Why should you give "School for Vampires" (Die schule der kleinen vampire) a chance?
The show is centered around young vampires going to the school in order to become proper vampires. While this certainly is not a an original plot, this particular cartoon makes it vastly different then the other ones:
The show is European (Italian-Luxembourgish-German) with 104-episodes, from 2006. This means no American TV tropes, original animation and there is a lot of European cultural references.
It is based on the children's book series of the same name by Jackie Niebisch.
The show and book don't shy away from European vampires lore: the characters drink human blood, turn into bats, actually look undead, have magic affinity, are vulnerable to sunshine and garlic, sleep in crypts and live in a creepy castle.
This show was the goth awakening for sooooo many kids: fashion, color palette, amount of macabre aesthetic and creepy atmosphere all lead to the massive gothic outbreak around the time the show was popular.
Forbidden romance: the protagonist, Oskar von Horrificus, is in love with the granddaughter of the vampire hunter (the main antagonist/comic relief character)
Beautiful characters: creepy vampire children just trying their best to be kids while also trying to meet the expectations of the adults.
Disability reference: one of the kids got caught on the sunlight, forcing him to live out his time as a talking pile of ash - challenging him to find alternative ways to have a normal childhood.
