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「ふくからに」 (Fuku kara ni)
“By Its Breath”
I don’t know if CLAMP was anticipating the sight of the Motoe twins inexplicably alive again to be a series-defining moment, but it sure didn’t come off as one after they went ahead and killed one of the few remaining characters in the opening parts of the episode. When I saw Shinichirou rush up the stairs and get killed by the female Elder Bairn (Satou Rina) in a matter of seconds, I was left thinking, “Wow, really? Him too?” I more or less stopped caring about everything that happened afterward, because it really felt like the support cast was only here to be killed off for some easy shock value. After seeing just about everyone die one after another in the past four episodes, I’ve become completely desensitized to it all. Shinichirou was the last straw. I thought if he could show his “worth” in the series now that everyone but him and Itsuki are dead, then there’s a chance Blood-C could redeem itself in some way. When he showed up out of nowhere just to die, I almost lost it in complete disbelief.
It was little reconciliation to learn in the preview that he’s probably still alive as well, because even if it turns out that all of Saya’s friends are actually Elder Bairns (or were reborn as Elder Bairns), their deaths still come off as a very cheap plot device to build suspense. To put it bluntly, I really don’t care if they live or die now because they’re already dead to me. Actually, I take that back, I’d be happier to learn that they are Elder Bairns so that Saya gets to hack them up like a psychopath. After all, they’ve been dicking around with both her and us all this time and it only seems appropriate for Saya to be driven to insanity. The Elder Bairns also keep talking about the “contract” like she’s supposed to remember when they know she’s not her former self, so I’ll completely understand if Saya ends up killing everyone. I will gladly take the “bad end” option when I’ve become so detached from the characters. If Itsuki is killed in the remaining episodes, I’ll make a point of laughing about it even if he truly is a victim in this twisted village.
I wouldn’t say Blood-C is on the verge of driving me insane, but it sure does wear on me when it keeps beating around the bush with the same stuff over and over again. Even now, they haven’t completely spelled out how the coffee and guimauve that Fumito has been feeding Saya is soaked in blood, but they’re okay with making it more apparent for anyone who hasn’t caught on by now. All the rhetorical questions the dog poses don’t help either, except maybe the idea that he was asked by Saya’s original self, who wanted someone to make sure that this so-called “experiment” is being carried out properly since she’ll have no recollection of it. In connection, this is first time that it’s been revealed that Saya did receive blood transfusions of some kind, and that we’re given a better glimpse of the Saya before her. If anything was truly a surprise, it would be that Kanako might actually be on Saya’s side, given how she slowly helped her realize that everything’s she’s been led to believe is a lie. I’m not even going to speculate on what’s coming up, but I will take the fan-service since that can always be appreciated at face value. 😛
Preview
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If this is a farce than Tokizane better not be dead. He’s the only character (aside from Watanuki-dog) I like in this anime.
The one I feel for is Mizushima. He’s a good director and he has to bear the shame of directing a series I suspect he had very little control over. You can practically hear him cringe if you read the interviews – he makes it pretty clear he was just following orders with this one.
well dude it’s clamp and you only watch clamp if you want mind rape…
Or anorexic characters 😛
Man watching this reminds why I drop just about every CLAMP anime I ever tried watching.
You know what instead of dicking around in the BLOOD universe, why don’t you ladies FINISH WHAT YOU STARTED!!!! I’m starting to feel like this story is turning into a surrogate for X. Which is WAY better then the cheap plot divines they’re using for most of the show. It’s only know we get to the last 1/4 of this series we see some development.
…. continues decade long CLAMP rant …..
But seriously I’m hoping they finish this properly, but they could have done this in a 5 part OVA and told the same story. O_______o
I love CLAMP for there mind rape plots but this feels so forced.
*plot device ^_^U
But yes I’m a CLAMP fan and have been disappointed sadly. T-T
i’ll watch just to see what happens next. im not expecting to squeeze any excitement from it.
sure there’s a lot of blood, but they’re milking it for show and its getting old. i’m not saying blood c is a terrible anime, it actually gives me something to look forward to every week. i’m kind of contradicting myself out here, but hey let’s admit it, blood c is interesting to watch, just not that exciting.
