Vampire in the Garden (2022) User Reviews

A bit too short... of greatness

[ayonijaprithuvainya · 7/10 · 20 May 2022]

+ Gorgeous animation and design.

+ Fascinating world which will make you want to learn about it more.

+ Interesting characters who will make you want to know them better.

+ Classical vampires.

+ Zero fan service. Very few anime tropes. It almost feels like a Studio Ghibli movie.

• At only five episodes, it is just way too short. It is more like a movie broken up into 5 episodes. All other problems are due to this.

• Lots of unanswered questions about the lore.

• We barely scratch the surface of said fascinating world.

• Not nearly enough time given to characters to understand them.

• The conclusion of the story feels abrupt and pointless.

Love destroyed by hatred

[Unavezms8 · 8/10 · 30 May 2022]

There was no possibility I could dislike vampire lesbian love story. And I did like it.

Vampires and Humans fight with one another. And a vampire and a human fall in love with each other. Both fractions wanna separate them "for their own good". There is absolutely no way the story of the story ending with happily ever after.

Both protagonists are cool and trully commited to the relationship they have. They are willing to do whatever it takes to be together.

(It has this USSR aestetic but thanksfully they didn't go deep into it bec the Russian in this anime is horrible).

Needs more depth to be one of the best, but still good enough to be Great!

[APolygons2-25753 · 8/10 · 16 May 2022]

For only 5 episodes,

This was way more impactful than it had the right to be.

I'll make it easy for you, the show is worth watching. The best thing you can do to see if it's for you or not is watching the first episode, which is one of the best first episodes I have seen in a long time.

It does get a little weaker around episode 3 and specially 4, but it picks itself back up for the final episode so I wasn't too bothered by it.

Bottom of the line is, if you want to go in completely blind, do it. It's worth you're time.

If you're still unsure, keep reading:

********************************************************************

the story is about a world were vampires and humans are at war while both sides are kind of both at fault and victims at the same time. Vampires think humans are the assholes who started it all, and vice versa.

We follow two leads, a human, daughter of a pretty of a big shot in the military, who ran away from home, and a vampire royalty who is dealing with her past. And most of the show is the journey of this unlikely duet living, surviving and running away together while being chased down by both humans and vampires.

They're relationship is the main selling point of the show. You just can't help rooting for both of them.

In fact all the characters are likable. No actually scrap that most of them are, and even the ones that have little to know screen time have enough depth to not be 1 dimensional. I even go as far as saying for a show that is only 5 episodes long the character writing is kind of impressive.

But that isn't even close to being the most impressive thing about the show. The star here is easily the execution. I talking about the directing, pacing and music. They work flawlessly in a final product that I can only describe as cinematic. So much so that I thought the first episode was the most cinematic and masterfully directed episode of Anime I have seen since the made in abyss movie.

Which says a lot considering how made in abyss is visually stunning, and what I'm talking about is a god damn movie.

And it's not just the visuals and direction, the music and it's placement is simply perfect. If i didn't know any better I would have guessed the music was done by the man himself Kevin Penkin. The style is very similar to his work, and that's a good thing, great even.

All these elements mixed together had the result of dozens of goosebumps and me crying 2 different times during this 5 episodes. It's not too hard to make me cry, but again for 5 episodes, that's still impressive.

Here's the thing, it's a simple story that is far from being the most original, and there isn't really anything ground breaking in that said story.

I'm not going to pretend like it's a must watch masterpiece.

It isn't...

But it doesn't have to be.

There are shows that aren't really flawed in any way, but they won't reach for the skies either. Those shows almost always end up being some of the most enjoyable and wildly loved stories out there.

I wouldn't say the show is good enough for you to go out of your way to watch it if it doesn't seem to be your cup of tea, but if you have any amount of interest, watch it.

Thanks for reading.

It was beautiful...but

[girllove-25105 · 7/10 · 27 June 2022]

Storyline had so much potential but it was so short. It felt like a movie that is just seperated to 5 episodes. The characters had so much things to discover about themselves and for the audience we left with so many questions. Production team works really well about showing the relationship between Fine and Momo. Last scenes of them made me feel so many things and it was great. Graphics are good and I want more of this series. Reminded me lot of things of my past.

a friendship story

[bilalcansakalli · 7/10 · 11 June 2022]

The series has a sweet story and takes a different approach to the vampire-human subject. Although the anime has a sweet story, it also has a dark side. It's nice to watch the character development of Fine and Momo and it's fun to watch the friendship between them. Learning about the backgrounds of the characters as the episodes progress makes the story even more complementary. It's nice that the anime uses music and dance as a unifier. In addition to all of them, the drawing techniques are also beautiful and sweet. If you want to watch a short and sweet anime, I recommend you to watch Vampire in the Garden.

