Review Repost- Venus Versus Virus
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The boys are off to GenCon, and there’s not much going on in Asia today, so here is a repost of a review I did a while ago!
Familiarity can be a comforting thing. Children drag their favorite stuffed toys everywhere. Family pets are disturbed by changes in routine. Even adults have their favorite bathrobe, mug or recliner. But familiarity isn’t always good. Take, for instance, the anime Venus versus Virus. Every element of the show has been done before, not once but multiple times in other anime series. V3 is a blend of well-worn ideas, and the result is worse than bad- it’s mediocre.
Sumire is a typical anime schoolgirl- meek, sensitive to the point of near-constant hysteria, kind, apparently orphaned etc. She has recently moved from the dorm of her Tokyo prep school to an apartment behind the antique shop where she holds a part-time job. She lives with Laura, a little girl whose sole joy in life seems to be acting as annoying as possible, and her ice queen boss Lucia (pronounced Loo-see-uh), a beautiful but cold woman with a dark and mysterious past, deeply-buried traumas etc.
By now, you’ve probably guessed that the antique shop is a front for something altogether different, that Sumire has a strange and powerful ability of some sort, and that there are vague, unfulfilled shoujo-ai implications between Lucia and Sumire.
Reader, you are correct on all counts. The antique shop is a front for the Venus Vanguard, an organization whose real business is killing demons (which are called ‘viruses’ for no reason other than it lends alliteration to the show’s title). Lucia is the Vanguard’s leader, and Sumire is the new recruit, chosen for her bizarre power- when she smells the blood of an injured demon she goes into berserker mode and tears the demon apart with her bare hands.
In the first episode the Vanguard is approached by a young girl who claims she is being stalked by a shadow-virus. Predictably, this simple assignment turns out to be more complex and dangerous than Lucia expected, but Sumire’s berserker powers are just enough to save them both.
Episodes two and three follow the same basic pattern, but episode four attempts to reward your patience (not much of an incentive, unfortunately) with some back story on how Lucia and Sumire met (Sumire is going back to her school dorm from a night on the town when she finds a mysterious brooch Lucia dropped; she pricks her finger on the brooch and can suddenly see viruses) and how Sumire’s power is a result of her being accidentally shot by Lucia’s weapon, a gun that fires bullets full of a liquid that kills viruses (so not only is Lucia boring, she is also a lousy shot). While the anti-virus liquid shouldn’t affect humans at all, for some reason Sumire reacts badly. Of course Lucia wants her for study, so she presents Sumire with an astronomical bill for her services, which Sumire can pay off…by working for Lucia.
Much of the show thus far revolves around Sumire struggling to adjust to her fate. While it does seem unfair, Sumire is too whiny to draw much sympathy from the viewer. And despite Lucia’s mysterious past, she’s too flat of a character to be interesting. And Laura…Laura is just a hateful brat. With no characters to relate to, you’d think V3 would concentrate on awesome art, a fascinating plot, some beautifully-choreographed fighting…but no. Everything about V3 is recycled from other shows, from the beginning (Bravin’ Bad Brew, the angsty-chirpy pop opening song) to the end (Shijun no Zankoku, a gloomy track played over a still picture of Lucia and Sumire). The costumes are typical (school uniform for Sumire, silly Gothic Lolita getup for Lucia). The animation is adequate, the virus designs are lame, and the Japanese voice actors sound indifferent (in contrast, the English dub actors try too hard; Natalie Arneson is unbearably earnest as Sumire).
Overall, V3 is at best lethargic; at worst the series is simply trite. Don’t bother spending your hard-earned cash to rent or purchase this series; instead rent some of the dozen or so show that V3’s creators have ripped off. I’ll start the list: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Witch Hunter Robin, Noir, Najica: Blitz Tactics, Devil Hunter Yohko…add your own, kids, it’s not difficult!
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