The Vampire Dies in No Time

吸血鬼すぐ死ぬ (Kyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu)

8.4(1)

Otaku Den

7.3(37,920)

MAL Score

Ranked #3292

Popularity #2390

Comedy
Fantasy
Adult Cast
Gag Humor
Urban Fantasy
Vampire

Episodes: 12
Duration: 23 min per ep
Aired: Oct 4, 2021 to Dec 20, 2021
Status: Finished Airing

Synopsis

Vampires may boast fearsome strength, but they also come with weaknesses—and Draluc, a self-proclaimed vampire lord, is apparently vulnerable to almost everything. When vampire hunter Ronald is hired to storm the castle of the “Invincible Progenitor” and rescue a missing boy, he expects a deadly showdown. Instead, Draluc crumbles to ash from something as simple as a hand clap, and the “kidnapped” child turns out to have wandered in on his own to play video games while the vampire slept.

After a chain of mishaps leaves Draluc without a home, the unusually delicate vampire ends up moving in with the very hunter who just bested him. Joined by Draluc’s pet armadillo, John, the pair stumble into an uneasy partnership—juggling city nuisances like troublesome lesser vampires, run-ins with other vampire hunters, and the constant headache of Ronald’s aggressive editor.

Otaku Consensus

Madhouse's adaptation succeeds when Hiroshi Koujina's brisk direction lets Jun Fukuyama, Makoto Furukawa, and Mutsumi Tamura turn rapid tsukkomi exchanges and John's reactions into the season's comic backbone. Critics and viewers largely found it a consistently funny parody of vampire fiction, but its abrasive opening and increasing reliance on low-brow adult gags make the later episodes feel repetitive rather than cumulative.

Why You Should Watch

If you want a comedy that treats vampire lore as a toy box rather than a mythology exam, this is a sharp 12-episode palate cleanser. Its rhythm lands closest to Gintama's tsukkomi volleys and The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.'s escalating nonsense: compact setups, hard pivots, and an ensemble of adults whose dignity rarely survives the punch line. The real draw is chemistry rather than continuity—Jun Fukuyama's theatrical fussiness collides with Makoto Furukawa's exasperated straight-man energy, while Mutsumi Tamura makes John an absurdly effective reaction machine. Because the season is heavily episodic, you can sample it without tracking lore or waiting for a dramatic arc. Choose it when you want urban-fantasy parody without gothic solemnity; skip it if sexualized, low-brow jokes or repeated gag formulas wear you down quickly.

Key Characters

D
Draluc(VA: Jun Fukuyama)
Jun Fukuyama makes Draluc's theatrical vanity and complete lack of resilience equally essential to the comedy, turning every indignant speech into potential self-sabotage.
R
Ronald(VA: Makoto Furukawa)
Ronald is a fame-conscious professional whose explosive straight-man reactions reveal that he shares nearly as little common sense as the eccentrics he reprimands.
J
John(VA: Mutsumi Tamura)
John became the near-consensus fan favorite, functioning as an adorable reaction comic, emotional anchor, and frequent scene-stealer without needing elaborate dialogue.

What Makes It Stand Out

1
Madhouse repeatedly uses Draluc's ash collapses as visual punctuation, allowing director Hiroshi Koujina and assistant director Asami Kawano to reset or redirect a scene within seconds rather than stage conventional action.
2
The 12-episode season is overwhelmingly episodic—reflected by AniList's 97% Episodic tag—so individual nuisance-of-the-day sketches matter more than serialized escalation or lore building.
3
Its urban-fantasy setting is populated primarily by working adults, with hunters, police, editors, and vampires forming an ensemble comedy instead of the school-age cast common to many shounen adaptations.
4
The humor is strongly performance-driven: Jun Fukuyama supplies theatrical bluster, Makoto Furukawa handles aggressive tsukkomi timing, and Mutsumi Tamura turns John's small vocal reactions into recurring punch lines.
5
John is more than a mascot attached to the central duo; multiple viewer reviews singled him out as the show's main attraction and even called for a spin-off centered on him.

Fun Facts & Trivia

Fun fact 1: The anime adapts Itaru Bonnoki's manga from Weekly Shounen Champion, a source that fans highlighted as one of the magazine's better-known comedy titles before the adaptation premiered.
Fun fact 2: Yukie Sugawara handled series composition, while Mayuko Nakano designed the characters—the two roles responsible for translating the manga's sketch-driven rhythm and exaggerated personalities into television form.
Fun fact 3: The visual production team included art director Hitomi Yoshida, color designer Narumi Konno, and director of photography Yoshio Watanabe, with Mariko Tsukatsune overseeing editing.
Fun fact 4: Ryousuke Naya served as sound director, an especially consequential role for a series whose jokes depend heavily on interruptions, reaction noises, and rapid exchanges between the leads.
Fun fact 5: Reception was broadly consistent across major databases: AniList recorded a 70/100 score and 649 favorites, while MyAnimeList users placed it at 7.28/10 from 37,889 votes.