Sad, Painful but Satisfying

[talking_about_movies · 9/10 · 16 May 2022]

This Netflix Original is more like a 2 hour movie than a series. I binged it and it's amazing. Vampire in the Garden has the same Romeo and Juliet type plot (a bit similar to Bubble which came out 2 weeks ago on Netflix), but this time it's done RIGHT. Instead of a romance, it has a beautiful friendship between it's main characters. Yes, it's unoriginal and predictable, but it's executed brilliantly and provides a sad yet satisfying experience.

The 2 main characters were great and their endurance and friendship throughout the series earned my respect. It is definitely sad with a grim, divided world full of war, but it's never dull or boring. Like many great animes, it does a great job at showing some dramatic and painful imagery. I loved the action and the animation. I found the backstories of all characters intriguing (in fact I'd like to see a prequel). And while it's predictable, it still manages to produce some tear-jerking scenes.

Overall this was really really really great and one of the best shows I've seen in a while. It's unoriginal, yes but it has it's own characters, visual style, and I enjoyed the experience.

Done better in other shows.

[sethwoods-67324 · 6/10 · 16 May 2022]

Great setting and episode plans. But out of the vampire anime this one isn't dark like blood + or plot deep as vampire in the bud. Lot's of feelings instead of action.

Exactly What it Says on the Tin

[agentsapphire · 9/10 · 17 May 2022]

This story is excellent. It's not a *new* story by any means. Two people from warring cultures/classes/species/etc running away from the destiny that has been laid out for them. But it's told very competently and got me genuinely invested.

Animation and design wise it's beyond beautiful. Everything is so fluid. The characters have large areas of minimal detail on their bodies so when the detail DOES show up it pops out in perfect contrast. I want to point some special attention to the blood and water as well. It's gorgeous.

The show plays more like a two and a half hour movie than an actual SHOW. It's only five episodes long and I think it could have benefitted from one or two more. The pacing felt a little bit quick in places and I would have loved to see more time spent getting to know Fine and Momo before the inevitable plot hits the fan. I would also say the show is a bit too heavy handed in its metaphors and foreshadowing in one or two places. These flaws only knock one star off because, even when it was very obvious something bad was going to happen I was still interested in exactly how it played out. So it didn't necessarily take me out of the story.

Every other criticism I have is kind of a nitpick though the biggest nit I have to pick is I really wanted more worldbuilding. And I suppose wanting more is better than having everything overexplained and being disappointed by it. If you like vampires or stories about people on the run, or just REALLY pretty animation, give this a watch. You wont be disappointed.

Intriguing and beautiful, but lacking

[klspiegs · 7/10 · 17 May 2022]

No matter what the reviews think (including this one), I'd say watch this show. It's only 2 hours combined and a great ride despite its flaws. It has a lot of elements from Seraph of the End, Howl's Moving Castle, and Full Metal Alchemist, which is a hefty inspiration to live up to, but it really is just all of those with some great female characters and some original plotline.

The relationship between the two main characters, a runaway daughter of the military head and a vampire queen, is compelling and great lesbian representation (ignoring the ambiguous age gap which had me pretty weirded out). It does play into a particular gay trope that I was very disappointed in and it never really solidifies their relationship, but it's pretty obvious. Plus it does explicitly state for another relationship.

It's short, so a lot of questions go unanswered and characters are left half developed. I ended up liking this though, as I would rather it leave the wordbuilding fuzzy and focus on the main characters and plot since the runtime is so quick.

Overall, it's tragic but enjoyable and was obviously a passion project which is something I'm happy to see in our era of long running money maker shows and series. If you can spare 2 hours, watch it!

I was wishing for something better

[CuteChaff3503 · 4/10 · 17 May 2022]

When I saw the trailer for this a while ago I was very excited, but then it all crumbled when I watched it.

The pacing is awful, the audio was being annoying...the music would be way louder than the voice actors so you could barley hear them. The character animations seem a little stiff and the background art is amazing but the character art style seemed to be lacking something.

Love it but...

