Blood-C: The Last Dark

-Overal-

I'd like to firstly recommend everyone to watch the Blood-C specials because they summon up the series really well. The specials go straight to the point without leaving behind important information. The feeling you get after watching it will help you when you watch the movie directly afterwards.
Ofcourse if you saw the series then even better. I saw it as well, yet bcs it has been so long since, I watched the specials and it helped me remember every feeling.

Do you know how it feels to be betrayed and lied to? Have you ever hated yourself for what you believe happend because of you?
Try to ... picture it. Try to stand in her shoes.

I admit that in the series her character may be very annoying, hell even I thought so at times. But in the movie they made up for it.
Some say there is no character development, well I think they're wrong.

In the beginning of the movie Saya is cold, you can't blame her after what happened. Gradually she changes yet stays herself.
Whats diffrent? She found someone like her. No, not a 'monster' but a person.
That person as well changes into a stronger someone because of the person's encounter with Saya.

Saya seeks for revenge but in the end is it really as she thought it was?

Watch the movie to find out what happened in the end. Find out the truth behind all these masks. //Nothing is as it seems.\\

-Sound-

Overal the sound was alright actually. It wasn't wrongly added in a disturbing way. They mainly added it where it was needed for the tension.
So overal a 8/10 for me.

-Art-

aaah Clamp and IG did an amazing job as is expected, definetly a 9 out of 10.
The animation is beautifully done and the monsters I have to say are discustingly amazing!!
The exesive use of blood is indeed still there but hey once you start it off like that, why not finish ;D

-Story-

The movie actually has a great story and it goes straight to the point: her revenge.

As for the title: "The Last Dark", I think they actually explained that in the end of the movie when Fumito 'explains' a few things about Saya.
So be sure to look out for that :D

In the end I give the movie an 8,5 out of 10.

Blood-C maybe a distant memory for some (and for some they would love to forget) but what this movie has done has really blown me away. In short it reminded me of the emotions, the power of music and that top quality art, of what has made the blood franchise what it is.

As we go back to memory lane, the Saya we all knew in Blood-C has returned into a distant cold and direct character with one mission. To take down Fumito. The way her character has changed makes her alike with all the other Saya's in the sense that deep down in that ... cold self there is still a heart beating in their vampire-selves.
Just like in the animated Blood-C series, the continuation of Clamp references amuses those who are familiar with it and of course the return of Watanuki in his lovely shop attending to Saya's services.

The new characters within the movie has a very lovely chemistry between them, and creates a nice light-hearted atmosphere amongst the dark and eerie of what the movie is mainly about. Mana and her backstory and character development alongside Saya's struggling journey was nicely added just like how Kuroto was added to set the scene for Saya's meet up with Fumito.

In short, just like the blood-c series, the twists are there, and are full of impact. But in all honesty, don't let what the blood-c series became deter you from watching the movie. The movie outshines all that was of that series and really brings back what has made the blood franchise a masterpiece.

After waiting a good 8 months to finally watch this all I can really say was I wasn't dispointed at all.
Blood-c was absolutely horrible and it was one of clamps worst anime's. I've always been a big fan of the Blood franchise but, Clamp really had no clue what they were doing. Until I watched the movie.
They put all the missing pieces together, I know understand why the Anime was crappy and not the movie because, they didn't know how to put it together tell the very end.
It was a very very good movie that I will watch again, I cried and laughed. The ... art was AMAZING and I loved the XXholic twist.
:) Good job clamp (Another masterpiece)

The infamous Blood-C series, a show that had somewhat good potential, and threw out, I wouldn't say trash, but something that people wouldn't normally really like to a great extent. I myself am an avid fan of the series, and I had been anticipating the release of this movie for quite sometime now. I went in not expecting much, and I got what I was expecting. While it wasn't very bad, it wasn't a very impressive movie to watch. I would say, around the above average mark, maybe even good. This is my first review.

