Anime Recommendation: Vampire in the Garden
Queer vampire anime alert!! With primarily women characters, no fanservice, and an easily bingeable 5 episodes.
Vampire in the Garden is a relatively new Netflix Original anime series created by Wit Studio, known for their incredible work on Attack on Titan, Spy x Family, and Great Pretender. Spanning only 5 episodes (about 25 minutes each including credits), Vampire in the Garden is a quick, bingeable watch that'll run for approximately 2 hours in total – which has both its upsides and downsides.
The show is easy to get into, and the speedy pacing allows the show to hold its momentum across all 5 episodes without a dull moment. However, I do think 5 episodes was far too little, especially with the final episode rushing so many key moments in the series that should have deserved more time for maximum emotional punch. While the pacing for the first 3 episodes was great in my opinion, I do think they tried to do way too much to wrap up the story in the 5th episode, and having it extended by even a single episode would have made quite the difference. As it stands, the series has an acceptable ending, but not one that really hit home for me, mainly because so much was rushed and we just didn't get the time to let the emotional moments settle in.
So what's the story actually about? We're introduced to yet another dystopian fantasy world set after the events of a war between humans and vampires. In this world, however, the vampires are the ones who are thriving, with the humans who we meet at the beginning of the story barricaded in a city surrounded by light living in a sort of survivalist, military-centric society. One of the distinguishing factors of the story – which is a central plot point – is that humans have banned all music, which is something that's seen as strictly vampire culture. We follow the story of a soldier named Momo who recovers a broken music box during a raid on a vampire nest, and she becomes captivated to restore the music box and play it for her close friend(?) Mirena.
The main motivating conflict in the story is that Momo's mother is the leading General of the human army, who is completely obsessed with her authority, power, image, and duty to win the war against the vampires. Without spoiling too much in the story, this conflict between Momo's worldview and her mother's, as well as Momo's exhaustion with this world she lives in, eventually leads her to run away with Fine, the Queen of the vampires who herself is reluctant to drink blood and wishes an end to the war as well. Much of the story is focused on Momo and Fine's journey running away and in search of a rumored utopia where vampires and humans live together in harmony.
There are a lot of aspects to Vampire in the Garden that I really enjoyed, including the fact that our protagonist Momo isn't a sort of damsel in distress even though she's surrounded by vampires and humans alike who are far stronger than her. She holds her own in the series and really much of what moves the plot is her emotional development, especially regarding her relationship with her mother and with Fine. If you know me, you know that I love anime that are centered on women characters without fanservice, and this fits that category, with really only a few male side characters (most notably Momo's uncle Kubo, who is tasked to find Momo and kill Fine). It blows through the Bechdel test, and gives a good amount of emotional weight and complexity to its characters in a very short amount of time. I also felt like the series does a pretty great job at illustrating a manipulative, abusive relationship between parent and child with Momo and her mother, and that in itself from episode one got me interested in seeing how the series would play out. Of course, I'm a sucker for vampire romance stories and queer stories (which, this kind of is), and I loved the dynamic between Momo and Fine as well as Fine's heartbreaking backstory. (Spoiler: She's a queer vampire icon!!!) If you're into vampire romance stories with some light action and the struggle to find hope, and/or into stories with mother-daughter drama, this is a definite recommendation.
My rating: 7.5/10 – while a fun watch, the rushed pacing and messy ending really took this show down for me. I think this show had potential to do so much more if they extended it by an episode or two, dug deeper into some of the characters' backstories, and re-worked some of the final episode.
Additional Review Thoughts (Click to Expand: Big Spoilers Ahead!)
I first watched Vampire in the Garden a few weeks ago when it first aired, so I don't remember all the details of what I wanted to mention in a review, but here are some of the ones that come to mind:
- I get why they needed to only tease everyone's backstories (especially Kubo's) throughout the show because of time (and production?) constraints, but the show could have been so much stronger if they allocated more time to exploring some of these. Like, we get that Kubo's motivated by cynicism for vampires and humans living together because of how he had to kill his vampire bride, but it felt like such a waste just throwing it into really quick flashes instead of full flashbacks. This is the same with Fine and her previous relationship (though they did go into more detail with it in the final episode, luckily). Overall, I think if they actually took the time to develop these characters more, this could have been such a more powerful show.
- Fine's death made a lot of sense to me, actually, and I do think the only way this would have worked out is with her dying by the end of the series. We know she's dying anyways because she refuses to drink blood, and I do think her sacrifice to set Momo free had a meaningful impact to Momo's journey. I do think that they really rushed the hell out of her decision to use the suicide drug, and the whole sequence of her fight all the way through her death was way too fast. I think they could have extended it, especially with her death scene for more emotional impact.
- I am a little glad that we didn't get more of a romance vibe from Fine and Momo, especially considering what's likely a tremendous age gap between the two and Fine's past with Aria. I'm definitely sad that this show wasn't more outright in naming queer love (between Fine and Aria, Momo and Mirena), and I do think the show would have meant more if they were more direct about this and the loss of their (romantic) loved ones. If I had the opportunity to pitch this show, however, I'd probably age down Fine and have her and Momo run off together alive at the end of the story!!
- I thought the scene between Momo and her mother in the bedroom in the first episode was so good. Like, especially with how her mother was manipulative with reaching out to Momo and telling her that she loves her, only to switch up on a dime when she realizes Momo doesn't buy it. It's the perfect example of a push-pull relationship that a lot of abusive, manipulative parents engage in (e.g., "I'll love you, but only if you're good"; "You're bad, so I no longer love you") to get their kids to love them. I think the final scene with Momo and her mother was totally rushed through (like, where did her mother even come from??), and while I agree with how it ended (Momo walking off on her mother, who's willing to point a gun at her daughter), I do think they could have done better with the dialogue writing and pacing in that scene.
- The naming of the characters after musical terms – Fine, Allegro, Aria – was cute.
- All in all, I enjoyed the series – especially the moments of joy between Fine and Momo, and I need more of that injected into my veins, please and thank you!!!
P.S. All the vampire and plot-related puns were accidental!!