Dunno about you guys, but the death toll of this show has went way past the shock value, and is now unintentionally hilarious. Not a good sign really. At least we’re at the point where we get some information dump. Hopefully.
On the plus side, I really did like the Elder Bairn this episode. If there’s one thing I like about this series, its the monsters and the fight scenes.
This show is hilarious. The staff member who insisted they dropped “subtle hints” throughout the first episodes which will make the audience want to watch the series again once it’s over is also hilarious.
Hoping Saya hacks off the cast next episode, particularly the twins…
With this episode the show officially cross the line from “terrible” to “terribly awesome”. Its just so incredibly stupid, but very, very funny.
I do hope the twins and Tsutsutori do some more molesting of Saya. That would make watching it completely worthwhile.
BTW, prepare yourself for a non-ending, since this has a movie too!
Oh yeah, and about the Guimauve, lets not kid ourselves here. A major plot point in this show is BLOOD SOAKED MARSHMALLOWS.
Bestest anime.
I didn’t care if anyone gets killed anymore after that riot at school. It was pretty much expected by now. Kill all the characters (and the people who came with the slow phased storyline) for all I care! But Saya proving to have some sort of mental issues (or whatever caused the dead or alive twins to appear) was kind of interesting.
But the most interesting thing about Blood-C is – What the hell are the staff thinking?! It’s actually more interesting than the story itself!
I HAVE FELT IT! Why no emergency and military intervention? Why only one class is present at school? All this was so fishy. Someone is messing with Saya’s head just to test her “humanity”. And the experiment probably doesnt involve any real killing – either those are Saya’s dreams – remember how after each battle she wakes in her room? Or some VR.
Im with you on that one
But it would suck if no one actually died…
This show sorta…. Train wrecked. I liked it more when it was slow, with the mysteries slowly being uncovered. Then senseless murdering of the support cast? I don’t know if it’s the whiplash I got from the breakneck speed change in focus and quality of the show but my head hurts…. The deaths aren’t cool or justified, just slaughter. I guess it’s more realistic(realistic?) since q deamon would just “eat your heart out” and not allow for a cool one liner. Then these one second discoveries lead to a huge discovery? Too messy. I can’t justify the massacre that has left me hollow inside haha. Well it’s ok I guess.
No no no. The show is waaaaaay better now. Before it was boring and stupid. Now its stupid and hilarious.
The best Blood-Comedy of the season.
Shinichirou’s death came a bit too cheap. If I was the writer, I would let him show up and get killed while trying to protect Saya (not that Saya needed help, but he might THINK that Saya needed help). That will definitely make his death more…. “valuable”, if you will.
Anyways, I think it’s clear what is going on now. Saya and Tadayoshi are both Elder Bairns or perhaps more accurately “vampires” who needs to feed on blood to survive. Saya does this by drinking Fumito’s coffee and eating his guimauve. Tadayoshi’s need for blood is satisfied by Fumito. Fumito’s wound, however, seem to suggest that perhaps he is human (the wound caused by Tadayoshi’s need to feed on him… but Elder Bairns don’t seem to feed on each other, evident by the fact that no Elder Bairns so far tried to eat Saya). This has KuroxFai all over it.
I disagree with Divine’s prediction that Kanako is good. I think she is the bad one here. Assuming she is human, then she practically got all the students in her class killed by letting them go to class on that particular day. That’s bad enough by my book. Tadayoshi and Fumito seem fairly neutral to me. They may have lied to Saya about certain things then cover things up, but this might have been what she always wanted before she lost her memory. The dog is also doing something similar to Kanako, but I am not sure if they are aligned.
But the factions are clear. Kanako wants Saya to know the truth, Tadayoshi and Fumito don’t. Then there is the dog who wants Saya to “remember”. I think what might happen at the end is that Kanako and Tadayoshi and Fumito all discovered to be “bad”, and Saya kills all three of them :3
Tokizane’s death to me was done in such distaste. I mean Saya told him about the Elder Bairns and just stands there and let’s him self get killed? I thought he was the bad-boy of the class and someone who would perhaps protect himself at least a little. Even the class-rep put up a bit of a fight and lived. I knew when he ran up the steps calling out Saya’s name that he was dead meat. But, you know, I thought Saya had control over the red eyes thing in the first few episodes, however, it seems that she only takes the fights seriously after seeing one of her friends die.
