Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut (2021)

[月とライカと吸血姫]

Director: Akitoshi Yokoyama
Studio: Arvo Animation
Starring: Megumi Hayashibara, Koki Uchiyama, Hina Kino
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
A disgraced cosmonaut candidate is chosen to train a vampiress who is to serve as the predecessor to manned spaceflight.

Impressions:
The space race but with vampires. That should be enough to get your attention. It certainly had me curious. I suppose by filing off the serial numbers of real-world events, the author was free to paint with broad strokes and give the general ambiance of the setting without getting too bogged down with the details. That being said, I would've liked a full alt-history treatment of the concept, but I suppose our male lead Lev is too much of a maverick to properly align with a straight shooter like Yuri Gagarin. In this series' lore, much of the supernatural qualities of vampires are debunked, which is an interesting take, and they're given nice little details like having no real sense of taste and having to enjoy food and drink based on mouthfeel. Irina is a pretty standard tsundere, but she plays off well with Leps and it's nice seeing Megumi Hayashibara getting to do something more than just reprising her role as Rei Ayanami in mobile game collabos. There's a good atmosphere of tension built around the political situation as well as the general hatred of vampires. The ending, I feel, is a little too optimistic, but it ties things up nicely while still leaving room for a continuation if they ever decide to adapt more of the source. Production values are generally good and overall I found it to be a worthwhile watch. If space, vampires, the Cold War, or any combination of these interest you, consider checking this out.

Rating:
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