The Series:
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 DVD:
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.
Buy: