Anime: Rosario to Vampire

The one key redemptive aspect of this show is that it came around at the tail end of a major transitional phase in anime. I believe the amount of ecchi was quite bold, as with a few other shows that came out at this time. I suppose the directive theory was that as long as you slapped in enough gratuitous panty shots, you'd make DVD sales regardless of the show's content. I suppose this show probably helped to prove the theory. The problem with this show is that the panty shots were so abundant that they lost their impact. If I see a pair of panties every time I look at the screen, I'm going to get bored and wonder what else is going on in the scene.

That's where the value of the show itself winds up being assessed. This show is intended as a playful ecchi harem. That's it. They took a decent manga, mixed it up a little, and produced a template show. But at least they had the presence of mind to play up the playfulness. It doesn't take long to realize that this isn't going to be a serious show. If you take this show as a 'representation of anime', then its value is very low. If you take this show as a 'playful ecchi harem', then the value is high. You can read all the reviews here that agree with what I'm saying, either for or against the show.

Art and Animation - 7 - For its time, the art and animation quality is relatively average, especially for a show of this type. The character design's decent. The sets are a little simplistic but have a good amount of detail, and the action scenes are 'good enough' to pass as a cheesy show-- which was part of the whole show's premise to begin with.
Sound - 7 - Average. Probably going with the 'horror' theme, a lot of the ambiance resembles a horror movie.
Story - 6 - Abyssmal, except for one particular twist in the second season regarding Mako and her two personalities. This show's a Monster of the Week and is intentionally repetitive. Almost everything that happens is easily predicted.
Character - 7 - Average. Meaning. Nothing of note. 7 instead of 5 because of the seiyuu cast.
Value - 5 - Exactly in the middle specifically because of the differing interpretations of the show itself. As I stated in my intro, if over-saturated ecchi is your thing, you'll love this show. If it isn't, you'll most likely hate it.
Enyoyment - 4 - Ecchi nails on a chalkboard. A perfect example of what not to do, even for an ecchi show. I'm not ashamed to admit that I like ecchi, but I have discriminating tastes. If seeing panties so often makes me bored, there is definitely something wrong with the show. If I ignore the panties, which I inevitably began to do, the show itself became boring. Useless main character, cute but otherwise uninteresting harem members, and a plot that wasn't quite cheesy enough to pass outright as a cheesy show, and never had any chance of being seen as 'serious' even if they had decided to go that route.

I have to say as well, I don't understand why so many people don't like this anime already.

There are alot of pantsu, but that's what you get with an Ecchi+Harem. What else did you expect?

The Animation was good if not better, it has it's special effects like any other anime. Especially when students used their powers or whatever, it's hard to argue with this anime about it's animation since it was the mainstream style of the newer generation animes.

The sound could be better in battles and during certain events. I don't remember hearing the bus make ANY noise so it seems like some of the elements were taken out. But then again, perverts watch pantsu ecchi's not for the purpose of sound except for 'specific' moaning. XP

The story could have been ALOT better. Only in CAPU2 was a story really starting to develop, but Capu1 is still probably better with certain aspects. There was drama, action, sadness, comedy, violence, pantsu, and even unexpected events with Moka's vampire form being just as perverted as Kurumu (the succubus). But the story yeah.. Wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but hey, I for one would LOVE to be in Tsukune's postition with five (Minus the loli witch girl... Not my thing) hot chicks fighting over me. These animes are made for entertainment, not exactly for fapping purposes, or serious story line purposes, a little bit of both if you will. Capu2 at the end almost made me cry during Tsukune's battle with Him. But strict story line bases, no it wasn't set as well as it could have been, but in the beginning they did set one. The father/mother/bus driver made sure of that.

Character Development was alright for my taste. I didn't like some aspects of how you didn't get to see more monsters, but the teachers were unique and cute (Cat Teacher, cmon meow X3) I just really would have felt better without the witch girl. She was like the 14 year old trying to lose her virginity to the what, 17-18 year old? Didn't care for the witch's pantsu parts either, exceptions with the other, much older witch. Mizore was probably the most intense character they had on their besides Tsukune's ambition and love for Moka. She seemed like she was going to kill herself until Tsukune saved her life including earning her trust and love. Even the parents were interesting, not to many animes to that these days besides freaking Naruto. -_-... The most hilarious thing I saw during the anime was probably when the succubus mom shot her LAZOR out of her boobs. Just awesome. I never thought I would imagine shoop da whoop in an anime in the most epic way.

