Taraparain
Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.
Lidia Draper
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
brittanyreneeparks
This series....or rather this abomination is what I would call a trainwreck that never had itself on rail. Visual novels aren't easy to adapt. In fact, recent years has shown that many anime series never lives up to its original material that result in disappointed fans. However, there are also some VN adaptations that are so horrid, so atrocious, so dreadful, so disastrous, so unappealing that it can be in a category of its own. Diabolik Lovers belongs to the category for failure with all its rights. This show is something of a tragedy - an anime adaptation that is almost an insult to the brain to watch. Diabolik Lovers is an anime series adapted from the visual novel of the same name. Zexcs handles its production and from one of their more recent notorious series known as Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil), it's their chance to step up to the plate again. But only this time, we deal not with a gym clothes but instead with vampires.The series begins with a young girl named Yui Komori who we know almost nothing about. Well, on the surface, we know that she seems to be a normal girl with a sweet personality. However, I would describe Yui as an empty doll. Why? Well it's because she is constantly being played by the guys of this show. She takes the role of a toy and the boys just loves to have their play time. Of course, the guys that plays with her aren't exactly normal. No in fact, they are vampires. They view Yui as a meal nearly every time their eyes are set on her. She is their happy meal and they're loving it.Yui also gets treated by the vampire boys as almost a dog on a leash. In essence, she becomes exactly what a frail girl is - helpless, pathetic, and unresisting. On various occasions, she tries to get out of her situation typically involving rape-like scenarios but finds it ever so difficult to do so. It's a story gone wrong with Yui being the heroine. No matter how girlish she is, there's no limit on her stupidity and how she deals with her new lifestyle. Whether it's at home or at school, she submits to her tormentors without ever trying to escape. To make matters worse, she even compliments on the guys in hopes of getting a break. The result though? Vampire rape, hickeys, and blood scars.As an anime series aimed at a female audience, I suppose the guys have some appealing features. Most of them are designed to look aristocrats and behaves as such. In their minds, they are the masters of the mansion and Yui is their dog. The only difference is that instead of the guys feeding them, it's the other way around. Most of them have contrasting personalities ranging from Shu's laziness, Reiji's demanding attitude, Ayato's aggressiveness, Kanato's unstable mind, and Raito's sadism. Regardless their differences though, they all want one thing: Yui's blood.The construction of the story is absolutely ridiculous. There is almost no plot development or characterization; there is never in fact any character development since all of them sees Yui as food with their vampiric eyes. Most of the early episodes focuses on the guys whom each gets his chance to spend some time with Yui. These usually end up with Yui losing blood and crying herself to tears. Are we supposed to feel sorry for the girl? Perhaps but with what she's doing, there's a complete sense of hopelessness for her. Each of the guys also seems to have some sort of history as demonstrated by occasional flashback scenes played throughout the series. Unfortunately, it's never really fully explored so it's up to viewers to guess in their heads. The story itself also assumed contain a form of romance but usually comes out in an atrocious way that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Artwork wise, there's nothing really special with the way the characters are designed besides their outfits. Their eyes reflects those of a vampires so some of them are noticeable. The mansion the characters live in has some artistic value with an English-like architectural design. Unfortunately, the atmosphere of the series obliterates any sense of artistic value since it twists around the idea of sexual abuse. The soundtrack is mediocre at best with an eerie like background. The way the show handles itself hardly comes as any special in terms of OST because most of the time, you'll be listening Yui fighting for her life and screaming her lungs out. The screams she lets out is a cry for help but no one ever comes. I do give some credit to the ED song though as it creates a sense of darkness. Additionally, the show's sadistic voice tones of Ayato and Raito gets the job done in that field.Diabolik Lovers is the perfect example of how to not adapt a shoujo anime series based off a game. The shows' sadism and vampire rape tones is almost an insult to viewers itself. Yui is one of those characters that is unbearable to watch. At various times, I found myself siding with the vampires since they at least have a control of their characters' degree. Oh and the humor? It's blend as dry paint. It tries to add some humor to its dialogues but this comes out as awkward and senseless. Thank goodness each episode is less than the typical 24 minutes or I would of screamed my lungs out for it to be over. Ultimately, I did stick around the show to see how it developed or ended. Unfortunately, it proves once again just how much of an abomination it really is.
