Now that I've seen it, I just have to start by saying that I'm not going to be bringing up Blood+ for comparison purposes except for maybe when I talk about the character of Saya. The two anime are completely different so there's really not much to be gained by the comparison. Now, a lot of the big plot details are spoilers so I won't explicate on it too much. The basic setup is that Kisaragi Saya is a shrine maiden who lives in a small town with her father and fights monsters at night. But there's a secret that she only has vague inklings of. That's as far as I can go without giving spoilers. I will say that the horror label in this is code for "it has monsters" since the anime isn't scary in the least. There are things that the anime does well. The mystery surrounding everything is interesting and, once you learn the truth, the concept behind it is interesting. However, the execution is flawed in that the hints are pretty minimal and the reveal comes at the end when it's too late to do much with it. Another basic problem is that Blood-C lacks impact. A lot of the events that occur should be tragic but they aren't because there's not much reflection on them and a lot of them are rushed through.
The characters are a bit lackluster. The only really interesting characters are Saya and, arguably, the antagonist. The rest of the characters do and say very little aside from some exposition. I will say that I did like Blood-C's Saya better than the Blood+ version since she's more determined and a lot less angsty.
You can tell that Clamp was involved with this from the art. The characters have limbs that are too long for their bodies and tiny waists that shouldn't be able to hold all of their organs. I will say that it looks better than the art in Xxxholic. It's actually pretty decent if you can get past the proportions. The action sequences are really well done, even if the amount of blood that ignores the laws of physics to gush out of wounds is ridiculous. The monsters are pretty hit and miss. Some of them do look pretty interesting, but others just look silly.
The voice acting is actually really well done. They had a great cast including Mizuki Nana (who is always excellent), Asano Masumi and Fujiwara Kenji. The music is good sometimes but others it's pretty underwhelming.
The yuri factor is a 4/10. There are some scenes involving Saya and her teacher or some of her female classmates that are pretty homo-erotic. They don't go anywhere though.
My final rating for Blood-C is a 6/10. Like Blood+ it's okay. There are some things it does well and others where it falls short. Saya is a good character and there are some interesting ideas but the execution falls short and it really ends up being more of an action anime than anything else. If you're expecting it to be like Blood+, don't. But give it a try if you enjoy bloody battle sequences or if you're curious about the mystery.
