Blood-C - Reviews

First a little heads up/warning. I really disliked this anime, so it may turn out in a little rant.

I just had finished Blood+ which was a good anime so I thought to try this one out. Unfortunately it had nothing to do with Blood+ with the exception of the main characters name. The monsters turned from (monster) vampires into statues and birds. The main character was too clumsy and the story...well there wasn’t much story. If they disconnected the show from Blood+ it might have gotten some extra points as a comedy/gore anime.

Story
Saya lives a happy school life which she needs to combine with her secret double life as a monster slayer.

The first few episodes are very similar, we see her living a happy life and at night she combats monsters, there are some little hints given that she is different. But it takes a long time before something becomes clear, the show is only 12 episodes long so the writers took too long to reveal the plot. And it seems that they threw out the little story they had at the final episode and just said ''f*** it'' to create a random gore fest with Bunny monsters. 

Animation
This is very good actually, no real complaints about this. I only wish they didn`t give Saya those ponytails.

Sound
It was not really noticeable, the opening and closing themes were nothing special either.

Characters
Saya...well...she was waaaay to happy/ignorant (perhaps even dumb) for my taste and when her friends are in danger she disappears from the screen and takes no actions until everyone is dead already. Luckily there is no appeal to any of the side characters so it isn`t a big deal that she always takes to late action.

Overall
I got so bored and fed up with the show that I really needed to force myself to finish the show. I cared so little that the ridiculous ending gave me a little grin for it being so bad.
If you liked Blood+ and want to see more of it...then don't watch this anime, it will only disappoint you!

Luckily Blood-C the movie is a lot better, that movie I could easily recommend, it still isn't as good as Blood+ but pretty okay and it doesn't matter if you skip this show to watch the movie. The couple of 5 second flashbacks from the anime in the movie is all you need to know about her background.

Story: CLAMP and vampires, what could go wrong? Apparently, a lot and I am not exaggerating when I state that this anime was flat out horrible in so many ways. The story first dragged out the several episodes by having them pan out in almost the exact same way. Girl acts clumsy, talks to dad, eats at the cafe with the owner, sings a song, tries to pet a dog, chats with friends at school, and spends a couple minutes at the end of the episode to a fight a monster and then return home. This was literally repeated for the first 3-4 episodes and then some kind of plot, albeit a meager one, was introduced. Instead of focusing on action between a blood-craving vampire and monsters, this show focused more on the daily antics of a clumsy but sweet girl, which to me seemed misleading for a show based on the Blood+ Series.

Not only that, but the pacing was so mind-numbingly slow that they dragged out a series that could have taken 3-4 episodes and stretched it out into 12. The "twist" that was conveyed at the end was not shocking nor intriguing. Honestly, it was pretty lame, unoriginal, rather predictable, and not worth the pain of sitting through the entire series.

Another heads up, gore takes prominent stage in this series. CLAMP does not hold out on having disgustly brutal scenes with creatures and people being smashed, torn, ripped apart, chewed through, and the list goes on with the disturbing ways people can be mutilated to death. The violence was so mild at first that I thought it was not an issue but then it continually escalated to the very end, which was just horrifying gruesome. I literally had to close my eyes and even then, I could still hear the distinct sound of what was occuring and cringed internally.

Animation: The animation was the one good trait about this anime. It showcased CLAMP's distinct and gorgeous art-style. The character design was unique and looked unmistakenly like CLAMP's works. Most people seemed to dislike Saya's look but I was actually quite fond of her character design. The actions were actually quite fluid and nicely done. Though I am not particular to gore (actually I find it incredibly disturbing), the art in general was quite nice and modern.

Sound: Mediocre and unmemorable. Though I really enjoyed the beginning, the rest of the pieces were lackluster. Some were nice while others sounded like they were the soundtracks for generic action video games. Not great nor awful but truly nothing I would think twice about.

Characters: Ah the characters. Surprisingly I have little to sayabout them. The side characters were either selfish and annoying, useless props that were meant to be brutally massacred for enjoyments sake, suspicious, or simply there to provide 'wise, thought-provoking' advice.

