BLOOD-C / First Impressions / OVA/Movie

「劇場版 ブラッドシー ザ ラスト ダーク」 (Gekijo-ban Buraddoshī za Rasuto daku )
“BLOOD-C: The Last Dark”

Having enjoyed Blood+, BLOOD-C was something I was admittedly looking forward to. With Production I.G. spearheading things as the animation studio and quite the cast to boot, things were looking quite bright. Sadly though, with flaws in execution readily apparent and a story that never really got off the ground until the very end, it never quite met those lofty expectations. At the same time however, I was still hopeful the movie would ultimately deliver on the promise and potential the series still held — especially considering the fact that the entire TV series was pretty much a set up for it. And well, having finally watched the movie the other day, I think it’s safe to say that The Last Dark definitely ends up fulfilling more of that potential than its prequel. At the same time though, it still possesses a multitude of flaws that ultimately bring down the overall experience.

Story-wise, what we get is pretty much a direct continuation from the TV series. Following her departure from Ukishima, Kisaragi Saya’s search for Fumito ultimately takes her to Tokyo. An encounter with an Old One ultimately leads her to SIRRUT — a rebel organization trying to fight the Juvenile Protection Ordinance and internet censorship. The organization is led by Mogari Kuroto, a descendant of the family that made the agreement with the Old Ones — and Fumito’s cousin. With his group — consisting of youth from various backgrounds — he’s managed to uncover information about human experiments run by an organization named Tower, which is led by Nanahara Fumito — the man that killed Kuroto’s family and left him wheelchair bound. With their interests the same, Saya joins with SIRRUT in their attempt to take down Fumito.

And well, that’s mostly what the movie’s story boils down to — Saya’s quest for vengeance. In many ways, it’s a pretty straight forward plot. Sadly though, the movie seems to take the straight forward nature of the plot a bit too literally, as virtually every element in the story felt like it was just there to allow Saya to fulfill that desire.

For instance, the revelation of Hiiragi Mana as a skilled hacker — notably one even more skilled than either Shu or Tsukiyama. After following Saya for a fair portion of the movie — which in and itself was somewhat odd, as normal people would not be attracted to someone wielding a katana and covered in blood — and seemingly not possessing any notable innate talents, she suddenly shows herself as possessing that one skill that would both let them escape the trap at Tsuki Private School and find Fumito’s main base of operations as well. In addition, it also seemed quite coincidental that Mana was both a student at Tsuki Private School and also possessed an extra uniform that fits Saya perfectly as well — although this could theoretically be explained by Fumito knowing about SIRRUT through Mogari. Either way, this brings me to SIRRUT itself, which was pretty much a kind of facade meant to lure Saya in the first place. None of the members had any chance originally of fulfilling their objective, and they were only allowed to do so because of the purpose it served — again to allow Saya to fulfill her desire.

I mean, the above things are bits open to interpretation and personal preference — but it just didn’t feel like the story ever really had anything going for it than a revenge story. Don’t get me wrong, I like series/movies that maintain their focus and try not to do too much as much as the next guy, but there were just too many aspects that just felt like they were inserted in for a particular, obvious purpose, rather than weaved in seamlessly to form a proper narrative.

Notably, the developments of the ending further added to my discontent, as it seems like the production team was clearly trying to keep the movie from eclipsing the two hour boundary. And it’s a pity, because the ending could have provided quite some enjoyment in the venue that BLOOD-C does best, which are the epic, gore filled fights. Alas, Fumito’s proxy not only gets taken out off screen, but the “final boss” too gets dispatched equally quickly — so quickly that it took barely half the time to kill it than to summon the monstrosity in the first place. They then top this off with Fumito killing himself with Saya’s sword — something which when combined with the revelation that he was doing all of this for her in the first place, would have held a lot more impact if it weren’t given only a short span from which to develop. Notably, it would have been much better had it not followed so quickly after the defeat of the Old One either, especially when such a short time eclipses that it’s still seen deteriorating in the background.

