“Nyanpire” Is the Perfect Anime for Celebrating Halloween All Year Round

Gonzo

In my opinion, it’s never too early to start thinking about Halloween. After all, who doesn’t love an entire day dedicated to candy and costumes? Even if you’re not the type to plan a whole party, it’s fun to put together a watch list full of spooky shows and movies, even if it’s only for yourself. Plus, you can arrange them in any order you want, and no one can stop you. Personally, I like to start a Halloween marathon with something campy or funny before descending into the soul-shattering horror. And if you do too, then I present to you the adorable Nyanpire: The Vampire Cat!

As far as anime premises go, they don’t get more straightforward than Nyanpire: A stray black cat on the verge of death is picked up by a mysterious, unnamed vampire and fed his blood, becoming an immortal creature of the night as a result. Despite this, a day in the life of a vampire cat is nowhere near as grotesque as one might expect; the titular Nyanpire prefers to spend his time playing with yarn balls and badgering his human owner for food, just like a normal cat. Sure, he loves to drink blood, but he enjoys drinking blood orange juice, ketchup, and even hot sauce just as much. And of course, Nyanpire has a host of good friends to get into shenanigans with, which include the bumbling samurai Masamunya, the condescending fallen angel Nyatenshi, and the small yet wise younger brother Chachamaru.

Nyanpire is the perfect appetizer for your Halloween marathon for many reasons. Chief among these is that each of the 12 episodes lasts less than four minutes, if you skip the intro and outro sequences. You can finish the entire series in under an hour, so it will never overstay its welcome when it’s time to move on to something more genuinely chilling.

As for the content, yes, it is indeed a slice-of-life comedy featuring cute little kittens that get into trouble, but it has a few genuinely dark moments as well. Nothing that would be considered violent or gory, more along the lines of existentialism. The very last episode’s plot is about Nyanpire trying to come to terms with the fact that, as an immortal vampire, he is doomed to outlive everyone he has or ever will care about. But you will find that these moments are few and far between and do virtually nothing to detract from the hijinks.

If I had to criticize Nyanpire for anything, it would be for not following some of my favorite classic vampire traditions. The way in which one transforms into a vampire is correct: being fed vampire blood instead of being bitten by a vampire. However, at no point during the series does Nyanpire ever express any aversion to sunlight, garlic, or religious icons (heck, there’s a cross right there on his tummy!). But this is just nitpicking, and it’s only because Bram Stoker’s Dracula laid out the groundwork for how vampires ought to be portrayed, in my opinion.

Bottom line, if you’re not a stickler for a specific set of vampiric traits, you won’t find a better start to your spooky viewing party than Nyanpire!