Killian Bleu
I'm honestly not even sure how I ended up watching this show (I don't even like anime?), but I did. I ended up watching the whole season to see if it would even shape up to be anything that made sense, but *spoiler* it didn't. The basic plot is that this poor girl ends up living in a house full of naaasty vampire boys who rape her a lot. It's disturbing that that was the main focus of the show and how it was romanticised. I did not watch past the first season for obvious reasons.
RoryNC
Let me tell you, as someone who was once a die-hard fan of this show, I look back on this and I just want to scream. Yes, it all makes more sense when you've played the game and all that, and based on what I've read the game is way better. But I'm not reviewing the game here. I'm reviewing the anime.I would just like to say that I adore the music and the art. And the voice acting was incredible--especially in the subbed! The dubbed was okay, but in all honesty the voices don't really fit the characters (mainly Kanato and Laito). If you really wanna watch this, I recommend subbed. Kudos to all the voice actors, artists, and musicians that worked on this! Aaaaand that's about it for my praises.Oh, dear...where do I even begin with how unhealthy this is? It basically takes the whole concept of "No means no" and pours it down the drain, which is a mentality that countless people have fought against for so many years only to have it be essentially PROMOTED in a show aimed at horny teenage girls!Many people criticize Yui for being such a weakling, but I would like you to think of it this way: she's nice, she wouldn't swat a fly, and these boys will LITERALLY RAPE HER TO DEATH AND/OR SUCK OUT ALL HER BLOOD IF SHE TRIES TO LEAVE OR FIGHT AGAINST THEM. I honestly think that Yui is extremely strong for keeping up with them for so long. Which is sad because that just tells you how horrible the boys are. (Except Subaru. He's okay). And throughout the show, all this abuse and mental torture is subtly portrayed as sexy and desirable.The story's okay. It makes more sense in the game, but we're not reviewing the game. And to be 100% honest, there is a fair amount of characterization in the Sakamaki brothers that makes sense once you know their backgrounds, something that's way more fleshed out in the game. But what are we not reviewing? The game!"So why not just play the game and review that instead, Rory?" you're probably wondering. Oh, I don't know why! I honestly don't know why. It's almost as if I, just one among many many people, don't have the console required to play it, on top of not knowing Japanese which is not a language you learn in a day. I really don't know why. It's such a shame, people actually having to properly flesh out characters and story lines rather than rely on the source material that not everyone has access to. Such a pity...If you really want to watch this show, then go ahead. I can't stop you. But be warned: there's many a disturbing scene. If you find yourself utterly disgusted or on the opposite end, turned on, I encourage you in either scenario to close the episode and take a nice walk outside after having set fire to your eyeballs for a few minutes.
Tweekums
This twelve part anime opens with the protagonist, seventeen year old Yui Komori being, sent to a large mansion. When she enters she discovers a boy who appears to be dead; much to her surprise he awakens… he is a vampire as are his brothers who also live in the house. It looks like this could be the end for Yui but one of the young vampires says that she must not be killed. This doesn't mean she is safe though; they have no intention of letting her leave and all enjoy drinking her blood. As the story progresses it becomes apparent that they are keeping her alive for a sinister reason! This shojo series was surprisingly disturbing as Yui's relationship with the vampire brothers was distinctly abusive; there may not have been any actual sexual activity but the way they drank her blood felt like a metaphor for rape. As one might expect the brothers are typical bishonen types; which only served to add to their creepiness and to be fair they are all creepy in different ways. The story was okay but took a while to really get going; early episodes were mainly taken up showing each of the brothers forcing Yui to offer her blood. That said if you want to be disturbed without seeing anything really disturbing you should enjoy this. Unusually the episodes are only a quarter of an hour long but that is better than trying to stretch the material to fill a normal length episode.These comments are based on watching the series in Japanese with English subtitles.
