(CR) Fortune Arterial

[Shadow5YA]

The problem with ep 12 is that it brings closure to nothing that already hasn't been confirmed. Kouhei was fine with Erika's bloodlust since the fireworks, but Erika wasn't okay with it. Then, when Kouhei says the same thing about how he's fine with giving his blood to her, all of a sudden she approves?

I'm not asking for the anime to match the game ending, since the anime made some promising plot points on its own. Kaya's cold attitude towards Kiriha, treating her like a tool, could have served as a foil, or a contrast for Erika and Kouhei's relationship. While Kaya and Kiriha are like puppeteer and puppet, Kouhei could have become Erika's servant while still having an equal relationship with her. That way, Erika and Kouhei could still be a vampire and her servant, but their equal relationship would still differ from what Kaya truly wanted.

Yet, for some reason Erika and Kouhei's relationship never deepened, even in the finale. We all knows they have a thing for one another, and the past episodes made an effort of building up their relationship, so why didn't anything come out of it?

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by cyberdemon

perhaps they will do a season 2

LOL, yeah sure At best an OVA, though even that is highly unlikely.

So this ones joins the list of burned adaptions? I really liked the character designs, but maybe studios should get an example from other shows on how to handle the source material. In the end I think it's a waste to use eroge for 1-cour TV anime, which have a lot more story to work with than date-sim ... compare (Amagami with Yosuga no Sora). This one tried to appeal to a larger audience, and as consequence butchered a very interesting story for juvenile romance an corny drama.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Malkuth

LOL, yeah sure At best an OVA, though even that is highly unlikely.

There's actually an OVA already announced...

[Fnights]

http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl...anime&aid=7579

The description say "is bundled with volume 6 of the manga" so maybe is unrelated to the tv serie and will be a standalone episode like Princess Resurrection.

[imbehindyou]

Overall it was rather boring. I wouldn't call it the worst but it's certainly not the best. I'm not sure if Kouhei (game) is as uninteresting as Kouhei (anime), but in anime he was definitely disappointing as a lead. I have nothing against an average guy (I prefer them more, actually ): ) but just... ahhhh. Even OnoD's voice that I usually love didn't feel like it fit Kouhei at all.

It would've been better if they cut down on all the prepare for XXX, XXX event, bla bla and got to the main part sooner. If they were trying to emphasize friendship... then how unfortunate that it didn't leave a great impression :/

Thankfully the voice acting was superb and ED was one of the best of the year. As for characters, I found Sendou Iori and Yuuki Kanade a great joy and without them, I don't think I would've continued this series.

[Wrath88]

Originally Posted by haiz123321

Going off topic but were you referring to the 11eyes anime or novel? The former did suck but the latter was awesome.

Of course I'm referring to the anime. I played the VN itself, and everything was better, the fights (more exciting), the humour (gimme that damn card game in the cafe scene), and the... oh wait, shouldn't mention that here.

Anyway, this series is done, so let's wait for the next season's.

[Malkuth]

Originally Posted by Haak

There's actually an OVA already announced...

Originally Posted by Fnights

http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl...anime&aid=7579

The description say "is bundled with volume 6 of the manga" so maybe is unrelated to the tv serie and will be a standalone episode like Princess Resurrection.

An OAD (and unrelated to the TV) makes much more sense than a TV-based OVA.

[Cosmic Eagle]

Ok...just watched the final ep.....what to say.....I was thinking they'd do something similar to Erika's ending, what with it being clear that the true end won't be touched on but instead it ended with something rather less climatic. Like the overall pace of the whole show really. Plus at the end, there were still plenty of loose ends left to be tied up true end not withstanding. Kiriha and Kaya's relationship, the Tougi family and their ties with the vampires....

I wouldn't call it crappy or anything; it was a nice story if you consider it as a stand alone but thing is, it doesn't do justice to the original game. That's about the biggest problem really.

[Himeji]

I've watched the final episode now and thought I'd post at least some final thoughts here.
On the whole, I can say: I am disappoint

I haven't played the game, but the chara designs looked very good, so I decided to take a look. Being about vampires sounded like an interesting bonus.

