Vampires in the Garden is a dark fantasy anime produced by Wit Studio and released as a Netflix original. The miniseries was written and directed by Ryōtarō Makihara for all five episodes.

In a future where humans and vampires have had a war, humans are confined to cities with ultraviolet lights while vampires live outside them. Momo (Xanthe Huynh) is the daughter of an Army General named Nobara (Lipica Shah). Across from the city, the Vampire Queen Fine (Larissa Gallagher) resists her role after losing someone close but accompanies her vampires on a raid of the nearest city. During the attack, Momo witnesses a friend get killed but is saved by Fine, who sees a resemblance and flees the battle with the human. The vampires send Allegro (Paul Castro Jr.) to get their queen while Nobara sends her brother Kubo (Connor Fogarty) to get her daughter. As Fine and Momo continue on the run, the two find themselves bonding over a love for music and being war-weary.

Wit Studios is top-notch when it comes to animation. They made some pretty awesome character designs, especially for the vampires. They still looked like ones you might see in paranormal or dark fantasy fiction, but they had a uniqueness about them. I also liked the swordplay that Kubo brings us to the table. His fight scenes were sleek and cool.

As for the story, I thought it was amazing. To people who are tired of fighting traveling to a place that could be an illusion, but they hold on to hope. The creators did not commit to whether Momo and Fine were anything other than friends, but that was fine with me. I do not think it would have added anything and I enjoyed watching their journey. It grappled with fate and destiny, not just in the world you live in, but how you react to it. I thought it was composed really well and I enjoyed it.

Check out the trailer below:

This review is based on the English dub.

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Some foul language, Bloody violence

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