Ultimately though, not everything was negative. Admittedly, a vast majority of the post so far has been spent discussing the negatives — even more so than I ever anticipated I’d discuss — but there were definitely things done right here. The animation for one, was quite good (aside from a few instances of odd CGI clashes). The soundtrack by Satou Naoki added a great touch to the dark atmosphere of the series and served quite well in accenting the spectacular fight scenes — which for me, played quite a part in nullifying a fair amount of the discontent I mentioned previously. To top it off, Mizuki Nana does a superb job voicing Kisaragi Saya, which just further added to the enjoyment of Saya going about her slicing and dicing.

As such, BLOOD-C: The Last Dark ends up being quite the mixed bag — balancing a fair share of developmental flaws with a few notable aspects. Whether or not one considers this worth watching/enjoyable/good will depend a lot on your personal preference, but at the very least, I think I can speak for most people when I say that the movie was definitely an improvement over the original series. I suppose, for some, this doesn’t count for much — as I know there are a fair share of viewers out there that thoroughly disliked the original series — but at the very least, it does make it worth watching in my opinion, just to see how it all ends up. To that end, it’s interesting to note that Saya is indeed still alive… which makes me wonder if there may yet be more coming to the BLOOD-C franchise. It would be admittedly interesting if something new comes… but at the same time, I’ll probably be torn as to whether or not it would be the greatest of ideas. More Saya is always good in my mind, after all!

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「METRO BAROQUE」 by 水樹奈々 (Mizuki Nana)

54 Comments

  1. This movie was torture to watch.

    So many unanswered questions from the series and pretty much every single one of them takes a back seat to the drama around a bunch of new stereotypical generic characters we’re suddenly supposed to care about.

    And speaking of new characters… not a single one of them dies?! What the hell! Did they have a different team that wasn’t allowed to watch the anime work on this thing?

    qwert
    Reply

    1. Yeah I agree with you, it was a highly budgeted boring movie and the directing wth!? For example, this guy he has the upper hand because Saya can’t kill humans but then…. he chose to be a Chiropterans Elder sumthin(forgot what they were called) nice move there Mr. Ninjaman and this dude I thought Ultraman will come out of nowhere and help Saya! sadly he didn’t appeared.

      baseone
      Reply

    2. I actually like the movie heck I go even further and say I love the series! Yeah it has flaws but many of the themes actually makes sense. I wish they explore the Fumito and Saya connection – does anyone get the feeling that Fumito’s entire raison d’etre was a bit rush? Somehow I don’t buy their argument. That said, the fanservice was good – the whole cast seems so absurdly beautiful. Saya in particular has the body of a model.

      TQ

      KF
      Reply

      1. Clamp drew their main character like a model? What a surprise this is!

        Said no one ever.

        Also, what themes are you talking about? Pretty much no one in the show had any actual personality, and by the time the charade was revealed, most of them ended up looking like asshole. They basically tried to get us attached to characters that were very obviously 2-dimensional, then said “ha ha, we fooled you! Everything you’ve been watching up till this point was entirely pointless! Isn’t this so deep and complex? Of course it is, shut up!”

        Da5id
        Reply

      2. I like to read it as an intentional massive troll of the audience rather than as an attempt to make it seem “deep and complex”. I like my reading better because it makes the show seem brilliant instead of the horrible train wreck that it actually was.

        Beckett
        Reply

    4. I was so psyched to see the series and when It aired all I could think of was… wasted potential. So when the movie came along I so wanted to see Fumito die a horrible agonizing death for all that he has done and yet even that was taken away from us. The movie ended up being the same way the series was… wasted potential.

      The only really bright spot for me was the crossover of Watanuki from XXXholic.

