VAMPIRE IN THE GARDEN (anime series)
Review by Dennis D. McDonald
I binge watched VAMPIRE IN THE GARDEN (English subtitle with Japanese soundtrack) last night. It’s a fascinating mix of 3 animation styles (painted backgrounds, fairly standard character animation, wobbly integrated vehicle movement overlays) but overall I really enjoyed it.
I am not that familiar with the "zombie" or "vampire" anime sub-genres (assuming they exist) but artistically the nature scenes, architecture, and costume design in this series are way above average. Especially interesting is the use of old Stalinesque iamgery, architectural themes, and interiors.
Storywise familiar elements have been assembled in an entertaining and dramatically satisfying way:
Warring clans (in this case humans and vampires) where two representatives initiate an unexpected relationship.
Explorations of societies on the fringe of “civilization” that have established uneasy relationships between the normally anatgonistic groups (i.e., “frontier towns”)
Clever mixing of technology and magic.
Lots of character backstory that is only gradually revealed to help explain dramatic conflict.
Two complaints:
Massive investment seems to have been made in painting both interior and exterior scenes before a decision was made to squeeze the story down from maybe 8-10 episodes to 5. This results in a choppy storyline and incomplete character development.
Poor synchronization between spoken Japanese dialog and mouth movement which I found quite distracting.
On the whole, though, I was quite impressed overall as this is a very welcome change from more standard fare. Recommended! And I hope there’s a Season 2!
Review copyright (c) 2022 by Dennis D. McDonald