Blood+

Saya Otonashi is a seemingly ordinary girl living a mundane life with her adoptive family in Okinawa City. In fact, her only peculiarities are suffering from anemia and being unable to remember any of her life beyond the previous year.

However, Saya's forgotten past quickly comes back to haunt her—one night, she is attacked at school by a creature that feeds on human blood. Just when all hope seems lost, a mysterious man named Haji appears and fends off the creature temporarily. But when her rescuer forces her to drink his blood, Saya suddenly enters a trance and slays the monster with ease, using her own blood as a catalyst.

Saya then learns of an organization named Red Shield, founded for the sole purpose of defeating the hellish beasts. Now Saya and Haji must work together with Red Shield to fight these fearsome monsters and unlock the secrets to the girl's past.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Haji Main

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Otonashi, Saya Main

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Miyagusuku, Kai Main

Yoshino, Hiroyuki Japanese

Diva Supporting

Uechi, Aki Japanese

Goldsmith, Solomon Supporting

Tsujitani, Kouji Japanese

Moses Supporting

Yanagi, Naoki Japanese

Miyagusuku, Riku Supporting

Uechi, Aki Japanese

Mahler, Nathan Supporting

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

David Supporting

Kosugi, Juurouta Japanese

Fei-Ong, Karl Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

Ochikoshi, Tomonori Producer

Maruyama, Hiroo Producer

Morishita, Katsuji Producer

Oomatsu, Yutaka Producer, Script

Reviews

Jul 7, 2024

perennial_suit

Recommended

No spoilers review (although I will list a few general themes that are present in the show).

I will definitely recommend you this show if you enjoyed things like Monster or Noir and looking for something similar to experience. Blood+ does remind me of these two. What makes all three of them Good - despite their many flaws - is, I would argue, first and foremost, the atmosphere and the asesthetic. But also the themes that are explored, as well as heavy emphasis on character development.

Enjoyment: 9/10. It's subjective, plain and simple. I enjoyed this show greatly for it's unmatched atmosphere, heart-warming and heart-breaking scenes and ... great characters.

Philosophy: 8/10. Unlike certain animes like Lain, Evangelion, Ergo Proxy and Texhnolyze which are often seen as pretentious for their explicit use of obscure symbology and twists, Blood+ does not offer the viewer any "deep" incomprehensible scenes to interpret. However, there is much to be found if you think deeply. Blood+ uses relatively simple plot themes to explore hard existential, metaphysical and ethical concepts. And as such, offers much more value in terms of philosophical analysis than the shows I mentioned. Just like Monster. At least it's the case for me. Just to name a few subjects explored in this show: the nature of personhood and moral responsibility, free will, loneliness, friendship, the meaning of life and nihilism, speciecism, extinction, suicide and sacrifice, does the end justify the means, violence, ethics of scientific research, power and domination, loyalty, betrayal and love; I could honestly go on and on. If you think carefully throughout watching the show, you will find it very rewarding!

Soundtrack: 10/10. It is superb. This is what creates half of this show. Melancholic, peaceful, heroic and powerful - these are the words I would use to describe my favorite bits of the Blood+ soundtrack. I liked all OPs and EDs, although some less than others.

Characters: 8/10. I found a few characters to be mostly annoying, but this did not spoil the show for me. The characters may bot be perfect, but they are good enough to really make you care. And there's also character development and I think it's good.

Story: 7/10. It may have some flaws and inconsistencies, but if you are willing to be charitable, they will not spoil the show. This was the case for me. The story is good enough to keep you interested and invested in the show. The flaws didn't bother me too much as I was busy enjoying the characters and the soundtrack and immersing myself into this wonderful experience.

Art: I don't really care about it. It was good enough for me, but I have little standards. Although I will mention that the SINGING scenes are horrible! You will know, if you watched! But if you haven't, don't let this discourage you. Characters and atmosphere is what you should be looking for in this one.

I will conclude this review by saying a few words about the flaws of this show. I think there are many of them. Some of them are legitimate, but most, I think, can be explained and made sense of if you watch the show carefully and consider the point of view of the characters. There are annoying moments and sometimes things are badly executed. But personally, I am willing to overlook this, because overall I think there is much more good that outweighs the bad, in my personal opinion. Give it a try, and if you are into it, it will totally be worth it. Thank you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 6, 2023

ThatAnimeSnobRE

Mixed Feelings

Funny

So some dudes made this short horror film titled Blood the Last Vampire which was instantly labeled cult. I don’t know why; it was probably the weird presentation of an otherwise simplistic premise. Some years later, some other dudes decide to make a series out of this and the result is Blood+. The tale of an apparently normal high school girl forced to take part in a sinister conspiracy that aims to make humanity food for vampire-like freaks.

