Blood+ Final Thoughts
Posted on September 25th, 2006 by retsgip - 9,499 Views
Rating: 9/10
With plenty bloodshed and a bucket of tears, Blood+ finally came to an end. It was a rough ride with many ups and downs, but overall the series turned out okay. What a bittersweet ending to another quality show.
I apologize in advance because this blog is literally a wall of text. I kind of felt like I jumped the shark a little bit, but I was bored so sue me (Sunday nights are fun). Nobody’s forcing you to read it, but wouldn’t it be so much fun? *wink*
If you feel at any time you’re at a loss for information and don’t mind spoilers, go ahead and check out the Blood+ Wikipedia entry. It answers most any Blood+ question you might have.
Overall Thoughts
I gave Blood+ an 9/10 for a few different reasons, but most of all for the fact that it never disappointed me. Seeing as there were 50 episodes, I think that’s a pretty good feat. If I were to compare it to other ~50 episode series (e.g., Eureka 7 or Full Metal Alchemist), I’d say it holds its own. Also, thank god for the second half of this series, because without it I would have dropped this series. Right about the time when I was deciding whether or not I liked Blood+, they threw in some surprises and I was sold till the final sequences of events.
Why such a high rating for a cliche vampire anime?
- Characters. Each person offered something different to the equation, and I don’t feel like there were any “filler” characters either. Everyone had a purpose, and everyone had a personality. More on my favorites at the bottom.
- Plot. I really struggled with this plot all the way until the end, and then I was blown away. I’m happy that they sufficiently wrapped up 95% of the story, and left a few points open in case there’s any thoughts of an OVA or a sequel season(just an OVA would be fine).
- Romance. Oh the pain! The romance in this story is so god damn painful that I felt like stabbing myself in the heart every time there was drama. I cried during a few scenes, although it doesn’t seem like it’s very hard to make me do so nowadays (I’m such a baby now).
- Atmosphere. They really did a great job creating a dark feeling about the anime. I’m really into the dark anime which is probably why I enjoyed the second half of Blood+ than the cheerier beginning.
What did I hate?
- Nothing? Nah, just kidding.
- Female character art. I’m sorry whoever thinks Saya is hot or whatever, but damn lips in this anime drove me CRAZY! Like, absolutely bonkers. I’m serious. It was painful.
- Emo-ness. One of the biggest turnoffs of the show were its emo moments. Saya going all crazy sad about how she can’t win and shit like that was too much for me. Also, the Schiff and their whole struggle to live against the deadly grip of time was just too tragic.
Do I recommend it?
Ehhh. I dunno how popular this would be to the casual viewer. Blood+ was just a jumble of everything I like in an anime, which was why I found it so rewarding. I’m actually a pretty big romance kind of guy, but I also enjoy a nice action/thriller now and then. Blood+ offered a decent amount of both (more action than romance). The people who prefer romance will probably be turned off by the blood and gore, and those who want action will yawn through the slow plot-building scenes. I’d say go for it. If you like the first few episodes, you’ll probably like the rest. I’m only hesitant to recommend it because of its length. 50 episodes is a lot.
Voice Acting
I think that they did an awesome job choosing certain VAs for certain characters. Not only was the acting great, but you really get a sense of style and personality from each character through their voice. I didn’t realize it until later, but the VAs actually all have decent backgrounds, which is interesting. In any case, they did all did a pretty good job, and I applaud them for actually acting their parts instead of just being another voice behind the curtain.
Original Soundtrack
I felt that the OST for Blood+ was rather well done. Props to Mark Mancina and Hans Zimmer for composing some wonderful songs. A few of the songs hit the spot, sending shivers down my spine like a nice massage after a hard days work. Maybe it’s because I really enjoy classical or opera, but either way it was touching.
I can’t remember times when I felt there needed to be music, or times when the music sounded off. I do remember hearing good music, and I replayed Diva scenes every now and then to hear her sing. I can’t really say I particularly enjoyed any of the OP or EDs because I skipped through them for the most part but I do remember the final OP sounding a little off.
Favorite Tracks:
- Mark Mancina - Diva
- Hagi feat. Furukawaw Nobuo - Prelude
- Mark Mancina - Saya’s Love
Favorite Scenes (spoiler/recap of episode 50)
I feel kind of bad that my two favorite scenes are both in episode 50, but I’d like to point out that I enjoyed the entire sequence of events leading up to end. That starts somewhere around episode 40.
