New transfer student Sooha seems to have everything going her way. After enrolling at the prestigious night school Decelis Academy (which has ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, ZERO VAMPIRES ATTENDING…Nope…no Vampires here…la-de-da…), Sooha is excited to start a new life, having been exiled from her village. Baby girl has superhuman strength, and naturally, the villagers think she’s a vampire. Of course, she wants to keep her abilities under wraps, and of course, a chance encounter with one of the students, Heli, spoils that secret IMMEDIATELY because of course. Heli is a friendly fellow who introduces her to his friends, all of whom seem to have mysterious powers and look like they could have a Netflix special. However, these pretty boys have another secret…they are, in fact, VAMPIRES. Shocker, I know. Adding more fuel to the proverbial fire, due to the stigma Sooha has faced over accusations of being a hemoglobin gobbler, she really doesn’t have the highest opinion of vampires…in fact, our girl hates them. How will this affect her relationship with our Rugby bros? Cue the secretive shenanigans!
Full disclosure time. When I read the premise of this show, and especially when I saw the artwork featuring our cast of bishounen bad boys who looked straight out of K-Pop Central Casting, with personalities and character tropes picked up down the hall from K-Pop Central Casting, I was immediately prepared to hate this one. However, after checking out the first episode, I have to admit… this show has some potential. Yes, it’s a reverse harem about mysterious pretty boys in high school drawn to the new transfer student who happens to be a cute girl…and the “big reveal” about our boys was telegraphed in the first 5 minutes of the episode, but there’s just something about this one that seems like it has a little more substance than some similar offerings we’ve been given as of late. Heck, it’s a lot better than the previous season’s offering of Vampire Dormitory. Since this show is based on a Webtoon, the anime does feel a little disjointed at times, as though you were reading separate panel strips, but it’s not really enough to put you off the show if you’re invested in it. I love that our girl Sooha has some powers in her own right, and if this show decides to have some fighting scenes like the ending preview shows, I’m glad to see she has the potential to hold her own. She looks like more than your stereotypical shrinking violet surrounded by pretty boys.
Speaking of stereotypical things…Good freaking grief, the guys check the box. If you’re into these tropes, then more power to you, but honestly, I would’ve appreciated more variety than the typical leader/big brother, the young whipper snapper, the tsundere lone wolf, the smart guy, etc, etc… Think of the crew from Ouran High School Host Club spread over seven guys, and you got this crew. Good grief. If variety is the spice of life, these guys are unseasoned chicken breast, and as a Louisiana boy, there is no greater offense than unseasoned food.
From a production standpoint, Dark Moon: The Blood Altar is brought to us by animation studio Troyca. They’re well known for putting out boy-band/idol-style anime like the Idolish7 franchise, which is evident in how our boys look like they’re ready to break into a dance routine at any given moment. I suppose that’s only natural, as our blood-sucking bros are based on a real Korean boy band, ENHYPEN, who provide the OP and ED. The OP “One in a Billion (Japanese Ver.)” is…well…stereotypically poppy. It’s not bad if you’re really into K-Pop, but I tend to like mine in small doses. The same can be said of the ending theme, “CRIMINAL LOVE”…this one is just a little slower. I should also point out that we also get a Day-1 English Dub! While it is somewhat questionable why they gave our characters British accents, it’s actually really subtle and not too jarring. Props to the cast for pulling that one off—most VAs only have two modes when it comes to UK accents—either straight up Cockney or Bridgerton.
So, dearest gentle reader, where does that leave us with Dark Moon: The Blood Altar? Well, if you’re into the reverse harem pretty boy vampire trope, then I say go for it. However, if you’re looking for something special or unique, I say give this one a hard pass. You’ve seen this show and these character tropes many times before, my friends, and, in some ways, done better. That said, there’s almost enough here for my Izzy-like curiosity to want me to see if this show can be more than the sum of its parts. But Japan, can we give the vampire trope a rest? Seriously, Vampires are becoming the new isekai of anime, and heaven knows we have enough of THAT. Just saying.
Dark Moon: The Blood Altar is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.
