Summary:

With the establishment of the Vampire Bund, Mina Tepes is ready to hold a press conference, so many members of the press have come to the island. A vampire noble named Juneau Dermail arrives as well to take over security, but he looks down on Vera and Akira. What they don’t realize until the night before the press conference is that there’s a vampire on the island with a C4 bomb, but Mina decides to proceed with the press conference anyway. Fortunately, right before it starts, Akira picks up the scent of light-blocking gel and realizes that one of the members of the press is a vampire. Since all of the journalists were humans when they arrived on the island, this one was turned into a vampire sometime since then. Not knowing this, Mina begins her press conference by revealing that she was able to obtain this island from Japan by taking on its one-quadrillion yen fiscal deficit and helping the country economically.

When the topic turns to the fact the assumption that Mina is a vampire, a female journalist stands up and reveals the bomb trigger in her fanged mouth. Akira is able to jump in and stop the vampire, and Vera subsequently kills her with a stake, but that still leaves the ticking bomb. Mina gives permission to use a certain something, so Akira’s father Wolfgang has him throw the bomb down an elevator shaft to an underground area. The bomb thus explodes but does little noticeable damage, and Vera declines to tell Akira what’s underground. Mina uses this event to mark the end of the press conference, and she declares that as long as humans are good neighbors, the vampires won’t become a threat to them. In the aftermath, Mina and Akira head out to the place where he had seen her jumping rope with some kids earlier, and Mina explains that those kids are Fangless who have removed their fangs and refuse to drink human blood. The Bund gives them a place to live without being persecuted, though that’s not the only reason it was created.

Extra Segment

Before anyone asks, the reason this post is so late this week is because I spent the time I would have spent writing this up on Katanagatari instead.

This episode was actually pretty close to the manga, much more so than any of the previous episodes have been, and yet the ironic thing is that I still didn’t find it all that special. The first half in particular felt poorly paced and failed to keep my interest, and they probably could have done more to develop the plot against Mina instead of focusing on Akira and Vera’s conversation. The second half was better because it had some action, a decent end to the episode with the Fangless, and because it raised the question about what’s being built underground (something I hadn’t really caught on to when I read that part of the manga).

The issue is that the anime lacks most of the energy, excitement, and intrigue that I got from the manga, and I have a hard time appreciating the directing effort by Shinbou here. I acknowledge of course that the manga could have spoiled me on the anime, and I’m not calling this a bad series. But given the lack of things compelling me to watch the anime version aside from the good memories of what I’d read, and (just as importantly) given how busy my schedule is, I’m leaning now towards dropping the series and just sticking with the manga.

34 Comments

  1. I too have been really disapointed with the anime. I was so looking forward to it. Right from the beginning of episode 1 they derailed the series. I don’t mind anime original changes if they make more sense and work better but I think anyone that has read the manga and seen the anime will agree the changes they made from the manga were less then good. Strangely enough a series I had very little hope for turned out to be a great series so far (Sora No Woto). On paper the description for Sora seemed weak. If you thinking of dropping Bund give Woto a try instead.

    Splash
  2. the manga story and the anime is completely different, I gotta say…the anime is a bit disappointing to watch I think this will be the last episode I will watch of this

    @Chaos
    go read the manga you’ll see just how completely far apart the storyline is

    LiptonTwinkie
  3. On the contrary, I was thinking about dropping this series after the first three, but this one will keep me around a while longer. I haven’t read the manga, but I can tell it was a bit more closely adapted this time around. If the next few can build off of this one, it could still end up being a solid series.

    AuroraFlame
  4. I got so confused during this episode. They seem to keep implying that Vera is also a werewolf from that marquis’ dialogue. Vera definitely should be a vampire according to the manga.
    Also, the delivery for the explanation of Japan’s debt was really convoluted and vague. If I didnt read the manga I would still be confused about it. Maybe its just a translator problem.
    Bleh, too slow paced too.

    xcswmboy
  5. I’ll give this show two more episodes at most because im having a REALLY hard time holding any interest at all when it comes to this show. Its not that its bad, its just to generic seeming, and that makes it really boring. Bah, i hate to admit it this episode actually held my interest, definitely more than others, but if it doesn’t get better im going to have to drop it.

    sigh
  6. Guys, I usually opt to watch an anime before reading the manga because I know that there’s many an anime that falls short of the manga. So far, this has been one of the shows I look forward to.

    I know there’s many of you who have written off the show because it lacks something, but when you haven’t seen that something, it’s fine to you. Once I’ve seen the anime, I’ll read the manga and I’ll know what you guys were talking about, but for now, I’m content.

    TehJawknee
  7. @ TehJawknee

    I started to read the manga before they announced that it was going to be made into an anime, so it was unavoidable. I didn’t expect it to ever make it into anime format either, as the manga is rather graphic in various ways.

    Jaysus
  8. you all MANGA better ANIME haters just dont get it do you, it was stated previously and it was also posted here, that the story will not be the same as in the anime, it was agreed and it is made into reality, yet all you do as ever is complain, if so, then dont watch, dont blog, and let you MANGA original reading continue if you have nothing better to say/do…

    Nikto
  9. Nikto, it’s a re-telling that the Anime team DIDN’T want to do. The mangaka wanted it and supposedly challenge them to come up with something original, based off the manga version.

    Sadly, the Anime team went with the mangaka’s wishes.

    Pretty much the ANIME ONLY viewers like it, due to having little or no understanding of the manga plot. The MANGA READER viewers are disappointed that it took 4 episodes to see stuff strictly from the manga, YET it’s in random chronological order.

