Vampire Dormitory is a shoujo that seems to be going under the radar compared to other shows this season. Vampire Dormitory episode 3 aired this week, naturally bringing up the “3 episode rule” many anime fans swear by. For avid cheesy shoujo romance fans, there’s a lot to like about Vampire Dormitory, but the show’s presentation might not be a hit with an average anime watcher. Pacing issues from episode 2 bleed over into episode 3, such as characters having little foundation to already starting to fall in love and deeply care for each other. However, the show keeps me curious and coming back, especially considering the end of episode 3.
Vampire Dormitory is a curious show with suspicious characters and their actions. Komori is such a character. At the start of the episode, he notices Luka’s flustered face after seeing Mito so happy about going out for a barbecue. Komori asks Luka if he feels sick, although the blonde vampire himself already knows the answer when he whispers facetiously to Luka that vampires don’t get sick. This interaction is important for what gets revealed later in the episode.
Takara, Juri, Mito, and Luka set off for their camping and barbecue trip, bringing a light and playful scene as Luka and Mito play in the river together. Mito exclaims that she’s never had so much fun, which is clearly true given what we know about her life until now. Unsurprisingly, Ren shows up at the campgrounds. Ren is determined to keep Mito safe, and his reasonings have felt quite rushed and unclear to me.
However, it was revealed that Ren’s mother was taken away by a vampire, so he may feel obligated to protect other humans from vampires even if he doesn’t know them well. I’m curious to know more about Ren’s past since, so far, he’s been more of a confusing character than a mysterious one. Unfortunately for Mito, Ren walks in on her in a dual-gendered hot spring, although I find it unclear if he’ll remember what he truly saw.
Luka fights with himself a lot in Vampire Dormitory episode 3. He’s falling head over heels for Mito, despite her being a male. Luka could, of course, be romantically interested in men, but I think Mito’s guard slips a lot when she’s around Luka and her girlish characteristics show.
Luka truly believes Mito is a man, despite her slip-ups, but seems to be suppressing his feelings. After the credits of the episode roll, an end scene featuring a dark and mysterious unknown character reveals new information that helps make sense of the earlier scene with Luka and Komori.
Luka comes across a man with long blonde hair and glowing red eyes, addressing him as “Founder.” This man seems to be a Lord within the vampire community, and he reminds Luka that he must not fall in love with anyone who is not his “destined partner” for fear that Luka will remain a “bloodthirsty” vampire instead of a “true” vampire. For now, we don’t know the extent of differences between a bloodthirsty and true vampire as it relates to this series, but we now know that Luka shouldn’t fall in love with anyone but his destined partner.
The end scene of Vampire Dormitory episode 3 has helped the plot be more intriguing, even if I can make some simple predictions about where the story is going. Mito being Luka’s destined partner would be the most obvious case, but I think her not being his destiny would be an interesting turn of events. I’ll keep following the anime beyond episode 3, as I want to know if the series will end happily ever after like many shoujo, or if tragedy will strike.
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Images via Crunchyroll
©Ema Toyama/Kodansha/“Vampire Dormitory” Production Committee