SUSPENDED ANIMATION: BLOOD-C (2011)

I love my horror movies. Similarly I love my horror animes too. It's been a while since I've seen a truly blood and guts anime. I take that back, ATTACK ON TITAN I saw for the first time last year and holy cow did that show set the new standard for intensity! BERSERK, NINJA SCROLL, and DEVILMAN along with a few others make up the foundation for my extreme anime standards. I'm sure there's a ton of other titles I need to see. One such title was recommended to me by a friend who shares in my tastes for monsters and mayhem.

BLOOD-C is a horror/action anime from 2011 from Production I.G. and CLAMP. I was aware of the BLOOD: THE LAST VAMPIRE anime film and only peripherally aware of the BLOOD+ anime series from a decade ago. I hadn't watched any of the aforementioned Blood features. Blood-C was described to me and I was shown a clip. As far as I was concerned this was something else entirely. I would later discover how wrong I was.

Saya Kisaragi is your typical bubbly cute anime girl attending high school in a tiny remote Japanese town. She has many friends at school and is well liked among her classmates. She's incredibly athletic despite a tendency to be clumsy. Her father is the priest at the local shrine temple and after school she learns from her father all the rituals required to maintain the shrine. One day she will inherit the duties and become the Shrine Priestess.

At night however the true purpose for the shrine is revealed. The shrine guards a gateway between our world and a dark world filled with monsters and beasts called Elder Bairns. All these things want is to feast on human flesh. Saya learns that her mother was the Shrine Priestess before her and was the only person who could wield the sacred sword and slay the monsters. Saya has that same power and it is her legacy and inheritance to kill these vile creatures. Sounds vaguely like Kikiyo from Inuyasha...

The monsters don't go down easily. They push Saya to her limits, cutting her body, spilling her blood. Once pushed to a point Saya's eyes glow red and her strength and speed become superhuman. Once in this mode she can hack the monsters to pieces. How is she able to fight on the same level as the monsters? Why does something feel wrong every time she slays them? And why does it become increasingly more difficult to save the people she loves?

SPOILER ALERT
The show takes a dramatic twist about halfway through. The first several episodes the show seem completely unrelated to the older Blood series. Then the story shifts, you find out everything is a lie and the entire world you've been immersed in is all a facade. Who is behind it and why are revealed and Saya learns who she really is what foul things have been done to her.

The anime goes from being one show to transforming into another. Having not been familiar with the previous series I didn't see it coming at all. Honestly I preferred the divergent world from the beginning of the show rather than the show it eventually became. I'm sure the feeling is opposite for those intimately familiar with the original series. So I guess I have a somewhat unique perspective about this show.

I really liked the idea of a lone shrine maiden charged with protecting our world against the monsters that would consume us. The idea of the one sacred blade being the only weapon that can kill these things and the unique power that is unlocked when shrine maiden and sword come together. It's a simple core concept and one that has a ton of potential. I preferred the first half of the series to the last half greatly.

Instead of ramping up towards the end the show slows down. I was left turning my to the side thinking, "What the hell is going on? No. No! I liked the way it was going! Stop, damn you!" They slow WAY down at the end only to jam a huge massacre into the last 5 minutes and then she gets shot in the head! WTF?! Oh wait, there's a movie I have to watch to tie it all up. Okay, whatever. Ti the show's credit I had me hooked enough to where I binge-watched most of it in a day. That's pretty darn good if you ask me.

The animation is excellent! I really like Saya and her friends characterizations. Everything is done very well until the turn. I suppose I should watch the previous series and may very well do that. Perhaps I will see this show in a completely different light and the twist won't hurt as much. Regardless, nothing will be quite like my first impression with the series. After watching the movie the story has a great big finale and sort of ends with the possibility of a sequel if they want. Although I'm not a fan of the "real" Saya as I was with the happy carefree Saya. Normally I like my strong silent badass heroes, but in this case I prefer the other.

All in all it's not a bad series. The action is really good and the blood quota is pretty high. The monsters are fairly unique and vicious. The "C" in the title I assume is for CLAMP's involvement. The alternate version of the characters I assume is CLAMP's doing and I like it. Visually the show is stunning and high quality. If you're looking for something new and different to sink your fangs into I would recommend this. It's not the greatest, but its far from the worst. Monsters and cute sword wielding girls, what more could a guy ask for?

Overall Ranking: 5 out of 10
Nude-O-Meter: 3 out of 10