I would value this as a TV series/downloadable rather than actually buying it unless they REALLY work on more story art or more character development. The only thing that really really bothered me was the short as hell battles. Why were they so short?! Don't give me that "Cuz she's a vampire S class rank type monster" crap come on there should have been more battles, and less sailor moon remake for the vampire transformation. Even the fox god guy eventually got treated like a little bitch and that battle only lasted what, 3-5 minutes tops? Despite stall talking. But yes, download if you find this interesting, or stream it. I've been thinking about downloading CAPU1 and 2 after I streamed them. The anime is just to good to miss out on. It's stupid humor yes, pantsu yes, but also something that we need more of if you think about it. Monster High School+Better Story Line+Better Character Development is win with ecchi on it's side. The enjoyment deserves the 9 hands down.

Bleh, I couldn't help getting interested in what's so bad about Rosario + Vampire after seeing its extremely bad ratings... And yeah, well, it is bad, what's worse, it's not bad enough to be funny. Damn, it actually would have been much better if it was totally broken. However, what Rosario + Vampire does is much worse - it tries to fool its viewers that it actually has something to offer, yet whenever it gets on the important part - it screws it, spoils everything and falls on its face.

It's obvious from the first sight that Rosario + Vampire's main goal is to please the libido of lonely teenagers who are pretty common amongst anime fans. And I must say, had I been a few years younger, I might have liked this show more... What turned me off in this show, was its pathetic excuse for a plot. All it does is throwing its characters into a school where, not humans, but youkai study stuff. The bad thing is that it's not really different from human schools except for that its students are youkai, who are in their human forms anyway, so it kind of cancels it out. The only time you actually have a chance to see that it's not a normal human school is when in the end of each episode some random youkai would try to fight the show's heroine. Plot never really moves farther than "Oh no I'm studying in youkai school and, oh look at their panties" and all of it gets boring after the first episode. In shows like that only characters can keep you from giving up on them. Unfortunately, while some female characters in Rosario + Vampire are mildly interesting, the main character, who might as well be the worst main character I have ever seen drags the whole show down to the depths of abyss.

I really wouldn't recommend this show. Even if you want to see what's so bad about it, it's still not worthy of a watch. Simply, there's nothing really broken in Rosario + Vampire. It's just a show that is not worth watching and that's everything.

Animation: 7/10

Good animation is certainly wasted on this show. Probably the best thing in Rosario + Vampire are its female character designs. All of the main girls look original and are very attractive. What's better is that the art style of the show is really colorful and kind of makes everything even more eye pleasing. Male character designs, however, are kind of crappy, especially the one of the main character.

Background animation is also pretty cool, it sure is nice to look at, as its both more or less detailed and really colorful.

Sound: 5/10

Opening and ending songs are pretty good and infuse the lame atmosphere of this show for the better. However, the background music is nowhere near as good. While there are one or two pleasant themes, most of the time you are forced to listen to some sort of bland melodies or, even worse, barbie like songs.

Story: 2/10

While you might be fooled that the show has potential after watching the first episode, you'll get disappointed pretty soon. What from the first sight looks as a charming beginning of a good ecchi show (youkai school, could be cool) soon turns into a tedious brainless ecchi fest which has no intent of moving anywhere. Heh, it might as well have been hentai. All of the episodes basically follow the same stereotype - Tsukune meets a new girl *ecchi*, Tsukune gets into trouble *ecchi*, Tsukune gets his ass kicked while protecting a girl and is saved in the end while having the girl fall in love with him *ecchi*. Whoa, if this show is not intended for losers then I don't know what is, you get new girls falling for you every episode even though you constantly get your ass kicked and humiliated. It might have had a better success as a hentai game since there is far too many female characters to keep track in the 13 episodes length anime medium. As you might have already realized - this show grows worse and worse with every passing episode, as it never bothers to throw anything new in its already boring one-episode plot. While the very last episode was better than the few before it, as it was the first time when the "bad guy" wasn't beaten in a single strike, it was still quite bad, especially as a climax episode.

This show does a lot of logical mistakes as well, though I'll let you find them yourselves, if you will watch this show after all. Seriously, don't, honestly, it's a complete crap. Vampires die if they are exposed to water according to this anime. But what would an ecchi show do without a beach swimsuit episode? What wins in this show - ecchi or common sense? Ecchi!