However, I am sure of one thing, Tadayoshi is definitely not human, judging by Fumito’s wound. And the coffee and guimauve are definitely laced with blood, most probably Fumito’s. But, I can’t help wondering… was Fumito the person that Saya deal with?
I will watch this series till it’s end to see what sort of ending CLAMP composed for BLOOD-C… hopefully there will be one. The worst thing that could happen is if they gave it the dreaded opened ending.
I never thought; however, that I could feel so let down by CLAMP as I am now. I think I feel worst than when I read the ‘so-called’ ending of the xXxHolic manga.
Though the last episode of this series has not aired yet, I would have to say that BlOOD-C is the poorest installment of the BLOOD series.
Don’t know what to think of this series anymore. Tokizane’s death was incredibly out of place for me.
Hopefully, the last two episodes are massive informational mindfucks. Either way, I can’t see myself watching this series over again.
Just a side note, if the Motoe twins admiring Saya had a hidden meaning, it meant they wanted to rape Saya, apparently.
I am wondering if the Tokizane that showed up was even the real one. In the end of Episode 10, Nono & Nene talking about that Saya knows it’s the real them. Looking back at the first couple of episodes, Tokizane was always so cold and distance, It looks like to me, after the aftermath in episode 9 that he hasn’t been the same since. He did mention he was in the school and what was up with just class B being there. Why wasn’t the other class there? His [Tokizane] personality even though we really haven’t seen him that much since his death, was very overly worried, and not his original character. To prove this is most certainly Nono & Nene, On a different note, I also wonder if there are any more correlations with XXXHolic:
Nono & Nene = Maru & Moro [They look like this due to limiter.]
Dog = Watanuki [He is in this form due to the limiter, which he discusses in Episode 7.]
I seriously want the last 2 episodes to give some kind of mind-fuck or even mind-rape, but PLEASE don’t reveal even more crossovers with other clamp works. If watanuki is the dog, that is already pushing the limit. If turns out beastslars is right about nene and nono… I will curse clamp.
As much as I want to like blood-c, I literally face palm when shinichirou gets killed too. Like wtf, saya needs to get at least control of her own fucking power. I face palm even more when she slashes that thing in a split second. Idiot.
Crossing fingers they would at least give satisfying explanation at the end of the anime, instead of saving it for the movie. Which I don’t think will generate high ticket sales anyway :/
hmmm there eyes where like the the old saya (blood+)
Show Spoiler ▼
Not that there is much proof for it… but its currently so random that everything is possible!
Well I think the deaths for the many characters make sense in a realistic way, look! Imagine you were one of the characters there’s really no way to escape death.
tbh i was extremely shocked when tokizane was killed off too, practically all the characters i enjoyed (and who befriended saya) are dead by now. saya is really a …. ‘unique’ heroine, she actually doesn’t really save anyone who is important to her. sure, it is something different (and i may just not be used to it) but it kinda ticks me off when almost all of the cast get killed :/ as mentioned above, it just seems like the cast was there to be killed off brutally, it is not even as development for saya (she barely shows emotion, maybe she is way too shocked about it, but the next day she is singing again?? uh…)
What’s the difference between marshmallows and guimauve?
Guimauves have blood in them. Approach with caution.
Guimauve is just a fancy name for marshmallows.the japs are huge fan of the european culture, the french culture in particular, hence the name.
Really this episode would have been much better had tokizane not died. His death served no purpose as the preview for next episode shows him alive he could have very easily just shown up without having died. The moment I saw his feet running up the stairs I was like “oh so he dies too” and laughed about it.
His death was very poorly done but I am still very much enjoying this show. Other than Nichijou this is my favorite show of the season.
Saya needs to fight seriously with her hair down more often…uber sexy, lol.
Though, as I keep saying, CLAMP is usually one that makes anime/manga that tend to be for the more patient type of viewer and keeps them waiting to see what happens before utterly mind-screwing them with some big plot twists while a lot of the more subtle hints tend to be missed out on.