Now what did I actually get? First two thirds were pretty much only slice-of-life. Not that that's a bad thing, but while it had had some good moments, it was rather bland and colourless on the whole. It didn't even have any noteable fanservice to at least try to make up for this and was very, very tame on the whole - which I found rather strange, as it's supposed to be a conversion from an ero-game. Thus, also very bland from that point of view.
Also, it felt as if the creators were saying: "So you expected vampires? You're not getting any! Bi-daaa! "
Sometimes I even had to drag me a bit to watch the next episode.

Last third was finally more interesting, with the vampire theme finally coming into play. Still not that super-interesting that I would say, "Oh noes! I can't wait for the next episode!", but certainly better than before.
The biggest flaw is: there is no real ending or conclusion
The last episode left a lot of open questions, which is especially nasty for people who haven't played the game like me
What's so special about Kouhei now? They always mentioned that he's oh-so-special, but never said why
Erika's mother stayed a very flat character. You didn't get anything to know about her motivations, why she does the things she does.

It didn't resolve anything either. Erika's need for blood is still the same as before. Donator blood doesn't do anything for her anymore - this was mentioned, and she tried it herself without success. She'll have to drink Kouhei's blood from now on, and the next time she does that, she'll pass the point of no return, as was mentioned. There's thus no way around Erika taking Kouhai as Dependant. As Erika doesn't come off as stupid, I'm pretty sure she realised that already, and only obstinately continues to refuse it just to oppose her mother. Also here, it isn't mentioned why Erika is on such really bad terms with her mother.
Furthermore, for Kouhei becoming Erika's dependant, shouldn't they become girlfriend and boyfriend first? Their friendship is still rather loose, e.g. with Kouhei calling her "Vice President" rather than "Erika-chan" and things like that.

The final episode pretty much seemed like a "This was just the prelude, now the actual story starts" sort of thing. I really doubt however this will get a second season. The echo here (from reading the last three pages) wasn't very positive, and the rating on AniDB is quite low. Even if there actually was a second season, I don't know if I would watch it. If it's just like first season, probably rather not.

It wasn't as much of a let-down as Shukufuku no Campanella, at least. As already mentioned, it had some nice moments and pretty good chara-designs, so I'll still give it a 7/10, but if the game is really as good as others here say, they could've made a much better conversion, with an actual ending to boot which doesn't leave all sorts of questions open and resolves the problems.

[roriconfan]

REVIEW TIME

Goodness gracious, yet another porn game turned to anime. Let’s hope they kept all the sex scenes in… What? Not a single one? How lame! Ok, maybe they kept the entire story in, or at least a full route of it… Again not even one? How about covering the story or developing the characters? … Nope, not even that. This is nothing but a cocktease to get the game. A bad one too as it’s COMPLETELY BORING!

I mean, surely, what kind of appeal does such a series have today? It is practically 12 episodes of nothing going on other than really vague innuendos around romance and vampires… Oh, I forgot to mention that, didn’t I? Yes, it has vampires; the reason I neglected this element is because NOTHING HAPPENS IN THIS SHOW!

So we have this prestige school where the protagonist transfers to, and he gets to meet a lot of pretty chicks and find again his childhood friends (in the most kitsch premise for romance / porn). Most girls with a voice seem to be fond of him for no particular reason and the entire school thinks he is some sort of a pervert because he keeps being in the wrong time at the wrong nude lolis … err, I mean place. Also, here there be vampires, drinking blood and hiding amongst the students, with sunlight and crosses doing jack. The lead keeps going to various places with pretty chicks, talking with them, inviting them in his place, meeting with vampires, trying to get his feelings straight about a certain individual and … hm, there is no and; that’s all of it. A plot that could fit in just two episodes was stretched to last 6 times as much and still nothing interesting happened. And by interesting I mean:
-Sex
-Romantic kisses
-Vampire slaying
-Sex
-Romantic polyhedrons
-Anything other than boring everyday activities
-Did I mention sex?