Saya's character left me confused. She acted clumsy but could fight with grace when need be. She was completely oblivious to the suspicous atmosphere she was surrounded by, such as the lack of people on the streets, the teacher saying bizarre comments, or the suspicious cafe owner. How she could be so clueless was beyond me and seemed to make it difficult to relate to her. Her personality was just not thoroughly explained and so I had trouble understanding why she acted in such a manner.

Overall, the characters were not the greatest, were highly unmemorable or highly unlikable. All of which make for a displeasing cast that makes the awful plot that much worse.

Overall: For starters, I adore CLAMP. I thought they did a great job with Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles and xxxHolic while still producing adorable works like Card Captor Sakura. I was excited to hear that they would produce an anime based on the Blood+ series. Instead of creating an elaborately intricate and entertaining series, CLAMP concocted a jumbled mess. The series lacked direction, so much so that I am not even sure who the target audience was. The story not only dragged, it lacked humor, suspense, good action, romance, intellect, and pretty much any trait that makes a series entertaining. This just seemed like mindless gore with some kind of choppy and haphazardly put-together plot that just did not know where it was going. Even those who love gore will probably get bored because the blood bath does not start becoming more prominent until later in the series, just like the plot. Steer clear since there remains little good about this anime. The stills and poster image may look gorgeous and compelling but the series remains far from that.

Story:

If you are looking for something similar to Blood+ you will be disappointed. This anime, from what I can tell, takes place after Blood: The Last Vampire and 'reinvents' the story. If you go in to this thinking that it is going to be about Saya and her discovery of her origins and the complications it brings as she attempts to 'save humanity' and 'battle vampires' you will find this sadly lacking. I think most people did just that, especially after reading reviews and comments.

This anime's premise is not about 'fighting vampires' or even 'monsters' it explores the question 'who are you' and 'what makes you who you are'. The zoanoid fighting is incidental background fodder.  (I feel very strongly that whoever did the character design for the eaters of humans aka Elder Bairns watched all the Guyver series as often as I did, and could have also been influenced by pokemon as evidence by the presance of Geodude and Entay)

This anime also flat out states this is what it's about in the first minute of the first episode. I can’t understand how anyone could possibly miss this. We are given several clues as to the true nature of what is going on rittled throughout the episodes, at first I thought it was just lamp shading but I think some of the writers felt that maybe the audience needed this prompting - whether you keep track of these hints and oddities are up to you. I know as I watched I wanted certain characters to notice too.

On the surface we have a well adjusted and happy school girl who does her best to protect the town she lives in from nefarious forces. She has the support of her friends and the adults that surround her. There are times when I found it a bit odd and creepy how everyone cares so very much about her.

There is something that did disappoint me greatly, and if you read my blog it will be in there, I can’t really relate it here because it’s a spoiler – though if you watch the anime thoroughly you can see that it is completely intentional in more ways than one – this goes hand in hand with the fight scenes which I did not find enjoyable in the least. This is really sad considering how good the animation was.

Characters: I have read many instances where people have stated their disgust and frustration with them. They don't seem to have all that much depth and there doesn’t seem to be any particular need for them and they don’t seem to serve much of a purpose other than SLICE OF LIFE!! Look! Everything is normal!!!!! We see exactly what the writers want us to see - as if this anime is your average regular school kid by day, monster fighter at night type show.

Here Look SLICE OF LIFE - is done intentionally though not for reasons people consider obvious. The characters serve an important purpose, aside from providing a facade of normalcy. Since this is more of a psychological anime, their purpose is to create bonds with the main character and show a driving force. This does become repetitive in a certain way and it does get tedious - but it certainly serves an important purpose regarding the drive and then again as an explanation for a certain psychological mindset. You are supposed to get to know these people and understand that the main character feels affection and attachment for them. They are not supposed to be characters that are to be deeply explored or understood - they appear exactly as they are supposed to - as regular high school people.

Animation: I rather enjoyed all of it except for the glasses that don't fall off. Out of everything, I think that is one of the most UNREALISTIC things EVER ! (Only because I wear glasses myself)

Sound: the background music matched up, supported and depicted the scenes just as it was supposed to. It didn’t particularly jump out at any given time nor was it distracting.

