TheMeggyPeggy

Fully watched the series & giving my thoughts. Spoilers might be present, but I'll be severely limiting the characters & the story❗️

Looking at the other reviews, might be a little different based on preference-- not to be edgy, but to maybe highlight some important things in the anime that maybe went unnoticed. I'll be explaining my rankings based on the rating I gave (Sound > Animation > Story > Characters).

Sound

For the sound, I find it flawless. The gunshots to the falling snow to the screams to the music itself. It felt full of life and appealing at times which was helpful in setting the mood. Sound really can make or break an anime. It put my in the environment with the characters and did not throttle me out of the experience.

Animation

This is something I expect to be perfect and prestine, not just because of the studio, but because of the fact that it's only 5 episodes long. It wouldn't surprise me if they cut tons of content to fit it into this 5 episode length. The characters looks phenomenal, the environment was stunning in it's own way, and the creativity of the transition from humanoid appearance of the vampire to their "true form" was so well done. The only reason I deducted 0.5 was due to the CG used that stuck out in comparison to the rest. I understand that time constraints & limited funding play a role in using CG. It's hard to not used it because it is so widely available now. It would have maybe been better to use it for more environments rather than as moving objects (i.e., the car). It's a small gripe, but it was really really noticeably different.

Story

Now, this is where I start to stumble. The reasoning is that the seriousness of this title falls short because of the time limit. It takes on a relatively common story, much like Romeo and Juliet, but fails to divert from that main plot to give more substance to this amazing concept! Sticking with the main characters allowed for a clean wrap up of their stories and experiences, but it left everything else in the dust. It's better than just a lack luster ending for the main characters, that's for sure. But I think adding some filling/side stories would have been helpful to give more character depth & development. The biggest complaint I have is the characters because of this reasoning...

Characrers

The main characters are about 95% flushed out. Their identity is clear and their values enterwine with each other to a point where defining their own short comings individually would be a waste of time. I adore both Momo & Fine for this reason. The side characters are what makes a story a story compared to just a common folk tale of two people. Some of the unknown characters that are driving points for the two main characters that shape who they are are never really defined. The parental figures, social responsibilities, struggles with pride, broken relationships, and a level of PTSD could have been handled much more throughly. Part of this I could maybe turn the other cheek if it's explained that we should respect characters and their emotional struggles, similar to Banana Fish and Ash's trauma. But that never is really implied from my perspective. Many of the characters feel shallow and not flushed out with respect to what they want out of life and what they're willing to do to achieve that. They're direct with answering those questions, so it's not like many things are up for debate, but it could have so much more. We could have seen how characters feel about others more clearly, the trauma that one goes through compared to the gotcha moments at the end of the story. If it's done well and becomes the focus for a few moments, it would have a heavier punch. It would have given me more impact, but it fails to do so. This is a big reason why the lead up to the finale of the story feels rushed. I wasn't disappointed in how the main characters were treated and handled. They had their own identities that were pretty flushed out-- but the rest did not. At the end, I kinda just looked at some and was like "who are you again?" when some were defining points for Momo & Fine. That's something I shouldn't have to question IMO. But maybe this sheds some light on the shortcomings I see. I'd love to get someone else's opinion on my review if anything needs to be corrected or if you think I missed an important moment that could explain my issues.

Thanks for reading! If you haven't watched the anime, please do! It's not bad in terms of the concept and story. It just needed an extra bump to really meet all of my expectations.