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The horror and harem themes continue in Diabolik Lovers, along with the beginnings of some character development.

I have to say, I think the short run time of these episodes will be a huge detriment.  I speculated about this in my previous post about this anime, and this assumption is already holding true.  It seems like just as the episode starts getting somewhere, it’s already over.  The shorter run time could work if the pacing of each episode was a little quicker.  We’ll see if that changes at all as the series progresses.

I was beginning to worry that Diabolik Lovers would literally only be scene after scene of one or more of the Sakamaki brothers objectifying Yui and taking what they want from her, whatever that might be.  Fortunately, it seems that there will be at least a little bit of character development and backstory to the vampires.  Again, this is where the shorter episodes damage the anime’s potential.  We get just a brief glimpse of an event from Ayato’s past, but without any real context or details.

Because Ayato convinces Yui to skip class, we don’t really see what their night school is like.  It also doesn’t really help that Ayato chooses to completely give in to his baser instincts and bites Yui while at school, thus having to take her home to recover.  The lack of focus on what their school is like could also have to do with the shorter run time: there’s a need to prioritize main-character interactions over setting and such.

Personally, I’m still on the fence when it comes to Diabolik Lovers.  I’m a fan of both the horror genre and the harem genre, but seeing them both together is a bit jarring.  I think the mixture could work really well but, again, these episodes just don’t have a chance to really get anywhere before they’re over.  If the pacing doesn’t pick up soon, I don’t really know how much actual plot this anime can get through in only twelve episodes.

Diabolik Lovers OP

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Diabolik Lovers Episode 3 Preview

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