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Forum - View topicREVIEW: Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess Anime Series Review
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T3rmidor
Posts: 66 |
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100% a trashy show, and I enjoy it very much (except the last episodes that not only do animation quality decrease, pace also seems more hasten). While there are several elements that can be off putting, I did really enjoy the absurdism of much of the show character interactions.
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Andrew Cunningham
 Posts: 527 Location: Seattle |
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I'm generally down for tonal inconsistency but this was definitely a case where the serious aspects went a bit too hard and undermined the trashy comedy side. Like if this is a splattery exploitation show, I can roll with that; but the emotional baggage that first villain carried was a bit too effective and the tension in the first arc climax a bit too palpable to enjoy it on a gory spectacle level.
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Ermat_46
Posts: 743 Location: Philippines |
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My biggest gripe with the show is that Komari was able to get away with anything doing nothing. That happened thrice and doesn't make Komari a compelling character. If anything, Tearmoon Empire does that better because at least in that show, Mia still has agency even though she was able to get away with the shit she went through.
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Cryssoberyl
 Posts: 242 |
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I disagree with a lot of this, in fact. It completely disregards Komari's surprise competency in the role she's been put in, and as for this,
Yes. Yes you are, as with many, many other anime that take themselves much more seriously than you are meant to take this show, the show with a death squad of neck-swinging giraffes in military uniforms. |
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Erulogos
Posts: 29 |
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She mostly seemed to be effective at motivating her unit, then getting well out of their way. Granted, they were capable enough on their own that this did work pretty well, but it wasn't clear to me how much of that was competency vs Komari trying to engage with her unwanted position as little as possible. Overall, I rather liked this series. The character designs were attractive, the humor worked for me, Komari is a charming protagonist, and often quite a mood. I do wish they had more episodes to get into the proper antagonists more, there's clearly more to Inverse Moon than being murder crazy but that only came up in the last minutes of the 11th hour. I'm not going to hold my breath, but stranger series than this have gotten a second season so if one turns up I'll tune in. |
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quoss
Posts: 53 |
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This whole review... really seems like it's from someone unaccustomed to anime. Which is surely not the case so I find it curious.. Maybe you're not used to these genres? Maybe you don't wanna be. But for what it is, I think Vexations is solid.
"Vexation's pandering yuri-baiting presents as superficial, creepy, and misguided. Komari also looks (and acts) like a thirteen-year-old, so make of that what you will." Vill has a whole backstory explaining why she loves Komari so much. Sakuna has siscon. Pink gal just... respects her? Add these to the canon reality that Komari is hyper beautiful and charming (Features I think come across very well.) and it tracks she'd have a harem; not sure how you can find it so superficial. From some of the review's other descriptions of Komari, maybe the writer just isn't into Komari's particular brand of moe. But can we acknowledge that she is hella moe? Reviewer also says Komari never reciprocates her harem's feelings and that's true, speaking romantically, but she was certainly getting cozier with them. Character development in progress. A slow burn but with fanservice. Sounds good and looked good to me! As for the repeated gripes about Komari's age. She's 15 which is indeed a child but again, this is an anime, what were you expecting, I ask you. To be against such portrayals, we respect it. But to be bemused by them seems ignorant. But also, her love interests are teenagers just like her so this has to rank very low on the possibly problematic scale. Komari's flustering over Vill's coming on to her is sad, I agree with that, but it's the kind of anime bs I just glaze over and hope it ends nicely... It's also outmatched by other, positive yuri moments so in totality..... Calling Vexations' yuri superficial, creepy, and misguided, is on every point wrong, in my opinion. I would recommend it to other yuri fans for being pretty, cute, servicey, feelsy, with great potential for development. "Tonal inconsistency" also didn't sound right to me and having now read the full review, I def object. What do we want, the mood to be the same all the time? Mixing long political scenes, yuri service, over-the-top violence, and emotional backstory sounds like a good time to me and was, watching this. It felt dynamic, fresh, you never knew what you were going to get in what order. To some, that could be not their thing, but for what it is.... bueno. Related, the review took issue with the storytelling and called Komari's Core Implosion a deux ex machina. I think, if just by dint of it being used reliably, it is not a deux ex machina. It's an ultimate move and why would we not use it, I don't get it. It's also interesting even being used repeatedly since Komari is still in the dark, while the people around her are figuring it out. I suppose the conflicts could be hard to follow but that doesn't seem like such a negative to me. Lots of great works require extra thought, a bit of rewinding. As for this gripe, "Few of the characters act naturally; everyone seems to know more about Komari than she does herself," ? The world being extremely occupied with Komari is central to the plot; Komari being ignorant of herself is key... I'm not sure I understood what is meant by the characters not acting naturally. Though, for myself, I actually agree... in the sense that, like most shows with action/romance especially, some of the dialogue is cliche as shit, especially lines spoken by the antagonists. But this is again something I've come to see as, for some reason, a constant flaw across all forms of entertainment and I try to glaze over it... else we'd be detracting points for this thing from everything. Worst part of Vexations for me was the animation quality but the story and characters still made it something to look forward to and enjoy every week. I'll probably rewatch it to organize the politics better in my head and enjoy the lovely Komarin fanclub. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4161 |
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I loved this show. The first story which set up Komari's situation, what the show wasn't, followed by what it was, followed by Komari's past and the climax where her past followed her. Lovely stuff, I thought it was going to be a comedy.