Character: 4/10

Okay... Not only the main character is a geek, sounds like a girl and has never talked to a girl without being made fun of, he also is stupid to boot. He even managed to fail his middle school grade (man, is it EVEN possible to fail at middle school?). I mean, loser characters are common in ecchi shows, but this guy... Seriously, you must have it tough if you can actually relate to him... He doesn't even possess any personality traits further than "I'm kind and gentle, please don't hit me". Failure as a character, failure as a human and failure as a living being.

The girl characters aren't as bad, actually some of them are not bad at all, except for the fact that they are forced to fall in love with the personalityless main character. Well, anyway, if you count their obsession with that pathetic thing out, you get some, while not really great, but interesting characteristics here and there. Probably the best thing about them is that every single one of them is really different, so you can pick your favourite one easily (again good for a hentai game, but not anime). While they don't possess much of a background, some of them get interesting when Tsukune is not around.

Myers-Briggs personality type indicator:[/b]

Tojou Rubi - ISTJ (F)
Aono Tsukune - ISFP (F)
Sendou Yukari - ENFJ (E)
Akashiya Moka - ESFJ (D)
Kurono Kurumu - ENTJ (D)
Shirayuki Mizure - INTP (C)

Show Spoiler

Value 2/10

... Uhm, I'd rather watch porn than this again. Value would have been bigger if Rosario + Vampire was hentai, I mean, it is close to it, but not close enough to be satisfying, if you know what I mean.

The Rosario to Vampire anime is based on the manga by Akihisa Ikeda with the same name. The manga begins slow but at the end the story gets serious and becomes quite good. Overall, the anime follow this concept, begins slow and get serious at the end. As for the manga to anime conversion, it can be better. Since I have read the manga, I notice alot of cuts and changes in the anime; in the anime some monsters appear earlier or later than in the manga. Another criticism on the anime conversion of Rosario to Vampire is that some even more important/big villains, who are quite significant for the story/plot in the manga, do not even appear in the anime.[br][br]Animation=7; the animations is okay, nothing horrible, just not spectacular (although the between animations could be better). Also I notice some differences between the manga and anime; most of the scenes with blood (fight scenes and when Moka (the vampire) sucks blood from Tsukune Aono (human) are censored or toned down. The vampire-kiss by Moka is really a kiss (anime) instead of a bite in the neck (manga). As for the Ecchi-ness, personally, I find it acceptible.[br][br]Sound=7; The OP and ED song are good, but I like the ED song, "Dancing in the Velvet Moon" bu Nana Mizuki better, which got better rhythm and 'power'. Voice-acting by the Seiyus is good, as usual.[br][br]Story=6; personally I like the story of Rosario to Vampire: monsters and human can be friends. But in my opinion the editor and/or producer of this anime does a lousy job (whether due to low budget or other particular reasons); many important (main) villains which are significant for the story is cut out from the anime version; scenes from the manga that should come earlier become the final of the show. I think the show can become better if the anime follows the plot/script of the manga more strictly. People who like the manga may find it dissapointed because the many cuts in the anime. As mentioned earlier, the latter part of the anime gets more serious, i.e. more interesting.[br][br]Character=7; The character development is not as good as in the manga, but you can still see the the main character, Tsukine Aono, becomes stronger and more confident at the end of the anime, although you can see this happens more evident in the manga. Also you can see that the bond between Moka and Aono becomes more stronger during the show.[br][br]Value=6; the anime is the cutted version of the manga which is much more interesting and have a more satisfying plot (or more complete plot) than the anime. I just hope the second season of Rosario to Vampire anime will become better.[br][br]Enjoyment=7; I do like the latter episodes of the Rosario to Vampire anime, but fact is that too many things are cut out from the anime, which make the anime less interesting. Maybe the editor/producer of the anime just have a limited budget and have to fit the story into an anime which only consists of 13 episodes? [br][br]Overall, Rosario to Vampire is just okay, with better episodes at the end of the show, but with so many plots, characters being cut out from the anime version it may be a big dissapointment for fans of the manga. If you already have read the manga, you could forget the anime, because the manga is much more interesting than the cut-down anime version of Rosario to Vampire.

Lousy animation, extremely predictable, but it's still below average for a simple ecchi show.

First thing you notice is the incredible bland animation this series builds on. The second thing you notice is that all characters are all straight from the book – no original personalities, but safe ones to use in a genre where you don't want too many wildcards. From that point of view, Rosario to Vampire works; it doesn't produce many surprises, but it generally helps to entertain you with a shallow story throughout the various pantsu-shots. It also helps to focus solely on the breasts and underwear, or you might notice all the obvious, numerous flaws.

