When I first heard of Blood-C I did the one thing I always do before watching any Anime, looking for images of that Anime. What I found was a group of eerie, dark, bloody images with a black haired girl in almost every one of them. I decided not to be taken aback by them and watch the Anime anyway.
I didn’t realize back then, that I stumbled across a genuinely fantastic Anime.
(I will try my best not to write any spoilers so bare with me alrighty?)
Back to our subject. I downloaded the first episodes on my VAIO and began watching Blood-C a week later. Through the first episode, I was surprised to see that things were different from what I expected.
I was initially confronted by philosophical questions regarding “what makes humans from the inside?”, “can the things inside a human change?” and “what will happen if they changed?”
O_O Weird enough.
Then I felt that I accidentally started watched one of those “Slice of Life” Animes where the main character, Saya, is a cute klutzy school girl who’s also a shrine maiden, she happily serves her duties in the shrine with her father then rushes to have breakfast at a neighbouring café (Guimauve) where she happily chats with the owner, then on her way to school she makes up a cute song about how nice the weather is that day and her daily life and sings it happily. Afterwards, she’s late for school and everyone teases her about always being late, then they all have a good laugh with their homeroom teacher. Such a lighthearted happy town and nothing seems out of the ordinary.
Then at the end of the day, our cutie protagonist heads back for the shrine.
And that’s when things get ugly….
You see, there are these dark creatures called the “Elder Bairns” that come out during the night to feed on humans. That’s where our little hero steps in to get rid of them. And by “get rid” I mean slashing them to death using a sword referred to as the “sacred sword”, the only weapon capable of terminating an Elder Bairn.
Wait, wait, wait. Let’s look back at the things that happened so far.
So we know from the synopsis that Blood-C is a bloody, gory Anime.
The main character is a school girl, klutzy, cute, timid and is a shrine maiden who loves eating breakfast at the café next door.
Then all of a sudden she carries a sword and starts slaying monstrous beings that show up at night.
“It doesn’t add up!!” You might say.
“This is complete non-sense!!” You might think.
“I am so not wasting my time on this childish garbage” You might yell.
But let me tell you this:
Things aren’t always what they seem.
A lot of people might get sick of not being able to relate between Saya’s character duality, she’s a normal student during the day, then a skilled swordswoman at night. It’s a sad thing to see people dropping this Anime out of their lists and giving it harsh reviews with low ratings. I’m not saying that these people shouldn’t write their reviews in the first place, I believe everyone should express what they thought freely, but I’m saying that I wish they gave this Anime a fair shot rather than harsh ratings.
Anyway, let’s go through the basic pointers now shall we?
(Story)
The setting is an isolated quiet town, where there’s hardly any entertainment, and the street signals go on and off without a single car passing by (that creeped me out!). You will get familiar with some places as the story moves on, for example: the shrine, school, Guimauve.
A little piece of advice: Don’t let the altering genres of “Slice of life” and “Action” confuse you. Mark my words: Anything, and I mean anything, that you are provided with to build your speculations about the plot will be COMPLETELY demolished during the last three episodes of the series. I won’t say how, I don’t want to write any spoilers down so that’s as much as I can say. Also, as you watch more episodes, you will notice that the story picks up speed. It’s easygoing and relaxed in the beginning, then there’s a little tension, then a lot of tension, then…..well you’ll have to watch it to know :P
The director also throws in a few clues during the episodes to help viewers prepare for the grand finale in the end, which I found absolutely unexpected and terrifyingly mind-blowing.
The reason why I gave it a 9 on the story section is because there are certain moments where Saya is slow in reacting and you’d wish to yell: (MOVE!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!!)
(Art & Animation)
Blood-C managed to combine both beautiful scenery and fantastic character design. The art is not extremely gorgeous and flashy, but there’s a certain beauty to it that will let you enjoy the Anime to the fullest.
As for the animation, it’s very smooth. You can easily notice that during the fighting scenes, which where skillfully designed to make Saya’s movements elaborately powerful and agile.
The character design is also wonderful. The girls’ uniforms are cute, each character has a distinctive style and appearance, and nothing seemed out of place.
However, if you don’t like seeing blood gushing out in your Animes then this might not be the right show for you….There are times when Saya would stab the Elder Bairn and a huge fountain of blood would spring out. Even when a human is killed, the moment a wound opens, blood would splash out, literally. I found that quite funny rather than gross, but I guess everyone views it in a different way.