      Karmafan
      Reply

    5. Blood-C will NEVER EVER IN ANY SHAPE OR FORM BE BETTER THAN BLOOD+. I knew from the moment i heard CLAMP would be working on this that it would turn into a pile of shit. Their art style is just weird and they can’t compose a conclusive story with a satisfactory ending if their life depended on it.

      Haseo
      Reply

  3. I wouldn’t label last dark as a terrible movie, I just feel that the first half was too slow paced and the ending too rushed which gave me an “empty” feeling after watching it….

    oliviaven
    Reply

    1. That sums it up for me too, I came away feeling only ambivalence. I would not say it was bad or good . . . in fact I can’t really say anything about it. It exists, I watched it, done.

      Sortedevaras
      Reply

  4. Show Spoiler ▼

    random viewer
    Reply

  5. I thought this movie was good.
    I never watched the show though so now I am working on doing the show.
    It’s not the same from “Blood +” But I do like this one as well.
    And I hope they have another series for this one too.
    And this one didn’t have too many hot guys though.
    But I gave it an 8 out of 10.

    misty17
    Reply

  9. Although i enjoyed the movie, i felt conflicted during the viewing experience. Okay so the whole reason why fumito set the stage to his plans with Saya is because he got obsessed with her, and upon learning about the curse that binds her to not feed on human beings, tried to do whatever he could to keep her alive and ultimately make her his. Okay got it, but it would have been nice to find out who put the curse on her, maybe learn about her past, maybe see the character developments go somewhere, maybe see extra layers within the character interactions rather than having Saya not see mana and the other for a whole year and a half (that made no sense), and maybe, just maybe, not try to redeem fumito’s character in the end by making it seem like his goal was a selfless goal justified by the murders he committed (at least that’s the small inkling i was getting as i watched the end, what with his self-sacrifice).

    That final scene between him and Saya kind of gave me the vibe that Saya had felt somewhat sad to see fumito die and that pissed me off a litte im not gonna lie. I kind of understand what the movie was trying to go for there with the whole Saya having lost everything and now that she had killed her last motivation in life, she has nothing but come on, to me it felt like a product of weak story-telling. I could go on and on about more things but overall the movie was still enjoyable and i would love to see more of this series to expand on its lore. I just wished the movie was longer to cover its flaws. And thats the other thing, it is rare to see an anime movie break the 2 hour barrier; I think animes need to start taking initiative and use as much runtime as they need to tell their story. A lot of times their stories can benefit from a little bit of extra runtime (the newest evangelion movie is a good example of that)and the same goes for hollywood films.

    sonicsenryaku
    Reply

    1. It’s not so much as feeling sorry for the devil … I think that Saya simply has arrived at a point of absolute despair – everything that she cares about is gone… She can’t even go back to SIRRUT anymore for fear of revealing the truth of Mana’s mother. I think the whole idea of this movie is to point out how totally alone Saya is.

      TQ

      KF
      Reply

  10. I agree on the movie being a mixed bag overall.

    On one hand, as mentioned, it felt like the pacing was back and forth, and some questions were answered only to make some new ones that don’t get answered. And what was the point of having Yuka survive the series when she doesn’t even really do anything meaningful in the movie, even having Saya kill her or something. Hell, she got what she wanted pretty much.

    On the other hand, also as mentioned, the visuals, soundtrack, and voice acting were quite good. And a couple twists were decent enough, and it does leave me curious on the future and whatnot.

    And on a more personal note, Saya was definitely ten times more sexy and gorgeous in the movie from the anime series (where she was more cutesy more of the time), lol.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

