Baban baban ban-what?
Baban Baban Ban Vampire (ババンババンバンバンパイア) is, as you might expect, packed full of vampire tropes from beginning to end. Even if you consider yourself a vampire fan, though, one thing remains: the taste for this particular anime might be an acquired one.
The series follows 450-year old vampire Mori Ranmaru, a very fictionalised interpretation of the samurai by the same name who was the retainer and well-known lover of warlord Oda Nobunaga in the 16th century. His lord long dead and the samurai wars well over, Ranmaru now spends his days serving the Tatsuno family as a cleaner in their bathhouse.
His life as a cleaner is anything but dull, though, as he devotes himself entirely to protecting the virginity of the Tatsuno’s teenage son, Rihito. But Ranmaru’s obsession with Rihito’s chastity has nothing to do with moral righteousness: only when Rihito reaches 18 will he achieve the ‘peak ripeness’ of male virginity and become the delectable meal Ranmaru has been lusting after for nearly a decade.
Fans of Anne Rice’s famous Vampire Chronicles series and even Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight books might find the plot deliciously in line with what they want in their vampire tales, but there is one key difference: Baban Baban Ban Vampire thrives on humour more than dramatic bloodsucking. Even the name of the show is quite humorous, imitating the repeated stuttering of a shocked victim as they scream “Va-vam-va-vam-vam-vampire!” — just in Japanese.
Put your humour hat on before watching
Being a fan of vampire lore isn’t necessary for viewing enjoyment, but having a very healthy sense of humour is. This anime adaptation of Okujima Hiromasa’s 10-part manga series is positively hilarious even if you aren’t a vampire nut, but that humour is the cornerstone of the series and cannot be ignored when first viewing: it is why the ridiculous story and over-the-top characters work at all.
The show leans heavily into parody of both the cliches of vampire lore and of anime series themselves, with stereotyped high schoolers reminiscent of other more famous but equally ridiculous anime series. Parody frequently turns into piss-take, which will either make you laugh out loud or groan with disappointment.
As such, you can’t expect too much quality TV from this 12-episode first season. The story starts to drag a bit towards the end of the season, and unfortunately moves away from the humourous antics of Mori-san in favour of dramatic backstory developments that don’t hold your attention. However, fans of the vampire genre will probably still enjoy it and if you’ve made it that far, you might as well finish as the episodes are short and easy to watch.
A series worth sampling
A show as boldly crazy as ‘Baban Baban Ban Vampire’ is rare and is thus definitely worth giving a taste, even if it doesn’t turn out to be your cup of tea. The manga is popular in the Boys Love (BL) subgenre and has amassed a following broad enough to warrant both the anime TV adaptation and a live-action movie, so there is likely more goodness to come as the anime progresses.
