(L) Tsuki to Layka to Nosferatu (Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut)

[EroKing]

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by EroKing

Just a beautiful, immortal, dressed down vampire .

[Frontier]

Spoiler:

When I first read about this series I thought we would be getting the actual USA and USSR, not fantasy versions. Although this setting also has vampires so I guess that already sets a precedent for a being a little more fantastical take on the Space Race .

The Opening is fittingly operatic and atmospheric for a Vampire Romance/Space story, showing off the main cast, Irina's attempts with Lev to become fit for space, and the pair together .

Malty is so cute! Shame what happened to him though .

So Lev has good rankings but for some reason is basically a reserve with no chance of becoming a Cosmonaut? He seems dedicated and passionate about it, so what happened ?

I guess it makes sense that if you want to put someone into space without wasting your actual resources, you'd grab a nominally immortal monster who you can send up there with plausible deniability while posing her as a Cosmonaut on paper. Irina seems to have some fascination with the Space Program to go along with why she's putting up with this to some extent .

There's something to be said for how fitting it is that Megumi Hayashibara, one of the most prolific and legendary female seiyuu whose voice is barely showing its age after all these years, playing a beautiful, immortal, vampire girl in Irina. And she is beautiful! Lev already seems enraptured in her .

I wonder if the reason Irina distrusts humans so much is because of whatever happened to the rest of the vampires? The intro showed her alone in a desolate, snow-covered, village. I assume Lev's earnestness, kindness, and honestly, will make him the first human she trusts again, and quite possibly falls in love with .

Anya is her health manager and seems pretty cute, and I guess maybe both Lev and Anya will be first two humans she learns to trust and rely on versus the government ?

So vampires don't die by the sun, it just weakens them and can give them heatstroke, and crosses do nothing to them (although Lev trying to protect her when he thought it was bothering her was hilarious). So is a stake effective on her as much as it is anyone else? And what about blood? She doesn't seem to have an insatiable craving for it, but she still has those fangs, so there's got to be something she needs blood for .

Look at that focus on Irina's mouth and tongue .

I would say she's definitely good with the cold when she can just stand around in her cold cell without pants on, showing off those luscious legs .

Even Kikuo Inoue is in this .

The Ending is pretty nice and serene, with Lev and Irin riding with each other and Irina either staring at him or at space (or both!) .

Next week: Irina in sports clothes and a swimsuit !

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by Frontier

So vampires don't die by the sun, it just weakens them and can give them heatstroke, and crosses do nothing to them

Sounds like Hikari in Interviews with Monster Girls. I liked her, so I'm good with that.

[Friday]

promising start

[AC-Phoenix]

Soviet Russia sends vampire girl to the moon...

Why does this surprisingly plausible...

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for ep1:

So is this about vampire girls or space? Because I couldn't care less about the space.
But hey, swimsuit already by episode 2 looks promising.

[Strahan]

Off to a good start. I'm always on board for anything vampire related, and it doesn't hurt that she's a super cute one lol. It'll be enjoyable watching her come out of her shell as the show goes on. Anya is cute too, but for some reason I got a feeling when watching it that she'll somehow end up being a "cute and psycho". Dunno why, just a vibe I got heh.

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Spoiler for ep1:

So is this about vampire girls or space? Because I couldn't care less about the space.
But hey, swimsuit already by episode 2 looks promising.

Both. Not sure why you spoilered that question; pretty sure anyone starting this show knows those two premises are going to come up, heh.

[scififan]

It seems the story will focus on astronaut training, as Uchuu Kyoudai. Generally, the training requires elites to pass. The preview shows that the vampire is doing fine with endurance. I wonder if the details of training and organization is mirroring the historical Soviet space program.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by Strahan

Both. Not sure why you spoilered that question; pretty sure anyone starting this show knows those two premises are going to come up, heh.

Not really. I just look at the visuals and title and decided to give it a try or not.
Maybe if when I'm discussing it with my friend, we might research it a bit or watch a trailer. Like Saihate no Paladin sounded like a normal anime, but then we researched it and found out it was a Narou. That saved my skin.

[Endscape]

Well, they had me at vampire cosmonaut. The series looks great so far.

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Like Saihate no Paladin sounded like a normal anime, but then we researched it and found out it was a Narou. That saved my skin.

You're doing yourself a hell of a disservice there. Saihate is a greate series, regardless of where it comes from.

[FlareKnight]

So far I like Lev as a character. Still chasing his dream even after he made some kind of error that cost him his main spot. Probably did something morally correct but unacceptable to the higher ups so...demoted.

But regardless, he's handled things pretty well. The whispering vampire trivia while the vampire is in the same room wasn't great. But he isn't an idiot either. Calling her a designation number is begging suspicion which goes against the order of keeping her vampire status a secret to civilians. And trying to hide her ears at all times is just dumb. Don't need to hide the truth from absolutely everyone just the civilians.

A pretty solid start I'd say. Not big on vampires to be honest. But Irina is a nice character anyways. Her being defensive and suspicious is a good survival skill. And if she wants to achieve her dream then making sure not to get killed by humans is a sensible thing. Plus...her coffin was chained shut most of the time. I wouldn't be trusting much of anyone .

