Years ago when it aired on Adult Swim, I had only seen bits and pieces of it. Unfortunately, what I had seen, was the very last episode. I never heard much about Blood+, but I decided I would give the show a chance and watch the entire thing from beginning to end. SO glad that I did.
Story:
10/10
Ok, yes, it's about vampires. But only to an extent. The actual 'vampires' are huge, ugly, monstrous, and about as far from human as you can get. With all the vampire craze going on at the moment, it was nice to see scary, in-humane blood-sucking beasts for a change. No sparkly crap here! With that out of the way, the story is about a high school girl with no memory of the previous year, has to get frequent blood transfusions, and can eat enough to sustain an army. She was adopted into a family with two foster brothers, Kai and Riku. Everything is going great until she notices a man playing the cello on the streets for a crowd. After getting a flash of her memory, encountering a mounstrous beast that tries to kill her, and meeting that mysterious cello player, her entire world changes.
This anime gives you clues and leaves you guessing until the very last episode. Never a dull moment.
Art:
8/10
Saya's hair pissed me off to no end. I HATE her hair. She is a beautiful girl with a butch cut. Haji had narrow, beady eyes that made him looked stoned throughout the anime. Other than that, the art and animation was flawless. The fight scenes were fantastic and no cencorship on the blood and gore, which was actually refreshing for a change. I mean, this show is about vampires, so there has to be blood and death. Yay for no cencorship!
Sound:
9/10
I tried watching the Japanese version first, but was frequently pissed off by the pronounciation of the American names. After the 10th episode, I reluctantly switched to the dub, and boy was I surprised. Good dubs are hard to find, and Blood+ has one of the best dubs out there. The voice actors matched the characters to a tee, and they even did the accents of the French and Russian characters. The only voice I had a problem with was Riku's. He was supposed to be about 13 and he sounded like a five year old.
Characters:
10/10
Saya: Saya is one of the only female leads that can kick butt and stand up for herself. She grows and matures throughout each episode and is willing to die to protect those who she loves. Even though she has to shoulder the burden of purifying the world of the Chiropterans, she remains strong.
Haji: Haji was a great main character, even though he rarely showed any form of emotion. He is devoted to Saya and has promised to follow her until the end. Not much to say about him, aside from that. He's cool, but that's about it.
Kai: Kai is one of my favorite characters in the show. He had the most character development and was actually useful from time to time. Loved him to death.
Enjoyment:
Action, history, vampires, fighting, blood, romance, angst, comedy. What more could you ask for in an anime? This show ROCKED and I'm proud to have it listed under my favorites.
