Blood C Review (ep 6-12)
Blood C review Part 2
I almost feel like I should apologize for my review for the first 5 episodes of Blood C, but those were my feelings at the time and I regret nothing. That being said, the rest of Blood C did not bode so well. Here’s my review of episodes 6 – 12.
SPOILERS AHEAD
(I won’t name names, but I will talk about major plot developments in order to show why I didn’t enjoy it) Skip ahead if you want to avoid
We left off with Saya occasionally fighting monsters at night and living a happy air-headed school life. When the monsters suddenly start attacking during the day, her classmates get caught up in the crossfire and several are brutally killed.
Episode 8-9 was where I became very disappointed in the show. One of the monsters attacks the school on a day where only Saya’s class came in. What follows is the monster leisurely slaughtering her entire class before her eyes. What makes this frustrating and disappointing is Saya, who has her katana with her, does nothing but stare as her classmates get eaten. It takes her nearly half an episode to remember that she fights these monsters on a daily basis and that she probably could have saved all of her friends if she had just unleashed her powers and killed the thing. Those that kept track while watching noticed Saya’s saves/deaths to be roughly 2/27, ultimately making her look like a completely inept heroine.
But wait, there’s more.
The M. Night Twist
The show then decides with two episodes left to pull the “it’s all a dream” card. Well, loosely translated. Turns out the entire village is a big stage with tons of actors to trick Saya. Apparently she was drinking the blood of all the monsters she was killing but the villain would give her drugs so she wouldn’t remember. All of the characters who died (the ones with names anyway) return because they apparently had “Survive the Island” cards that protect them from getting killed (didn’t make any sense) and apparently they’re all douche bags in real life. There’s some more contrived plot developments as the main villain appears and reveals his scheme. Apparently this Saya is supposed to be the same one from the original movie and the bad guy wanted her to break some promise made with the monster (honestly I couldn’t make heads or tails of it, and I stopped caring).
Words fail to describe the finale of this show (pictures can be found here: http://crystal-energy-kai.blogspot.com/2011/09/blood-c-12-final-for-some-shit-i-grieve.html). As the villain takes his leave, he unleashes the rest of his critters, first killing off the cast that already survived once and then wiping out the rest of the town. Saya races after the baddy and makes a huge leap to catch the helicopter before being thwarted by a bullet to the head. We leave off with Saya recovering and going after the baddy in a complete setup for the movie sequel.
And yes, for all you CLAMP fans, someone loses an eye.
End of spoilers
Apart from the plot being a mess, the pacing really struggled. The ultimate payoff barely justifies the amount of time it takes for us to get there (see Endless Eight). While each episode contains some hints to the greater plot at work, the total number of relevant episodes could be condensed down to 6 or so. Seriously, the only thing keeping me going during the show was reading the comments left by other viewers (most were pretty funny). This show became a chore to watch, which is never a good sign.
I can’t help but talk about the violent content of this show. Watching it online meant a great deal was censored (a plethora of methods were used from shadow bars, to light glares to just blurring) however, it’s obvious what was going on. Death scenes were extremely (and perhaps needlessly) violent and bloody affairs complete with screaming and crunching. The finale in particular played host to several unique ways to be killed (see human shish kabob and human blender). It plays out in a horrific and comedic fashion which ultimately left me disgusted and offended. It felt very sophomoric and stupid.
On the plus side, the animation quality was really nice. Most of the later fights were very well choreographed and proved to be quite enjoyable.
In the end, I’m torn on whether I want to watch the movie when it comes out. I’m curious how this trainwreck of a show could have any satisfying conclusion, but at the same time, do I really want to watch another crash? I suppose I won’t know for sure till I see a trailer, but I can safely say I will not be buying this series if it comes stateside. I really appreciate the simulcasting of the show, but my support stops there. I was very disappointed with the show, especially considering the quality of its predecessors. I can barely recommend it to anyone except maybe CLAMP fans and those the absolutely must see it (watch it free while you can)