[Alchemist007]

Interesting enough to watch more of.

[Xiyon]

Had the biggest grin on my face after the first few notes of the opening played.

Ali Project--- it's been so long since I've last heard a song from them, and that it's to open a space race involving vampires is just somehow fitting for their genre. Instant lock for the 3 episode test.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I like the hero. Stolid, disciplined, but kind -- or is that "attracted". Yes, I also can't help checking out anything vampire-related. I don't yet get why she doesn't just kill half the room and flee, but I guess I'll find that out. She seems "human" in a way.

[Frontier]

Sports clothes Irina! Swimsuit Irina !

So vampires have no sense of taste but they can smell and feel texture, which is effective enough. Also they don't habitually drink blood because they eventually felt it was too barbaric, they only drink it as part of a coming-of-age ceremony as tradition. Although it does make them stronger, they're able to adapt to not drinking blood through drinking milk, because there's partial cow blood mixed in there from the teat. Can't say I ever thought of that before .

Was Irina some kind of princess where she's from? It seemed like she and her family were a pretty big deal ?

So vampires really were never this blood-sucking menace, it was just propaganda developed to blame them for a disease they had nothing to do with. That sucks .

Girls need their privacy Lev, even vampire girls. Although even so Lev couldn't help but listen intently to Anya going pretty in-depth with Irina's physical, especially when they started talking about her skin and boobs .

It's nice to see that Anya cares about Irina's condition along with Lev .

Jeez, that vice-director is an utter d-bag. He freaks out over everything involving Irina with no reason, makes her wear a muzzle and handcuffs, and then makes the training even more difficult for her out of spite. If Lev couldn't punch him, I wish I could have .

So Lev was made a reserve because he punched a superior officer? Well, whoever it and for whatever reason...knowing Lev, they had it coming .

Irina looked amazing in that one-piece swimsuit. Even if he didn't meant to stare, I couldn't blame him. I mean, look at those thighs .

Irina seemed really disappointed that she won't actually be flying, just basically withstanding the rocket launch and space travel until she has to parachute back in re-entry...assuming she's conscious for that. And I guess that's what Lev is going to make sure of, even if he has to push her when she's scared of heights .

What's the cutest Irina? Competitive Irina? Shocked Irina? Soda Water Irina? Pouting Irina? Tsundere Irina? Oh, who cares, all Irina's are cute Irina's .

Is it USRR policy to make their candidates' profile pictures look like a mugshot? Because I'm half-tempted to think it's another way they've done something just to denigrate and dehumanize Irina .

So why was Lev put in charge of Irina? Because he showed proper respect and deference to an old USRR pod. Although it seems like there might be some sabotage from within...was that Franz burning Irina's picture ?

[BBOvenGuy]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Irina seemed really disappointed that she won't actually be flying, just basically withstanding the rocket launch and space travel until she has to parachute back in re-entry...assuming she's conscious for that.

That's pretty much how the Soviet space program was at the time, and in many ways the current Russian space program isn't all that different.

Although to be fair, the American engineers wanted the Mercury program flights to be run the same way, but the astronauts protested and got them overruled.

[serenade_beta]

The 2nd episode is pretty solid all-around, but I'm wondering what are the benefits of being a vampire? Unless they mentioned it in the first episode.
No sunlight, no taste, longer ears = easier to hit.
Can they change into bats? Superhuman strength? Enslave people?

[Kaoru Chujo]

Irina is voiced by Hayashibara Megumi, who played Ayanami Rei in Evangelion. She was 28 then, and is now 54. She was also Lina Inverse in Slayers. And played Kitty in a number of Hello Kittyshows.

[FlareKnight]

Another solid episode. I'm enjoying the dynamic and banter between our lead characters. Both getting to fire shots at times so it feels pretty balanced overall. Both have their good and bad aspects too so no one is exactly perfect here.

Didn't expect her to have a fear of heights. Though that isn't crazy either. If she's never had much excuse or reason to go up that high...it would be pretty dizzying the first time. Having a dream of going to space doesn't mean an inherent comfort with heights.

The drink part was great. The reactions were good .

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

The 2nd episode is pretty solid all-around, but I'm wondering what are the benefits of being a vampire? Unless they mentioned it in the first episode.
No sunlight, no taste, longer ears = easier to hit.
Can they change into bats? Superhuman strength? Enslave people?

I think it was mostly hit in the first episode though there may be moore reveals on that front. Top tier night vision of course is there as you'd expect. Excellent resistance to cold seems to be there too.

In terms of this episode I'd have to think their durability is above the average human as well. Not sure how a person would have handled that insane 'break the maximum' training near the end of this episode. But I'd have to think she did pretty well there. At the very least while it's not looked upon as a good normal practice...it does sound as if drinking blood powers them up. Be nice if we got information on that front, but at least it seems to have a strong positive effect.

Entirely possible there isn't that much of a benefit. If they were too far apart then it might not serve as a particularly useful test run before sending humans into space.