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Year: 2011
Genre: Action, Horror, Mystery, Supernatural
Episodes: 12
Rating: 3 out of 5
Have you ever heard of stories in small towns or villages shrouded in horror stories? Those towns have legends written about them of some awful crime. Even though this is an anime, something like Nightmare on Elm Street, where something always happens. How about Stranger Things, where some creature is trying to burst through. Every town might have some legend about it. Blood-C is an anime that is constantly attacked by monsters that feed on blood. The only person stopping them is a clumsy, innocent shrine maiden who battles them with an enchanted sword.
Overview
Set in an isolated rural town on the shore of Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture. Saya Kisaragi is a smiling, peaceful, and sometimes clumsy schoolgirl who is also a shrine maiden of the Shinto shrine. The shrine is run by her father, Tadayoshi. Life seems normal for Saya as she has a close group of friends and tries her best to please everyone. At night, Saya is known as a fearsome and deadly monster slayer that seems to attack every night. To fight the monsters, Tadayoshi equips Saya with a ceremonial sword.
As Saya fights, her calm and happy world soon fall apart. At first, she couldn’t understand the monsters but soon overhears them speak. With each new monster, they reveal something about Saya’s past and who she really is. When a strange dog suddenly appears, it asks her to whom she promised to protect the village, curious as to what would happen if she were to break that promise. Saya begins to receive a vision, and the truth about the village and herself are revealed.
Review:
Years ago, I watched the original Blood-C or a version of it and thought it was pretty good. While watching the first couple of episodes, I was somewhat entertained. The story revolves around a girl named Saya, an outwardly normal teenage high school girl who serves as a shrine maiden to a country town. At night, she is tasked by her father to defeat Elder Bairns, monsters who feed on human blood.
The story seemed like any other monster anime I have seen. Saya running around and killing monsters. I thought it was going to be a bore until homegirl’s eyes changed like a demon. That is when I became interested because you want to know what is happening. She has these memories about floating orbs, but nothing really was explained throughout the anime until the end.
Saya fights a different and more extreme monster each episode until they really become deadly. Now the monsters are called Elder Bairns, and they start having Saya question her reality. It is proved that the village she lives in is a fake to keep her contained. Actually, many of the villagers are actors to have their records or crimes expunged. The story climaxes that Saya is actually one of the Elder Bairns who was captured, and blood was used for something else. Oh, I got sidetracked. The monsters were inspired by the Great Old Ones from H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos and modeled after traditional Japanese monsters. Towards the end, they are straight-up ruthless.
The monster that attacked the school went HAM on those students, and the anime doesn’t hold back on blood and violence. You straight-up see people getting ripped apart, blood raining from the sky, and some extreme gore. The dog monster was straight-up one that would give you nightmares. I thought it was one of the most brutal deaths I had ever seen. One twin got stomped on, and another straight up was pulled apart like a wishbone. It will leave you speechless but also so AWESOME.
The animation of the anime was pretty good. It was appealing and was drawn well. When the action scenes come along, they are drawn well and smoothly. I like the tone of the colors that were used. Since this is a dark anime, then the tones are dark. One of the scenes that were drawn well was the ending with the bunnies. It was dark and straight up, looking like something out of a freak show.
As far as the characters go, there is only Saya Kisaragi. She is an innocent and timid girl who loves her friends. At night, homegirl is straight-up badass. She does get her ass whipped a few times in the beginning, but when she transforms, she is on another level. At the end of the series, she is one of the most intimidating women in the series.
Blood-C is one of those anime series that is intense to watch because of the violence and gore. The ending will leave you wanting more, but sometimes I think it was nice to stop while it could. The story was okay, but it was a little boring. It took a little while for it to get going. Overall, I would say to watch this anime during the Halloween season.
