Story: 7
I normally dislike vampire stories. Sure, I don’t have a problem with a series that happen to have a vampire in it, however I wouldn’t normally watch an anime where it all involves around these creatures of the night. Yet, when I read the synopsis of this series, I got curious and decided to watch it.
And I liked it! Here is why: The anime is about Karin, a blood making vampire that can walk in the daylight and doesn’t suck blood. Because she doesn’t fit in both groups, human and vampire, she has enough to endure. All these embarrassing obstacles make this comedy a unique one. This anime lets you peek in the world of vampires as never before. You see the everyday life of them instead how they only suck blood and have no emotions of their own. That is the main thing what makes this anime stand out between the others.
The story is built up in arcs which concentrate every so many episodes on a certain aspect in Karin’s life or a character in her surroundings. There are two flashback episodes which involve the background story about Karin’s family, however most of the time it is about the current events, with some minor flashbacks in between. One minor point about this anime is the huge fuss that is made about Karin’s breasts. They seem to be used as play toys on certain events which I found completely out of place.
The last episode was also a bit of a downer. I liked the ending but I didn’t like the way the ending came to be. It seems they wanted to build in some sort of climax before happily ever after, but failed to add the right ingredients and now it seemed like a huge fuss about nothing.
Animation: 7
I normally dislike anime that has blood. However if there is blood it is animated in an almost cute way. For example flower shaped blood. Even though it is unrealistic, I really liked it because in this way I can handle blood.
Further the animation is nothing really special; it is the kind you normally encounter in a romance anime. Backgrounds aren’t really detailed, but characters have more details and most were aimed to look cute. Some characters look slightly odd but there is always a reason behind it. Extra details were laid in the different costumes characters wear. A thing that did draw extra attention was the last episode which was fully drawn in a grey and red palette.
Audio: 8
The first thing that stands out is the classical vampire sounds that are used as a comical note in this anime. I find this very well done and it made me laugh on several occasions. The voice acting is done splendid. Karin’s father Henry has this really amusing voice and Winners voice has a bad American accent which fit his character well. All other voices are also fitting so the series scores high marks here. The opening theme is a catchy upbeat song. The ending song is somewhat mellower. Both aren’t outstanding however I have heard far worse.
Character development: 7
There are a lot of characters in Karin. At first it starts out with her, most of her family, best friend and Usui Kenta, the male lead of the anime. First the anime focuses of Karins daily life and how she gets along with this unusual situations she gets involved in and Usui Kenta who discovers Karin’s secret. It shows the weird family structure and their way of caring for Karin.
After a few episodes Winner Sinclaire is presented as a vampire hunter. Truly, I have never seen such an annoying character with a bigger plate before his head then this one. It really degraded my viewing pleasure at some points. He also doesn’t seem to develop that much even though after certain events are happened that should change a person, Winner simply doesn’t do so.
On the other hand most characters are very lovable. The way the love of Karin’s family for her becomes clear, while in the beginning there doesn’t seem to be any love at all, is very endearing. The little sister Anyu has a special place in my heart because of everything she does for Karin while she struggles with her own feelings and awakening as a vampire. In fact I find her the best developed char in the series.
Of course Karin and Kenta develop most in this series as does their relationship. As stated, Anyu is another character that has developed to her fullest. For the rest I feel like they tried to introduce certain characters to keep things interesting while they are not really developed. They try too but there simply wasn’t enough time to do so or just too many characters.
Overall: 7
This anime made me warm up towards vampires, and I enjoyed watching it. Even though there are some points of annoyance as well. It isn’t the most outstanding anime out there but if you want to see something lighthearted about vampires then this is a good pick, even if you normally aren’t into the vampire genre much, I would still recommend you try it out.
