Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu

[neflight86]

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"* Based on a science fantasy light novel series written by Makino Keisuke and illustrated by Karei.

It's the era where manned spaceflight has not yet succeeded. The supreme leader of the republic announced the project to send humans up into orbit with rockets. Behind the scenes, at the end of the snowy fields of the republic, at the secret town <Laika 44>, the "Nosferatu Project" that used vampires as a substitutes for humans for rocket flight experiments was moving forward. Taking advantage of a certain incident, First Lieutenant Lev Leps was promoted from <Dropout> Cosmonaut Cadet. He was ordered to supervise the vampire girl, Irina Luminesk, who was chosen by chance to be a guinea pig.
Strict training. Continuous failed experiments. Can mankind actually reach space? The team was enveloped by such an atmosphere. Despite being made fun of by the egoist top-brass and the whims of the times, they were here, putting everything they have into aiming for distant space.

Source: Yado Inn"

Genre(s): Sci-fi, Fantasy, Drama

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This was much better than I expected going in. The draw here is the tension between the 'Vampire' and her (not)NASA handler in the space program who, by a loophole, determined she can be sent into outer space without incident if things go wrong. I air quote vampire because quite a few traditional aspects of vampirisms are hand-waved this first episode as stuff humans 'made up' as a somewhat cheap vehicle for some racial tension, but it still entertains. Handler has his own baggage hinted at that I'm also keen to ear about.

Hard to put into words, but I'm interested to see how this plays out, so far.

[Ryllharu]

I thought it was so much worse than I had hoped.

Bland in the way that only 2004/2005 Also-ran anime series were.

The vampire aspect is a good example. She's a vampire, but doesn't drink blood, won't die in the sun, and all the other cliché weaknesses. So she's really just an elf? He gets along with her, her science nurse gets along with her, they imply that the other non-generic pilots don't hate her as much as they could, etc. There's no tension in this series because it is always immediately deflated.

I'm not angry at the series, just really disappointed. It's a prime example of wasted potential. It's extremely dated and not at all in a good or nostalgic way.

The ALI Project OP is also really quite bad. Even for a music act where all their stuff sounds the same.

[MFauli]

Agree, much more generic than I hoped. I expected Planetes meets vampire, but instead got a generic throwaway-setting and another handsome, gay hero and his future love interest.

Still ok so far.

Oh and: He's told to keep her secret, even hides her ears ... only to reveal her to everyone in the next scene. Wtf

[Ryllharu]

Episode 2
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I'm so disappointed in this series, though the second episode was better than the first (entirely for moe reasons), there's essentially no point in this premise and they're certainly not doing anything interesting with it.

She's seriously is just an elf. Or more realistically, she's a Jewish analog. They could have gone with that, or went for Romani or whatever other made up ethnicity they wanted and the series would be exactly the same.

I feel like I can predict the whole thing from this point, like the framework of any American Young Adult novel.

Without a significant shift to make it interesting, which they seem determined to write themselves out of, this isn't going to pass the 3 episode test.

[neflight86]

I'm still on board with the tsunpire and friends.

I like the backdrop of space camp, and the moe, as mentioned, is palpable. The greatest credit I can give is that I'm not really invested in the actual story, but that isn't a detriment to my enjoyment. Something... I can't quite put my finger on is making this much more enjoyable than the sum of its derivative parts.

There's no tension in this series because it is always immediately deflated.

I think that's working in this show's favor for me. I like that these (most) characters are functioning more like adults with responsibilities and life experience, even if that leads to some prejudices, stubbornness, and reservation. Nothing gets out of hand because the characters see that potential and prevent it from happening. It feels more human to me, and I think I want to see how they handle whatever comes next. The suggestion of some intrigue is icing on the cake.

[neflight86]

3

I'm not seeing where the story is going. Yes, there's training, and the (not really)vampire is being prepped for a dangerous mission, but the big picture eludes me. At least we know that she was voluntarily surrendered from her people to the ruskies. The other candidates' aversion was mildly interesting, assuming there was one level headed person among them. Is the head comrade about to get assassinated by the blonde lady?