Hikaru Midorikawa and
Kōsuke Toriumi. It isn’t bad, but it’s rather forgetful and skipable. The rest
of the soundtrack is pretty good in setting up the mood, but nothing else I’d
really like to say about it.
I would
like to applaud Yui’s voice actor Rei Suegara. yui’s voice sounds a lot more
emotion filled and dynamic than in other reverse harems (like Amnesia’s ‘I just
had my Tonsils removed’
whisper). Laito’s voice acting is also amusing to listen to. I think if cats
could talk, that’s the way they’d do it. Everything just has that ‘purr’
quality to it.
Personal thoughts
I see where
people come from when they say that this anime is just another addition to the
very controversial part of anime culture that depicts male dominance over a
girl as romantic and alluring, but I wouldn’t label it as offensive just yet. I
did sort of turn away at the ‘church’ scene (when you watch it you’ll
understand), but other than that I just attributed a lot of more violent acts
to the vampire nature in that universe. Thus, for me this becomes a vampire
story with a fairly interesting plot, but maybe not enough time to properly be
what it wants to.