Boy, this was easily one of the most plotless shows in recent memory. I mean, even most harems and ecchies seem to have more plot and character development than this one (believe it or not). So I literally say there is no story and give it the ace. It’s not aimless like Lucky Star type of show either; there is a possible romance going on here and there are these vampire students drinking blood… and let’s not forget the sex part. But as I said, nothing happens.

For the same thing, the characters never go beyond the first impression you get from them when you meet them. They are all based on moe stereotypes with hardly and special delving done to them (both metaphorically and literally). Although you get to see them doing their stereotypical activities and understand them for what they are, that still won’t make them anything other than archetypes with absolutely nothing extra to define them as characters worth remembering. I give the cast a 3 for at least showing a lot of how archetypical they all are without ever feeling out of character.

The art is by far the best part in the entire show, as the character figures are super moe that never look badly drawn. The colors and the backgrounds are also very well drawn, giving the needed fluff of the atmosphere in the prestige school. The lighting and darkness are also played right when they need to show cheery moments at day or pseudo-scary ones at night. So minus some frozen panels and a few stiff motions, the art is almost perfect and I give it a 9. Just don’t expect anything special or original in terms of textures of presentation because you won’t find any. It is just showing generic stuff in the most beautiful way possible.

Sound is a huge contrast as it’s mostly average (6). The soundtracks are run of the mil pop songs and voice acting, although lively, lacks any sort of excitement in terms of dialogues or interesting context.

Value and enjoyment don’t exist (1). For all I care this anime is even less than a generic harem and has no reason of existing. So to all anime producers out there COULD YOU PLEASE STOP IT? If you so much want to make a harem with a twist, at least SHOW IT or take a few risks and try to play with the formula a bit. This show was so typical to the point there is no reason to watch / buy / keep it in the first place. And it’s a shame such good visuals (and the money to animate them) went to waste in this show everybody will forget in less than a year.

Score: 3.5 / 10

[taichi-kun]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

Having slept on it i can't say it made me appreciate the ending more, so here is the comparison between the anime's and VN's ending.

Spoiler for game mussings, difference between how anime and game ended:

I guess i should start with explaining the format of the story, so people don't get confused - the original VN has a total of six routes, one per heroine, and a final one that gets unlocked after going through all of the five "normal" routes. Each of the routes has only one ending (There is no "good" or "bad" variation of it, like other titles sometimes employ, the ending is set in stone instead) - by "Erika's ending" we mean the one reached after completing her path. The "True End", as we label it, is the ending for the 6th path, the one which gets unlocked after the previous 5 are completed. It is an Erika's ending as well from the romance standpoint, but the distinction should be made clear - by "Erika's ending" we mean the ending to her route specifically, and by "True End" we mean the ending to the sixth and final route.

Despite having the same pairing, Erika's route and True route don't have much in common though, in terms of plot and focus.

Erika's route, as the name suggests, is largely focused on Erika herself, her relationship with Kouhei and the bloodlust issues. Much like the anime, the actual reasons behind Kouhei's blood being special, and the deeper truth behind the vampires, never gets touched here.

In the True route however, while Erika and Kouhei remain as the trigger for all the events, the main focus is the Vampire Side as a whole, rather than just Erika and her immediate relationship with Kouhei. It is here that many of the illusions get shattered, several truths come to light, the past and present of the vampires and their existence get explored, and Kouhei's "mystery" gets answered.


What the anime did, was basically combine the premise of both of these routes, but didn't bring either to conclusion. Most of those who had played the game likely expected the "True End" - indeed, that is where the answers lie, and the anime presented several events that serve as prelude for the True route specifically - Kiriha's search for her master during night while giving birth to the vampire rumors; restoration of Haruna's memory - these are the trigger events for the True route in the VN, and never happen otherwise.

Regardless of the ending taken, the inclusion of both is a good choice in a unified presentation - they are good for giving a form of closure (Haruna) and exposure (Kiriha), that would be otherwise absent in face of lack of their specific routes. The fact they included Erika's events from both Her route and True route is no surprise either - she is the main heroine after all, and the content doesn't conflict.

