Visual Prison (ヴィジュアルプリズン, Vijuarupurizun) is an original Japanese anime series directed by Tomoya Tanaka at A-1 Pictures. It features vampires masquerade as Visual Kei musicians and gather together annually in Harajuku at an event known as "Visual Prison" where the vampire who sings the most beautiful song is bestowed with great power by the Scarlet Moon.
Ange Yuki is a lonely young boy who is unable to fit in with his surroundings and has no confidence in his singing ability. He leaves his hometown to visit Harajuku in search of a musician he idolizes, but during his quest, he gets entangled in one of the many live performance clashes between the visual-kei unit "ECLIPSE" and "LOS†EDEN". While being overwhelmed by their fascinating stages, Ange is suddenly hit by a severe pain and soon collapses, overcome by bloodlust. Regaining consciousness, Ange finds himself under the care of Guiltia "Guil" Brion, the musician he admires, and learns that he is a dhampir — half-human, half-vampire.
While Ange now has the privilege of participating in the upcoming Visual Prison, Guil explains that he will not join him in this endeavor. Meanwhile, Ange encounters Robin Laffite, a foreigner from England enamored by his astonishing singing voice. With the day of the competition slowly creeping up, Ange has to put together a capable unit in an exciting race against time.
Tropes:
- The Ace: ECLIPSE, as the reigning champions of Visual Prison.
- Always Identical Twins: Subverted with ECLIPSE. Their Vampire form is pretty much identical, they’re of the same age and call themselves each other’s "brother", but there’s no blood relation between them. They are actually vampiric brothers - those turned into vampires by the same person.
- Bad Moon Rising: The Visual Prison is driven fowards by the Scarlet Moon and the power it promises to those it finds worthy.
- Blue Is Heroic: Our main unit, O★Z, is defined by the color blue.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Though Saga and Dimitri are more in the Hunk category.
- Chromosome Casting: As only males can be turned into vampires (not considering those born a vampire), all the units engaging in Visual Prison are male, even if some’s appearance is a little misleading.
- Color Motifs: Every main characters has their Image Color listed in their bio in the official site, combined with a word that describes an aspect of their personality.
- Ange: Fatal Orange.
- Guiltia: Guilty Blue.
- Robin: Innocent Yellow.
- Eve: Dual Violet.
- Saga: Ruby Rouge.
- Mist: Obedience Cyan.
- Jack: Envy Green.
- Elizabeth: Exotic Pink.
- Dimitri: Invincible Gray.
- Hyde: Superior White.
- Guyliner: Since this is Visual Kei, the vampires wear heavy makeup.
- Idol Genre: Even with all the Visual Kei aesthetic and vampires, Visual Prison at its core is still an idol anime with groups of musicians competing at a grand music event the idol style, and are treated as celebrities.
- Image Song: Each unit has its own trademark song(s).
- O★Z: Zankoku Shangri-La (Shangri-La of Cruelty), Angelist
- LOS†EDEN: BLOODY KISS, SACRIFICE
- ECLIPSE: Gyokuza no GEMINI, ROYAL CROWN
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy: All members of the first-generation ECLIPSE have their hair long.
- Multinational Team: The members come from distinct countries.
- Japan: Ange, Mist
- France: Guiltia, Dimitri, Hyde
- England: Saga, Robin, Jack
- Finland: Eve
- Hungary: Elizabeth
- Mystical White Hair: Both current members of ECLIPSE have white hair in their Vampire form, and they’re among the oldest blood suckers of the bunch.
- Not Allowed to Grow Old: Vampires will stop growing physically the moment they’re turned into one, and their mind seems to be stuck at that point in time as well if the at-least-18 Jack’s Bratty Half-Pint behavior and 60-year-old Saga’s adolescent edginess is any indication.
- Our Vampires Are Different: In this series, vampires are beings with high intelligence and good looks who has eternal lives. They can increase their number of mates through bloodsucking, but only human males are eligible. They have an instinctive urge to suck blood, and their eyes turn red when they are aroused.
- Power Gives You Wings: At the climax of their first performance in the show, ECLIPSE grow white wings as a show of their power and superiority.
- Really 700 Years Old: Since they’re vampires, several characters have their age exceeded the 100 mark, namely Guiltia at 250 and Elizabeth at 450.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Subverted. While LOS†EDEN, the main rival of O★Z, is coded by these two colors, they’re decent people who have little hard feelings towards O★Z outside of Visual Prison, and treats Ange not unlike a family member when he visits them.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Vampires have red eyes.
- Royal Rapier: What their mics double as.
