CLXIX: "Venus Versus Virus"

Perhaps the least spoken of anime wise, Venus Versus Virus is a title I waited for, but strangely didn't become as big a name as I would expect. In fact, this series is rarely looked back on at all (which makes me kinda sad). Anyway, here's the backdrop on this particular title.

While the opening scene is perceived as something to come, the anime centers on two girls: Sumiere Takahana and Lucia Nanashi. Upon discovering Lucia's secret, she soon finds herself as a part of the Venus Vanguard, an organization that's devoted to hunting down demons called "Virus", and this organization is led by her adoptive father Nanashi. While hunting them down, they try to seek the roots of these creatures. In the course of doing so, Lucia learns that Sumiere, once initially not much help to her, is a great asset, thanks to a power that awakens once shot by a Vaccine Bullet. Stepping in Berserker Mode, she becomes a living Anti-Virus, but because of this, she is indiscriminate in who she attacks, harming friend and foe alike. Lucia has a few secrets as well, one of which being her left eye. The two must cooperate in hunting down the Viruses, as well as crushing the origin behind them.


Venus Versus Virus is a Fantasy and Action title, featuring a yuri element. Not my place to say, but a trait normally found in hentai, namely yaoi and yuri, aren't often seen as a genre of a televised anime. That's not to say that it never happens, but this is one of the handful of titles I've seen where this is specifically mentioned. This was stated in a magazine prior to the release of the anime. Speaking of that, the anime is a short one relatively, lasting 12 episodes. It was made in Studio Hibari, and licensed by Funimation Entertainment. This series saw TV airing on Anime Network, and I found this title back then through their On-Demand service under Comcast/Xfinity. The series began, and ended, during the first quarter of 2007. Common to most, the 8 volume manga had more to it storywise, and showed different sides of characters from the anime, the biggest of changes coming from Lucia, who still had a battle-hardened nature, only opening very little in the anime itself. In the manga, she is shown to exhibit more emotions. The voice of Lucia is done by Joanne Bonasso, who voiced Mama in the Halo Legends OAV (based on the popular Microsoft Xbox series Halo.) Sumiere is voiced by Natalie Arneson. Both of them voice acted together on the anime Kanon as well, with Bonasso voicing Akiko Minase, and Arneson voicing Sayuri Kurata.

I'm not going to be "that fanboy" and say that it's great, but I was somewhat pleased. I grade Venus Versus Virus a 7 of 10 in an estimate. It's regrettable that there isn't anymore to the series, beyond the short anime, the manga, and the drama CD, but like I said: this title wasn't deemed as popular as others.