If you were in a hurry you could easily mistake Mondaiji-tachi’s premise for No Game No Life’s: bored children get transported to an alternate world where they join an underdog group and take part in sanctioned games to win glory and territory. Even though, it give it it’s full title, Mondaiji-tachi ga Isekai Kara Kuru Sou Desu yo? (Problem Children are Coming from Another World, aren’t they?) starts with the same kind of torturous lateral thinking that typifies NGNL, their core difference is that series’ reliance on the “games” is all-encompassing and its fantasy-tinged world is a lot more cohesive than the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach taken here.
one of them got to punch a dragon while another shoulder-locked a lycanthrope
Its poster child, Black Rabbit (who is for some reason primarily blue as well as sometimes pink), is a prime example of this. Bunny girls are few and far between in anime in general, far more often it’s cat girls and fox girls who steal the limelight, yet here, just in case bunny girls aren’t your thing, there are also cat girls. And dog girls. And vampires. And fairies. And lizard people. And weretigers. You get the idea. Coherence or even a united vision for the series’ world isn’t high on the list of priorities and it prefers to throw enough at you in the hope that some of it sticks.
How many other males does the protagonist of Strike the Blood know? Two. And females? More or less all of them. This is about as nuts-and-bolts basic as you can get for a premise: bland teenager is gifted extreme supernatural powers and proceeds to play “Gotta catch ‘em all” with the young ladies in his life. Spear wielding overseer? Check, comes free with sword wielding friend. Goth loli teacher? Check. Childhood friend and uber hacker? Check. Superpowered little sister? Check; and the list goes on. And of course the context for all of these females orbiting him? He must feed on them - oh right he’s a vampire - to unlock his magical familiars.
oh you walked in on her undressing again? you scamp!
Feel free to play “spot the jugular vein” during the opening few episodes because with almost every new female introduced, a key to unlock a new glowing critter for perpetual hoodie wearer Kojou is revealed. And of course given the setup, all of the ladies emit supremely suggestive noises and flush the brightest of reds when he begins to chow down on their necks. Yes it’s primitive but, apart from a few absurdlyquestionablescenes, it works thanks primarily to a refreshing lack of pretension and a handful of good natured character relationships.
High School of the Dead recently began airing and has brought the irrepressible zombie to a media which has peculiarly ignored their archetypes in favour of more culturally relevant afflictions such as demonic possession and the like. Based on the manga of the same name, in only two episodes the series has shown a remarkably sympathetic hand for including genre sensitive elements - is that the signature tune for 28 Days Later at the end of the first episode?
it says volumes that the only females to survive are curvaceous and beautiful
Widely credited with the creation of the zombie movie genre, George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead is one of his earliest and most widely known movies and champions a lot of the situations and scenarios that High School of the Dead apes. More interestingly though, Dawn of the Dead and its mall setting is a scathing commentary on the decadent consumerism and hedonism of the period which is still just as relevant today. Like the best fantasy and sci-fi its fiction was a critique of society and culture, a relevance which very few zombie movies have managed to achieve since.
Stepping back into Moonphase territory while simultaneously riding the resurgent interest in vampires, SHAFT and director Akiyuki Shinbo take on the adaptation of a manga infamous for its racy content and violent overtures. The first three episodes of Dance in the Vampire Bund demonstrate little of the latter and a lot of the former, sparing no expense in keyframing the vacuous male lead slathering neon green liquid onto the diminutive protagonist's naked body. It's uncomfortable for all the wrong reasons and coupled with the blindingly over-animated opening, the series projects itself as yet another tiresome indulgence by a studio producing more misses than hits as of late.
animation is [...] wholly imbalanced lavishing detail on the frequently disrobed Mina and remaining unspectacular elsewhere
Mina Tepes is a vampire of some repute who, after introducing herself to Japan via the high-veracity medium of a late-night talk show, throws herself at schoolboy Akira before attending the school itself. It transpires that she and Akira have a history together and - what else - made a pinky-promise that despite his untimely memory loss, remains important to the confusingly twee vampire princess. When her life is threatened on the outskirts of the under construction vampire island, Akira comes to her rescue and regains some of his fractured memories, however his ordeal is not over when a school council plot to evict Mina from their school turns into a competition to detain the unwilling Akira.
