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Autumn 2021 First Impressions – Visual Prison

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Ange Yuki enjoys the singing and visual stylings of an old visual kei band called “Eclipse,” which has been away from the scene for quite a while. This makes their sudden return (leaping from a helicopter) a very welcome surprise. However, the band seems to have a different, much more sinister air, and with only two of the original members, it’s definitely not the same. They also seem to be competing with another band called “Lost Eden,” whose members do much less to hide their disdain for the captive audience around them. Ange becomes overwhelmed during the performance and nearly passes out, before being rescued by a passer-by.

That random interloper turns out to be Guil, former front man for Eclipse, now seemingly retired from his life of performance. He sees something interesting in Ange, and when Ange begins to sing this confirms his power within. Ange is acknowledged by the scarlet moon, something which can only be seen by vampires. This allows him to compete for a special prize – a power known as “Visual Prison.” But Ange is even more special – as a Dhampir (a half-vampire), he piques the interest of both Eclipse and Lost Eden. But Guil seems intent on protecting this young man.

Impressions: As an anime fan whose love for the medium exploded in the early 2000’s, the style of music known as “Visual Kei” was a near constant-companion to the proto-BL and shoujo anime that was popular with other young women my age. The glamorous singers with their throaty vibrato and androgynous, gender fluid styles were almost as captivating as the on-screen bishounen in shows like Fushigi Yuugi and Escaflowne. Though visual kei still sort-of exists to this day, its position alongside anime fandom has cooled to the point where I doubt a lot of people are that familiar with it (although, if anyone is into EGL they’ve probably at least heard of Mana). Yet, I still think back and remember it fondly as part of my fandom youth.

That’s probably the primary reason why this episode made my brain tingle so thoroughly; its ability to trigger nostalgia, especially through the use of old-style video artifacting, truly brought me back to some part of my 20-year-old self. Beyond that, I also have a weird fondness for bizarre anime musicals. From Red Garden to Dance With Devils to HypnosisMic, there’s just something I love about characters breaking into song. This modern take treats these scenes as music videos, plastering the lyrics on screen as a design choice not unlike calling-out a character’s special move in a shounen series. It’s a *choice* to be sure, but I just can’t manage to be mad about it.

I’m of the belief that an anime series (or book, or movie, or whatever) doesn’t have to be good to be awesome, and this falls squarely into that framework. Its narrative is extremely basic (it seems to be building to, of all things, a singing tournament arc), its characters are over-the-top gothic vampire caricatures with costumes ripped straight out of a JRPG (for a bit of fun cosplayer challenge-mode styling, naturally). The protagonist is just the sort of innocent, naïve newbie primed and ready to get taken advantage of in this steamy, homoerotic setting. The whole episode is just a throbbing mass of fanservice waiting to happen. And yet I’m pretty sure I had a grin on my face the entire time.

Pros: The series captures the look and feel of classic (at least as I perceive it) visual kei bands with its flashback-style music video early in the episode, and also does a good job of updating the aesthetic for the modern era, and also to take into account vampire proclivities – there are tons of cheeky uses of crosses and blood-red embellishments that seem to revel in this particular detail.

The music is also a lot of fun. I’m not sure I’d call it listenable; I don’t think I’ll be going out looking for these tracks in my spare time and they’re not the type of thing I’d listen to on their own. However, I do think they serve the format of the episode well and provide the sort of atmosphere a goofy series like this needs to establish. I get the impression that the people making it at least know what they’re doing, in so far as they’re familiar with the music and style that they’re clearly aping. In a certain light that could be interpreted cynically as a specific manipulation, but I’m choosing to ignore that.

Cons: There’s no getting around it – this episode is very dumb. That’s maybe not the right term – it’s probably more what I’d call “cringe.” That may just be a personal reaction, as it hit something very deep inside from my out-of-control weeaboo days, but its unabashed horniness and over-the-top characterization definitely won’t be winning any awards. I would have loved it even more as a 20-year-old, to be sure.

Content Warnings: Vampire bites (with visible blood), general horniness.

Would I Watch More? – This is the type of series that I’d definitely watch but probably not recommend to anyone enthusiastically. My enjoyment of it is so completely specific to me that I’m sure I’d enjoy it in spite of its goofiness. My only concern might be that, with vampires involved, there’s a chance things might get somewhat non-consensual, which I have to be in a certain frame of mind to deal with.

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