Story: 6
As we continue along the journey of Saya seeking her ... revenge against Fumito, we encounter a group of hackers known as SIRRUT who are fighting against Fumito and his government regime. In terms of overall story, it was a bit mediocre and I didn't really understand what was going on (NO literally. I watched the movie RAW, and my limited Japanese only enabled me to understand just a strand of what was actually going on. I will update this review once I fully understand what is going on in the events of the movie)
Though, the story is kind of split between Saya and Mana, Saya wanting revenge against Fumito, and Mana wanting to find the whereabouts of her father. There are some twists, I guess, from what I could analyze, but nothing really extraordinary. As expected from a Blood-C title, don't expect much from it. The one thing it was lacking was the relationship with the Elder Bairns. Hardly any made a debut in the movie, and it felt as if this aspect of the story was somewhat forgotten. Also, the ending was extensively anti-climactic, and it left me with the same feeling that I had when I finished Fate/Zero, unpleased. It was quite unfortunate, especially since it had such great potential as a whole; but sadly, you can't do much with just one writer coming up with all this stuff without any peer criticism to improve.

Art: 10
Honestly, I think the reason why Production IG only had one writer working on the story for this movie was because they had used up all their money to hire artists because the art for Blood-C, the TV series and the Last Dark is spectacular. If it is one thing that Blood-C is noteworthy for, it's the gorgeously detailed art and choreography. It even tops titles known for its high art quality such as Fate/Zero and Hellsing: Ultimate in my opinion. Every looks extensively crisp, and every movement is realistic and noteworthy. The only thing I asked for more of was fighting scenes. Throughout the movie, there were only three major fighting scenes, and the last one was a somewhat unpleasing and lazy. But I can't blame them; making something as detailed as that does take up time and money, so I understand why they made it short. This movie is a crowning achievement in where the anime market of today should be heading towards in terms of art quality, except, with a better story and a cast of characters that can match the story better.

Sound: 7
Sound wasn't outstanding, though, there were a few tracks from the OST that I very much so enjoyed because they gave a sense of tension and suspense. But again, there was nothing overly flashy about it. I've noticed, that in a few scenes, they would play a suspenseful song in the absence of actually suspense, and some of the OST seems a bit light, taking away from the shows serious premise. Voice acting was very good, I have nothing to complain here as they do have many notable seiyuu's, Nana Mizuki, Kana Hanazawa, and Jun Fukuyama doing a great job expressing the personality of each characters through voice.

Characters: 6
The characters seemed a bit... out of place. They weren't terrible characters, and they were all unique in their own different way. They seemed out of place because, they were very comical despite the seriousness of the show. I can tell that they tried to add a sense of comic relief, but it just didn't work because there was too much of it, especially from the duo Shun and Matsuo. I felt that the story was more centric on the members of SIRRUT, especially Mana, rather than Saya herself. The main villains also hardly made appearances, Yuuka especially. Fumito only made a handful of appearances in total, and Kuuto I had no idea where they got him from.
There was also a developing lesbian relationship between Mana and Saya, which I have mixed feelings about. Saya does seem like the lesbian type of person, but when analyzing Saya Kisaragi in the TV series, it is a very big change from being asexual, to bisexual. Though the characters could have been much better, they weren't completely forgettable, I mean, who can't forget cute little Hiro Tsukiyama and her Alice in Wonderland/typing with both feet at 100WPM (Not to mention she's voiced by Kana Hanazawa) cuteness?

Overall Enjoyment: 7
Though the Blood-C series isn't something to be of a noteworthy anime, it still does have it's crowning achievements in displaying the marvels of modern technology in the world of art and animation. That I have to give props to. But in terms of everything else, we do need a bit of improvement in order for it to be a desirable series to watch. But otherwise, this movie wasn't a waste of time and does have a satisfying end.

There are many different anime that center around Blood-C such Blood+ that Blood-C was based off of. But one thing I've noticed is that Blood+ has significantly better ratings than Blood-C on MAL, and although I haven't really watched either of the two, I can guess that Blood-C probably lacked the plot that its predecessor had.

