Wakaranai

After millennia in hiding, Mina Tepes, the Princess of the ancient covenant and ruler of all vampires, wants change. Using the vast wealth of the Tepes line, she has paid off the entire gross national debt of Japan and in so doing, gained the authority to create a “special district” off the coast of Japan that is to become the future haven to vampires the world over!
Now, on the eve of the landmark press conference announcing the existence of vampires to the world, terrorists and rival factions are plotting to assassinate Mina Tepes before she has a chance to make her world-changing announcement.

Studio SHAFT and its prolific director, Akiyuki Shinbou are back working on the subject of vampires and lolis. No, sadly it isn’t a new season of Tsukuyomi Moonphase season 2, but an anime adaptation of strangely popular manga series, ‘Dance in the Vampire Bund’, created by Nozomu Tamaki. The announcement that Vampire Bund was getting an anime has been around for a while, but the details of studio and staff have only recently surfaced. I have to admit that this was one anime adaptation that I was completely uninterested in until now. The fact that SHAFT is onboard doesn’t guarantee a raging success or even that it’s going to be worth watching, but at the very least their name means the adaptation isn’t going to a straight anime rendition, by the books.

By the books is the last thing I’d want in this case because I find the manga to be pretty mediocre. Admittedly, I was drawn to it initially because of the apparent high-concentration of loli fanservice (also the reason I was so surprised to find it had been licensed, especially by the traitorous 7-seas). However, I could not get into the art style or character designs at all. The lead loli, Mina is fairly unattractive, and the general aesthetic of the manga is pretty bland and drab, rather than ‘dark’, as I expect it was intended to be. I think I read about 6 or 7 chapters back before it was announced, and that was pretty much enough for me, regardless of how unclothed the female characters were. But, with some good names behind it, I’m optimistic that the anime could possibly transcend its manga source into something considerably more engaging. Already, Mina’s anime character design is an improvement (although I still don’t like her figure much in the above picture; the hips are too big for her size).

Director: Shinbo Akiyuki (Maria Holic, Bakemonogatari)
Series Composition: Yoshino Hiroyuki (Mai-HiME, Macross F)
Character Design: Konno Naoyuki (Cyborg 009)
Animation Production: SHAFT

The fact that Yoshino Hiroyuki is part of the creative ensemble behind this anime is also a good sign, as far as I’m concerned. The tone of his more recognisable shows like Mai HiME and Macross F are about as far from this manga as you can get (with a better sense of fun, character and energy). With any luck he can pace this anime well and maybe he’ll even be able to inject some extra personality into it. Personally I think Akiyuki Shinbo is much better suited to comedy that a more mellow story such as this, but that’s just the kind of clash that might help this series.

Updates

● 13 Aug .. The official website has opened up. So far it’s s static page, but featuring a good quality picture of Mina. http://www.vampirebund.com/
 
● 13 Aug .. Sirn writes: The author has updated his blog, saying something among the line of “you’ll be surprised if you only know comedy-Shinbo”, “An approach in this series is totally different from what you seen in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei” and “I’m Shinbo fan after all (lol)”. The PV is total of full two minutes. Sendenman blog also write “there’ll be blood, action and nude scene”. // Interesting comments. It’s good to see the author has faith in Akiyuki to adapt this series and not pervade it with his usual style. I’m also relieved to have confirmation that the loli nudity of the manga will be included in the animated version XD. I wonder what stations it will air on..

● 4 Sept .. And finally the PV has been posted on the Media Factory youtube channel. I have to say it was worth the wait because it gives me a bit more confidence that the anime will turn out okay. It’s already more interesting than the manga (mainly because the anime-adapted art-style is much nicer on the eye). But it showed the best parts of the manga are retained (the violence and nudity). Naked loli and vampire killings abound! Mina looks a lot better in this than she did in the promo art, more of a real loli figure and less .. err, chubby than she looked in the picture at the top of this post. Very nice. People on /a/ were complaining about the lack of nipples. While I’d like nipples, I also know that would make it essentially impossible to air on Japanese TV unless it was on a special channel like AT-X. So don’t blame SHAFT, blame the evil TV censors!!

● 6 Nov .. sirn from animesuki generously divulged the official cast and staff list! I have to say I’m a little more enthusiastic after checking out some of these names. Being a SHAFT series it was clear that Akiyuki Shinbo would be credited with the role of director, and I do expect him to bring his usual fare to the show (although I hope he holds back on the now-tedius SHAFT motives such as flashes of text). But Yoshino Hiroyuki’s involvement in the capacity of ’series composition’ is, as I said above, worthy of attention. He’s been in this role for a number of successful series (Mai HiME, Macross Frontier, Code Geass) and his name carries with it the promise of an entertaining anime. Dobashi Akio is handling the music, which doesn’t exactly say much. I get the impression that this is the kind of series where the music will really matter in terms of giving it a mood and energy. Art director, Azuma Kouji, doesn’t do much for me either.

In terms of the cast, I’m really happy to see Chiwa Saito is involved. Her voice is just so cute, I love her to pieces! With the exception of her portrayal of Murasaki Kuhouin of Kurenai, I’m not really familiar with Yuuki Aoi, who’s playing the role of the leading lady, loli vampiress, Mina. I can’t say whether I like the idea of her in this role, but I’m interested to see how she does it!

Casts:
Mina Tepes: Yuuki Aoi
Kaburaki Akira: Nakamura Yuuichi
Saegusa Yuki: Saito Chiwa
Vera: Kaida Yuko
Shinonome Nanami: Itou Shizuka

Music:
Opening Theme - "Friends" by Nakano Aiko
Ending Theme - "Tsumeato" by Hibiku

Staffs:
Director: Shinbo Akiyuki
Series Composition: Yoshino Hiroyuki
Character Design: Konno Naoyuki
Series Director: Sonada Masahiro
Design Works: MEIMU, Kobayashi Tokumitsu
Art Director: Azuma Kouji
Color Settings: Iriomote Michiyo
Composition Director: Satoshi Fujita
Editing: Saki Kazuhiko
Sound Director: Tsuruoka Yota
Music: Dobashi Akio
Music Production: FlyingDog
Produce: Genco
Animation Production: SHAFT

● 18 Nov .. Some new character design artwork has come out for the main two characters. I really don’t get to say this very often, so I’m happy to comment that these anime designs actually look far more attractive than their manga counterparts. I might be the only one here but the manga’s art-style always felt a little dull. These designs have a sharper look to them. Mina’s blonde hair looks good. She’s actually becoming quite a nice loli character (and more similar to Negima’s Evangeline than ever before).