Overall: If you pretend that Blood+ does not exist in the same dimensional worm hole of subspace - this is an enjoyable anime. The characters have good bonds, whether some are annoying or not. I like how nothing and no one is exactly as it seems. Because of that and the overwhelming onslaught of hints you get through out each episode that you are being hoodwinked, deceived and misdirected made it one of the more interesting premises for a story I have seen.

 You like hot a chick with a sword that slays demon and monsters? This is proably anime you wanna look into. 

WARNING: A bit slow at frist like the 1st two eps

I was captiazed by the actions sences and the animation is gourgeous 

and I am a bit of a gore whore I love gorey anime 

WHy girls would wathc 

• I watched it for the action 
• Freaking awesome main character

Why guys would watch 

• Fanserice ( not a lot but it's still there)
• anime girl 
• tons of fight scenes 

both genders  

• badass chick with a sword 
• action 
• good twists ( seriously like....what)

Unicorn out~

I have a full confession to make about this show. When it was first airing, my first viewing of the series was stalled significantly due to the fact that it seemed trite, boring, and repetitive. Throughout most of my time with the series, I found the characters to be deeply cliche, the narrative to be predictable, the suspense to be canned. So, after it had finished airing, I decided to marathon the rest on a whim due to lack of shows at the time. And I'm glad I did, because all of my complaints became defenses. Every single thing you hate about Blood-C is put there intentionally to through you off of what is one of the most self-aware send-ups of the anime industry I've ever seen.

On a very surface level, the plot follows Saya, a ditzy schoolgirl who happens to live at and train in a shrine on a secluded island. She eats sweets, pets stray animals, and acts like an all-around klutz. Her friends are pink-haired, silly twins, and her love interest is a stoic, yet bashful boy. But by night, she becomes a deadly swordswoman, murdering brutal creatures called Chiropterans in a horribly bloody fashion. So, to recap, a cutesy nerd turns into a badass by night and protects her town in secret. Yep, this sounds like a remarkably worn premise, no?

Unfortunately, I cannot reveal the mind-boggling twist that occurs to you at the end of the series. It would ruin the effect of the show, which is to beat you into submission by using every single contemporary anime cliche imaginable. Terrible slice-of-life shows, dull grimdark action series, and other popular genres are merged together into a homoculus of stereotypes, making for an experience that is throughly and utterly predictable. Until, all of a sudden, it isn't. In the last 2-3 episodes, everything you thought up until that point is brutally subverted. Everything wrong with the modern anime industry is laid bare, put up on the chopping block, then (literally and metaphorically) butchered. In the end, we get one of the most beautifully meta-analytic works to come out of the anime industry since Neon Genesis Evangelion.

The show is certainly beautiful to look at as well. Character designs by Clamp are brought to vivid life thanks to the vibrant animation by Production IG. Backgrounds are simply gorgeous to look at, despite their usage during some of the shows more intentionally dull parts. Fight sequences are tight and move along at a nice, brisk pace, and result in buckets of satisfying gore. Most impressive to me, though, are the freakish monsters. Almost every single one of them is the stuff nightmares are made of, and I often questioned how in the heck they were conceived. Raw imagination oozes from the aesthetics of the show, in more ways than one.

Background music is very solid. Definitely nothing that's wholly special, but it gets the job done depending on the scene, and for a show that is trying on a lot of different styles at once, that's definitely an admirable job. The opening and ending clips, however, are definitely exceptional, and are in fact some of the best in recent years. Most impressive to me is the opening, which combines Japanese, English and French to an awesome, thrashing J-Rock song, and tops it off with some excellent animation.

Blood-C is supposed to infuriate you, and supposed to bore you at times, and supposed to make you roll your eyes. It does this with the express purpose of making you realize most of the problems with the anime we watch today, and to anger you as everything you took for granted is coldly snatched away at the last second. This show is a coldhearted smack in the face to works by studios like Kyoto Animation, and a sneering jab at otaku who keep throwing money at slice-of-life and moe series. While some of the execution is a bit sloppy, its intentions are in the right place.

Some people call the writers of this series "trolls" for how they wrapped up. Me? I call them brilliant for having the guts to pull a fantastically cruel practical joke on everybody, including myself.