Approximately two episodes ago though, it should have become apparent to the game players that they are not going for the True End - setup and several key events were missing, and there was no real way they could have crammed all that in 2 episodes. So Erika's Ending was the apparent alternative - a surprising choice, given they would not be answering many of the core questions, but i was fine with it - personally i always slightly preferred Erika's ending to the True ending, due to the emotional implications of it. (That, and there was a certain thing in Erika's ending i could easily see related to the "Red Promise" part of the anime's title).

Indeed, the anime more or less followed the development of Erika's Ending up until Kouhei's confrontation with Kaya ... and then went nowhere. I don't think the anime conveyed well the intensity of Kaya's character (never mind her motivations and her not inconsiderable concern for her children, twisted as it is), and that of her objective - to make Erika take a servant. She didn't try to strangle Kouhei, nor make threats about killing him - she went ahead and did it! Well, not kill him, but it wasn't far - which was the whole point.

There was no time for mushy conversations nor corny convictions - as Kouhei was lying there in a pool of his own blood, Erika had two immediate options - either turn him in to a servant right now (as the vampiric durability would allow him to survive the wound) or watch him bleed to death within minutes. Obviously not much of a choice, as the second is a complete non-option as far as Erika is concerned. She saved Kouhei's life at the cost of his humanity, making him her servant in the process. A sneaky, unfair and despicable move by Kaya by all means, but can't deny it was effective.

So the next time Kouhei regained consciousness, he was no longer human. Erika was obviously less than happy, but that was the situation they had to work with. Actually, up to this point Erika never had drank Kouhei's blood, and sometime after his transformation is the first time she did so. Though she demanded a promise from him before doing so - should she ever, for whatever reason, issue an order to him, she wants Kouhei to leave her immediately afterwards - abandon her and never appear before her again, as that would be when she would have lost the right to have him by her side. This is what i expected to fit the "Red Promise" part of the title, and thought it would fit nicely. Since this never took place, though, i wonder whether anything in the anime relates to it at all

The story eventually ends with Kouhei and Erika leaving the academy - it won't be easy, and they will have other issues besides their everlasting youth to deal with (like Kouhei's "shutdown periods" that Kiriha experiences), but they have an eternity to make it work.

So ... yeah. This is Erika's Ending, and one which the anime appeared to be going for up to a halfway point in the last episode, so i believe my disappointment is understandable

It is no less of a shame they cut out their romance - originally Kouhei and Erika were in a relationship long before the closing events took place (which also likely contributed to Kaya's realization Erika would definitely take action should Kouhei get mortally wounded), and it is kinda frustrating that was removed as well. Can't even really call the anime "romance", because there was none. Aside from all the missed quirks and fluff (like Kouhei's room eventually containing so much Erika's stuff their tea party companions were wondering if they shouldn't relocate ), they also missed the opportunity to give several hints/implications regarding to the bloodlust, as Erika's condition actually improved after she started going out with Kouhei.

Overall they made Erika more 'secretive' regarding her bloodlust, and Kouhei more oblivious to it (for example the pool scene - originally she doesn't hide the fact, and reassures Kouhei it isn't that bad this time - even though Kouhei offers to let her "have a bite") ... i honestly didn't like the recurring theme in the anime with Erika having constant fits because of it, but blowing it off as nothing, and Kouhei appearing ignorant of what should be the obvious cause. I certainly didn't feel the bond and trust between these two, with Erika never talking about her issue, and Kouhei seemingly in blind denial with his "Vice President (how about you actually start calling her by her name !?) doesn't need that!" ...well, yeah, sorry, but she does, and you were originally supposed to realize it long ago

So ...yeah. "Play the game for a satisfying conclusion" is all i can say, and if that's what the anime was trying to convey, one might argue they succeeded.

Thanks !! your summary helped me a lot

Now I'm after the true end and of course kiriha's end

[Seitsuki]

For those of you who are interested..

Seems GSC is making more nendos!



Guess I'll wait and see if a Kiriha comes out

[Oryon]

In the OVA...

Spoiler:

... Erika already sucks Kouhei blood naturally. And, this time he sees all of them in the bath

The animation is very economic. But character design remains pretty.