Kai laying the fucking SMACKDOWN on Haji. Oh my god. I almost leapt out of my chair and cheered. Instead, I saved my dignity (even though nobody was there to see me) and gave a good chuckle and a single clap of approval. It’s about god damn time he got owned for his ridiculous robot-like, lacking opinion, yes man behavior.
I cried when Kai was walking Saya up the long flight of stairs as she fell into her 50 or 30 year sleep(which of those two is right). I started talking to the screen as tears went streaming down my cheeks, saying stuff like: “No! You can’t end it like that!” “What the hell is Kai supposed to do now?!” “NO!” “OH MY GOD! They just owned me!” See, I’ve been rooting for Kai x Saya the whole show, and the only person who gets anywhere with Saya is Haji, the useless POS. I better stop before I go emo. Beautiful ending though. Beautiful.
Character Overview
There are a shit-ton of characters in this anime, but I’ll try my best to only mention the major players. For in-depth descriptions of the characters, go here. I’m only going to touch on what I liked or hated about them. Sorry about the length, its super long.
Favorite Good Characters: (plenty of spoilers all over this bitch)
Saya
Sure the situation they were in probably caused a lot of stress, but Saya’s self-worth issues were driving me insane. Sometimes it makes me feel bad for her and her situation, but then other times I just want to smack her and show her that she’s got plenty of friends to support her. Most of the time, her mood reflected whether or not I liked the episode, probably because she got the most screen time (who wants to watch a depressed girl lose a battle to save the world…not me).
I wasn’t too happy about her hair or her lips either, but I really liked the black outfit she ends up wearing after the time-skip. She also never really felt like a vampire to me, but maybe that’s because they gave her blood instead of allowing her to suck people dry. If she had more vampire traits, I probably would have been all over her. She was too soft in my opinion.
Haji
If Haji wasn’t so fucking useless all the time, I might actually have thought he was cool. He was kind of cool up until we saw how useless he was against Diva’s Chevaliers, which all appear to be much stronger than him. I’m glad he finally grew some balls and started whooping some major ass on the other Chevaliers later on. Too bad he didn’t start until the last handful of episodes, when he finally revealed his full powers and sprouted wings. It actually felt kind of weird seeing him not get his ass handed to him, but then it also made me love Haji just a little bit more.
Big Spoiler: I’m also proud of him for voicing his love for Saya and also disobeying her wish to commit suicide when the fight was over. As for those who were wondering, no he’s not dead. A Chevalier is extremely hard to kill and a ceiling collapsing is definitely not strong enough. Plus after the credits of the final episode, a flower has been placed by Saya’s sleeping area, and it’s wrapped in Hagi’s hair ribbon.
Kai
Kai is such a lovable character. He’s a normal, everyday human, but he devotes his life to Saya and her cause. This is mainly because him, Saya, and Riku were all adopted under the same parent and grew up together. You can’t really be more noble or find a guy so loyal with no hidden goals like this. Kai is the character everyone is supposed to relate to, but also shows us that normal humans can be impressive and defeat all odds. Kind of touching isn’t it? He is also a big source of strength for Saya, which is communicated through the bond they share.
It pains me to even think about Kai x Saya because it’s a match made in heaven, but also a match that can never be. The two main characters didn’t have enough problems on their hands, no, but they also had to secretly fall in love with each other. What the fuck is that?! I was secretly wishing the entire series that Saya would make Kai a Chevalier as some point, and they could live together forever. How wrong I was…I’m gonna give Kai an e-fist-pound for all the hard work he did with practically no reward other than knowing Saya was safe. If I was a female, I’d be all over him.
Side Note: I feel that Kai has the most growth out of all the characters on the show.
Riku
Spoiler: In all honesty, I wasn’t that shocked at all when Diva raped and crystallized him. I really didn’t like his character at all and I was super pissed that he was able to become Saya’s Chevalier and not Kai. Actually, it made me so upset that I was kind of happy he died. *braces for flames* Anyways, he was essential to the growth of the characters, as well as giving Diva the ability to have children. Without him, the story would have been much more shallow. Grats for doing something useful, Riku.
Favorite “Evil” Characters:
Diva
Diva was the only true vampire in this show. She was also Saya with long hair, which is fucking hot! (yes, her hotness is a direct contradiction as to what i hate about this anime, oh well?) I didn’t really have a problem with her young and spoiled personality, but I’m sure others did. The way Diva turned out is a classic example of Nature vs. Nurture, showing how the environment in which Diva grew up in greatly influenced the way she acted. Diva also has a lovely song.
Kai is hoping that he can raise Diva’s children in a loving environment, and thus eliminate all possibilities of another war in the future. I believe it. The final clip after the credits of episode 50 seems to support this.
