Karin

Based on the Chibli Vampire manga, Karin is a fun, wholly entertaining romantic comedy that happens to involve vampires. They are not the same vampires we are used to , yes they suck blood and such, but the mythology is pretty much turned on its head after that, so vampire purists are best to leave their scrutiny at the door going into this series. The plot of Karin greatly resembles that of Fruits Baskets only with the genders reversed, an guy who has it pretty rough(his well meaning mom's somewhat of a deadbeat and as a result they live in poverty) meets a shy, nice girl named Karin at school and eventually discovers her embarrassing secret; she is a unvampire, she makes blood in large quantities rather than sucking it, so (again very much like Fruits Baskets) when her blood level reaches high levels or she experiences intense stress or comes in contact with a member of the opposite sex, blood comically geysers everywhere. Our male protagonist naturally befriends her and helps her keep her condition(and identity as a vampire) secret. Has the couples friendship grows, the more Karin's vampiric family becomes involved, unsure whether they can trust a mortal with their secret and their daughter's safety.
Karin starts out as a sweet, funny high school romance/slice of life with a supernatural bent, the characters (save for an unfortunate later addition who can get pretty irritating at times), especially Karin and her oddball family,are appealing. Later on the series throws in some nice dramatic content and twists and gets surprisingly serious and even a bit dark near the end, but this never feels forced or out of place and ends up working out very well for the series. It's actually refreshing to find an anime that isn't afraid to push the boundaries of it's genre a bit, and while Karin isn't free from genre/romcom/melodrama conventions, the overall feel is original and satisfying. In the end Karin is well worth your time.

Grade:B+

Reviewed: episodes 1-24 (complete) Format: English Dub, DVD.