Do you know what does these October anime, “The Vampire Dies in No Time”, “Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut” and “Visual Prison”, have in commons? We believe that various people might get the answer from the title itself. The answer is “Vampire”.
Not only these seasons but a lot of historical anime that mainly feature Vampire has been broadcast. Titles that I can think of are “Blood+”, “Hellsing”, “Seraph of the End”, etc. However, if all of them are labeled as just “vampire”, there would be no end to it, so the creators applied various patterns, such as a hated existence, a noble existence, an existence that fits into daily life, etc. to them. When comparing with the past, it seems that their dark and aesthetic vibes have drastically changed.
■ Historical Image of Vampire
If you were to ask to describe a vampire, how would you do it? If it was me, I would mention that it is a monster that attacked human and sucked their blood. Actually, vampire’s existence is based on the myth and folklore of Eastern Europe (such as Romania), and it portrays the monster that sucks the live blood of human (※There are various theories on this). At the beginning of the article, I had mentioned a few anime titles, and vampirees’ existence in these titles is bringing harm to people.
At the same time, there are works that depict gentle vampires. For example, “Vampire Knight”. The story takes place at the private “Cross Academy”, where the students of the Day Class are normal people, and the Night Class are consists of elite vampires. As the students of the Night Class have a beautiful appearance, fans gathered at the school gate when they are attending school.
There are also various works that depict handsome boys and beautiful girls, such as “Visual Prison” of the current season. Most of the main characters are vampires that are highly intelligent and handsome on top of having beautiful voices.
■ The Image of the Modern Vampire
A vampire is normally depicted as “Dreadful” and “Admiration”, but the same depiction in the recent anime is decreasing. For example, in “The Vampire Dies in No Time”. The main character Draluc is a vampire who dies immediately upon receiving slight damage (※ both physically and mentally). As he is immortal, he is able to revive immediately, but the setting of this character is far from being a “noble vampire” as he is a shut-in, get pranked by children, and tone-deafness.
Other than that anime, there is also the vampire from the March 2021 anime “Vlad Love”, Mai Vlad Transylvania, who is a coward, unable to suck blood directly from humans, and go on a rampage after losing her temper. Regarding vampires from “Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood.” and “Blood Lad”, both of them are Otaku vampires. So, are you able to feel that they are close to you?
■ The Endless Charms! What Type of Vampire will Appear Next?
The original image of the dark and aesthetic vampire seems good, but the depiction of vampires who are close to a human is more charming. We believe that vampires are an creatures that are being loved for a long time as various anime were made with them as the theme as well as being accepted by fans.
We also believe that various kinds of vampires will be depicted in future anime. So, let’s think about the appearance of the next interesting (?) vampire while waiting for the birth of the next “Evolution type Vampire”!