  12. I try and try but I cannot see this “Saya” as the “original” Saya… I hated the anime for many reasons and despite this movie being more darker I still prefer that Saya with short hair…

    vane
    Reply

  13. blood c the last dark is an improvement over the anime series……that means I came out from the movie with pretty much a giant “MEH” feel.
    The animation was good for the most part,music was great to listen,story was not as godawful bad compared to blood c but overall the movie is 2 hours long with slow pacing and very little substance to keep you entertained.
    The only good part of blood c were the awesome fight scenes,yet somehow this movie manages to screw up its only decent element by having very little of that. I expected Fumito to have an army of monsters to fight Saya but in the end,all he’s doing is sitting around and waiting for Saya to kill him cuz u know,he luvs Saya(wut)
    Back in 2011,I was actually glad Production I.G. was making a new entry into the blood franchise…..now all I want for the blood franchise is to just go away and die after sitting through the debacle that was blood c.
    F**K YOU Production I.G.
    F**K YOU CLAMP

    zeroomask
    Reply

  15. Being part of the minority that actually enjoyed the television series…I have to say I have a “Meh” feeling after watching this. Ok, so the animation quality was really good, I mean I can overlook the fact that Saya was being antisocial during most of the movie and I didn’t really care much for the other characters asides that little girl cause she can freaking type with her feet, its just that the major dissapointment I had was the final battle. I mean it went by too quickly and they had to make it full CG, I mean I’m pretty sure they had the ability to actually draw out the fumito monsters themselves but pretty much the entire ending was rushed, hell, I was pissed off at the ending because there was no closure for Saya and we all know she’s going to eventually die due to lack of a food source. While I too don’t think this is a waste and it does answer SOME of the questions, I would personally give this movie a 6.5 or 7. Everything up to Mana and Saya’s heart-to-heart at the infirmerary? (don’t care much for the spelling) was 10/10…after that it went spiraling downhill. In the end the movie should have been somewhat longer or at least…IDK, I don’t think they can make a season 2 cause there’s no one for Saya to fight and the Elder Ones are all dying out so…kind of mad they’re making us just assume what happens afterwards.

    marsh381
    Reply

  16. Count me in as another one who enjoyed the TV series. Closure is all I ask for in this movie and I got tht exactly. (I just want to see Saya cut Fumito down tht I’ll admit) Tht and we got some delicious yuri out of it XD

    My problem abt the movie is the ending part. It just felt…. too random. I was expecting a longer final boss battle. Tht and IMO SIRRUT members aside frm Mana needs more development. And they still doesn’t know the truth… But tht probably the best. Wouldn’t want Mana to found out tht Saya killed her father 😉

    PS Does any1 agree tht Tsuki-chan looks like kid frau Kojirou?
    PPS I can see the Juvenile Protection Ordinance and internet censorship becomes a reality considering our society nowadats…. Its a unsettling thought.

    d-LaN
    Reply

  17. This is one of the worst piece of shit anime movie I ever saw.

    95% spent with characters I didn’t know or care about, The only satisfying action scene was the one in the theater and even that was pretty average and the final boss made me laugh out loud at how fucking stupid it was. Not to mention they rehashed the betrayal aspect, answered nothing about anything, made fumito into some cliche it was all for love villain, turned that other girl who became governor good because they obviously didn’t know what else to do with her and reduced saya’s personality into the “silent, bad ass warrior girl”.

    The only redeeming feature was that we got to see watanuki but the only thing she went there for was the sword and of course we never learn who made the wish about her.

    I seriously can’t get over how shitty that was.

    Ananas
    Reply

  20. JUst saying I find it amusing that there’s so many haters for this series that they actually get mad/downvote those who actually say they enjoyed it, shesh, not everyone has the same tastes. Cause believe me, I’m pretty sure some of the stuff you guys watch I hate and you don’t see me being all childish about it.

    marsh381
    Reply

  22. The use of the hacker group was rather odd and honestly, I found them more annoying than anything. Fuji (nerd) and Matsu (idiot tough guy) just seemed like they were there for pointless slapstick. Tsuki-chan was cute (I was more enthralled by her using her feet and hands to type than I should’ve been) but just looked like she was there to fish in some HanaKana fans. Mana could’ve been bearable but just comes off as an idiot yuri-stalker in the first half and a very convenient plot hastener in the second half. The group probably could’ve been reduced to Mana, Yanagi, and Kuroto and that would’ve opened up like 40 minutes that could’ve went into better scenes. (Hell, you could remove Yanagi and Mana too. Just change the storyline to be more Saya-focused).