And here we have Blood-C: The Last Dark, a movie by the renown Production I.G. I think it's obvious that the leading assets of this movie are its animations. The colors used compliment the mood and the tone in each scene, and the fight scenes are gorgeous with angles, the ... movement and everything. The glorious graphics sometimes even surpass that of Fate Zero, in some fight scenes.

But because of all the eye candy, the mediocrity of the voice acting was made apparent. When I was watching the movie, I felt like the voice acting didn't appropriately pair up with incredible visuals that I thoroughly enjoyed. A couple of the scenes in the movie felt a bit lacking because of the average voice acting that didn't portray quite enough emotion to cohere with the intensity depicted in the visuals. I really felt like these visuals deserved more.

Additionally, I felt that the story was trying to rush itself alone the 1 hour and 47 minutes it had to get itself across while still staying true to the classic defeat-the-final-boss-and-discover-the-bigger-picture sort of plot. A scene or two seemed a bit rushed, and certain scenes that portrayed comic relief from the side characters were over in five seconds, making them feel a bit awkward and out of place in the serious atmosphere that was created in the beginning.

This brings me to the point that Blood-C: The Last Dark would have been better off, and more engaging in the beginning if it were it's own anime series. Then it would have more time to get its story across instead of squishing it in a two hour time-frame. The development of the characters could also be better executed, in a series, where each episode could go more in depth on the complex characters CLAMP created, instead of squishing everything important, and thought-provoking in the ending moments of the film.

Overall, I feel like this was a very decent movie, and this would definitely be something to watch if you want to see an impressive execution of graphics. In fact, the graphics that dominated in the end thoroughly won me over to one up the score I had originally given this movie.

So I give this an 8/10.

Pretty basic anime movie sequel to the series Blood-C that came out, and wraps things up in a tidy bow. But of course, we still have questions of whether or not Saya is going to have to keep fighting Elder Bairns... Hopefully we will see more.

The story takes place 6 months after the anime series ends, which doesn't really seem like a lot of time. Saya has changed, and is more of a hardened character since her departure in Blood-C. In terms of gore, this anime movie didn't make me cringe, so either 1) I have grown immune to it, since I kind of forced ... myself to when I watch animes, OR 2) It was toned down unlike the series. Either way, I didn't think it was that bad. Honestly was expecting cringe inducing gore, but I felt it was tame.

I really enjoyed this film, seeing as we get to see more of Saya, and I like this new version of her. She has changed a lot since Blood+, and CLAMP and I.G. have created a new Saya that seems to surpass the others. She gives me exactly what I want in a female lead, while not going too overboard. She doesn't pull any deus ex machines, not from what I thought. You gotta think, Saya fights to survive. So nothing she does is nearly unethical or unbelievable. Even during the most climactic moments in the movie, she still retains the ability to be "slow" at reacting, which makes her not a deus ex character.

Visuals are stunning, but in this day and age, anime usually is. However, the visuals are pleasing and I enjoyed the character's art. Saya looks older, mature, and very different from the Saya we thought we knew.

Elder Bairn action is a minimum, but the fights are awesome. We do get to see some bloodshed, very little at that. Or maybe I am just immune. Either way, it was pretty nice to see some fights that seemed epic.

I would recommend this anime to anyone who likes Blood, or has seen the series before. Make sure you watch the anime series FIRST, seeing as you lose a lot of the plot connection and anger towards the main villain. I for one enjoyed seeing it happen.

Soundtrack wasn't fairly memorable, so I set the score lower.

Also, if you are cringy, this anime is tame. So don't feel like you have to hold your sides or feel squeamish. Anime is WAY worse in terms of blood, but for an entry to gory animes, you could say this is about as worse as it gets for nightmare fuel. At least, from what I've seen.

I have the individual rating comparisons down the bottom if you want to skip the review.

The review is going to be a non-spoiler comparison between the original Blood-C and this movie. If you hated the original, I will attempt to convince you to watch this. If you liked the original you'll probably like this too... Maybe.

The original Blood-C was one of the worst animes I've had the experience of watching. Unoriginal generic characters who gain no development or complexity throughout, generic "monsters" with no backstory or development, terrible pacing, really bad animation and lazy music which is the OPPOSITE of how this movie operates.

