Rosario + Vampire

Ok, so I just watched an anime titled Rosario + Vampire, which the plus is actually "to" in Japanese, pronounced "toe", and means "and". Frankly, I'm underwhelmed by it. I don't know why I watch some harem anime, I mean once I figure out that's what it is, since it's somewhat of a cruel reminder that I don't attract anyone while whichever loser the anime is focusing on can attract around four or five, possibly more, girls at once, all of whom are incredibly attractive. Whatever some might say, not all guys want a bunch of girls fighting over them, I frankly would be glad to have a deep connection with one person, and not have a harem or anything like that.

I suppose the big thing that bugs me about them though is that the main character is almost always going to like the first girl the most, because generally she's the sweetest and kindest of them all (not to mention really hot), and no matter what the other girls do, he won't show any more affection for them than he would any other friend. And then there's the awful melodrama between the two, with miss-communication abundant despite the fact the they're supposed to have such a close relationship that realistically they would be able to tell if they other was acting weird or was angry and not just assume they did something wrong or whatever. But it's all futile anyway because most of the anime won't settle the question of who he'll end up with because, A) that would ruin the harem part of it and B) it's so obvious in most cases that it doesn't need to be said, but it just ends with the status quo of the other girls not being able to take the hint.

So what makes Rosario + Vampire different? Well for one it's a monster girl harem anime, the first I've encountered and that was enough to keep me watching. However, it became quickly apparent that my conceptions about this anime were going to be wrong, since I thought with the girls being monsters it might mean there was some more deeper connection between them and their boy-toy, but no, that turns out not to be the case. While they are monsters, they are all human-looking monsters, which means that even in their monstrous state they still always look really attractive and cute. Which is all the more maddening when there are shown to be scary and unattractive monsters around, it's just none of them enter the harem, it's only the ones who looks cute all the time, which wastes a lot of potential for the touchy-feely main character to exercise his sensitivity chops and actually prove that he will accept people for who they are despite how they look. Instead we get a look at a guy who earnestly accepts all the hot monster ladies who always look hot.

Another problem I have with it is that they do go to a boarding-school of sorts for monsters, which should mean that a monster-view of beauty should be prevalent. Instead, we get all the school boys still going gaga over the girls human forms, which makes absolutely no sense. Unless every single monster male has a human fetish (and I don't think that's the case, since there is a lot of talk of eating humans amongst them, and they even want to kill the main character when he's revealed to be only human SPOILER ALERT), then they should all be such perverts when in human form since logically it would be their monster forms that they should be attracted to. It's a serious case of baffling logic, hatred for humans yet oogling human forms, and no one makes any mention of this of course. But I suppose that can only be expected from a fan-service packed anime like this.

Honestly, after all the anime I've watched, I'd have to say if I were a girl in Japan I'd be very nervous, because it seems like all Japanese men (except the four or five genuinely nice guys who populate the main character slot of these kind of anime) are huge perverts and always trying to look at a woman's boobs or panties. Of course the girls just have to wear revealing clothing too, but then get all up in arms when anyone tries to look at them. I seriously don't know if this happens much in real life/Japan, but I would suggest wearing more modest clothing if you really hate perverts that much, because all you're doing with that is encouraging them. Back to the men part though, almost every single guy in these kind of anime is shown to be a huge pervert. They will stare at their classmates and fantasize about them and show no indication they think anything more about them at all, but will fume when the one guy gets attention of any kind because he obviously doesn't deserve it, despite the fact that he's not trying to oogle the girl to death. But then he always will get his fair share of accidental pervert moments, for which he will never be shown any sympathy despite the "close" relationship he has with the victim (or from anyone who happens to see if his love interest likes it). I just can't imagine that all of the guys in high schools in Japan are always obsessing over their females classmates like that, or are constantly trying to oogle them. But that it the impression I've gotten from these kind of anime.

