Dance in the Vampire Bund

On live television, Mina Tepes, the ruler of all vampires, reveals the existence of her species to the world and states her plan to build a sanctuary in Japan for vampires, called the Vampire Bund. Using her family's wealth to pay off the nation's debt, they have agreed to let her build this safe-haven for her fellow creatures of the night. But not everyone is so easily swayed by Mina's influence, as her announcement brings about conflict with humans who believe that the queen's quest for peace is a façade.

Akira Kaburagi does not believe in vampires and gets uneasy whenever they are brought up, although he has yet to realize why. Apart from suffering a head injury a year ago, he lives on blissfully until he meets Mina. She triggers within him memories of a life he had long forgotten, and he soon begins protecting her without understanding why. But Akira's secret is far stranger than he could have ever thought possible—he discovers that he is a werewolf, sworn from birth to protect the vampire queen, even if it costs him his life. Now, as these two dance a rondo of death in the Vampire Bund, Mina and Akira find out just how deep their bond goes.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tepes, Mina Main

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Kaburagi Regendorf, Akira Main

Nakamura, Yuuichi Japanese

Saegusa, Yuki Main

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Meiren Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuu Japanese

Shinonome, Nanami Supporting

Itou, Shizuka Japanese

Medici Borgiani, Alphonse Supporting

Kuroda, Takaya Japanese

Vera Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Nero Supporting

Tanii, Asuka Japanese

Regendorf, Wolfgang Supporting

Nakata, Jouji Japanese

Saijou, Takashi Supporting

Ichijo, Kazuya Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Kubota, Mitsutoshi Producer

Oosawa, Nobuhiro Producer

Ooshima, Miku Assistant Producer

Reviews

Feb 1, 2025

AJYURH

Recommended

This anime was all over the place, and as such ended up being very amusing in a very unexpected way, it does all the 90's anime tropes without a fail, but also without direction, I broke into laughter many many times, but I doubt they intended that at all, the characters are absurd, as are their motivations, also this anime is horny in the weirdest ways and it keeps topping itself, when you think they can't sunk any deeper they find a way by introducing another couple.

That said the character designs and animations are pretty good and well done, sure the plot is a mess, ... but it's a cheesy mess so it's very enjoyable. it's really worth watching despite all it's shortcomings, specially drunk. Now it's understandable where all the negative reviews come from, given the topics and how the anime chooses to present some of it's characters, but everything this anime does it does in such an over the top way that it's just entertaining.

That's the big takeaway from this anime, it's very entertaining, especially if you have watched a lot of 90's animes, it makes you go "Oh, I can see where they were going with this, they failed the landing miserably but I can see where they took that from". I'd take an entertaining mess over a boring good anime any day.

Again about the characters, none of them make sense and none of them make decisions in a human way, but they're all cute and funny, the best character is the main vampire girl, she's eloquent and is the closest character to have a plan as the plot unravels.

Overall 8/10, but only if you are capable of laughing at it's shortcomings.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 18, 2025

Joe_Devaney

Mixed Feelings

Overview:
Anime about vampires certainly aren't anything new, and Studio Shaft, the same people behind "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", is well-known for making such anime, having created several over the years. One such anime is "Dance in the Vampire Bund", which unfortunately is pretty average as far as the genre goes. While I did enjoy it quite a bit, it is nevertheless heavily flawed, with a number of good qualities being held back by a number of not-so-good qualities.

Story (6/10):
"Dance in the Vampire Bund" is set in modern-day Japan, in a world where vampires exist and have lived in isolation for centuries. Until now, that is, ... as Mina Tepes, the ruler of all vampires, announces their existence to the world, with the intention of creating a special district from her people known as the Bund, hence the title. Naturally, however, creating such a haven proves to be no easy task, as humans have believed them to be monsters, and there are many other vampires who believe in dominating humanity rather than co-existing with them. Besides Mina, the series also follows Akira Kaburagi Regendorf, a young amnesiac teenager who learns one day that he is actually a werewolf (yes, they exist in this world too) and the chosen guardian of Mina. Following this revelation, Akira joins forces with Mina as he gradually remembers more and more about his history with her, and they work together to establish peace between humanity and fight back against the forces that don't want that to happen.