[kolson-31329 · 9/10 · 17 May 2022]

Why the hell do these creators only do 5 episodes freaking 30 mins long I'm so tired of shows only being a small amount of episodes you make me love something and I only get a tiny bit of it it kinda just ends up making me hate Netflix they should only make a show if it's 12 episodes or more and try to do more than 30 min episodes.

This is a worthwhile watch and well done but won't standout in the genre

[kevin_robbins · 7/10 · 1 January 2023]

Vampire in the Garden (2022) is a series that my daughter and I recently watched together on Netflix. The storyline follows an ongoing battle between humans and vampires for resources and land. As the vampires appear ready to emerge and take over a relationship is born between a human girl and a princess within the vampires that may change the course of history...

This series is from Hiroyuki Tanaka (Attack on Titan) and contains the voices of Kellen Goff (My Hero Academia), Xanthe Huynh (Saints Row), Larissa Gallagher (Harley Quinn) and Yû Kobayashi (Attack on Titan).

The animation and depiction of the universe this takes place in is excellent. The backdrops and. Cinematography to scale are great. The action scenes are also good, there's great kills, gore and blood splatter. Unfortunately, the storyline is straightforward and a bit cliche. The ending is sad and well done but predictable.

Overall, this is a worthwhile watch and well done but won't standout in the genre. I would score this a 6.5/10 and recommend seeing it once.

What on earth was that?

[WeAreLive · 4/10 · 1 March 2023]

Once, vampires and humans lived in harmony. Now, a young girl and a vampire queen will search for that Paradise once again. In the divided world of the future, two girls want to do the forbidden: the human wants to play the violin, and the vampire wants to see a wider world.

For qualities I will say the animation and art style was really good and it flowed well with the character movements. The music was well preformed and suited the setting and I will say the voice acting was good from the English dub another around of applause for NYVA Post.

Now on to the bad quality can I just say the fact this series was forced into 5 episodes didn't really give enough to get into the story and how it was rushed. Especially since the story could have just ended at episode 3 with Fine and Momo in the same room resting with each other.

The characters I could not like a single one of them Momo was just someone who was just dragged into the story just because, plus I found her very annoying and was constantly whining all the time, she does have a cute design but that doesn't change anything. Fine wasn't really any better all she did was just use Momo just because she looked someone who she once knew, and she is always either abusive or pushes her away whenever she tries to help her. Nobara was just some generic abuse mother figure and I am convinced she wasn't Momo's real mother. Kubo was just a prick and a sheep, who literally is against the vampire's cause somehow he had a relationship with one and for some reason on wedding day his bride turns berserk (and I am like really, how did you even manage to keep a relationship for that long to begin with?). Many of the characters like Allegro who was just jealous twin brother and I have a feeling he could have easily been the main antagonist. Oh and don't even get me started on Ilisha she was annoying the minute she walked on the screen and it was easy to tell she wasn't going to be a typical bestie figure.

All and all I only watched this cause it was short and hopefully I'll never have to see it again.

Dark, Beautiful Mini-series

[Mossyyyyyyy · 10/10 · 6 July 2022]

Some very immature reviews here.

This is a beautifuly animated mini-series, whilst it may be short (at about 2 hours) it has a sharp focus on the two main characters. Their friendship/relationship is subtle and implied, some reviewers here seem displeased that the anime isn't in your face about the characters sexual preferences, however I find the anime very tasteful, trusting the viewer and treating them with enough respect to make their own judgments.

The other characters are left out of the scope but fit in with the world and beg for their own stories.

The animation is definitely above average, the tone is consistent and there are no silly gags or fan service.

The music, scenery and setting will bring a tear to the eye multiple times throughout the expereince.

Short, sweet, mature and tasteful.

10/10 They don't make many like this anymore.

Great series

[eatonkesha · 10/10 · 17 May 2022]

A heartwarming tale of a girl and a vampire having dreams that might seem impossible, but might also be possible Amazing. It also revolves around the theme of having what we see as right but it being turned down by others good series, worth the watch.

It could have been much better.

[simaltongo · 1/10 · 16 May 2022]

I'm sorry but it could have been much better.

The story developed so rushed that they did not even give the audience time to understand the story and get to know the characters well enough. The events are developing very fast, they could not convey the emotions very much, we are watching a very dramatic story, but everything is so fast that I did not even have time to be sad :/ All of the characters have very good backstory.. Allegro, Momo's uncle, Elisha... It was a very wrong decision to fit a story of at least 20-25 chapters into 5 chapters. I wish WIT had given enough time to the characters and the story to come into existence :/ It could have been handled much better and the story could have progressed much more dramatically. It could have been done much, much better, and it's a sad loss that it destroyed that potential.