    They were just better off pulling a Hellsing(TV) and Gantz. Stick to the manga to a certain point and then end on an Anime original arc, per say. Especially, since a lot of the ANIME ONLY crowd, upon reading the manga QUICKLY agree that they should of stuck to the manga or in the other case, dislike/hate the manga due to being brought into the Dance in the Vampire Bund universe through the Anime, which gives a lot of people the wrong impression of character’s motives and ORIGINAL personalities.

    Mania Lyssa
  10. I read from somewhere that it wasn’t Shinbou’s fault that bund was like this. originally, he planned in doing the anime as faithful as with the manga but the mangaka suggested that they created the anime differently.

  11. I, for one, am highly enjoying this “horrible disappointing trainwreck” of an anime. I suppose I’m either a heretic or simply have no taste in shows if everybody else is to be believed. It has to be either that, or the original manga is nothing short of the textual equivalent of sex, gold and chocolate ice cream all rolled into one.

    Darth
  12. This serie is so bad. I’m okay with supernatural stuff but this one is too unrealistic. I mean a vampire bund with vampire executives that are super rich since the stone age is so unbelievable that it makes the plot ridiculous. It’s like the world economy is run by vampires but nobody knew that because nobody knew about the existence of vampires. To make things worse, there’s a least one person who just doesn’t accept this vampire bullshit but she got taken down so fast it’s like if you make sense you’re out cause the audience is too dumb to understand what you’re saying. And what the hell is shade gel? Seriously, it shouldn’t exist cause vampires out in the open is lame. I think vampires that stay hidden are much more awesome and those who comes out like “hey i’m a goddamn vampire,i’m super rich, super strong, super intelligent, super attractive and i can shoot lasers from my eyes, fly, teleport, read minds and so on.” should be hunted down with full force. Oh and the press conference with a brat acting all mature and know-it-all and a bunch of stupid journalists just killed my interest for this serie because it’s lame too but that’s my opinion.

    omega366
  13. @Nikto

    The problem isn’t that the story is meant to be different, it is that even when they return to the manga storyline in this episoded as they *supposedly* originally intended, it still isn’t very good.

    There just isn’t any LIFE in the anime. It feels drained, uninspired, and devoid of the character it has in the manga. All the charm and flow to the series isn’t there. It’s like watching a Thursday night community center performance of the story. SHAFT being their usual selves with all the stills and close up shots of mouths, an eye, or even just the background are detracting from the vivid characters and setting of the series. The quirky charm works excellently in comedy series, but here it just feels like someone who always takes photos at 45° angles because it looks “artsy.”

    Melchior
  14. @Darth Apparently you aren’t alone, I too do not seem to have good taste in anime. I’m enjoying this one despite the manga readers bringing me down when I check blogs and forums on it.

    I think I’ll just stop reading comments about this until it’s over. Just kind of makes me feel bad for liking it.

    Nellie
  15. too bad all of you ar negative because i enjoyed all the episodes of this anime maybe the second was not so good , but after the 3 this anime is better and don’t think lack excitenment , an anime without excitenment is fairy tail but this is pretty good

    kyon
  16. I havent read the manga, but if I did… I know I’ll end up losing my interest in the anime just like Naruto. after reading the manga of Naruto, I somehow lost interest in the anime…. forgot to mention Cross Game, but oh well w/e..

    anyways, I find vampire bund interesting, I’ll probably read the manga when the anime is over

    Alec
  17. https://randomc.net/image/Dance%20In%20The%20Vampire%20Bund/Dance%20In%20The%20Vampire%20Bund%20-%2004%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
    Mina’s been building a GeoFront! Maybe she wants to cause Third Impact :O

    I dig this anime too, I really don’t see what all the haters’ problem with it is. I’m surprised in the drop in Mina fanservice but dug the Seikon no Qwaser semi-homage with drinking blood from the breast. I’ll keep watching this one, so far the only new show I’ve dropped is Baka Test cuz its just so damn unfunny to me.

    Guardian
  18. @omega366: It is only effective for a max of fifteen minutes. Used as plot point in the manga, to discover vampires inside a school, force a sunny outdoors ensemble of fifteen minutes. Furthermore, so far in the manga, vampires actually aren’t that impressive. Sure, they fight nice. But madam pureblood got her ass kicked by her werewolf guardian, and he took on two special vampires and won.

    Michael Chandra
  19. @Michael Chandra

    i hope you’re right about the time length of this bullshit. I didn’t read the manga so i can’t compare. But from what you’re saying, it’s like there’s a non ending power hierarchy (???>werewolf>vampire>bullshit). It would be interesting if that werewolf guardian kicks ass with skills rather than natural power. I’ll try to think this serie isn’t so bad to keep on watching. Besides i like vampire related stuff (except twilight) but what’s really pissing me off is that the plot setting is trying to confuse the audience and make them get all “wow that loli vampire sure knows how to handle stuff like economy AND politics”. I know there’s a lot of differences but it’s like a Death Note wannabe and a very bad one.

    omega366
  20. After watching the debacle that was vampire knight both season 1 n 2 I refuse to watch any other vampire series other than hellsing. This series is not any different same crap different toilet. I cannot seen to understand why a good manga cannot be translated into a good animation…..

    Jay
  21. I am so dissapointed thus far. I was reading I only just found out about it from my friends blog loulouthinks.blogspot.com. The Manga is sooo great. We don’t have anything that good coming out of Australia. So sad.

    MangaGirl
  22. I’m really disapointed with the anime version. plot differece, loosing memory not so important in manga, low budget for sure (just saw the ending of episode 7, when we are just shown a single image while Mina talks), those f***ing one second shot of one eye, one building or whatever, etc… etc… etc…
    I’ll just stick to the manga.

    Francky

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