The second story... where the first villain tells the villain of the second arc that she ever runs into trouble, activate Komari's Core Explosion. There's also a free for all Tournament among the seven vampire lords which has an excellent use of viewer's expectations; We know what will happen so the climax of the story occurs after that. The third story concerns Komari's place on the world stage... and what happens to people who Komari kills while in her Core Explosion state, which explains the first and second story. spoiler[I'm guessing the Empress was among those slaughtered by Komari when she was 3. And I don't think Komari can ever know what happens in her fugue states. It's not a mental condition, it's magical.] |
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Aerodynamic41
Posts: 239 |
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The politics stuff is much better explained in the light novels IMO. You're better off reading it if that's what you're interested in. |
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quoss
Posts: 53 |
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I forgot there were light novels!! I did pick one up at the store and just at a glance it was really funny. Meant to go back but totally slipped by mind. Bless you. |
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DarkAudit
Posts: 35 |
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Every arc is a variation of "new little girl is abused physically and emotionally by adults looking to further their own ambitions." One scene is yuri bait, and the next is a father literally paying to have his kindergarten-aged daughter beaten so he can advance politically.
And then when they did nearly the exact same thing in the second arc, I checked out for good. |
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Gonbawa
Posts: 59 |
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For me, this autumn's best surprise. The graphics and animation are really good, with great attention paid to colors, shadows and light.
Komari's way of talking reminded me of Kaguya, and the pacing of the episodes and the timing of some gags are on a par with Kaguya sama Love is War.. At least "Vexation" isn't an Isekai and is better than half the series of the same season. I don't understand why "ANN" has demolished it so much, going so far as to refuse to reviewing it weekly. |
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Doctorkev
 Posts: 87 Location: Scotland |
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Not enough readers voted for it to be reviewed weekly, simple as that, it wasn't a deliberate omission. My review is my opinion alone, and shouldn't be taken as ANN's definitive position on the series. I only reviewed it because no-one else signed up to write it, and I'd watched the whole thing. I don't think any of ANN's other writers watched it. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7424 Location: Maine |
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This is one of those shows where it felt like the cast was too large for the story being told. I really would have liked to spend a little more time getting to know the cast, and not just the girls. All of her soldiers seemed like interesting characters that I really wanted to see get some more development, but all we got was surface level traits: the handsome guy, the hot head, the wolf man, the rapper and then a bunch of other guys that didn't even have that going for them. I get it, the show is made first and foremost for the female characters, but it sure made it hard to care at all when there were no real risks 90% of the time.
I liked it, but I'm certainly going to forget about it before the year is over. Emerje |
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TanyaTheEvil
 Posts: 332 |
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One of my favorite anime of the season. I loved the characters, the humor and world building. I don't think it was trashy or anything like that. But its just me maybe that the anime connected. Anyway, dispite the harsh review I loved it
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Yuvelir
 Posts: 1629 |
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I agree with most of the review to a very close degree.
This show was... exhasperating to watch. The constant tonal whiplash, the misguided priorities, the chaotic and senseless storytelling, the inconsistent mental abilities of the cast... made me pull my hair. And very personally thinking about how this or that character had been brutally murdered and/or dismembered really took away from the more relaxed scenes (the boulder drop on the angry lady crimson lord felt particularly gruesome). It also has some of the worst villain writing I've seen since SAO. But there were also enough cute and actually funny moments to make me want to keep watching... and the constant whiplash also meant that it wouldn't last long enough on its worst stuff before reminding me why I was watching this in the first place. On the yuri stuff, while Komari never reciprocates at least she had a pleased reaction to Sakuna's affections. It's something! As for Vill, while I'm not very sensitive to "problematic" stuff, she basically had one joke that wasn't really funny and it played all the time. Honestly I had more fun watching her squirm and sulk when other girls (mostly Sakuna) were introduced. |
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