To make a long story short, the series has a very good concept and interesting characters but its presentation lacks the stuff that would make it great. Here ... are the reasons:

1) Long duration / Slow pacing. The show lasts twice as it should; it is 50 episodes long yet it might as well be only 26. The reason is simple, many episodes feel like minor side quests or filler missions that in the longrun only manage to hinder the progress of the main story with characters and storylines that lack excitement and tire the viewer.

2) Passive crybaby main character. Very few like such protagonists. A dynamic character would have done the same things in half the time instead of constantly doubting and holding back or crying in a corner. Although the basic motto of the series is to portrait a normal girl as she steadily becomes more decisive and active, it doesn’t change the fact that the main heroine is going around in circles. One moment she is trembling in fear, then she suddenly finds the strength to fight, then she reverts back to how she was… 20 times in a row. It gets REALLY bothersome. It is excused the first few times but when it keeps happening over and over, then it pisses you off.

3) Lack of focus on secondary characters. Saya and her nemesis get all the spotlight, leaving all the rest as almost unneeded background decorations. Although it is true that a great deal of characters are fleshed out throughout the series, none of them does something overly important to affect the story. Imagine an entire secret organization of supposed elite agents who in the entirety of the series didn’t manage to beat the weakest monster, while Saya an otherwise simple-minded schoolgirl has slain a mountain of brutes. Why were they in the story then? Just to pay her traveling tickets and giving her a quest list? Nice NPCs they were… Her family ain’t better either. Her step brothers keep interacting with her and are even willing to fight for her, but eventually don’t do anything to affect the battles or the result of all this mess. Do you know how irritating it is to have epic level fighters who do nothing while the rookie squire kills the dragon?

4) Boring battles. Although there is a lot of action in the anime and most problems end up being resolved through fighting, almost none of the numerous duels and spars are exiting. Saya will just use her super blood to instant-kill any monster she cuts with her sword, after a simplistic battle choreography. And if she gets injured in the progress? Big deal; she immediately heals like Wolverine. In the meantime, all the rest of the supernatural people around her will be flying and shooting and blowing stuff up, usually with zero importance to the plot. And as I said, elite agents are completely useless at beating even the weakest of foes. Where is the interest in all this?

5) Huge mystery build up / disappointing revelation. For most of the show Saya will have amnesia (which is a bad trope on its own but I felt generous enough not to make a different topic about it). She will keep traveling and fighting and investigating and having flashbacks in order to remember what had happened in her past. And we are kept teased with these vague images and hints and weird stuff, making us expect an amazing revelation. And when the revelation finally comes, you go all “WTF, after all this waiting that was all of it???” Seriously, the explanation of the grand mystery behind her past is simple as frakk, yet they make you think it will be something unimaginably epic.

6) Clean CGI. Although the animation is quite good and the sceneries are great to stare, the anime just doesn’t feel “dirty” enough. The textures on objects like clothing or rocks will look sparkling clean, even when they should be worn-out from weather, bloodshed, dust, mud or generally affected by their surrounds. Even the wind blowing on the characters’ faces will feel more like a fan. It is as if the entire thing was shot with a blue screen and thus feels fake. 3D effects weren’t as well developed back then, so everything feels more artificial than hand-drawn.

7) Ever-present school uniform. Saya wears one most of the times, even when she is not going to school. Pander the otakus too much and you end up making it look too ridiculous to care about her personal drama.

8) Red lips. Saya has them. ALL THE TIME! They stand out. She is the only one with so much RED. They are annoying…

That’s pretty much all of it. The finale may also feel corny as frakk, but I am generous again and leave that alone. Corny doesn’t mean bad; just unimaginative. It is otherwise good corn quality.

And now the few things I can praise:

1) Gore. Buckets of blood and some deviant things here and there.
2) Shadows. Good use of lighting by … not using it. Makes things pitch black and scary by being just black silhouettes with glowing red eyes.
3) Soundtrack. Exceptional use of violin and musical instruments; very good in building atmosphere. Too bad most of it gets wasted on a boring plot and silly story. And the lyrics are pop shitz. What in blazes is pop doing in a semi-horror anime? … Oh, right, it has a schoolgirl in it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Oct 30, 2021

tsujiri

Not Recommended

Funny

TLDR: Watch Episode 30, and then return to the beginning (anytime from Episode 1 - 5). You'll thank me later.

