As what is definitely the longest series I watched this year, I had to include
Blood+. Besides that, it's not a bad series.
Saya Otonashi lives a perfectly peaceful life with her adopted family, a
father and two brothers.
One night, everything changes. She discovers that there are creatures called Chiropterans which threaten
humanity, and she is meant to fight them though she doesn't want to.
When her father dies, however, she doesn't have much of a choice. Now,
Blood+ isn't your run of the mill “teenage girl discovers monsters as well
as her own powers and realises her only option is to fight” with, you know,
your everyday super-special heroine.
Saya has actually been alive for over a hundred years, and fighting the
Chiropterans has been her purpose for a long time. They are killed by her
blood.
Blood+ Anime Review
The Blood+ anime becomes a journey, as Saya travels with a group called Red Shield.
The purpose of the group is to destroy Diva and her (for lack of a better
word) minions, also known as Chevalier.
It is not only a small group they're
up against, however, it's an entire large pharmaceutical company, out to
turn a chunk of the world's population into Chiropterans and bring Diva to
power.
The Characters: Blood+
As expected from any series that runs 50 or more episodes, the cast of
primary characters is a fair bit larger than those in shorter anime.
There are two (three, I suppose) major groups of players, with Saya's group,
Diva's group, and the Schiff (whom I won't go into here).
More or less everyone who might even be a little important is granted time
to develop Blood plus anime.
There's a lot of time for character development, especially between Saya and
those working with her and those who work for Diva.
Saya in particular gets a significant character arc, of going from a girl
who doesn't want to fight to one who accepts she has to, into a woman who is
determined (also known as emotionless) to a woman who just wants to go back
to being that girl.
However, more interesting (at least to me) than seeing Saya Blood+ change, watching (Blood+ Netflix) those on the “evil” side. Diva herself is twisted, but as you move through
the series you're forced to acknowledge that it isn't her fault and it's
difficult to hate her.
Then there are her Chevaliers, whom all come with their own motivations
which are fascinating to watch (one is devoted to science, another simply
loyal to her, one who also has some messed up devotion to Saya, and so on).
The characters (Blood+ Funimation) are almost more interesting than the plot itself.
The Locations: Blood+
Blood+ review is far from a standstill anime series in more ways than one. Sure
there's the action, but there's also the fact that it moves. And it moves a lot. Instead of taking place in simply Japan, it takes the
characters to multiple locations.
They wind up in Vietnam, they go to
Russia, they visit a few islands and spend plenty of time on ships. What makes this so great is that it's not like they're travelling all over
the place just for the hell of it.
They have goals when they move from location to location, and important
things happen, things which change the characters and often bring on new
goals.
It was a very effective method of doing things; the story wouldn't have
worked out nearly as well if they'd remained stationed in Japan the entire
time.
Conclusion?
In general, Blood+ was a very well-done series. It's actually an alternative
version of the anime film Blood: The Last Vampire, which ran 48 minutes.
I've been told by multiple people that the series is better, and I have to
say I believe it though I haven't watched the movie yet.
I simply doubt that the movie could pull off the brilliance of the anime; 48
minutes just can't develop anywhere near as much as 50 episodes can.
The anime is wonderful. Is it happy? Well, no. That's one of the things
which makes it so grand. It's merciless.
They're not afraid to hurt, or even kill the people you
really care about, the people who deserve to live. It's acknowledging that
the world isn't perfect. And it's beautiful.
My rating: 7/10
Yeah, as much as I've probably seemed like I'm singing its praises (which it
has earned, no doubt about that) it wasn't enough.
It's great and all, but honestly, a week or two after watching it, there was
a lot of it that had already slipped my mind, that I couldn't remember
including whether or not certain characters died.
So I'll give it a 7 and
encourage you to go watch it yourself if you haven't already.
Fan Art: Blood+
Blood+ | |
| Episodes | 50 |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Mystery, Drama, Horror, Supernatural, Military |
| Aired | October 8, 2005 to September 23, 2006 |
| Directed by | Yuu Kou |
| Producers | Production I.G., Mainichi Broadcasting |
| Opening Theme | Aozora no Namida by Hitomi Takahashi / Season's Call by Hyde / Colors of the Heart by UVERworld / Raion by Jinn |
| Closing Theme | Kataritsugu Koto by Chitose Hajime / Cry No More by Mika Nakashima / This Love by Angela Aki / Brand New Map by K |
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