Sony is trying a new experiment with their latest anime release, Blood +. Instead of releasing the series one volume at a time and then putting out a collected set, they're releasing the first half of the show in a collector's box and then separately putting out just the first volume. This is a fairly high-profile release, and it's an interesting strategy. Now otaku who want to get a large chunk of this monster-hunting series can do so, but those with more limited funds or fans who want to try the series before committing to the whole thing can also get it one volume at a time. (You can read Todd Douglass' review of the first volume here.) Will this mean more shows are released in this manner? Only time will tell. In any case Sony selected a good show to experiment on. This program about a young girl who is the only one in the world who can kill vampire-like monsters is very good. With multiple story lines going at the same time, first-rate animation, and some exciting plot twists, this is a show all otaku should at least check out.

The series starts out in Viet Nam during the war. One night, during a fire fight, monsters start attacking the soldiers. A young girl, her eyes glowing red, swoops in and starts killing the demons with a samurai sword. Bloodlust overcomes her however, and she doesn't stop at killing the monsters. Anything that gets in her way, including a pre-teen girl, gets sliced.

Fast forward to the present day. Saya Otonashi is a seemingly typical school girl who is suffering from amnesia and lives with her adopted family. Her father, George Miyagusuku, served in Nam with the US forces, and afterwards he settled in Okinawan. He runs a bar, and in addition to adopting Saya he has two other adopted sons, Kai, who is older than Saya and a bit of a trouble maker, and Riku who is younger. Together the form a loving family until the Chiroptera appear.

Chiroptera are vampire-like demons who need to suck the blood out of humans survive. They are nearly invulnerable, with the most powerful guns only slowing them down a bit. When a Chiropteran attacks her school, a quite man named Haji appears, gives Saya a sword and slightly cuts her finger on it. As her blood travels down channels in the sword, Say seems to be taken over by another personality. She quickly kills the monster who turns to dust when Saya's blood enters his veins.

Things progress quickly from there. David, a friend of George's who seems to know a lot about Saya appears, and soon after that a Chiropteran attacks Saya and George. With the young girl too scared to fight, George takes the brunt of the attack and is severely wounded. What's even more troubling is that soon after he's admitted to the hospital, a US Army team whisks him away in secret.

David, and his assistant Lewis, try to track down George's where about and they need Saya to come with them. It turns out that the mysterious man, Haji, is Saya's chevalier, a faithful body guard and aide who has some special abilities of his own and he follows Saya wherever she goes. Kai insists on coming along too, and Riku can do nothing but follow along. David isn't stupid, and knows that where they're going is no place for young men and forbids it, but Kai isn't so easily dissuaded.

This starts a roller coaster ride of a story. Searching for their father, and then other Chiropterans, especially one powerful one named Diva, Saya travels the globe always seemingly one step behind what she's searching for.

The show is wonderfully textured. There are several storylines that intertwine themselves together very nicely, and each plot thread has a different tone. One such subplot involves Riku and Kai who are ditched in Viet Nam with nothing more than a credit card. They meet a young girl who is missing a leg (it was blown off by an unexploded land mine) and Riku becomes very attached to the plucky girl. Unfortunately his attempt to help her has unforeseen consequences.

There's also an interesting story about Kai's old girlfriend Mao. She wants to find out why her guy disappeared and enlists the help of a down on his luck investigative journalist, Akihiro. The reporter has been investigating some of the deaths around Okinawa, and he's accidentally stumbled upon the existence of the Chiroptera. He gets fired for spending too much time on the story but Mao, after stealing a small fortune from her mobster father, funds his investigation and tags along too. Poor Akihiro doesn't have much choice since Mao threatens to tell her father that he stole the money if she can't come along.

The show is definitely more than a typical monster of the week show. Though there are plenty of battles, the mystery about Saya's past and the origins of the Chiroptera drive the plot more than the battles. With Chiroptera, several chevaliers, and very mysterious Schiff who want to kill people on both sides of the battle, there's plenty going on in this show.

There's a lot of excitement in the battles, and the plot is very engaging, but that doesn't mean th show is perfect. Saya tends to whine a little too much in the first 2/3 of the show, and Haji plays Deus ex Machina Man a little too often, showing up at the last possible second to say Saya whenever she's in danger. Those flaws are forgivable though, since the rest of the show is so enticing.

The first 25 episodes of this program (out of 50 total) are presented on five DVDs, with a sixth disc reserved for extras. The discs are packaged in three double thin-pack cases which are housed in a thick board case that opens from the top. The three cases take up only half of the space in the case, leaving plenty of room for the rest of the series to be released at a later date.

Audio:

This show comes with the original Japanese audio track as well as an English dub. Unfortunately these tracks are only available in stereo. This show would have really benefited from a DD 5.1 track, especially during the frequent fight scenes where people run and jump all over the place while screaming and slicing away with swords. It's too bad Sony didn't see fit to include a surround track.

As for what we get, both tracks sound fine. The Japanese track sound a bit more 'natural', which only makes sense, but the English voice actors did a solid job too. Both audio tracks have a fair amount of panning and directionality along with good range. An acceptable set of audio tracks, though the show would have been helped by a surround track.

Video:

I was astounded when I popped this disc in and discovered that the image had a 1.33:1 aspect ratio. Most recent shows, like this one, are in widescreen and this particular show would have benefited from a wider picture. In any case, the image looked very good. The lines are tight and the detail is fine. A wide color palate is used with strong, clean tones that really help to bring the show alive. On the digital side of things, the discs also look wonderful. There are no common defects; aliasing and blocking are totally absent. All in all this is a nice looking set of discs.

Extras:

Inside of the outer case, in addition to the six DVDs, is a Blood + tee-shirt (size large) and a short excerpt from the manga.

The sixth disc in the set is reserved for extras, which consists of a series of interviews with the Japanese creative staff. While there were too many clips from the show for my tastes, these five interviews with ten people involved with the project were pretty interesting. All together they run a little bit less than an hour. Apparently these will not be included on the stand along volumes and this boxed set is the only place to get them.

Final Thoughts:

This is a great show. The plot moves along quickly and takes several unexpected turns over these 25 episodes. This keeps viewers guessing and on the edge of their seats. Add to that the wonderful animation and you've got a winner of a show. Highly Recommended.