Anime: Fortune Arterial: Akai Yakusoku

Amongst all the various series focusing on school councils/school clubs (and even those with Vampire-led school councils), Fortune Arterial stands as an interesting contender telling the tale of a boy who never belonged and a girl chained to family circumstances. It's a versatile series that moves between comedic and serious moments while maintaining an unexpectedly good pacing through the plot. While short on roriconfan's definition of anything happening, the subtleties and intricacies of the elements that do exist are well presented. If you're looking for a school-based harem/romance/comedy without all the tension and goth of Vampire Knight, check out this show.

Animation:
Though dated looking by 2012 standards, it's still a fairly pleasant piece of work with good effects and scene-appropriate lighting. A large portion of the important scenes take place at night, perhaps just they can highlight the red eyes of the vampires. You can definitely tell that shortcuts were taken in certain scenes but at least I didn't notice any horrendous CGI blobs. Amongst the cast, you'll find some nice character styling touches- siblings actually look as if they share genes, all the way down to ahoges. I do think that Shiro looks a bit too much like an Index clone but at least she doesn't end up nibbling on people's heads all the time. While the facial animations lack the precision of P.A. Works, they compare favorably to other recent harem shows such as Hagure Yuusha.

This series has a minimal amount of action, most of which actually occurs in a single scene. There is some blood (come on.... vampires here...) but really action series have loads more blood in general. There are a few ecchi moments but they got away without having to use any supernatural lighting. Overall, this was a well-presented series.

Sound:
The story opens with an OP that can grow addictive after a few viewings and ends with a seemingly overly-dark/calm ED. While some episodes end on a note that merits this ED, other episodes end on a cheerful note that is completely upended by it. The BGM overall is supportive but nothing in particular stands out.

The VA cast is unusually light in veterans. Daisuke Ono does a good job as our main protagonist but all of the heroines other than the least interesting oneechan are relatively inexperienced. While Erika's VA does a good job with Erika's dynamic emotions, her voice does sound strained- giving Erika an unusually nasal sound. Regardless of their experience, the VAs successfully brought out each of their character personalities; and successfully made all the third wheels a non-factor relationship-wise.

Story:
A boy who constantly has to move due to his father's occupation finally has had enough and decides to move to a boarding school on an island he once lived on (obviously setting the stage for the obligatory childhood friend). He's soon greeted by the Vice-President of the school council, who mysteriously is taken aback when he offers to shake hands.

This series follows this pair as early mistrust and misunderstandings soon grow into mutual understanding and friendship, and perhaps more? This main plot line is supported by various other stories involving the other girls that seemingly flock to our main protagonist. Unusually, some of these subplots merge in with the main plot line as if someone had actually done some planning- an outrageous thought considering some of the 2012 offerings in this genre. As Erika and Kouhei grow closer, mysteries arise around Erika and her vampire heritage. What I greatly enjoyed was the fact that you could take the "vampire" nature as a metaphor for any family/cultural restrictions and they would apply all the same. Eventually, the series winds to a fairly grand climax and closes with a conclusion that begs more questions than it answers. Unfortunately, the OVA only serves to further these unabated questions.

I'll agree that there are also some seemingly important setting questions that are never resolved. For instance, all school administrators seem to be missing- leaving open the gaping question of how the school is practically run by vampires. But these aside, the plot was focused and well delivered. Most of the scenes served a valid purpose whether it be character explication or as a plot twist; only rarely was a scene present just for fan service value. While a predictable series, Fortune Arterial is definitely one of the better executed shows in its genre. In fact, it would have been one of the best if only they had presented a more satisfying conclusion.

Character:
Fortune Arterial presents a varied and satisfying cast ranging from the brash to the shy, and from the utterly carefree to the humorously (almost freakishly) overprotective. Our protagonist is a typical nice guy, but at least one of those who can make decisions when it matters. While the supporting heroines are mostly stagnant, the lead heroine is very dynamic. Her relationship with Kouhei is always under flux as she is torn between her individual values and those held by her heritage. It's an engaging dynamic that, in my opinion, is more valuable for character value than wanton shouting, violence, and sex.

