Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival 2025: Babanba Banban Vampire (2025)

EDITOR’S NOTE: Apologies for how late this is — catching up on so much work!

Based on the manga by Hiromasa Okujima and anime series by Itsuro Kawasaki, this is the tale of 450-year-old vampire Ranmaru (Ryo Yoshizawa).

He works at the family-run Koi Bathhouse, where he nearly died ten years ago while in the sun, being saved by the son of the owner, Rihito (Rihito Itagaki). Despite a long history of being a vampire lord, Ranmaru has been keeping the place clean as a janitor. But the truth is, he’s waiting for Rihito to grow up so he can feast on him, except that now his big meal is about to lose his virginity — which would ruin the taste — to his girlfriend Aoi.

Directed by Shinji Hamasaki, this was fun. Sure, I’ve never read the manga or seen the anime, so I bet if I had and were I obsessed with those things, I’d have something to quibble with. But this felt like a live-action cartoon and entertained me every step of the way.

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