However, ... my main complaint of the original Blood-C isn't any of those things listed above, it was that it lacked any sort of direction. There was always a small plot lurking in the backrounds of Saya being manipulated by those around her. This eventually leads to a plot twist close to the end. Unfortunately the entire story was just stalled without anything happening until that plot twist arrived. All the characters being completely one-dimensional made this stall incredibly boring and pointless. "Do we keep her as a cute, innocent school girl blindly murdering these creatures or do we actually progress the plot?" Unfortunately, stalling the plot was the answer they came up with.

This movie contained more character development in the first 3 minutes than the original series did in it's entire 12 episodes. The dark, gorey, eerie setting was nailed down instantly, the mood was set, the tone was set and the characters (especially Saya) actually came across as a like-able, REAL people who you can actually relate to. It's like there was a board meeting where the production team actually talked about the direction they wanted the movie to go in. "Do we want a fast paced action romp? a high school rom-com with monsters? A dark, gorey slow-paced psychological thriller?" Instead of the mash up of ideas that the first contained.

Even Saya who came across as the most unlikeable, generic character possible in the original now seems like a complete bad ass with a complex morality based on the shit she had to go through. All the characters in this movie have unique, likeable personalities that develop as things happen. It's crazy how much difference having good characters made. The movie has high production values, sure, but having good characters doesn't require money, just a writer who cares.


CONCLUSION:

In the end, the film turned out to be a slow-paced, dark, intense psychological about a cold, complex girl, messed up by her dark past looking for revenge but finding something more important. There is a lot of dialogue, it's a very quiet and sombre but also an intense and dark film (with still some fast, lively action scenes). If you can embrace the movie for what it is you will love it.


Movie: Characters (8) Story (4), Art & Animation (9), Music (5), entertainment (6), Ambience (8)Overall (8)

Original: Characters (2), Story (4), Art & animation (2), Sound (3), ambience (2), entertainment (3), Overall (2)

While I haven't reviewed the Blood-C anime prior to speaking my piece on the film, I just want to say that I have too many mixed feelings about the aforementioned to do so properly. Still, those are only attributed to the storyline. I believe that I may have been in a small percentage of people who eagerly awaited the movie after seeing the brief PV shortly after the 12th episode.


I mean, this is the studio Production I.G.! If anything, you'd be willing to watch for the superb animation quality alone. That was definitely a positive aspect of the Blood-C movie experience and quite a step ... up from the anime which never failed to deliver on that premise.

Let's jump into the details!

Story (8): Dear readers, I'm pretty sure you've already scanned through the synopsis on My Anime List or Anime News Network, so I won't disappoint you with cited copy pasta. Blood-C: The Last Dark is a continuation of the anime story line and introduces a gathering of new characters as well as bringing back a few familiar faces from the series.

Main protagonist Saya Kisaragi (更衣 小夜 Kisaragi Saya) voiced by Mizuki Nana, finds herself involved with an organization rebeling against internet censorship that goes by the name of SIRRUT. With their assistance, Saya finds herself closer to locating the whereabouts of Fumito. The movie is honestly very straightforward from Point A to B, with few side quests or distractions along the way. Nothing complex. There is character interaction, don't get me wrong, but for a movie the overall plot did feel a bit rushed. If you're watching mainly for the animation, then this won't matter too much.

Animation (10): Once again, we are being treated a la Production I.G. If you're a serious anime fan or have followed their productions, you probably already know of their most famous works (ie: Ghost in the Shell).
Blood-C: The Last Dark had consistent, fluid animation from the intro to the final scene before the credits. The colors were vibrant, the cars were beautifully rendered, backgrounds were well-detailed, heck there was barely an idle person on screen in the train station who wasn't brought to life instead of being grayed out. Since most of the film took place in Tokyo, the art was very representational of the bustling city itself.

The characters, while still designed by CLAMP, were lovely and more proportional body wise this time around (for those put off by their signature art style). I LOVED Saya's eyes in the film. They gave her such a breath of realism and it really made her stand out among the others. The fight scenes weren't out of this world insane but maybe that's simply because Saya barely broke a sweat while bringing her foes to their demise.

There are moments where you might be on the edge of your seat, rooting for our main heroine to deliver the final blow. Kill 'em Saya! The blood was excessive, rightfully so given the name of the movie but in my opinion not as overdone as in the anime series.

Sound & Music (8): The soundtrack was composed by Naoki Sato (Eureka Seven and the recent Ruroni Kenshin film), complemented by the ending theme "Metro Baroque" by Mizuki Nana. The BGM never failed to deliver during action scenes or key points but none of the tracks stayed with me hours after the movie. The seiyuu cast was on point, with my personal favorite Kana Hanazawa as Hiro Tsukiyama (月山 比呂 Tsukiyama Hiro), definitely-not-out-of-place moe character (a.k.a. 13 year old hacker). Each represented their character types perfectly.

Final Impression: Blood-C: The Last Dark is a good movie to kick back and watch if you've got an hour to chill and don't want to fall asleep halfway through the middle of what you're watching. It won't always have you hanging on the edge of your seat in suspense but it will dazzle you with its gorgeous animation. For any fans of the Blood-C series, The Last Dark gives some answers but not complete closure. It may leave you with some sense of astonishment towards the end. Whether this alludes to another film or series, no one knows. For CLAMP fans, expect some cameos from their other works. I'll admit I was surprised at who showed up.

My overall rating for the film is a score of 8. I would recommend this to fans of the anime and people looking for a movie that is purely plot driven and not too heavily dependent on filler. And last but not least, it's a totally awesome watch with friends!

7.5/10.

The purpose of the movie I guess was basically to tie up plot points and what not, to wrap up the franchise, but honestly it really didn't. Just opened up a bunch more questions and confusion with too many technical term and explanations going on.

But the betrayals were done well. Some character portrayals were good but most of the supporting characters were really just a tree in the background; not much about them, they were just there to get the plot moving, and annoying at times.

Saya's character development in this is fairly minimal; she's regained control of her true self, the wish she made to ... Watanuki, but her true moment doesn't really shine until the near-ending of the series which was, truly sent me down into a spiral of emotions. Unfortunate, but the series wrapped up too well.

Fumito, our villain, also has a 180 degree personality change in this; it just seems like whatever he did to Saya in the anime just went to waste and that's just not significant anymore; his true goal was something completely different that really questions the purpose of the anime; nonetheless, this villain wrapped up his ending way too well and I honestly could've cried.

Characters aside, this opens up a whole plot hole as to whether xxxHoLiC exists on the same dimension as Blood-C because Saya is able to visit Watanuki's shop. Or perhaps Saya visits the shop through an inter-dimensional portal that is made only for Saya when she walks past the shop's gates... le sigh we will never know. Saya's wish and prices are never revealed even though this is what could've driven a huge part of her personal character development arc, but oh well. I'll just sigh and look past this.

It feels like this show's objective is to give its viewers that enchanting atmosphere in which one is all alone in this world yet among so many other people, giving us two very different pleasures at once: the pleasure of having a reposed mind you get when being alone and the pleasure of being amongst many many strangers in a digital, developed, familiar city. If you have never experienced this atmosphere, it is a shame; the anime that pops up at the top of my head concerning this atmosphere is Steins;Gate.

The proof that this atmosphere that I feel was deliberately created by the creators ... is the following. The movie has lines such as, "the digital age has come," or "computers are too hard for me; all I can do is email," and it incorporates those tech-savvy hacking scenes and backgrounds and buildings that give off those technological advanced feelings all the while creating a romantic relationship between two people, (which is not important to the plot, but perhaps the moral for youths of 2012 who are watching this), which is something that feels so antiquated, friendships between the main casts, a kind which many of us of the modern age probably can't relate to to some extent, and a school in which all the walls, windows, and the corners and edges of all the infrastructure feel so antiquated. The contrast and irony that we feel between this tech-savvy age and the left-behind, old, and yet beautiful elements of the characters and backgrounds is probably what makes us feel that atmosphere I first talked about. It is hard to put how this atmosphere is made into words.

The movie seems be trying to make a point on Japan's youths back in 2012, because the movie makes a couple outlandish mentions about youths and teenagers; not to mention, the main characters themselves are teenagers. The aforementioned atmosphere is, perhaps, similar to the state of youths of today: they find themselves in the middle of two completely different epochs: the old antiquated, dilapidated epoch, which Saya was living in the 12-episode-run and the new, metallic, tech-savvy epoch, which Saya is living in in this new movie. All the hacking and tech-savvy elements are perhaps incorporated into the movie for a reason; perhaps it's to get across the point that the youths, who are the future of Japan, must become very digitally-adept to get jobs and get a living when they grow up. Maybe the movie is telling them that this atmosphere is of them, themselves, and they must become like the main characters we see here, hacking, being good at computers, (though probably not to the point of being so adept that you are able to hack a government or company), and making love to become part of the future of Japan and have a happy life. Incorporating these tech-savvy elements may entice them to thinking being good at computers is cool, which would be to their own benefit in the future growing up in Japan. In my opinion, the idea that being good at programming is required for future youths may apply to many other people around the world, not just in Japan, as we see today: programming jobs are one of the jobs that are highest in demand in markets around the world and many other jobs are getting replaced by robots and unemployment is still quite high around the world.

There are also 2 or so more elements that I can list that indicate this movie wants to tell the japanese youths of 2012 something, but I can't write it down without writing spoilers

It is up to the viewers to decide on and interpret the many questions that remain even after this Blood-c movie. You are not given an explanation of everything you want, which is the origins of Saya. But perhaps this unsolved mystery helps in creating the show's atmosphere. It is probable that you are supposed to watch the show not in the perspective of Saya, but in the persective of Hiiragi Mana, because you end up feeling the same way that Hiiragi Mana says in her final line of the show, Hiiragi Mana is, I think, the first character to appear in the anime, and Hiiragi Mana, too, is left without an explanation for Saya's origin, just like us, by the end of the movie. Indeed, it feels like we are all watching Saya from the sidelines but never become herself, for she has become far too extraodinary and peculiar for us to relate to.

One of the many questions we had during the 12-episode-run is Fumito's motives, and it is explained, but not by words. Once you understand what his motive for this project was, you will understand why Fumito is blonde and even why the OP of the anime was half-french. I had to come back to this review and edit it to write this paragraph here, because it was actually after a few hours that I came to the realization that Fumito's motives were indeed explained.

Perhaps there is a moral to this movie after all; the last line of the movie leaves a heavy impression; and the moral is that maybe indeed Saya is among us and all of us are "Saya"s. We are all alone in this world, living, and killing those who love us.

I finally decided to sit and watch the movie blood c : the lat dark so i can experience the ending of this epic tragedy .
Story 7/10
Basically its the last chapter in the long journey of saya and the final fight with the main villain and the elder ones , it was rushed a lot tbh , i would preferred if it was 2 movies or even a mini season. Like the first season , this movie suffers from plot holes/conveniences which isnt that big of a problem.
Art and animation 9/10
They kept the same art style of the anime with some minor adjustment , but ... this movie shines in the animation department , it w2as a feast for the eyes, also they used a cg monster , but it was the good kind of cg .
Sound 6/10
They used the main ost from s1 just once which was a bit disappointing for me cuz i loved that track
Character6/10
Saya's design is superior to her anime version , but in term of personality she become cold and vengeful ,they introduced a bunch of new characters , but sadly they weren't that interesting for me. But the major problem i had with this movie is the main villain , when they revealed his true objective , it felt underwhelming and contradictory to his previous actions , it was such a letdown.
Enjoyement 7/10
Even though it had a lot of problems this movie was quite enjoyable especially cuz of the animation
Overall 7/10t
In the end ,this movie was an upgrade in the term of its animation t , but s1 had better story , that for sure