Oh yeah, and a new enemy appeared - I'm just too distracted by the sexcapades to mention her.

Katt: It has been… a long time since I have blogged this series. For that, I’m sorry, but I totally would have blogged episode 7 had I remembered that there was no new episode last week–more time to blog, right? Instead, I forgot, and made Hanasakeru Seishounen’s finale my priority when episode 7 aired and then never went back to blog that missed episode. I’ll give it a speedy re-cap here to make up for that (not that a short blurb makes up for neglecting an entire post. Ah well).

Episode 7 recap: The vampires make their way into the school and specifically target the girls for what I assume is the sake of getting to rip their clothes off – also the oh-so edgey threat of treating the nun in the same manner. Akira and/or Mina (I…can’t remember which) comes to save the day before Yuki gets bitten, and all of the freshly bitten students are tended to such that they don’t become vampires. The true climax of the episode is the confrontation between Akira and Mina that Yuki bears witness to. The two reveal their true forms (Akira as a werewolf and Mina as a benevolent, grown-up hot chick) and bring the chapel down with their fight. When it came down to it, though, Akira still protected Mina and Mina still feared for his life when she saw him gravely wounded; the two embraced naked in the chapel’s ruins while Yuki watched on and it was romantic?

Why yes, every scene DOES need a sexual undertone.

In episode 8, we move away from Akira and Mina’s relationship as the main focus and instead get to see other characters interact and even learn some more backstory to a few secondary characters. Since secondary characters are often more engaging than main heroes and heroines, I’d say that this turn of events is a ‘win’!

What’s the female equivalent to bromance?

I ask such a question because this episode has it. Specifically, this episode has friendship budding between Mina and Yuki despite all of their Akira-related tension. And what better way to bond than discussion of Yuki’s dirty stories! It seems that our narrator is a budding novelist, which justifies her role in relaying events to us, the audience. Mina is the first person who she has allowed (and I use ‘allow’ loosely) to read her stories, though. And even though Mina might not grasp the connotations of some of Yuki’s – ahem – subject matter, her appreciation for the writing unravels the tension between these  girls and makes way for femmance (…doesn’t have the ring of ‘bromance’)! Expect collaborative boys’ love fanfiction from the two soon.

Oh my! – gratuitous sexuality

As I mentioned earlier, we get to see more of some secondary characters in this episode, and the one who gets the most notable time in the spotlight has to be Nanami. It isn’t so much the amount of screentime she gets, but rather its content that makes her stand out. And by that I mean it’s no wonder that Funimation has announced that they’ll be whittling away scenes such that the series is made appropriate for North American consumption.

Nanami, as it turns out, has become quite the sexual vampire. From shoving her tongue down the little neighbour boy’s throat to inviting her prey to have sex in an alleyway before killing him, she’s certainly playing into the controversy of this anime. The questionability of Akira and Mina’s [seeming] age difference was problematic enough, I’m sure, but the introduction of Nanami’s attraction to Yuzuru is even more problematic. There is no excuse of ‘oh she just looks young but is actually old’. No no, Yuzuru is a kid and this teenage girl has the hots for him. Yes, it’s wrong, yet I can’t help but be interested in this aspect of the storyline because of how twisted it is. (Also, the fact that it is an older girl and young boy is a reversal of what’s generally feared in society…and it brings to mind that episode of South Park where Ike sleeps with his kindergarten teacher.)

The thesis of this entire post is basically: there are vampire series out there who enjoy playing up the sexuality of vampirism through subtlties – in case you haven’t realized it yet, this so isn’t one of those.

I swear I’ll try not to ramble on about how blatantly sexual this show is and why it might be that way next time. I feel like I’ve done that too much in just eight episodes…but come on, it’s right. there.

Katt sank her teeth into Dance in the Vampire Bund episode 8…8/10
Katt’s blood craving for Dance in the Vampire Bund episode 9…7/10