Full version: Plot holes, plot holes everywhere. I was very excited going in. 50 episodes of what seemed like a promising series, good looking characters, and a bad ass female heroine? Sign me up, vampire novels (especially from Laurell K. Hamilton) are some of my most-loved books. Well, if you're also a fan of those books, don't bother with this trash, it's closer to Twilight in terms of poor quality.

Biggest problem: It moves too slow.

No anime, movie, or media, should take 30 episodes (that's ... 30*30 mins = 900 mins = 15 hours) to tell us a backstory that literally took 15 MINUTES.

I'm serious - if you skip Episodes 1 - 29, you won't miss anything. We don't learn anything about the protagonist (Saya), except that she has PTSD flashbacks every episode. The same two flashbacks. On repeat. No one explains anything until episode 30 (more than halfway through!), where there's a full conversation - and fully colored - flashback sequence.

The remaining 20 episodes have slightly better pacing, but can also be skimmed through. There's a lot of repetition, filler, and side character scenes that don't contribute to any developmental plot.

Main character:
Saya starts as an oversensitive and useless girl, and later becomes an insensitive and somewhat useful girl. That's all. I wasn't a fan of her at the beginning, but I really started to dislike her in the London arc.

It's totally understandable that most humans would need time to transition into e.g. the military, the battlefield, anywhere with a lot of violence and potentially death. PTSD and other triggers are natural. But Saya's aversion to killing does not seem to be something she can overcome at all, costing the precious lives of basically everyone else around her. And when she does manage to 'kill' monsters, her rate of success is about 1 out of 6. That's right.

1 out of 6, less than 20% effective.

I was expecting a goddess of destruction, and got a goddess of hesitation. Considering how she's repeatedly worshipped as the 'world's only hope' or salvation from monsters, 20% is a pretty dangerous rate to hedge your life on, imo.

Which leads me to another important point...

The bad guys in this show who don't die, get stronger. The heroine and her team members who die / don't die, seem to struggle to live even one more day. There is a weird power imbalance that could be described as watching a sports team play a game where they NEVER WIN. Throughout the series, Saya's team suffers from severe injuries, death, and tragedies, while the antagonist and gang remain... untouched. It is the opposite of most hero stories. So, even if Saya is weak, her team is sadly, not much better.

And yes, in case it isn't already obvious, the producers kill off a lot of amazing characters (but don't worry. The manga rights all these wrongs, and keeps the RIGHT people alive).

Side characters:
Almost all the side characters were entertaining and had excellent character depth. It was like all the creative writing that should've gone into Saya, went into the background characters instead. You start rooting for e.g. David and Julia, enjoying Lewis, Riku, Min, Moses, and Solomon (my favourite boy). The side characters kept me watching the more than Saya. Granted, not everyone was neccessary (like the Schiff), but the dialogue and personalities came to life for each of them, and is possibly the series only redeeming point. Heck, I'd rate Saya a 2/10, and the supporting characters a 10/10.

The only 2 side characters I could do without, would be Kai and Haji. Kai is full of denial, selfish, projecting his insecurities on others, an arrogant troublemaker, and incestuous towards his sister. He always causes problems for others, and then doesn't take responsibility afterwards. I firmly believe he should've stayed in Okinawa and gotten married to Mao. He would've been happier, and his life goals would've been the same.

Haji had a lot of potential, but slowly became a silent 1D character, more like a human shield and servant for Saya. His past and personality should've been explored more, and there was a hint of it in like, the last 2 episodes, and then it was gone. His strength was also weak compared to many bad guys, always in defensive stance vs. attacking, and unable to wound any of them. A lot of good intention, but overall a passive and forgettable character.

Other notes
- Plot holes around Saya, her parents, chevaliers, the species, biology, are never explained fully, if at all. I was frustrated throughout the episodes and referenced the manga often, just to understand what the * was going on. They don't even mention the word 'vampire,' even though that's what they are, extremely evolved bat creatures.

- Content is predictable for anyone who knows basic World History and world geography. Judging from the rave reviews, a lot of people don't.

- I couldn't stand the music / soundtrack. The series plays like 10 variations of the same song (the antagonist singing), at least once per episode. It's not even a full song, by the way, just a 20 second melody. Gets tiring, fast, so mute your volume and read the subtitles if it gets unbearable for you too.

- Considering how burdensome Saya was, I was really hoping she would die at the end and give it a clean break. Nope. Instead, all the irritating characters stay alive, and the best ones remain dead.

All in all: This series was a waste of time, psychologically dark, and I wouldn't recommend it. The manga appears to be much better and a quick read, though there are many character differences.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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