This review is entirely spoiler-free.
Story
Brief Summary: After the end of a great war (in reality: World War 2), two superpower countries - the Union of Zirnitra Republic (Soviet Union) and the United Kingdom of Arnack (United States) now test their brilliance in a space race. The story takes place in Zirnitra, and begins with the Nosferatu Program which was made in order to send non-humans, like vampires into space, before humans, so as to test various space-related techniques and look for any possible errors. Irina Luminesck is a vampire who is taken for this purpose, and a soldier named Lev Leps is assigned as her supervisor, to run tests and monitor her. And so, it begins - the stories of Lev and Irina, who, despite their problems, dream of going into space themselves.
Right off, the story feels different and promising - we rarely get to see shows based off of real life history, and this was a selling point for me. We get to see the daily activities, particularly experiments and procedures carried out by the government in order to send first Irina and then a human in a manned spaceflight, which they would use to gain superiority in the world. But they were obviously unwilling to let the world know about them using a vampire for their test - an inhuman thing to do. We see Lev and Irina going about their duties, and soon some backstories related to them are shown. The story felt interesting from the beginning to the end, especially because of its scientific nature.
Politics are also shown, which did not feel very interesting, at least to me. The story is simple in the sense that it is fairly linear, and focusses in its main aspect only. Timestamps are used to highlight the chronology of events, although it felt a little overkill - apart from giving the story a historical vibe, it did not help much overall. The main aspect lies in our duo, and what would happen to them, as the government clearly was not a friendly one. Racial tension is a crucial part, which adds suspense and drama to it, and we are left thinking about what would eventually happen - will this be a happy or a sad story? I must say, the ending was satisfactory.
The show is primarily a romance. And, it is a good one. We have seen stories of love between a human and a vampire before, but a setting such as this one made for a different type of experience. The romance is not too explicit, which felt cool but also disappointing by the end, although many people would appreciate it. There were some heartwarming scenes in this show, which made me happy.
Characters
There are a few characters in this show overall, which served to keep it simple enough. Our vampire cosmonaut Irina is a very likeable character, who is a typical Tsundere - now I myself am not a fan of Tsundere characters, but I liked her anyways. And for those who like such characters, I believe they will find her to be a reason to watch it. Her character development is similar to this character type, and was likeable overall, considering the amount of pain and struggle she had to go through to achieve her dream.
Lev Leps is the typical good guy - helpful, kind, funny and not a racist. Hence, he is the perfect one to go with Irina. As the story progressed, we were able to appreciate his good nature and is definitely a good character. Sadly, nothing more could be said about him.
Other characters such as that of Anya, the helpful scientist, were nothing crazy. They came and went by without much notice and they were pretty generic overall. The show did not offer great, memorable characters, but for its own sake, did not turn out to be bad.
Themes
The show tries to follow some particular themes: being made from real-life incidents, it tries to convey the harsh nature of war, although not that much. The one it tries to show was that of racism - how humans discriminated and attacked the vampires, and also that love can transcend all such barriers. It also shows us the magnificence of space and the strong will of mankind to pursue its ambitions. The show does a good job in portraying scientific stuff which most of us nerds would appreciate.
Animation
The animation of this show was done by Arvo Animation, which seems kind of unknown. But, the animation was decent I must say - not great but not bad either. There is a certain color scheme used throughout to add a sense of historical vibe to it. Some scenes were well made, particularly that of action like someone falling from the sky. Overall, it was just good enough.
Conclusion
Overall, Irina: The Vampire Cosmonaut is a decent show, whose biggest selling point lies in its historical-fantasy setting. If you like content related to space or history, this is a good enough show to try, and different anime like this must be appreciated. Although not particularly great, this show might be worth your while, also because of its romantic aspect.
Thank you very much for your time in reading this review. Have a good day/night and keep watching anime.
Written by: Sekhar08
January 8, 2022