Animation: Simply bad.

After having seen a fair share of anime by now, the only thing I can say about this show is that it makes a statement about how unimportant good animation is when there is ecchi. After all, if you look for the underwear, you don't notice that the background was drawn as a draft rather than a real background. I mean, come on ... two strokes of a brush doesn't make a background.
Oftentimes it shows, since it gets reused time after time after time when they need to run alongside a building, or a forest. Oh wait, next episode we need it too, so hey, let's use those frames from the previous episode again. As if anyone'd notice …

I've been trying to find some positive sides of the animation, but there isn't really anything. Hell, even the OP-song animation isn't all that exciting and even that feels cheap all over, where it is usually used to draw in people. Even the characters are inconsistently drawn and their movements are simply lacking a natural feel; there is a limit to how many repeated movements one can make to indicate nervousness. Two or three times is regular for an anime, but when you go to lengths as six or seven, then it's only meant to reuse as many frames possible to keep the costs down as much as possible.

Sound: Okay voice actors.

Despite them using some really lousy voices for side-characters, who are –in my opinion- used as comic relief and as such should have lousy voices, there are no real bad voices to be found throughout the show. The voices which don't sound enjoyable are meant to sound like that, so no minus points from me anywhere.
Unfortunately, there are also no outstanding voice actors, as most are fairly average. As if they couldn't get motivated for having to voice act for such a mediocre series.

The sung music was repetitive and unimpressing, but the BGM being used in the show was simply hideous. I can't even count how many times I've heard another sound effect or BGM which was so incredibly cheesy or unfitting that I cringed. How many times can you simply not choose a proper effect/BGM for a scene?

Story: Not more than a theme per episode and a general take on the original idea.

There's not as much as a story. The only thing they have is a general idea and every episode there is a fight-of-the-week with pretty much the same conclusion again and again. Most of the show goes like this, with not only fights, but even conversations and events being pretty much almost literally re-used from previous episodes. It's like they had a guidebook: “Do this, then do that” when they devised the episodes. It becomes painfully predictable because of that, if it weren't for the fact that it was also painfully badly executed.

I wish I could say more about anything concerning the story, but this is honestly all there is.

Characters: Simple, flat characters.

There's not much to say about the characters. They are there, they stay there. There's practically no character development and if there is, it is painfully visible how they are gonna work to that point, as they have to stop the story at that point.

The characters are pretty static and don't seem to warrant much originality. They are also pretty much exchangeable throughout the entire show, as they have next to no substance. You could switch them out and switch something else in and nobody would notice. Hell, you could even forget to switch something else in and it wouldn't make a difference.

Value & Enjoyment: You grab, you watch, you wipe. Or better even, you don't grab.

Rosario to Vampire doesn't have much value. Unless you focus on the underwear, you will most likely spot so many annoying aspects in this series, that it would make you feel even more miserable about watching the show. So my advice is then also: avoid it. Like the plague.

But despite the show being so immensely bad, I wonder why they even made a second season of it. As if they weren't painful enough with just one. It does explain where the rest of the budget has gone to, though. They made 2 seasons out of a budget for just 1.

I have been reading the reviews and I could not help but to disagree. This anime has a very good animation. For an Ecchi type of anime this is a very important fact.[br]The sound is not bad. I really liked the OP. The voice actress of Moka(main character) is Nana Mizuki, the same one that play the role of Hinata in the anime Naruto. Yes, I really like her voice :-) and she sings the Opening too!. I really did not pay that much attention to the rest of the characters. And yes, you are right, I am a fan of Nana Mizuki since she voiced Hinata.[br][br]The story is... well... crap. It's just the typical Ecchi-Harem School anime in which some girls like a single man. Not much too say here. Most ecchi anime follows the same pattern. If you liked Girls Bravo or Ichigo 100%, you will like the story in Rosario to Vampire.[br]The characters were good. There are plenty of characters. I cannot say that character development was great, but it was good to me.[br][br]I only recommend this anime to the male audience(since it's ecchi-shounen). I really enjoyed this series. Some people may not like it. It all depends on what you like. If you are looking for anime like Love Hina, Girls Bravo, Ichigo 100%, Onegai Teacher and To Love-Ru. Then this is a must watch. If you are not into this type of anime, then you should not watch it.[br][br]By the way, there is a second season coming this fall, named Rosario to Vampire Capu2[br][br]