The idea of the story is quite promising, being about a supernatural race of creatures that are far more complex than believed by the public, and are trying to find their place in a world that fears and reviles them. However, the execution is disappointing; pacing is poor (the first episode is almost entirely about the existence of vampires being announced to the world, with Akira not even appearing until the second episode), exposition is rare and often vague and so many tired anime clichés are thrown at you, from high school to a love triangle, none of which are presented in a way that makes them feel fresh or interesting, meaning that they only serve to drag down the narrative rather than enrich it.

The three races' focus in the story is also incredibly uneven, with the vampires getting the lion's share and there only being one major character in the other two races. This is especially jarring considering it's explicitly stated early on that many humans wouldn't accept the existence of vampires, yet we hardly see any conflict between the two races. The only human with any real focus in the series is Yuki Saegusa, who comes into conflict with Mina not because of any fear or hatred of vampires, but because they both have feelings for the same guy (Akira), which really cheapens the story's themes. As a whole, a good chunk of the story is spent on the conflict between Mina and other high-ranking members of her race, which just makes the series feel like countless other vampire stories. The series also ends with pretty much nothing resolved, as none of the series' main villains have been defeated and the ending makes it clear that Mina and Akira's work is far from done. As a whole, the story is just one small fraction of what it could have been.

Art & Animation (8.5/10):
"Dance in the Vampire Bund" is a very good-looking series, especially considering it came out in 2010. The characters are very well-drawn and detailed and the environments look great as well. That said, the visuals are far from flawless, with a major problem being the gratuitous fanservice, a lot of which involves Mina, who despite being centuries-old looks like a little girl. Most of the time, anyway; there are occasions when she transforms into her older-looking, true form, which is nearly always completely naked save for armour protecting her private parts (and even that's not guaranteed). The series also has this strange effect where the camera goes all over a given character's body and zooms in on them, which is pretty effective in some scenes but just plain silly in others.

Sound & Dialogue (8.5/10):
The soundtrack is generally quite moody and atmospheric, even if no particular tracks that play during the episodes themselves come to mind. The opening and ending themes are great, especially the former which is unlike any other anime song I have ever heard, and good enough that I listened to it at the start of every episode. When it played at the start, that is, as there are occasions when the ending theme plays at the start of an episode and the opening plays at the end, which I can't remember being done in any other anime. The voice acting is great as well; Monica Rial really gets to show her range as the two forms of Mina and the dub has a strong cast in general that includes Eric Vale (Akira), Alexis Tipton (Yuki), Colleen Clinkenbeard, Todd Haberkorn and Patrick Seitz. All in all, the sound design is easily of the better parts of the series.

Characters (7/10):
For the characters, I'll start with Mina since she's the one the series opens with. As the queen of vampires, Mina acts very much like one would expect from someone of noble birth. She's haughty, aggressive, cocky and arrogant, and not above looking down on others. She's also very shameless, having no problem with others seeing her naked regardless of what form she's currently in. Even so, she does have a softer side too, though she generally only shows it in front of certain people, particularly Akira. Even so, while she's far from being one-dimensional, I overall found her to pretty underdeveloped, especially in terms of backstory, as her relationship with the main villains is never explored in detail, nor is it ever explained why she chose now of all times to reveal the existence of vampires to the world and create the Bund. She also has a tendency to fall into the unfortunate trap of "I'm the protagonist, so every action I take is right while anyone who opposes me is wrong.", which looks especially bad given that she's definitely not above doing some shady things throughout the series. None of these problems were enough to break her character for me, but as far as vampires go, I've definitely seen better.

My personal favourite character is Akira Kaburagi Regendorf, from whose viewpoint we primarily see the series from despite it being ultimately Mina's story. Introduced as someone who can't remember anything about himself other than his name, Akira has grown to believe that he's just an ordinary teenager. However, upon meeting (or rather reuniting with) Mina, he learns that he is actually a werewolf and Mina's chosen guardian, and that he made a promise to Mina some time before the series began. As the show goes on, Akira remembers more and more about himself and his history with Mina, and slowly figures out just what she means to him, which makes for a pretty decent character arc, if not a particularly original one. Personality-wise, he's generally a kind person, especially compared to Mina, showing his kind side to the majority of people he interacts with rather than just a select few, though he can be ruthless and definitely isn't above killing when necessary. As a matter of fact, he ends up being the main focus of the last few episodes, during which Mina has been relegated to something of a damsel-in-distress role, which only further cemented which one I liked more.