[Vlazz]

edit: thanks

[taichi-kun]

The ova was just more of the same .....

the end for this anime.

[AnimeHeart]

Fourtune arterial is amazing !!!

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Vena

See, I have no idea how the romance wasn't resolved, at least when I watched it. The ending wasn't the most conclusive or sensical but I don't remember having doubts about who liked who. I'm not even trying to compare the shows on merit, I simply did not find that show any less clear than this one in terms of who picked who. But maybe I missed something in Arterial that made it vague?

I'd think that for the male lead to be worth considering as "decisive" on the romance front, he actually would have to come out and do something directly related to it. Fact is he never did and romance as a topic was pretty subdued for the show as a whole, it was never really on the table, only existing under wraps from start to end. What we got was subtext and suggestions - and while those leave little doubt about whom he liked (There are very few shows where that isn't clear really), it's still a far cry from saying that Kyouhei was decisive on the romance front, or that even the show was.

The issue wasn't even tackled directly, nor was it brought up by the characters or even the supposed couple in question, so I certainly don't consider it conclusive. I don't see how it can be, unless you consider "conclusive" as being able to figure out whom the male most likely has romantic feelings for, which renders the notion pretty moot. If anything it's the opposite, as no conclusion was ever reached ... the topic wasn't even engaged by the show in the first place! It was a possibility that floated in the peripheral vision but never materialized. Rather than being conclusive, it pretty much never even happened.

So ... yeah. FA can't really be considered as having a conclusive romance, and more specifically (which is what the point was about) - a male lead that actually took initiative on matters romance related. The male lead can't be possibly considered as decisive on the romance front if romance never happened

[Vena]

I hate touch screens, so now I am typing with a keyboard on a 4.2" screen... this will be fun. Pardon any mistakes.

Originally Posted by Skyfall

I'd think that for the male lead to be worth considering as "decisive" on the romance front, he actually would have to come out and do something directly related to it. Fact is he never did and romance as a topic was pretty subdued for the show as a whole, it was never really on the table, only existing under wraps from start to end. What we got was subtext and suggestions - and while those leave little doubt about whom he liked (There are very few shows where that isn't clear really), it's still a far cry from saying that Kyouhei was decisive on the romance front, or that even the show was.

The issue wasn't even tackled directly, nor was it brought up by the characters or even the supposed couple in question, so I certainly don't consider it conclusive. I don't see how it can be, unless you consider "conclusive" as being able to figure out whom the male most likely has romantic feelings for, which renders the notion pretty moot. If anything it's the opposite, as no conclusion was ever reached ... the topic wasn't even engaged by the show in the first place! It was a possibility that floated in the peripheral vision but never materialized. Rather than being conclusive, it pretty much never even happened.

So ... yeah. FA can't really be considered as having a conclusive romance, and more specifically (which is what the point was about) - a male lead that actually took initiative on matters romance related. The male lead can't be possibly considered as decisive on the romance front if romance never happened

Looking back on it and trying to jar my memory best that I can (there's been a lot of chemistry, biology, physics, and other shows since then ), you're right that the issue was never directly addressed but at the same time it did not feel unresolved to me in terms of who the male liked and whether or not he made a choice. (Of course, there's no doubt that the ending left much to be desired...) Nor did I find Kyouhei indecisive, unless I read far too much into the fireworks scene and "I'll be your mobile blood bank forever and ever." It felt to me like it was pretty clear cut (though not in your face "I love you" confession style) that he cared for the main moreso than any other, and that that was the conclusion to the rather unceremonious romance angle of the show. The last *chapter* was just a reconfirmation of Kyouhei's determination to be with the heroine as I cannot find any other explicable reason for his actions aside from being in love (unless he's just really, really stupid). (Power of friendship is nice and all, but it doesn't tend to drive people to the point of willingly offering themselves up to the real demons of someone's past... and nearly getting killed for defying said demon's demands. I also tend to attribute *power of friendship* moments to be less private and more *gambate* from a big crowd of friends.)

