Kurozuka halfway thoughts: Madhouse know how to make a vampire anime
I know I’ve used the ‘diamond fashioned from broken glass’ analogy before (it was for ef-a Tale of Memories I believe) but it applies equally to Kurozuka. The word in the blogosphere is that the original manga is a bit trashy so if this is indeed the case the creative team behind the anime adaptation must have had their work cut out in taking the story from paper to screen without it sucking in the process. I haven’t read the manga yet but by the looks of things they’ve succeeded: plenty of potential has already been squeezed out of a simple premise so it turns out that a straightforward tale of vampires, corporate conspiracies and a romance that spans the centuries is proving to be quite something.
That is not to say that Kurozuka doesn’t go overboard with the violence on occasion - I’m in agreement with Coburn that it’s gratuitous to the point of being sadistic at times and doesn’t need to be as graphic to get its point across - but I suspect that this is what made up the meat of the source material. Style over substance is another favourite term that gets pinned to shows like this but when it’s one of the more high-budget Madhouse pieces the style alone is enough to make it worth your time. And it has vampires in it.