Rounding up the main cast is Yuki Saegusa, a human girl who took care of Akira during the time he had amnesia. And when I say "human", I mean she's completely normal, with no dark secrets or supernatural powers to speak of. While this does allow her to serve as a decent surrogate for the audience, it also means that she can't contribute all that much during fights, and so is always forced to the sidelines. Her main role in the series is to allow us to look at the world of vampires and werewolves through a human lens. Personality-wise, she's quite likeable, being very kind and, while initially being scared of vampires, coming to realise they're not so bad through interactions with Mina, and helps to humanise both her and Akira. Even so, it is disappointing that she isn't given much to do over the series. Aside from the main trio, there's a fairly large supporting cast, including Mina's entourage, Akira's fellow werewolves and other characters that are best left unmentioned. Unfortunately, the series being only 12 episodes long means there's only so much time for these characters to be developed, and ultimately almost none of them, the main cast included, are given a proper narrative conclusion.

Enjoyment (7/10):
When watching a gothic horror series, there are two things that the audience can expect; bloody action scenes and a grimdark atmosphere, and "Dance in the Vampire Bund" has both of those in spades. It also tackles some really sensitive subjects, including sexual extortion. However, while there is a ton of horror and violence, the series also contains plenty of lighter moments too, particularly in almost any scene between Akira and Mina. Even so, the series maintains an ultra-serious atmosphere throughout, with the moments of comic relief being few and far between.

Overall:
"Dance in the Vampire Bund" is yet another example of an anime that could have been so much more than it is, which probably isn't helped by the fact that it only covers a small part of the manga it's based off. It has a good concept, decent action scenes and some great visuals, music and voice acting, but these are sadly held back by a cliché ridden story and interesting but underdeveloped characters. It's worth a look if you're a vampire fan, but even then you're probably better off watching "Hellsing Ultimate" or "Seraph of the End" instead.

Score:
6+8.5+8.5+7+7=37/50=7.4/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 25, 2019

starfarts

Not Recommended

Funny

This is a spectacular piece of shit and I can't recommend it to anyone, no matter how vampire anime deprived they might be.

My #1 criticism is the colossal shitshow that is the art style. It's difficult describe with words, but it's that kind of "art" where someone throws a whole lot of motifs around that *should* be artistic but the way it's all put together just produces a cringy mess. Art in general is highly subjective, but in this anime it's comparable to showing up at a high-class show in Paris and instead of seeing masterful works through the centuries you actually see what happens ... when a methhead eats twenty tacos then goes potty on some canvas. (I'll leave further art comparisons alone since getting into the whole "inflated art prices are actually thinly-veiled attempts at money laundering" isn't anime related.) The nail in the coffin (HA) for me was the poorly Photoshopped photographs that are spliced in generously; in the final episode, there's an obvious picture of New York City with the Empire State Building right in the middle...despite the series taking place in Tokyo. Lmao.

My second major complaint is the loli crap. Fetishes are one thing, and DanceBund certainly does the whole "my body may LOOK like a nine year old, but I'm ACTUALLY a seventy-four thousand year old vampire queen" meme to justify showing prepubescent T&A, but it's the literal child molesting during a later arc that really pissed me off. There's a boy and he's shown making out (complete with pornographic spit exchanges and sound effects) with a grown woman before they fondle and so on. I get that Shaft were trying to be edgy--and again, I don't care at all about personal fetishes--but this was just fucking gross.

My third primary complaint is the shitty storytelling. As the series progresses it becomes constructed more like a crappy Youtuber shouting at a camera about whatever hot topic is in the news: jump cuts, jump cuts, jump cuts, random pictures, random Photoshopped images, random colors, jump cuts, cump juts, tuj mumps............it all just melts together with the terrible art direction to cement my opinion that this was directed by an idiot. And it didn't HAVE to be! The actual narrative is pretty good even in spite of the dumb central plot (vampire-werewolf forbidden love). There are ever-so-brief glimpses of what could have been, like political scheming, vampires revealing themselves to the world, artificial blood, power struggles, and more, but it's all lost in jump cuts and shitty Photoshopped images.

I don't recommend anyone watch this. There are zero redeeming qualities at the end of the series, and I honestly regret wasting any amount of time on this steaming turd.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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