I guess what I find most unrealistic and troubling about this and other anime is that the guy is just kind of handed relationships. He's always just some normal guy who happens to be decent enough to resist the temptation to stare at a woman's chest and the world just kind of rewards/curses him for it by sending women to relentlessly fight for his affection (despite the fact he'll really only give it to one person, and of course he'll never want to try to take it to any other level than just some quality time holding hands). Admittedly Tsukune, the main character in this anime, never really acted like he wanted anything beyond friendship from those girls, but it's just so stupid that each one of them would fall for him, just because he was nice to them. I'm a nice and kind person (shut up I AM!) and I have a lot of friends who would tell you that (or alternatively that I'm kind of an asshole), but that's never led to anyone showing me undying affection (though admittedly I've never come across people who have powers or special abilities and have been denied a lot of true kindness for most of their lives) and so I find it hard to be invested in how much these girls supposedly "love" Tsukune just because he was nice to them (Hell, in one case he was only the second one nice to them, the little witch girl for some reason decided to pursue him even though she spent her whole intro episode obsessing over the vampire girl, though she did admit to wanting a threesome with both characters so... by the way, that witch is like 11, and she is just as sexualized as the 15-17 year old succubus with a huge rack, so tell me someone else feels really weird about an 11 year old having an obsessive older stalker and given frequent panty shots).

Inner Moka is honestly why I kept watching the anime, aside from the fact I tend to get a bit obsessed with any anime or show I start watching. The fact that she seemed to be disinterested in Tsukune aside from him serving as a source of blood for her was interesting for me, especially since she kept having to save him from stupid situations. I thought she might get fed up with the situation at some point, but unfortunately she stuck to her role through the end as a protector who would only come out near the end of the episode (not counting the end of season 2). What was interesting was how she eventually came to love Tsukune at some level, despite that she was initially disinterested in him, being the only character who didn't fall for him at the end of their first episode (if they ever did). Therefore it galls me that the anime treated the situation as if Tsukune actually felt anything for anyone besides outer Moka (though occasionally it implied he did feel something for inner Moka), when he was always obsessing over Moka, never the succubus or the Yuki-onna (snow woman) or the loli witch (thank God!). Don't pretend that this guy is in some kind of moral delimma, and don't pretend he's stringing them all along either, he clearly only cares for Moka in a love kind of way, the other girls are clearly blind to the truth. The only thing he's done wrong is just not say what he feels, which is obvious for anyone who watched even a little of the anime. There's no choice, except for possibly inner or outer Moka, but it's always Moka he's going to choose.

And I guess my final grievance with this and other anime is that it treats me as if I am a huge pervert who wants to stare at cleavage and big naked boobs and panties. I actually had to look away at parts because they would just not stop showing me the panties of these girls. Their skirts are short yet they get pissed when someone sees their underwear, it's like someone getting angry at a neighbor's dog because they were walking around in the neighbor's yard wearing meat-flavored pants. Don't feed the trolls, in other words. I do not want to see these underage girls' boobs and panties, I am admittedly not much older than they are but that still doesn't mean I want their sexy areas presented to me constantly. I honestly wouldn't have much of a problem with it if it were just an occasional happening in a circumstance which would call for it to logically happen, but it's like the audience is being constantly assaulted with these girls' sexy areas like we're unable to get enough of it. I find it insulting, and the only reason I'm not outright offended is because I'm not actually the target audience. I don't know who is but it's someone in Japan and the culture clash would explain maybe why I find such problems with this. There's nothing wrong with fanservice, but this is just going too far, it treads its way to the opposite: I do not want to see these girls' panties, especially not the 11 year old's, I want to see them as characters and people with real personality and emotions, not sexy bodies. I especially hate it when inner Moka gets this treatment because I would expect her to sucker punch or Falcon Kick anybody who dared try to make her wear a skimpy skirt or look at her panties, yet they're shown to us constantly and worse yet one of the intermission scenes actually shows her naked. So much for making a strong female character who doesn't need to expose herself to be sexy. You might argue I'm looking in the wrong place if that's what I'm after, but I have to ask why have a character like this, who constantly tries to teach people where their place is, and yet she's being paraded around naked.

I'm just tired of Anime thinking it's giving me what I want (it isn't) and then calling me out on it by proxy of being one of the pervert boys who the girls will beat up for being perverts. I didn't want to see her panties, but the fact she's getting mad at other people seeing it would mean she doesn't enjoy having her panties looked at, so you're trying to make me feel bad for looking at her panties (and assumingly enjoying it) while in reality I wish you would stop! Don't treat me like I'm a pervert for watching an anime that I thought was going to have more monsters and less panties.

-Subtle