This is a weird fish of a show, as I am not really certain how to present it. “Venus Versus Virus” (“Vīnasu Vāsasu Vaiarasu”) has their tales revolve around the lives of two young girls: Sumire Takahana (left) and Lucia Nahashi (right). Now, Lucia is a virus hunter. No, not like Jonas Salk. These viruses infect people and turn them into monsters, who then make more monsters. Lucia’s job is to dispatch these viruses. However, she discovered that Sumire has a secret, a secret that can help the Virus Vanguard get the upper hand in these confrontations and send these monsters packing to Monster Island or wherever they come from.

Lucia uses a gun that fires a vaccine that can kill the virus. However, when she shoots Sumire (that’s right; she has to put a slug in her), the vaccine causes Sumire to go into Berserker Mode and she can destroy a virus with her bare hands. However, friend or foe, if you are in her way, that could be the end of you. The series is the relationship between these two completely divergent people and how Sumire learns to control her darker side.

It’s an odd series, as it does take on aspects of Monster of the Week. You see, if you ask a guy who knows a person who is aware of a contact who has the number of a mysterious voice who can direct you to the store to speak with Lucia, you can get help for your problem that seems to defy logic and normalcy. Your brother is more of a dork than you surmised? It could be a virus. That guy really wants to be your boyfriend? It could be a virus. Your new gal pal is being a massive jerk? It could be a virus.

The show follows a predictable arc, in that we do get to see the backstories on the both of them and learn their unsavory past history that drives them towards their uncertain future. My concern is that there is a lack of emotional growth. They wallow in self-pity, but take too long to come to terms with their new reality. Yes, Sumire would rather be taking flower arranging classes than offing viruses and Lucia would be happier if she wasn’t in the business she is in, offing viruses, but there you go.

This was a show that I started to watch, lost it, and came back to it. There’s nothing demonstrably wrong with the show, but everything seems too black-or-white with it. If there was an additional conflict (could Sumire be ‘cured’ of her problem?) that might have made for a better show. It got a bit One-Note Johnny for me and since almost every show had a battle of some ilk, that got tiresome as well.

It’s that everyone was set in their ways and there was no way to alter that part of it. This show had a lot of promise, but the viruses were just as disorganized, as it felt like it was the ‘one at a time’ approach, rather than some kind of overall, mass of forces, invasion. It was potentially a good idea, but it was not seen to a better conclusion. And speaking of the conclusion, it stops. There are more tales to tell, and the coupler point was there, but it felt more like it ran out of gas, so here is where we stop. Great; stuck in Lodi. Again.

On a scale of 1 to 10:

Artwork           7 (Rather flat and cold)
Plot                  8 (Solid idea)
Pacing              6 (Too much introspection)
Effectiveness   6 (Lost because of no end game to the plot)
Conclusion      2 (It reaches a ‘coupler point’, but hasn’t ended)
Fan Service     0 (A similar show would be “Honey and Clover”)
Overall            6 (Fell short of potential)

And remember, it’s first run until you’ve seen it. Welcome to our shop.