Beautiful and Depressing

[ShamisSabri · 10/10 · 20 May 2022]

I had absolutely no idea, what I was walking into. I started watching it expecting it to be an action anime, something like Sirius the Jaeger. I was so wrong, but gladly so.

The show is brilliant, I will not share any spoilers, but its a definite must watch. The voice acting and story telling is top notch.

10/10 ~Shamis.

animation was good

[felixnkubi · 3/10 · 18 May 2022]

Like that's pretty much the only thing good about it, who wrote this? The plot was so nonsensical, probably the first episode was alright but the rest was a bore, had me questioning the characters choices a lot, also so many plot holes, a lot of things weren't adding up or making sense, yea it had some feel good moments and some scenes that could make people with one brain cell all teary eyed but the plot had me freaking lost! The show is not for me, probably could be for you...

Short, good and a great soundtrack

[neji-san · 8/10 · 22 May 2022]

The first thing that really hooked me up was the Soundtrack, almost every scene had music that felt so fitting. The next thing was Fines german voice actress, a calm, gentle, grown and smooth voice that was a pleasure to my ears. The best thing was, that it only had 5 episodes, the whole Story got told and that was a good a thing. The Story is nothing new 2 different races befriend them against all odds. A Story told many Times but I liked the setting and even though I'm not into vampires I really enjoyed it and the Story didn't feels rushed. More Drama would only to the worse.

Emotional and moving.

[davidlcella · 10/10 · 18 May 2022]

I was wildly surprised by how good this was and thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of it. The animation was absolutely top-notch as well as the soundtrack and all of the performances throughout.

The story while short was very touching and an interesting take on classical themes. I would almost recommend watching this in one sitting as it's only about 2 1/2 hours so it piece is perfectly as a standalone film. If you're here for Helsing insanity or blood plus school girl outfits this is not the show for you. If you want an extremely engaging and emotionally thoughtful story spliced with some incredible action then I would give it a shot.

A good animation, but a very bad story

[abdualrahmanalhassn · 1/10 · 12 June 2022]

The story has mutiple illogical decisions, fragile motivations, poorly delivering emotional scenes (Just music and you ought to just cry with it), rushed bulding of relationships, and fast storytelling. The anime has started well, but it didn't keep up the same base as it was in the first episode.

I was hoping for high titer stories from the studio who has done Attack on titan and Vinland Saga, but sadly, it is not the case.

Good but

[noraalmutiri · 10/10 · 26 May 2022]

I love it but the ending is so sad and I hope they stay together I advise you to see it </3.

I don't know what to write next😬 Iiiiiiiilloooovvvveeeehaaaarrryyyandnaaaaiiiillll<3.

If you like piano and music

[kaefab · 4/10 · 28 May 2022]

This started really good with the first episode but i quit watching it after the fourth one.

Vampires love music humans are banned from listening to it. There are good fight scenes between humans and vampire etc. But for the rest its boring music a along.

This could have been so much better by cutting out all the piano and music and concentrating on a real vampire vs human anime.

Just a little short... Of greatness!

[zacherytracy · 8/10 · 22 October 2022]

First and foremost, Vampire in the Garden is a beautifully pieces together anime. From it's stunning artwork, stellar voice acting, loveable characters, and heart wrenching plot points it's a fine watch for any fan of the genre looking for a fresh take and something new.

That said, and I'm sure I'll catch hell for this, it is not a romance. Fine and Momo do love each other, but it is very clearly a plutonic relationship. They are best friends who helped each other find their way past their respective demons and find hope in the future, not lesbians strolling around trying to find a community to accept them. And munching along the way. Think outside of a highschool mindset, romantic relationships aren't the only reason for people to share, care, and love.

Simply incredible

[spinorex-26044 · 9/10 · 8 January 2024]

This show made brought me to the tears multiple times, its backgrounds are gorgeous and the characters are compelling and interesting, the only fault the story has is its extremely fast pacing but I personally don't mind that. The actual story is incredible the two main leads had amazing chemistry and the love between the two was extremely well done.

I'm struggling to find much else to say other than that its one of, if not the best romance show i've seen in awhile, I understand why some people don't like it. But I absoulutly adore this show and i desperately wish it had a second season. That is all.