The Story: This is not a usual story for an anime and is actually pretty dark. The basis of the plot is along the lines of the age old theory of Nature vs. Nurture. In the case of this anime, it explores deeply this concept and the psych of a person when their seemly normal life is shattered over and over. A lot of this is hidden behind happiness and well placed foreshadowing that can easily be missed. It really begs the question of what would happen to a person when all that they are is stripped and all that is left is false memories and people? Also a lot of death. A LOT.
Art: Nothing major really. The animation flows well and the fight scenes are well done. Not the best animation I've seen but hey it's not even close the the worse or even the average. It's just like any other Clamp animation and I am okay with that.
Sound: The voice acting (I mostly watched dubbed) was well done. The voices matched the characters even if Saya at times was annoying. I'm pretty sure this was on purpose though to showcase the major changes that Saya is experiencing at the time and if you watch the movie it will be more obvious (I was surprised by the difference in tone since the same voice actor was used in both the series and movie). The music blends well with the rest of the anime and though not earth shattering it did not cause awkward moments due to ill-placed timing. The sound effect were spot on as well.
Characters: There is not much to say about the characters as they are not explored in-depth really. The only real character that gets development is Saya. She must explore deeply into who she is and question everything that she knows. All the 'main' characters show little development for the purpose of the twist near the end. They appear as normal students and have little sway in the story but that is also on purpose. The only character that needs to have any impact really is Saya and there is a lot to her character if you look. And yes even I found her annoying at times but really how can she not when she is constantly under influence and kept clueless. Oh, and all the extras are creepily disregard as 'human' and treated as livestock basically.
Enjoyment: I was scared to watch this anime for a long time because of all the bad things I have heard. I actually saw the movie first and enjoyed it then bought both on sale. I think I might enjoy this because of the fact that I was a Psychology major. All the human conflict and motives intrigued me. I have followed the Blood franchise for a long time and each new series had a different take on Saya. I sort of felt a connection between this series and some of the others. The uniform in the memories (and the beginning of the movie) is close to the original and a sense that Saya has been around for a long time but has been involved in both Japan and America also hints to the original plot.
Overall: I would not write this anime off easily. It's actually pretty deep and really dark and disturbing. It made me think hard. I also watched the movie which brought back the 'real' Saya after her experiences in the series. I would recommend both but caution to not bunch it together with all the other Blood series because it is different. This story explores more of a mental battle while still providing killing of the usual 'monsters'. The movie is actually closer to the old Blood series well still focusing on how the events in the series is now effecting Saya as she seeks revenge.
