I burned through the first half of Blood+. Normally, it takes me forever and a day to get around to watching a box set. If I go the collected box set route, it usually means I didn’t find it worthy enough to spend the extra money to get the initial single volume releases. So box sets are usually a I’ll see it when I see it, instead of a must see this now type of thing. Getting a box set felt a little different with Blood+ since it was actually one of the shows I was eager to see.
After watching the first twenty-five episodes over three days (which is a lot for me), there’s definitely things I love about Blood+ and things that frustrate me. There’s good production value; an interesting story with a setup that leaves me wanting to find out more; the pacing within each episode moves along; and there’s some good fights in there. Hell, I’m staying up very late to watch it even though I’ve got work in the morning and throwing responsible behavior out the window. But, and you knew there was a “but”, this version of Saya kind of sucks. Everything about Blood+ rocks, except for Saya.
It’s really frustrating to watch Saya from episodes 3 to 24, because her anxiety and doubt gets in the way a lot — in that annoying stand there and not save family and friends even though I can kind of frozen angst. It’s kind of funny that I read this complaint about angst just before viewing Blood+.
What makes it doubly frustrating is that it’s such a contrast to that total ass-kicking Saya I remember from Blood the Last Vampire. Even worse, that total ass-kicking Saya shows up in the second episode (and flashbacks), but then disappears until the last minute of episode 25! I know they were going for a more human and vulnerable Saya, but I’m just saying a little more of the Saya who fights would have been welcome. I do actually like Saya.
In spite of that, I did enjoy it while I was watching Blood+. They successfully strung me along in these episodes, but after twenty-five episodes, I feel like the show hasn’t even started yet, instead of feeling like the halfway point. It’s kind of a weird feeling to have just watched that many episodes and to have not had any real progress in the story. Stuff happens, a lot of stuff happens, there isn’t any shortage of stuff happening, so don’t get the wrong impression, but it’s all setup before beginning the story.
It took 23 episodes to finally meet who is supposed to be her main adversary. The villain is often said to be what defines the conflict and story. The villain is the landscape that the hero travels. In Blood+ that landscape goes on undefined for too long, which leaves Saya with no place to go and nobody to fight. She’s constantly in danger, but none of these battles are the fight she needs to fight to resolve the main story. These battles describe and setup the main story that has yet to start or so that’s what I’m thinking at the midpoint.
Saya’s monologue at the end of episode 25 is basically her saying that the main plot begins now…I hope.
English Dub Notes
Overall the Blood+ dub isn’t very good. I just don’t feel like the director prepared the actors well enough for their scenes or there just wasn’t a budget to do that. I do suspect budget is a major reason for the poor dub. When you’ve got Crispin Freeman, a man with a distinct voice, playing Hagi, Joel, and Van (a main character and two prominent characters), it just screams of maximizing studio time to get every last cent out of the union per day wage. I like him as Hagi and he’s fun as Van, but it’s distracting to hear him play three prominent roles.
Another reason the dub feels a bit off in places is because there are some odd lip flaps in the animation. The flaps move in such a way that a line comes out, “What the hell is…” *pause for no lip animation* “he doing?” Rather than let the spoken line follow a natural cadence, the dialog fits the flaps. These Shatner pauses happen more than a handful of times.
One of things that I was looking forward to was Kari Wahlgren as Saya. It’s too bad that the dub is hamstrung.
DVD Release Notes
Blood+ is one of the first shows in the new release trend in the US where an entire season box set is being released as the initial release, rather than as a collection after the single volume dvds have had their run. Not sure if this trend is going to be a good thing or not.
Sony’s treatment of Blood+ is pretty disappointing. In addition to being cheap with the dub, Blood+ is dubtitled. The only people who Sony didn’t let down were those who could watch it raw. The box that holds the discs is about three times larger than it needs to be to hold the three double disc thinpak cases. It’s pretty funny that space-saving thinpak cases were used inside an excessively large space eating box.
Parting Shot
Even though I spent most of this post complaining, I actually look forward to getting the second half. Like I said, while I was watching it I kept watching episodes and when there were no more left on the disc, I popped in a new disc. I really hope that Saya stands up and protects who she loves and what she believes from here on.
