yasmin09

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.