If you are still with me here, allow me to backtrack a little bit. Blood C is part of the Blood franchise, being preceeded by Blood: The Last Vampire and Blood + and suceeded by Blood: The Last Dark. Now, I have not watched either of the two first ones. From a story perspective it does not matter too much, since there is no direct continuity, however you might hear from many that both Blood: The Last Vampire and Blood + are vastly superior, and I do want to watch those either to verify the veracity of these claims. Forgive my digression, let's continue.
[Story: 5/10] The anime follows Kisaragi Saya, a seemingly normal schoogirl, a tad clumsy, somewhat awkward and oblivious to what is going on around her at times, but a cute, friendly person nevertheless. Of course that's not all there is to her, after all I am not reviewing Moe here, so of course she is a badass who slays demons, or Elder Bairns (Furukimono), as the anime refers to them. As the story progresses we learn more about Saya, the demons and the relationship between everything, since not everything is what it seems. The story however, takes its sweet bloody time actually going anywhere, and spends the first 5 or so episodes meandering about, taking a somewhat „monster of the week“-esque approach to its story-telling, which for a 12 episode series is just ridiculous. Which is a shame, because the story is not even that bad, but Blood C shoots itself in the foot by not fucking telling it for almost half of the show. What we get instead are fight scenes (which are the best part of the show) that end in very slightly increasingly ominous ways. The final act a.k.a the last two episodes, then proceeds to show us the characters' true motivations and backgrounds. Like, all of them, including the main bad guy. And the ending, while not bad, forces whomever wants to get some actual fucking closure, to watch the sequel movie. If the show had a more even build-up to its story, it might have been a lot better, but as it is anyone is forgiven for dumping Blood C into a dumpster after the abortion that are the first episodes.
[Characters: 5/10] There is no way around this, so I'll be brutally honest, the characters are shit. Except for Saya, and the main baddy, whose name I cannot reveal so as not to spoil the twist at the end, there is no character-development, no one I could empathize with, no motivation that seemed believable... in short nothing positive. The twins are annoying, not cute, not adorable, just annoying and the rest of the gang never escapes the clichés we have all seen before. They don't contribute in the slightest to the story until the very end, so they are of no real importance besides being cannon-fodder. Now, Saya is done fairly well, so is the main baddy, but even there, since the story does not conclude until the end of the subsequent movie, their arcs don't conclude either, which might leave those of you, who don't feel like watching the movie (although, you might as well, if you've come as far, as the last episode) a bit disappointed. I have to be a bit lenient, since the story was not meant to finish there, and the movie does conclude them fairly well, but again, I have to be critical of the characters, who similarly to the story, don't change, don't evolve, until the final act of the anime, with the only arguable exception being Saya.
[Art: 6/10] The art and animation are, for the most part good, if unexceptional. The character designs are nothing to write home about, except for the Furukimono, which do look quite nice. Saya's design is cool, no complaints there. The animation does of course stand out gloriously during the glorious fight scenes, which is also where the violence does its merry dance under the spotlight, which is nice. There are a couple of scenes, where the proportions of the characters are jarringly strange, which really caught my eye, but thankfully that is not frequently the case. Overall, the aesthetics are a bit bland, but nothing criminally bad.
[Sound: 7/10] The sound was good, everything from the characters' voices to the music is solid with some standouts, like the OP and the main theme. The sound does its job, the music emphasizes the action, smoothes the calm moments, all when needed. Even Saya's little cheery song, which she sings constantly, is cute, and when the story starts showing its tragic side, the song becomes more dissonant adding to her development. The characters' voices add to their personalities and development, but none of them stand out in any way. I have nothing to really complain about here.
[Personal Enjoyment: 7/10] As I mentioned in the introductory sentence, I did not watch the show expecting it to be the next Ergo Proxy, I did not expect to be utterly blown away. I wanted blood and gore and a schoolgirl killing stuff with a Katana, which is exactly what I got. I do have a soft-spot for that type of stuff, and if that is what you are looking for, if all you want is some action, that does not require your full mental capacities to follow, you might wanna check out Blood C, and by extension the sequel movie and previous installments. Expect nothing more though, as you will leave disappointed if you do. Also, watch an uncensored version, because otherwise you will be watching a white or black screen for much of the exiting bits, which is annoying, and as I said, if you cannot handle violence, you should not be watching this anime in the first place, since it is incredibly bloody and gory.
So, all in all, I was not disappointed. I was annoyed at the first episodes, at the characters and some other minor stuff, which might seem to contradict what I said just now, but I really was not disappointed; I got what I wanted, nothing more, not too much less. The show could definetly have been executed a lot better, if it paced itself more competently, but I do not mourn over it, like some fans of the franchise might. I don't regret watching it, Saya is a badass, whom I enjoyed as a character, some of the music I still listen to at times and I have something to recommend to all those who want some bloody, fun, action and badassery.
[6/10]