The romance plot certainly wasn't in your face nor was it really the driving point of the show as that seemed to be more about friendship (budding or remembered) between our characters, at least for the first two-thirds, but when the final arc rolled around it felt like the issue was moved beyond simple friendship. So back to the original point, it wasn't *here I am* in your face style but it was still male+female well before the end with the male taking initiative.

All that or my memory has been so corroded by everything else, that I made up a different show in my mind from the one I watched.

[relentlessflame]

The thing about this show is that it took a story where romance was a central element and sort of watered it down to the point where all we had was suggestion, symbolism, and metaphor. I actually liked a lot of the symbolism at play here, and the way they developed the relationship between Erika and Kouhei was very nice... but the show stubbornly refused to go all the way with it. I simply don't understand why. The whole show basically comes across as a giant tease in this regard, as all the elements for a romantic relationship are there, but they deliberately held it back so anything concrete has to happen in our imaginations. Essentially, it's all very romantic as long as we are willing to believe that romance is the inevitable destination, but it was done in such a way that -- in fact -- Kouhei could still decide he just sees her as a close friend. And compared to the game where -- guess what -- they consummated their relationship in every sense... it's a bit of a head-scratcher.

Spoiler for Comparison to Mashiro-iro Symphony:

It's as if Mashiro-iro Symphony ended at Episode 6. All the foundation for a potential/possible relationship, but none of the pay-off.

I want to be careful to say that I appreciate what the anime was able to do, just that it didn't deliver on what I was hoping to see as a fan of the source material.

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by Vena

Nor did I find Kyouhei indecisive, unless I read far too much into the fireworks scene and "I'll be your mobile blood bank forever and ever." It felt to me like it was pretty clear cut (though not in your face "I love you" confession style) that he cared for the main moreso than any other, and that that was the conclusion to the rather unceremonious romance angle of the show.

But see, that's the thing - he never went out and actually said (or took any action that could be unmistakeably attributed as such) that he indeed loves her. As you say, that is a speculation we draw from reading in to the scene, and in all likelihood I agree with your interpretation of it. What I don't agree with is that this makes makes Kyouhei "decisive" on romance matters, or that he has ever taken it in his hands to move the romance subplot further. There were never any actual steps taken by him to take the situation outside of realm of speculation and tease and make it a part of the show proper.

It's still very much beating around the bush (if he was indeed in love with her ... we speculate that he was, but we can't know for sure. That alone speaks volumes about how conclusive the deal was ). Since this spawned from Mashifoni thread, that would be comparable to

Spoiler for MashiFoni, episode 10:

Shingo, instead of hugging Miu and confessing to her, telling her that he will be there to support her through all of it.

Then we could all speculate on the likely meaning behind his words and the probable implication, but the possibility of there being dual meaning behind them would still be there. Which is the very opposite of "conclusive", unless the show itself takes steps down the road to clarify his meaning. Which is the exact situation we have in Fortune Arterial, but the show never took any additional steps to clarify, so we are left with this highly-probable-but-not-100%-certain implication. Implication - the very word that describes the depth of FA's "romance".

Some things were implied, we drew conclusions from said implications, but the show never offered confirmation one way or another. Kyouhei never offered confirmation one way or another. It's all elaborate guesswork, and no matter how much we think our guesses are the right ones, there is no actual way to confirm them. Something that is ultimately guesswork and interpretation can't possibly be conclusive, the two are pretty much mutually exclusive.

Hence the point why Fortune Arterial can't be considered a show that has a male lead who was the driving force of the romance front - since the state of this romance front is arguable in the first place. And even if we assume that our interpretations are correct, Kyouhei never said, did, or even thought about it in a straight-forward and unquestionable fashion that we would be aware of. He never made his intentions, assuming he indeed had intentions beyond what the show presented, clear. So ... yeah, the show pretty much left us hanging with implications and subtexts, but no concrete destination for all of it.

A point of many frustrations (among many others) for those of us who played the VN and had to watch the show going about its roundabout ways. Aaaargh, why did I have to be reminded of this show, now I am once again frustrated about them taking one of my favorite VNs and turning it in to this ... thing ... during it's transformation to anime format!