Nathan
Nathan is by far the best “evil” character. The real question to be asked is if he really IS evil or if he’s along for the ride. Personally, I just enjoyed is flamboyantly homosexual actions throughout the series and his ability to seem really scary at times. You never really knew what his motives were, which seemed to make him even more scary. Okay, okay I lied. The REAL question is: “What the fuck is he wearing?!!?!” Whatever it is, I dig it. You can’t really see it in the pic, but he looks like some sort of Circus Ringmaster. He’s kinda like the gay uncle I never had…
Nathan Spoilers:
There’s a ton of theories springing up about who or what he really is. When Saya finally kills Diva, Nathan tells Saya to kill him because he has no reason to live. Then, the next episode, we get a shot of him in a crowd and realize that he didn’t die. This can mean a number of things:
- He’s the father of Saya and Diva
- He’s a Chevalier from the mother
- He’s a Chevalier from a different line of vampires that were never shown
- When Diva died, he was no longer attached to her blood
All seem reasonable to me and I’m not even going to begin to argue what’s true or not.
If you read this far. You get a fucking cookie.
-Retsgip
Loading ...
yea i was totally pleased with how they ended the series - they were hinting at the long sleep thing for a while, so there’d be closure either way. And i think it’s a 30-year span, not 50. 50 would suck
Overall I was glad i kept sticking with it. I was expecting more of a ‘mature’ drawing style and tone (i.e. like basilisk or something), but if you watch it from the standpoint of their target audience, it’s a lot of fun. It makes my top 10 series I’d have to say!
>>Romance. Oh the pain! The romance in this story is so god damn painful that I felt like stabbing myself in the heart every time there was drama. I cried during a few scenes
i couldn’t agree more. i love this series for its emotional play than all those action sequence. Oh, i’m an avid Saya x Hagi fan, but i understand why you like Saya x Kai. Too bad in the end Kai didn’t end up with anyone.
@buckethead: Lol, well 30 years sounds a lot better thats for sure. Though, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s still sad that she won’t remember Kai or anyone at all when she wakes up. Not to mention they’re all going to age except Hagi.
I really struggled with this anime and I don’t really know why. But then, at the very end I realized that I enjoyed it a lot and was lying to myself.
@danie: I will at least say this, the Saya x Hagi scene in episode 50 was touching even though I wasn’t rooting for them. Also, i’ll admit, they are probably more “fit” to be a couple than Saya x Kai, but hoping that the underdog wins is always fun. In this case, nobody really wins, except maybe Hagi…and the babies(who are being raised by an awesome father).
I like the ending be they should have more episodes because everyone wants to find out what happens to riku,kai,julia,david,and is hagi really dead?
ZOMG the ending was such a freaking drag, here i am thinking that she is gonna just “skip” the long sleep and b4 u know it Kias gonna be a freaking 50 year old the next time he see’s saya
i wish i was an anime character sometimes… when she fell asleep it would of been 30 years of touching sleeping beauty… anyyyyywaaaaaays good stuff
hey and what happened to solomon?…did i miss something. they didn’t even know him die? just a few scenes of some cracks on him hmmmmmmmmm
solomon died. he got a scratch from saya’s blood smeared sword.
When Haji finally said I love you to saya, i was damn happy! Then his death scene was his last scene, that sux. I know he’s still alive but really… i wanted his face to be shown in the very end, not his ribbon
Blood+ is actually the most amazing series i have ever taken an experience in watching in my whole life. err awkward sentence. anyway. i just finished the last ten episodes with my best friend a couple hours ago. we were bawling our eyes out. i feel so empty now that i don’t have something to look forward to. do i sound like a complete loser here? eh. well.
this show=perfection. and i just wanted to put that out there.
ive watchd most of th series ( th ones i could find lol) and im slightly confused. the promise between hagi and saya was that wen it was all over, he would kill her right? so why has he let her go back into hibernation at the end? and then when she woke up again in 30 years, they wouldn’t even need her so it would be pointless!
still a pretty good anime though. glad i found it. (only reason was cos kai looks lke kyo from fruits basket lol)
yea the ending is so sad but romantic in a way its the best series ever
just wanted to say that
i love the series the ending is sad but romantic when he says i love you
Such an amazing anime, it made me cry a few times.
I’m really going to miss it, just an amazing series!
well…the ending was great…BUT WHY THE HELL DID SAYA END UP WITH HAJI?! oh come on…i was almost sure that it was kaixsaya, the pairing i’ve been rooting for(obviously)…aw man….anyway, it’s still great….
this was the best series ive watched in a long time, i was rooting for saya x solomon they looked so good together….there needs to be another season!!!
