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Ah, vampires. I'm a sucker for the fanged ones, but I have to admit that there's been a little over-emphasis on things romantic with them lately, as opposed to things involving fangs and shapely necks. Fortune Arterial falls victim to that trend, too, but takes a slightly different path with a story of a female vampire, her determination to live a normal life, and the human boy whose mere presence may doom that dream...
After a long trail of school transfers, Kouhei Hasekura is about to make what will hopefully be his final one, to the prestigious Shuchikan Academy. It's a private boarding school, which should give him the opportunity to finally settle down and make some lasting friends. The first person he meets there is Erika Sendo, the Student Council Vice-President, who's on hand to give him a warm welcome - and who makes an immediate impression on Kouhei. Kouhei makes a rather unusual impression on Erika, too, which leaves her in quite a state. There's something unusual about Kouhei, it seems, and she's not about to let him have his own way. The school also seems to hold a dark secret - vampires...
And vampires in high places, at that - as well as Erika, there's Iori, her older brother and student council president and vice-president, as are Iori's assistant Sei and Sei's little sister Shiro. There are others living on the campus, as well - but they're the friendly sort, for the most part, living from blood packs and leaving the student body, and their bodies, alone. The key phrase there is "for the most part". It seems that vampires in this show, while immune to such typical dangers as sunlight and garlic, have a weakness: a certain type of blood, which once tasted is highly addictive, to the point where a vampire who has drank it will need a constant supply. They also have a natural instinct to take a Servant, in the form of a normal human who, having been bitten, gains eternal life - with the tradeoff being a complete inability to refuse the orders of their master. Erika is just reaching the age where the urge to take a Servant will kick in - and Kouhei possesses the rare type of blood that vampires can't resist. To say that this spells trouble for them both would be something of an understatement.
Underlying this "main" story is a minor story, revolving around Kouhei's childhood friend Haruna, who was involved in a car accident shortly after they were last together (seven years previously) and lost her memories at the time. The mystery of the missing memories is tied to the school's vampires, and is unravelled during the first half of the season. Haruna herself is one of those too-nice-to-be-true girls who almost have no personality of their own - although given Haruna's circumstances, you can almost understand why - but her sister Kanade, the comic relief of the series, usually follows close behind her and is always worth the screentime she gets. The sisters are a sidestory, though, to the main story of Kouhei and Erika, and of the conniving that Iori and Sei have engaged in to get them together.
Erika knows from the first time they meet that there's something unusual about Kouhei - every time they touch, even accidentally, there's a reaction in her body that's almost impossible to resist, with the reaction getting stronger and stronger as time goes on. It's her innate vampire nature, fighting to get its way - which is the one thing that Erika has always vowed will never happen, despite the wishes of her mother, Kaya. Kaya is a queen bitch, guilty of massively mistreating her daughter and of treating her own Servant as nothing more than a toy. It's seeing that side of her mother than has led Erika to want to find her own path in life, a path that involves respecting humans, not using them as food or toys - and certainly not taking one of them as a Servant. But as so often happens in anime, the fates have other idea.
This may sound like a cross between a typical anime romance and one of the more recent, teenage-girl-friendly vampire shows, and on some levels it is. But the series doesn't over-indulge in the usual angst, with both Erika and Kouhei avoiding getting bogged down in woe-is-me episodes - they're both very level-headed, and as events unfold and Erika's little "problem" becomes worse and worse, both of them treat the situation with surprising maturity - something I was very pleased to see, and that made the series all the more appealing to watch. Iori's actions also give the series a little feel of conspiracy, as it's not clear right until the end of the series what he's up to and why - is he acting out of Erika's best interests, following his mother's orders, or just having a little fun with the lives of others? Or possibly even a little of all three? You're never really sure, and the way he's portrayed as having a natural sense of mischief about him means that you can never really rule out any of those options, until the truth is spelt out.
Wrapped around all this are the usual things that always seem to come with shows based in high school - the culture festival episode, the beach episode, the sports day episode - and they provide the sort of fanservice that you would usually get from those episodes. It's traditional, and while part of me may want to complain about them being there, another part of me would be complaining equally loudly if they weren't. While the main story has its unique elements then, the underpinnings and setting play pretty much by-the-numbers - but thanks to the cast that we're working with here, you really don't mind, as whatever they're doing it's simply fun to watch them play off each other. And when the inevitable bite does come (it's a vampire series, "people get bitten" really shouldn't be considered a spoiler), it's done so well, in a scene that's dripping with emotion and almost perfectly, and wordlessly, realised, that everything that came before, including its flaws, becomes worthwhile.
Fortune Arterial ended up being one of the surprises of the season for me. I watched it initially for the vampires, and for the boarding school setting - something that always hooks my attention as I spent time at a boarding school myself. But I got far more out of it than I expected to, with it being different enough from the run-of-the-mill vampire tale to really grab my attention by the throat and not let go. Well worth checking out.
Get it while you can: Fortune Arterial is a Kadokawa show, and will be removed from Crunchyroll 30 days after the release of the final episode - which by my counting is either the 20th or 27th January 2011, depending on whether they're counting for the member or public release of the series.
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