Blood + Review (Update)

[jamesesz]

Story – 7

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you lost all the memories of your past? Without any clue to who you are (and in this case what you are), would you be willing to seek your identity? Would the truth make you happier?
Blood + has much to offer in terms of originality, and storyline though somewhat a disappointment in its storytelling style.

The anime follows the journeys of Saya who seeks her true identity and to find her place in the world of humanity. Saya is suddenly taken away from her common life as a school girl and thrown into a world where she is forced to kill or be killed. Like a newborn child, she finds comfort and protection in a mysterious cellist, Haji that acts as her guardian and protector.

The most distinctive aspect of Blood + was that the anime started of with the viewer having a very limited perspective to what was going on. Viewers were left to ponder and make guesses on what were the underlying reasons to what is happening in the story. In the first ten episodes, the level of ambiguity was almost as severe as Ergo Proxy! However, as the story continues, the story becomes more linked together and the bits and pieces of the jigsaw puzzle started to fit with each other.

While I do like the originality of the storyline, I personally felt that the beginning of the story was too ambiguous. There were a few times during the first season that I felt like dropping the whole anime altogether. Luckily, I was patient enough to hang on to the second and third season in which Blood + started to shine.

Animation – 8

The animation of Blood + was generally good from my point of view. Battle scenes went on with smooth transitions and more importantly with the realistic effects of collateral damage. The view of cities and the countryside were pleasing to the eye and had quite a good level of detail in them.

They were however, some distortion in the faces of the characters when seen from different angles. But these were minor problems and would mostly pass unnoticed. Worth mentioning was the flashback scenes that were most beautifully done with the manipulation of static sceneries (like those when Saya ran along a hallway to a secret door on top of a tower)

The designs of the chiropterans were the reason why I could not give this anime a higher rating. Some of them were designed rather crudely and did not look as harmful as they should be. Furthermore, the differences between one species of chiropteran and another species made them look unrelated to each other. Take for example how the skinny bat like chiropterans differed greatly from their wingless and gorilla-like cousins.

Sound – 9

Blood + managed to earn a high score in sound. The intro song was very fitting for the entire theme of the show with a tinge of sorrow, and yet a gleam of hope. Generally all the music in Blood + derives from orchestra based music that blends in with the surrounding and the mood. We have notable composers Mark Mancina and Hans Zimmer to thank for that!

Both of them composed music pieces that were suitable to the general pace and mood of the story. They also manipulated variations of the same pieces to portray different parts of the story. The music that was played during the character’s daily life was also of excellent quality and compatible with the occasion.

Also present were cello classics composed by Johann Sebastian Bach played by Haji throughout the show that I felt reflected the general expression that the anime was trying to bring out. The major flaw in the audio of Blood + was the performance of the voice actor for Kai that pulled down the rating I have given for sound (more of that later).

Characters – 7

There were a lot of character development in Blood +. Flashbacks and minor conflicts between characters in the story provided a good and general basis to evaluate their personalities and the challenges they were facing in the show.

The protagonist’s character was particularly well developed compared to most of the supporting characters. The character Kai in the story was particularly nerve-wracking as it reminded me of Emiya Shirou in Fate/Stay Night and also Raki in Claymore. All three characters had the most annoying voices and personalities.

Luckily, Kai ages faster than both Emiya and Raki, thus becoming less of a nuisance later on in the story. Another notable mention would be the character development of Haji that was comparable to Kuchiki Byakuya in Bleach. Both were cold, calculative, intelligent, yet lovable characters. I would say that the character Haji was essential to the entire plot as it provides the link between Saya’s past and future.

Similarly, there were only a small number of characters that exists only for the continuation of the story. Expect some character development for all characters as the storyline matures.

Overall – 7
The reason Blood + could not be given a higher rating was generally because of its poor storytelling style that did not create enough suspense and anticipation on my part. This was extremely evident in the beginning of the story whereby the snail paced storytelling would put a human in hibernation mode.

hile both animation and audio greatly helped the general impression of Blood +, both elements were unable to totally offset the adverse effects of poor storytelling. I felt very disappointed that such a good storyline coupled with good animation and music would be ruin solely by the pacing and execution of its story.

To be fair, Blood + should be given a chance. People who want to watch this anime would have to be prepared to endure until the later part of the story where things would start to shift into high gear.