I love blood+, it IS the best anime of all!!!!!
The only thing i hated was Divas dead…
Wow… I absolutely loved that. I got all the eps of my friends and became so addicted that I watched all of them in 3 days. It was a total marathon.
The scenes where Hagi tells Saya to live because he wants her to be happy and to see her smile, then kisses her, was so touching. I was crying by that point. Not to mention the part where Hagi confesses his love for Saya before been buried beneath ruble. :’(
I was rooting for them through the whole series. To me they were a perfect match, with him always been there for her, no matter what, to support and protect her in physical battles and her psychological battles.
I think it was the perfect balance of action, fantasy, mystery and romance (or maybe there could have been a little more romance
). For this reason, I was wondering if anyone knows any other anime like Blood+?
wahhh! i want to see more animes like this too! what are some other animes like blood+?
wahhh! i want to see more animes like this too! what are some other animes like blood+? please?
This show was a bit *too* fucking emo for me, considering the movie kicked ass. Also Diva was a scary-ass mother-f**ker, what the hell was up with her “other half”.
I loved Haji, Kai kicked ass! and I liked Riku, at least enough to be kinda really mind-fucked when he was RAPED - after the psycho-bitch almost killed him, THEN she killed him. The show was so emo that Joel ending up in a wheelchair was like “okay, s’cool, David’s an alcoholic now.”
It wasn’t like great, but at least it wasn’t Trinity Blood. At least it didn’t suck.
damn cool man this anime. i found this webpage when i was about at episode 39 or so and it was so damn tempting to read it…anyway i didn’t until i finished the series. would have been bad spoiler for me man. gotta say, good review man. anyway what’s with everyone and the whole thing about saya and whoever…it rocks that everyone just got their feelings out man. hell, this anime’s good but nothing rocks your emos more than reading chrno crusade’s epilogue in the manga after you’re thru with the story. for those who cried to blood+, you’ll cry a river for that epilogue.
I think that Diva bitch is SO FUCKING HOT!!!!!
Sorry, this just made me laugh whenever you started talking about Nathan. He looks so cool. “He looks like the gay uncle I never had.” Gosh, that made me laugh. And I really do enjoy my cookie I got for reading this
I think after reading this I’m going to try and start Blood+. I just hope that I can survive the emo-ness and depressing storyline parts, haha. By the way, I really liked the Anime Girl Window Shopping. I only read it because my friend sent it to me and I was like “WTF?!” So yeah. And then I read this, cause I was curious.
So thanks for the analysis! I’m looking forward to watching this more now! Especially if I get to see Nathan! Homo comments? I HAVE to see this. And really, WHAT THE HELL *IS* HE WEARING?!
I really love this show!!! I actually don’t like anime too much, so for me to say that I like this one is really something. I started watching the series after I saw episode eight and absolutely loved it. What got me was the relationship between Haji and Saya. It’s so beautiful and tragic at the same time. I have now finished the entire series and couldn’t be more happy with, though I would reall love for them to make a second season so we can all see Haji and Saya together again. And what about Solomon? Personally, I really don’t think that he’s dead. If I know Nathan’s character, I wouldn’t doubt him saving Solomon. After all, he was the one who released Solomon so he could go and protect Saya from James.
Anyways, I’m starting to ramble, just wanted to say how much I like the show.
HAJIxSAYA FOREVER!!!! ^_^
well, acctually in my pov I liked the show alot, Iguess the reason for that is I’ve been through a lot of shit in my life that would cause anyone else to be sent to crazy home or commite suiside. I don’t lie, the only thing that made me mad was that the episodes stopped at 50…I mean come on man dont leave us hanging here we need more!! I love haji so what if he wasn’t strong enough he saved saya’s life and the two babies and kai’s if you think about it he stopped Amshel by killing him with saya’s sword and pinning him to the wall in turn he got trapped when amshel stabbed him then he told saya basically to get the F*** out of there and to live on. I love Riku too he is like the little brother i never had or ever will. He is the glue that kept saya and kai and the rest of the team together and when he was raped and killed by diva it gave saya more determination to go and kill her. so ya they all play there parts. Anyway Its whom ever made the characters that ways falt not the characters themselves to tell you the truth i would love to trade saya places any day, i would even go through all the hell just not to be here in this world, yes some may say i have problems or issues but hell who dont? anyway thats my oppinon so ya just had to type it out…now my fingers are crapping oh diva’s song it sounds really nice but man does it give me the goose bumps, i like haji’s playing better. lol ya see