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.

tanqianpeng Diabolik Lovers is one of the worst anime out there due to its' abysmal writing. On the plus side, the animation is incredibly good for something like this. Also, the voice actors really seem to enjoy voicing these guys! As a result, I give it a bonus 2 points. But, it can't make it completely awesome, as the writing and the characters matters. The characters are always feeding on the girl's blood, and that's incredibly gross. Also, the writing seems to be a sadistic twisted version of Twilight. I like it and I loathe it as a result.

ar-05319 I thought this was a clever series and really enjoyed it, they adapted it very well from the game. For the first series my favourite characters were probably Ayato, Laito and Kanato. This is probably because the triplets took centre stage in the second half whilst the other Sakamaki siblings fell into the background a little. I will agree that Yui is not strong but her character isn't really meant to be so her persona doesn't bother me. The artwork was excellent, I was very impressed with the detail. The voice acting was very good as well (I know they were the same voices from the game but they played out very well in anime form too). The music was good, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the opening sequence (I usually skip them). In the second series I was pleased to see the writers introduce the Mukami's who gave the show another level. I found a soft spot for Azusa and like in the first series I liked looking at backstories. There was less action but I was pleased with the ending particularly since it suggested there would be a third series which I had been hoping for as there is plenty more game material to cover. This series isn't for everyone but and I had a very good time watching it and if male-harem romance is something you're into I would suggest giving it a show.

Niklas Zenius Jespersen In short: Do not waste your time on this unless you are into boring rape fantasies and being bitten and abused on a daily basis.At first, I thought this looked interesting. The beginning of the first episode when the female protagonist arrives at the house hooked me on and kept me hoping for more of the same... At least for three episode which was when I decided to drop the series.The story is built on a Japanese dating sim for girls with the same name as the series. A girl arrives at an old mystical house to live there after her father has to move because of his job. Inside the house she quickly discovers that the habitants, 7 brothers, are vampires and that she is meant to be their bridal slave. From here on she gets scolded on heir manners at the same time that she is sexually assaulted, bitten and threaten with rape and death constantly, without ever fighting back at all and actually seeming to like it, or at least accept it a bit.Basically, this is a female rape fantasy for female Twilight fans. And yes, it's as sick as it sounds. And quite annoying and boring at the same time. Several of the vampire characters annoys me greatly but most of all, the little whimsy spineless fragile girl protagonist is extremely annoying and adheres to the most man-chauvinist ideas of the past centuries and the fact that this is made for girls just makes it even more pathetic. Not to mention that the entire genre of kitty-punk Gothic vampires and dresses is just sad and removes everything great about vampires and, for me, put this in the same category as Twilight even though the vampires doesn't shine like diamonds here at least (but that's properly the best thing about this series).I understand the need for fiction to outlive taboos and perverted fantasies that we can't, or wouldn't really like to, live out in real life. And up to a certain point, Japanese manga and anime should be applauded for being more liberal and dealing in a safe and unharmful way with such fantasies and pervasion's. But this is just sad. And boring. And especially the fragile girl aspect, as well as the unfolding of social and physically abuse as socially acceptable is both annoying and plain wrong, also in fiction. Already it is hinted that she can find a deeper more satisfying relationship with her would-be rapists and murderers. This slave-mentality (reference to Nietzsche) of accepting abuse is actually a personality trait that can develop in real life with people being routinely abused by the same people that they have the closest relationship with, like incest or a abusive boyfriend, thereby distorting their view of what to expect from a normal relationship. And the way it so unproblematic builds this in together with the male-chauvinism really is what makes this sick and for me, this is basically an example of some problematic aspects of Japanese culture.Again: Do not waste your time on this unless you are in to boring rape fantasies and being bitten and abused on a daily basis. And if that's the case, maybe you should think about getting help.