Another thing I’d want to point out is the mature content in Blood-C, which bothered me the most, being a person who despises Ecchi and nudity. Unfortunately, you’re bombarded with a stream of nudity in the opening song.
How did I know, you might wonder. Well when you watch an Anime for the first time the first thing you sit to watch is the opening sequence. That’s what I did, and I spent most opening song covering the screen (LOL), then I just kept skipping the opening for good. There’s also a scene in episode 8 of Saya in the shower. You won’t get any good info watching it, so I’d say you skip it best. (unless you’re a perv).
(Sound)
The soundtrack is AWESOME, just awesome.
It’s relaxing and cheerful when Saya’s with her friends and having a good time at café Guimauve, tense when Saya’s deeply pondering or when a new enemy appears, energetic and powerful when Saya’s engaging in a battle with the Elder Bairns.
The opening theme is quite rapid and boosts your excitement and eagerness to watch the episode, and the ending also has a quick rhythm but quick enough to make you think about all that happened in the episode.
(Character)
There aren’t many characters even though they are quite different and original, but they are all that you would need to comprehend the story and they’re quite memorable. Roll out the red carpet!!
[Kisaragi Saya]
The protagonist of Blood-C. A kawaii (cute), high school girl. She’s tall and has long pig tails, black hair, an innocent look on her face during the day but a dead serious look at night. A funny fact about Saya is that her school uniform is what she wears for battle, even when given a chance to switch her wardrobe, she’d still choose it! Saya is always pleasant at school with her friends and sometimes unaware of what they’re talking about. There was even a hint of a love triangle involving her, Tokizane-kun and the class rep, but ofcourse, she was unaware of their feelings towards her. Saya is a fantastic fighter, even with her tiny flaws, she can manage to survive. I really loved Saya-chan, I wished I could be friends with her!
[Kisaragi Tadayoshi]
Saya’s father. He’s responsible for telling her where and when an Elder Bairn might appear and for giving the sacred sword to Saya. Calm and collected, sometimes too cold.
[The twins Nono-san and Nene-san]
Adorable twins! The only difference between them is the direction they wear their braids. There’s just this teeny tiny annoying thing about them: they talk in unison, most of the time. Cute and a bit childish, they’re the comedians of Blood-C.
[Yuka-chan]
The kill joy of Blood-C, whenever Nono and Nene try to lighten up the others’ mood, she has to ruin it with a tide of sarcasm.
[Tokizane-san]
A cool, mysterious guy. He’s always late for class, even though he apologizes for it, the homeroom teacher doesn’t seem to buy it.
[Tsutsutori- sensei]
The homeroom teacher of Saya’s class. She likes telling jokes and having a good laugh with her class. Quite easygoing for a teacher I think!
[Class rep. Tomofusa]
He’s a bit irritated when Saya calls him class rep. instead of his name, and seems like he has some feelings towards her. His attempts of winning her approval always fail, though. Poor guy.
[Fumito- san]
The owner of Guimauve café which Saya is a regular customer at. As far as Saya says, the food he makes is exceptionally delicious. He likes cooking for Saya and treats her and her father as his special customers, he even brings food to them at home, now isn’t that sweet?
(Enjoyment)
I certainly enjoyed Blood-C. To be blatantly honest, I have always looked for a show where the protagonist was a girl my age, had a lovely personality, and slayed evil beings swiftly with a sword. Oh and had a cute name as well, like Saya.
Blood-C was like a reward to me, I enjoyed every moment of it and got caught up in the well written story and animation. The running time and number of episodes was perfect too, Blood-C wasn’t a long boring anime, nor a short incomprehendable one, it could elaborately deliver its point and tell an interesting story in a 12 episode frame.
I didn’t get bored watching Blood-C, not even during the “Slice of Life” part, which is certainly a plus.
(Overall)
Blood-C is surely an outstanding anime, it’s definitely anything like what I’ve seen before. I have great expectations for the sequel and the movie. Blood-C, it’s bloody, it’s gory, and it has a mind-blowing twist that will leave you wanting for more.
It’s truly a fantastic work of art, so don't just watch the first episodes and go “aaaah I'm already sick of this” cuz you'll be throwing away a precious gem.
