× • = bj0rN = • ×

It’s been almost a week since the Winter Season has started and after flying to Japan countless time, I found that Venus Versus Virus is one of the shows that really stands out among the rest.

Venus Versus Virus is a Japanese manga series created by Atsushi Suzumi which got serialized in the Japanese Manga, Dengeki Comic Gao! (which is also why I started to buy it to read and flip through the manga) in mid 2005. A drama CD was then created based on the manga series. I don’t have the orginal one but I do have one special drama CD that was given with December 2006 issue of Dengeki Comic Gao!. The manga is good and there’s about 2-3 volumes released by Kadokawa Comics so if you’re interested, you might want to check it out.

In Venus Versus Virus, the story revolves around the life of a young girl named Sumire Takahana who has had the power to see ghosts since she was a small child but no one actually believes her. One night while running to her dorm building to make curfew, a broach flies out of no where and she pricks her finger on it while trying to pick it up and sees a demon. Suddenly, another girl clad in gothic lolita clothing arrives bearing a huge gun and kills the demon. Once the ordeal is overwith, the girl gives Sumire a flier for a local clothing store, Venus Vanguard. When Sumire comes to the store, the girl, whose name is Lucia Nabashi, she explains to her that because she pricked her finger on Lucia’s broach, Sumire now has the power to see demons as well as ghosts. Additionally, Lucia now wants Sumire to help her rid the world of these demons called Virus that threaten to consume all of humanity.

Sumire is doing her best for now.

Alright. The above was actually based on the opening few chapters of the manga. If you’ve checked out the anime, it’s actually different from the manga for the first episode but I’m not too sure if they will try to follow the manga or not.

Now onto the characters which are Sumire Takahana and Lucia Nabashi, who are main characters of the series.

Nabashi Lucia (名橋 ルチア) - Lucia is a strong and young girl who fight’s Viruses alongside the other members of the Venus Vanguard. Her left eye holds a mysterious power to see demons, though is almost always covered with an eyepatch. The usuage of this power actually wears her out. The Seiyū for this character is Ayahi Takagaki, who happens to be one of the new comers. She also voiced Jasmine in Deltora Quest, another series for this Winter season.

Takahana Sumire (鷹花 スミレ) - Sumire is a young high school girl and a member of the Venus Vanguard, despite being terribly scared of Viruses. While initially she cannot be of much help to Lucia, whenever her body reacts to the special chemical used to defeat Viruses, she turns into a completely different person. With this strange ability, she becomes stronger and violent, which gives her the power to single handedly defeat Viruses with her bare hands. When under the influence of this power, she is out of control and like a double edge sword, she will also attack not only her enemy, but her allies too. The Seiyū is no other than Minori Chihara who also voiced other well known characters such as Yuki Nagato from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Aya Natsume from Tenjho Tenge.

The OP is “Bravin’ Bad Brew” by Riryka and the ED is “Shijun no Zankoku” by Yousei Teikoku. Both OP and ED actually suited the sequence well and for the series itself. Personally, I like the OP better than the ED.

The animation was good and with the amount of yuri inside, it’s quite irresistable. Some people actually find them very loli looking which I don’t think so, but I suppose its a bonus for those lolicons out there. I like the use of colours here too. In fact, it isn’t too dark unlike some other animes and usually those are an eyesore since it’s too dark to actually see anything. For Venus Versus Virus, they actually use the purple colour kind of hue to show the dark scenes, which is good since it shows that its dark but yet you’re able see it clearly. It’s something like what you see in Shakugan no Shana if you still don’t get the picture.

The first episode in the anime is different from the manga, but at least they covered some basic facts and such for the series. Such as Lucia’s powers, Sumire being able to see Viruses too and her reaction to the anti-virus that would cause her to go berserk. Something fresh for a start but I do hope they’ll cover more of the manga too. Overall, I love this series alot and I would recommend it to those who have not watched or read it. And yes, both girls are hot even though I prefer Lucia more. =D