    There were a lot of themes that were introduced but because the story should’ve been Saya focused, they feel misplaced. Regulation of youth and the internet is a great premise; it just doesn’t belong here where it’s only used to explain why SIRRUT does what it does.

    Final battle was pretty pathetic. Evil CGI squidhead thing did nothing but shoot bats at Saya. Fumito just sort of kills himself and kisses Saya, basically giving himself a reward. That was….anti-climatic? It would’ve worked if their relationship had been built up more but we’re just sort of thrown the entirety of it in a matter of 30 seconds.

    I found it easy to get engrossed in the film but overall, it just suffers from a lot of issues. At the very least, it’s an improvement over the series, as many think.

    YourIdeas
    Reply

  23. Ya know Clamp’s not the only studio to make a bad series. What about all the series J.C. Staff made that didn’t stay true to the source material. Everybody ranted and raved about them. Besides I still trust clamp because we the audience can look back on their older shows (x/1999, magical knight reyearth, and angelic layer) and remember what made them great.

    Melissa
    Reply

  25. I just watched the movie and was filled with mixed feelings as well. I was not sure what to think about it right after. I had to gather all my thoughts in the first place.

    Let’s start with the anime, it was overall pretty bad and boring except of every piece of story at the very 3/4 of every episode during the battles. Almost every episode followed the same concept starting with school, talking, coffee, that snack, the battle and whatever comes afterwards. It comes to a point that I told my friends just to skip to the battle scenes until episode 7 or 8 I think. IMO it was pretty horrible to sum it up. But if you look at it as a whole, I think it was pretty awesome: I mean, we got trolled for like 11 episodes and got a fist right into our faces at episode 12. Isn’t it always awesome to get into a huge intrigue? It’s just … The main theme and story is pretty awesome, just the package around it was so horrible that it’s just disappointing.

    Well the ending of the anime got me really excited for the movie. And I had planned to read your post, Zephyr, right after. I just totally agree with your personal opinion and all those aspects. The soundtrack and animation was just awesome, Nana Mizukis performance was excellent but the whole plot was really bouncy and they rushed the best and most interesting part: The final meeting between Saya and Fumito. An final interpretation of mine is that the whole story pretty much is about immortality and envy. Fumito had everything and wanted to become an invincible being like Saya but why did he give up? Oh, man. I could think hours or days and find many other conclusions and interpretations. So many unanswered questions. Blood+ was just too good and Blood-C clearly fell into it’s shadows IMO.

    That’s my part. Just had to share my thoughts, thanks for reading!

    Templa
    Reply

  27. I just had an Idea. It may look weird but I hope they make this a prequel to blood the last vampire by making a sequel to Last Dark which preludes to Last Vampire since she’ll be wandering herself at the ending of this movie and since she doesn’t want to remember the “Kisaragi” thing which made her angry with the battle against one of fumihito’s guard (the ninja-like guy.) Let’s say she just wanted to be called Saya and forget about her supposedly last name.

    But I think they must rewrite some parts where the Saya in Blood+ lived with David’s grand father along with Diva so that it flows well. Well it’s just a thought I came up with like what Konami did with Castlevania: Lord of Shadows <—— (Off-topic but I was just citing an example) because anything is possible if the writer of this story will make it possible.

    Lilarcor
    Reply

  28. I thought anything would have been better than how the show ended. That last episode still stands out as one of the most ludicrous series endings of all time to me. Super Says who can defeat beasts that are so strong, the wmd wielding nations of the world had to make a secret people eating peace pact with them, gets taken out by a handgun bullet to the head fired from a moving helicopter… ridiculous. Somehow though the movie managed to be just as bad… Bravo

    shawn
    Reply

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