I’ve heard some mixed feelings about Blood+, though people do end up saying that it’s a good series when all things are considered. I haven’t watched it myself.
I think your complaints are justified if it really is that watered down, as far as Saya goes!
I have a strong disinclination to watch read, or otherwise consume vampire-related fiction, but Blood+ is a pretty strong counter-example. I never really latched onto her as a protagonist, as I found her brothers to be more interesting characters. In a way, Saya is the real antagonist in the first half of the series. What manner of peril is she going to bring next? What is she, really, and what ramifications may this have for the people around her and the world in general? That kinda stuff. The production quality was outstanding, of course, and the version I saw was well-subbed.
Other than to see Kate Beckinsale in skin tight leather, vampire type stories aren’t my first choice either. Though lately, it seems like I am a junky.
I didn’t look at Saya and her family that way before, but Saya is pretty dangerous to her family, isn’t she?
Funny though I only watched the movie version which is around 14~20 minutes XD. Still haven’t found time to get and watch this one
It’s a total of 50 episodes, so you’ll need a bit of time. These first 25 episodes go by quick and it’s easy to burn through large chunks of Blood+ at a time.
Personally I found Blood+ to be a rollercoaster kind of series. Starts off ok, becomes crap, starts picking up once again, becomes crap again, good for only a little bit, then total disappointment. A friend of mine is a huge Blood+ fan, but I just couldn’t find why she loved it so much as majority of the series I found to be absolute crap, especially the 2nd half.
Oh man, I wonder how I’ll find the second half. I was hoping that Saya would start kicking some butt. Haha, oh well, I guess I’ll find out. Hopefully, I’ll be like your friend, just because I’d like to like it. ^^
Hmmm, and here I was thinking that you were using a pun. So she really does suck eh? That’s a shame. I can see why they chose a more vulnerable Saya though – it does give a little more human characteristic to her, as well as makes for more intense scenes since she’s seemingly more vulnerable. It’s too bad they decided to play it up through weaknesses such as emotional anxiety rather than other potential story driving weaknesses… looks like another series I’ll have to watch, when I have time.
My sentiments were the same. Sony just slap this boxset together with narly of a though on how it should be put together. The dub was alright to me, but yes, overusing some actors is just pushing it. Although it’s nice to hear Kari Wahlgren play the evil sister. She plays it like Anemone, but a bit more in the right state of mind and yet a complete sadist.
As for the story itself, I still can’t believe I went thru 20 episodes of angst in 3 days like yourself. It’s addictive yet frustrating at times.
If you’re watching Blood+ for the character development it’s going to be a long and frustrating ride. The plot meanders a bit and is messy at best. I’m more character-driven when it comes to what keeps me interested in a series – fortunately I really took to Saya’s and Haji’s designs and relationship dynamics so the shortcomings of Blood+ are forgivable.
It’s not a bad series by any means, just one of those bumpy ones that’s easy to enjoy if you don’t take it too seriously.
My dub rating is a little more critical because Blood+ is a major release, instead of some niche title lucky to get a dub. Kari Wahlgren is my favorite VA, so I don’t mind her playing both Saya and Diva.^^ Considering the characters, it could pass as appropriate anyway.
Saya and Hagi were so boring to me. They hardly had any character growth. Know what, I think the only character who truly grew the most was Kai. He accepted and loved Saya as family, had to deal with Riku’s death the hardest. My favorite characters were Diva, Solomon and Nathan. Sad when you don’t even care about the protagonist at all.
Kai was really annoying, always screaming and denying facts. I know they tried to make it look like he suffered allot and had to carry a heavy burden but i could not like this whiny, loud and irrational character. He behaved like a stupid animal most of the time.
Saya is probably the worst protagonist i have ever seen in any anime, she had no redeeming qualities at all.
Physically weak, mentally fragile, easily manipulated by everyone, shows no sign of intelligence and self loathing to the point of being emo. She is not even funny. WTF.
This anime had potential but just failed horribly.