These days, with series’ being 11-13 episodes a lot of the time, people expect things to be a lot more fast-paced (depending on titles), so when faced with something that takes its time developing (especially with these kinds of titles), especially if it’s a shorter series length, it’s just something they’re not used to.
I don’t even know what to say anymore!!! What’s with Tokizane’s death scene? He was my favourite character, he could have at LEAST died properly (like protecting Saya or something).
I’m posting here just to say that I’m utterly baffled this show has gotten 30+ comments (as of the time I post this).
:-/
There’s only one good thing about this show- the amount of fun everyone has HATING IT.
My goodness, there’s so much senseless slaughter in this series that I can only sigh at it at this point. Even seeing our loverboy Shinichirou get munched on like a Reese cup didn’t do anything for me.
I mean, seriously; even Saya, being the overly sensitive goody two-shoes she is right now, barely reacts to seeing her supposed friends dying left and right.
I feel as though I’m reliving watching the end of Gundam Zeta where near everyone and their grandma died. I’m all for some character death if it’s portrayed properly, but this is just taking it too far and has irreparably damaged Blood-C’s emotional impact. Honestly I doubt I’d care even if every last character we have left ended up dying.
Damn it man… bringing up such… hated memories….
D**N YOU ZETA!!! #@!$ YOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!!!!
With all the blood and gore Saya’s seen It baffles me that at one moment she’s crying hysterically and then in the next scene “LALALALA THE WEATHER IS SO GOOD TODAY”. *slap* this girl hasn’t done anything in this series except be a dolt. I hope she does go postal and kill everybody in this series. =|
I second your opinion. . .
I third that opinion
4th. It’s like she doesn’t really care that the guy who loved her is dead.
Troll series better be trollin’ cuz that’s a tall order.
dat PTSD man… she makes Shinji Ikari look like a badass.
All I wanted was for ONE of the about to be massacred cast to say on their knees with one hand grabbing out as if to some imaginary legendary hero was “FOOOOOOOX……. DIE!!!(echo echo)” in fact to be honest it seems in this show that you can “catch” death. As if it were the flu. Think about it. As they came in contact with one another they contracted death. And the only cure is some mentally unstable happy go lucky vampire beast stricken with amnesia that is half decent with a sword…. Life’s a b*tch eh?
This makes me yearn for the days of Clamp’s Cardcaptor Sakura; I like Clamp’s other works but this is just terrible and iredeemable at this point. I fear for Clamp steering their future works in this direction.
INCEPTION.
So, am I the only person here who really likes Blood-C? I recognize it’s not perfect (and yes, the xxxholic crossover elements are silly and annoying), but it’s still has some of the most stylish and visually engaging action scenes of the season, and Saya’s bifurcated nature is actually given a convincing in-plot explanation, rather than just being your standard we-can’t-characterize-our-way-out-a-paper-bag writing failure that I assumed it was at the start of the series.
I, too, was surprised by Shin’ichirou’s death, but it wasn’t a final straw. If he were to stay dead, it would be curious plot hole (as it’s been clear since episode nine that he’s in on the conspiracy), but with resurrection of whatever it is possible, now it’s just a intriguing question: Why did the group decide this would be a good time for Saya to witness Shin’ichirou’s death? Why do they need Saya filled with rage toward the Elder Bairns, a rage too strong to question? What is everyone getting out of this? And what is Kanako not getting that makes her want to upend the scenario?
Reading this review makes me want to watch Blood C just to see if its as bad (and funny) as it looks
no pain no gain~
they aren;t nono and nene… and if they are it meens that clamp changed their hairstyles or reversed them (by mystake or not)
oh CLAMP. They are always a hit or miss for me. BLOOD-C was a miss after 5 episodes. Maybe if I read a review that it finally turned itself around I will start again(Tsubasa bored me at first, then heard it had a major plot turn and got good), but as of now I’m done. I hate to compare, but maybe they should have taken some creative direction from BLOOD+. Although knowing CLAMP, Saya may be one of those baby twins grown up for all we know.
eps 11 is out now. you never saw this coming…..
Show Spoiler ▼