Almost all of the characters that have more than three lines of words have a good reason to be on screen, and I appreciated the effort to minimize excesses catered to supporters of the original work.

Value:
While not as stirring and romantically engaging as shows such as Mashiro Iro, Fortune Arterial presents itself well in presentation, styling, and execution. If not for the lack of a true conclusion, this would have made it into the coveted 8+ category. Despite this, it is still a solid show that deserves more than its current ratings show. For this review, I re-watched the series and still found it much more entertaining than most of the shows that came out in Summer 2012. Tired of recent disappointments? Give this show a try.

Goodness gracious, yet another porn game turned to anime. Let’s hope they kept all the sex scenes in… What? Not a single one? How lame! Ok, maybe they kept the entire story in, or at least a full route of it… Again not even one? How about covering the story or developing the characters? … Nope, not even that. This is nothing but a cocktease to get the game. A bad one too as it’s COMPLETELY BORING!

I mean, surely, what kind of appeal does such a series have today? It is practically 12 episodes of nothing going on other than really vague innuendos around romance and vampires… Oh, I forgot to mention that, didn’t I? Yes, it has vampires; the reason I neglected this element is because NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS SHOW!

So we have this prestige school where the protagonist transfers to, and he gets to meet a lot of pretty chicks and find again his childhood friends (in the most kitsch premise for romance / porn). Most girls with a voice seem to be fond of him for no particular reason and the entire school thinks he is some sort of a pervert because he keeps being in the wrong time at the wrong nude lolis … err, I mean place. Also, here there be vampires, drinking blood and hiding amongst the students, with sunlight and crosses doing jack. The lead keeps going to various places with pretty chicks, talking with them, inviting them in his place, meeting with vampires, trying to get his feelings straight about a certain individual and … hm, there is no and; that’s all of it. A plot that could fit in just two episodes was stretched to last 6 times as much and still nothing interesting happened. And by interesting I mean:
-Sex
-Romantic kisses
-Vampire slaying
-Sex
-Romantic polyhedrons
-Anything other than boring everyday activities
-Did I mention sex?

Boy, this was easily one of the most plotless shows in recent memory. I mean, even most harems and ecchies seem to have more plot and character development than this one (believe it or not). So I literally say there is no story and give it the ace. It’s not aimless like Lucky Star type of show either; there is a possible romance going on here and there are these vampire students drinking blood… and let’s not forget the sex part. But as I said, nothing happens.

For the same thing, the characters never go beyond the first impression you get from them when you meet them. They are all based on moe stereotypes with hardly any special delving done to them (both metaphorically and literally). Although you get to see them doing their stereotypical activities and understand them for what they are, that still won’t make them anything other than archetypes with absolutely nothing extra to define them as characters worth remembering.

The art is by far the best part in the entire show, as the character figures are super moe that never look badly drawn. This is amongst the best works a shitty studio such as Zexcs can ever hope to accomplish. The colors and the backgrounds are also very well drawn, giving the needed fluff of the atmosphere in the prestige school. The lighting and darkness are also played right when they need to show cheery moments at day or pseudo-scary ones at night. So minus some frozen panels and a few stiff motions, the art is almost perfect. Just don’t expect anything special or original in terms of textures of presentation because you won’t find any. It is just showing generic stuff in the most beautiful way possible.

Sound is a huge contrast as it’s mostly average. The soundtracks are run of the mil pop songs and voice acting, although lively, lacks any sort of excitement in terms of dialogues or interesting context.

Value and enjoyment don’t exist. For all I care this anime is even less than a generic harem and has no reason of existing. So to all anime producers out there COULD YOU PLEASE STOP IT? If you so much want to make a harem with a twist, at least SHOW IT or take a few risks and try to play with the formula a bit. This show was so typical to the point there is no reason to watch / buy / keep it in the first place. And it’s a shame such good visuals (and the money to animate them) went to waste in a show everybody forgot in less than a year.