The Thing About Blood-C

I have to admit. When I saw the Summer Anime Line-up I just thought it was ok. Most of it didn’t really catch my interest, and ironically it those that I wasn’t so pumped up about that ended up being the ones I loved the most; Mawaru Penguindrum, Kamisama Dolls and – oddly enough – The iDOLM@STER. On the other hand, one of the more anticipated ones turned out to be a huge letdown – namely, Blood-C.

There are a few spoilers in this post, but nothing much contributes to the story since nothing much happens so you probably won’t have to worry.

I was really excited. Blood + was among the first non-childish anime I watched, and it made a pretty big impact on me. There’s also the whole CLAMP production that got my attention – I wouldn’t say I’m a huge fan of theirs, but I do like their works. That was the driving force behind me grinding my teeth and watching the first few episodes of Blood-C until I finally gave up.

                                Nothing

                                                                                             Happens

It was the repeat of the same thing, again. And again. And again. So repetitive, in fact, that even her uniform seems to be able to repeatedly stitch itself quite well – either that, or she has this endless supply of the same uniform in her closet. Her blood spamming everything during the night, and being all klutzy in the day. Super dense, and seemingly quite popular. I do not like Saya’s character – besides the fact that she whacks monsters, she’s the typical shoujo princess that I just can’t stand. And since that was all Blood-C seemed to be all about, I just gave up on it and moved on to just re-watch Mawaru Penguindrum for the 5^th time.

But then, one day. Something happened. That ‘something’ was free time. So I thought, okay, let’s just see where Blood-C has (not) taken itself. Having the sort of luck I possess, the episode where I dropped off  just happened to be the one where the story picks up. So okay, I watch about two or three of those episodes thinking, ‘Hmm, not bad,’ and decide to stick with it – especially with the hints of having a crossover with xxxHolic. 

But there was always this nagging feeling that I was wasting my friggin time. In the middle of watching the most recent one, I received an epiphany.

WTF this show really is wasting my time.

It’s like The Expendables. About ½  show is about her whacking some monster with some violent blood fan service. The other half is spent repeating what’s already been repeated before. She will fight some furukimono, who will drop off some random hints about that-thing-she-cannot-recall. They all keep hinting and hinting again and again at the same thing episode after episode without saying anything to the point where even I want them dead. But there’s always this teeny bit of a cliff hanger at the end that makes you curious. That tiny bit of development is enough to make gullible idiots like me keep watching the show.

PLUS! The whole show revolves around Saya. I mentioned before I don’t like her character. The more I watch, I realise not only do I find her unlikeable – I also find her extremely useless. For someone who’s so obsessed about protecting everyone, she sure turns into the perfect audience when other people get eaten in front of her.

The first time I noticed this was when the baker got eaten by the train (lol). Then again when one of the twins had that shadow eating thing (not sorry they both got eaten – they were pretty annoying). And especially when her class got attacked. After about half her class gets eaten, she finally decides to act all cool and takes out her sword. There was even this moment when she pauses by the window for a rest and watches about three of her classmates get eaten.       

WOMAN ARE YOU FOR SHIZ?!?!?!

She also has her own version of bankai-mode, where her eyes become red. She has never defeated anything unless she enters this bankai state – she goes from being a Magikarp attacking with splash to a Gyarados pwning with hyper beam. Even after her classmates were all slaughtered, the only person who triggers bankai mode is her best friend.

                 WOMAN ARE YOU FOR SHIZ?!?!?!

Anyway the deaths in Blood-C are really not that surprising or shocking anymore. In literary terms, I have been desensitized. Honestly speaking, the death of the first twin wasn’t that shocking – sorry Nene/Nono, but Tomoe Mami beat you to that particular manner of death. As for the second twin, seeing as about 50 people died before that nobody really cares. Particularly for her classmates, after I saw about 5 of them failing to escape the purple jaws of death, I could pretty much predict that everyone was going to die anyway.

You're all gonna DIE

I thought that they let the class rep guy live so that there would be a love rival for the other dude who doesn’t talk to anyone, but the latter got eaten anyway so what the hey.

Speaking of love interest who died… what the hell was up with that? You’d think he would have more to contribute to the mystery/horror/supernatural storyline, but in the end he only ended up contributing to the romance one. Which isn’t even really a genre for Blood-C. He started off as being this cool, unknown dude. When they started getting a bit closer he ended up hugging her half the time (someone needs a little more self-control) and she’s all ‘huh? I don’t understand…’ but doesn’t do anything…

                            WOMAN ARE YOU FOR SHIZ?!?!?!

I’m not sure how many girls out there wouldn’t freak out if a guy they only half-know starts hugging them. Her character is just so unbelievably shoujo I just can’t stand it – especially since it’s so out of balance with her bankai-mode self.

Anyway creepy classmate who hugged her is probably gonna pop up somewhere since the twins have (unfortunately) returned as well.

The ED for Blood-C was sung by Saya’s seiyuu, who also wrote the lyrics. I read up somewhere that it could be worth looking into the lyrics as it could provide insight into the story itself. So for the first time I paid attention to the ED, and if it really does reflect the story…          

The smuttiest scene in Blood-C

…………………………………..………….woman are you for shiz?

The violent fan service (which is censored anyway, so what’s the point?) doesn’t really need any smut added to it, thanks. Half the time I’m worried she might just jump her otou-sama since she seems half-obsessed about him. Too bad for all her love interests.

Dude, don't bother. You never had a chance.

And it’s really annoying how after every episode, the song ‘kyOOumoooOO iiII teeENnkiiiiiIIII’ just doesn’t get out of my head. Ughh…

With only 2 episodes left, I might actually find out what the hell this is all about. If the last few minutes end with ‘BUT IT WAS ALL JUST A DREAM AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTERRRRR’ (like the time in Tsubasa where they found out it was all just a game – literally) or ‘FIND OUT NEXT SEASON IN YEAR 20XX!!’ I might just shoot something. I’m really quite surprised that they would structure it in such a repetitive, time-wasting manner – especially with only 12 episodes.

…. Then again, I complain about this and that but I still watch it when I can. Now that I’ve come this far I might as well finish it.

That ending better be good