BLOOD-C / First Impressions

「めぐりあひて」 (Meguriaihite)
“Meeting By Chance”

Well it sure looked like the “dog” was going to talk to Saya this time around, so maybe my hunch last time wasn’t too far-fetched after all. Even without the “dog” talking, the unsettling feeling that’s take hold of the small town is starting to show promise. Saya’s visions seem to be causing her some distress, and it’s pretty clear now that somebody is cleaning up the bloody messes she leaves behind at night. Plus, the suspicions I had about Kanako in episode three may be more valid than even I believed at the time. Based on her ghost story that’s obviously meant to be more truth than fiction, my guess is that select adults know all about the Elder Bairns and the attempts to reach an understanding with them in the past. The question is whether this contract is actually between the entire village and the Elder Bairns, and entails something twisted, such as how they’re allowed to feast on certain villagers at night. Some people are obviously in the know, whereas the guys with catching nets last time clearly weren’t.

As for Saya herself, I still get the feeling that she’s half human/half Elder Bairn. The creepy big eyeball demon (Kawasumi Ayako) that she fought with could have killed her several times over, yet chose not to each and every time. It was almost as if it was testing Saya and perceived her as one of them instead of food. It’s probably only a matter of time before Saya comes across the truth about both herself and her town, but I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that both her father and Fumito know all about it and are purposely keeping her in the dark. At the same time, they need Saya’s powers to keep the Elder Bairns in check, so they continue sending her out at night while showering her with affection during the day so that she doesn’t lose herself and go on a rampage. The idea behind this is Fumito’s monologue, which talked about replacing hatred with an equally powerful emotion. Deep-down inside, Saya probably knows the truth, hence why she collapsed when bit and pieces of it started coming back to her in a jumbled mess.

Of course, this all merely speculation on my part, but the fact that the story is finally dropping enough hints to make me to do so is a good sign. Even Yuuka had me reading heavily into things when she told Saya, “That’s what I’m here for.” Be that as it may, I still can’t help but wonder how much more better Blood-C would’ve been it got to this point two episodes earlier, instead of digging itself in a rut and trying to turn things around now. The next episode looks like things are going to be blown wide open with the Elder Bairns attacking during the day too, which should get all the other characters involved. If Nene was any indication, that should be more than enough to break from the usual formula. Hopefully Shinichirou will surprise us as well. My expectations are pretty low at this point, so any glimpses of story development will be much appreciated.

* Note: MBS and TBS won’t be airing Blood-C next week because of the Bon Festival. It looks like Chiba TV will be the first station to air because of this, with episode six slated for Wednesday, August 17th (one day before MBS/TBS because they were a week behind to begin with).
* Full-length shot of Saya here.

 

Preview

47 Comments

  2. Do you hear that everyone? The PLOT has arrived! *plays Beethoven’s Ode to Joy*

    You know I ragged on the show’s slice of life moments, but this is the first time it actually worked. I had a sneaking suspicion that one of the twins had tripped over a Death Flag, but I didn’t expect a monster to appear suddenly and try to kill her in broad daylight. I actually jumped at that scene.

    Also, Fumito is even creepier in this episode. He’s definitely being set up as an antagonist.

    fragb85
    Reply

    2. Having one of the twins killed had also been running behind my head since the beginning.. the moment she was alone, I knew something could go wrong.. a bit predictable for me actually..

      But YAY! The story.. It’s moving! It’s moving! 😀

      MrRei
      Reply

  4. Culture Question
    Are honorifics so important that someone would use them even in an emergency situation, like yelling Saya when she collapsed instead of Saya-san/chan/etc. (leading Saya to think he likes her or something)?

    Bass.EXE
    Reply

    1. I was wondering the same thing…

      Saya also mentioned something about Tokizane and her father being the only ones to call her by just her name. It may be my imagination, but I feel like Yuuka called her “Saya” before. :T
      Well, it’s not that big of a deal anyway ^^;;

      Shiawase
      Reply

    2. I think when you’re accustomed to calling someone something, it should extend to emergencies as well. In Shinichirou’s case, the fact that he called Saya by her first name was the more glaring difference, suggesting that he normally thinks of her in a closer and/or more intimate way.

      Divine
      Reply

  5. damn i think next episode a lot of things will be revealed since there will be chaos with the elder bairns attacking in broad daylight when everybody can see Saya going ape shit on them

    Deviluke
    Reply

  6. also i think the deal is that the elder bairns will only eat people from the village like born in the village not visitors instead of eating people in the whole country of Japan but in return no one can leave the village maybe someone that was born there made it out of the village and thats why they broke the covenant

    Deviluke
    Reply

  7. @Divine, whew….I thought you already drop this show. Many thanks for continuing blogging this.

    Back in ep4 I made a comment about whether “something about the peaceful nature of the town that has yet to be revealed — something that is sinister e.g. like an organization that is actually feeding the demons, purposely setting people to be feasted by them.” I guess I can safely say that there is indeed such an organization that exist.

    Also regarding the picture in which Saya thought something is wrong, I think that Show Spoiler ▼

    Ghostalker
    Reply

  8. This was a great episode. The shit is finally hitting the fan. Things should really take off now. I just hope they didn’t lose too many viewers getting to this point. The same thing happened with Shiki in that the 1st 5 episodes were as exciting as watching paint dry. Then the story took off and was great. The problem is shiki was a 2 cour series and this is only a one cour.

    Karmafan
    Reply

    1. I am already losing hope around ep16/17 that the humans have no chance of fighting back when Dr.Ozaki was finally beaten. But then in the festival, I marvel on that scene when the Doctor able to pull-off that amazing stunt that made the people realize the existence of the Shikis, something they have been speculating about for months but on denial that they actually might be existing.

      Ghostalker
      Reply

  11. “At the same time, they need Saya’s powers to keep the Elder Bairns in check, so they continue sending her out at night while showering her with affection during the day so that she lose herself and go on a rampage”

    Just pointing something minor out.

    Koroshiya
    Reply

  12. The most shocking revelation this episode is that Nene and Nono don’t actually have identical personalities. Shocking!

    You know, if you averaged Itsuka Tenma no Kuro Usagi and Blood-C together, you’d end up with one, fairly well paced vampire show.

    Fencedude
    Reply

  15. I got hella scared when I saw the huge eyeball and that blue lobster near the end. And the scene when saya punched through the eyeball is pretty hardcore.
    How come there is no episode next week!? Just when shit is getting started!!

    kgfj
    Reply

  17. So is it just me or does it appear that Saya seems to be having flash backs from that time period shown by the movie ‘the last vampire’?

    It seems to me that this is where her headachs are coming from and so i suspect she will find out what she is soon (and how old she is) soon enough.

    Elegant
    Reply

  23. Next up: Saya is finally run over by a truck.

    The Audience can now cheer. Cuz there will finally be a plot-driving mystery:

    “Why the f*** was there a truck in this lonely town?”

    Zero
    Reply

  24. I was falling asleep around 5 minutes in, but it finally got good towards the end. I also was NOT expecting an eye ball to be the thing attacking her, so it freaked me out a little bit.

    Can’t wait to see more of Shinichirou~ I hope they do more with his character.

    Yuumei
    Reply

  25. Shinchirou was so fast in catching Saya, and he called her name without an honorific. Well, he could be the Haji character… we’ll see. But man, I really want to see next weeks episode (postponed until Wednesday) because cliff hangers are a b#*@h!

    Maximum Dusk
    Reply

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