First Impressions / Strike the Blood

「天使炎上篇IV」 (Tenshi Enjo Hen IV)
“Angel in Flames IV”

I didn’t get a chance to say this last week, but which each passing episode, Strike the Blood reminds me more and more of Toaru Majutsu no Index. This entire Angel Faux arc has an uncanny resemblance to the Angel Fall (coincidentally pronounced similarly) arc in particular, and Kojou’s propensity to crush misguided fools ends up quite similar to Touma’s falcon punch antics as well. Again, it’s not bad at all considering how much I loved watching the Index series, but it does make you wonder somewhat about the individual aspects one series does better than the other. And if there’s one thing I noticed, it’s that while Strike the Blood seems to have a more solid cast. It’s not necessarily a significant difference, but I just feel like this series does better in involving everyone in meaningful ways, and it does a spectacular job seamlessly integrating new cast additions.

Point in fact, La Folia was only officially introduced last episode, but it’s as if she was there all along. Both Vatler and Kirasaka were also merely introduced in the arc before to similar results, and I love how the cast continues to grow while not feeling like it’s going overboard. That said, I suppose when your newest addition is a Princess who does this, plays a part in this, wields this (reminds me of Zetsuen no Tempest), and helps you summon two headed dragons that eat dimensions, it’s not that hard to do. La Folia (or should I say, Foli-rin?) just knows how to make an introduction, and she’s making a jump to the top—both in terms of being my favorite heroine and in the Kojou sweepstakes. She’s not afraid to be aggressive, doesn’t hide under her royal title, doesn’t hesitate to get dirty when she needs to, and she has some darn awesome fashion sense too. It’s just sad that her hair and eye color aren’t things you exactly see in real life.

It’s a pity really… and by that I mean the fact that Stilts got last week’s episode to cover instead of this one. If there was one episode made for him, it would be this one, but alas. Can’t get em’ all—especially when you’re a crazy scientist trying to turn your daughter into an Angel and have her ascend above humanity against her will. I guess that’s why it’s just fitting that Kanase Kensei’s now being forced to work for Motoki and Co., and it looks like we’ll be seeing him again sooner rather than later.

Generally, it’s just another great culmination to what’s been a fairly exciting arc, and the “every four episodes gives you something epic” is a formula that reminds me quite a bit of Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo from earlier in the year. That one chugged out great episodes like clockwork, and it was a series I ended up loving to death when it was over. It reasons that Strike the Blood could end up similarly in terms of enjoyability—albeit of a more light-hearted variety—even though it looks like we won’t see what this “impending catastrophe/threat” is until next year.

According to the broadcast schedule, episode 13 is tentatively listed for next week, but only on one of the four networks that usually air it. As such, it’s possible that episode 13 come out officially until the next air date, which would be on the 10th of January. So if you don’t see a post by next Saturday night, then it is probably safe to assume that the next post won’t come out until the week of the 10th, when a majority of the broadcasts resume. So if we don’t meet again till next year, I’d just like to wish you guys a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. It can be said this episode was a kind of early Christmas gift though (see the Full Lengths below)… but if anything, keep an eye out for the Winter 2014 Preview (releasing between X-mas and New Years) and the RC AOTY post (around the 10th).

Full-length images: 02, 15, 18, 27.

 

Preview

54 Comments

    1. Well, a lot of the curb stomping came as a result of Kojou dealing with Kanase. Doesn’t look like any of the others could’ve dealt with her (and neither could Kojou before his new familiar came into play).

      That said, it looks like a lot of the arc was about maneuvering in such a way to take them down all at once, ensure Kensei stayed alive to be captured and be put to use in the future, so Natsuki can get the political ammunition she needed to take down Maguscraft, and so they don’t go starting some kind of international incident with Aldegyr.

      Zephyr
      Reply

  3. I swear Kojou is one of the luckiest guys I have seen in anime >.>
    Not only does he has all these girls fighting over him but they are all quite powerful ^_^
    But I loved his new familiar. A twin headed dragon with a badass name, the dimension eater so epic XD but even though these arcs are just a few episodes this anime has yet to disappoint me.

    VsAllGaming
    Reply

    1. Take into consideration that Mercury with all the power it has it´s not the number 1 Familliar, just try to imagine how powerful Kojou´s strongest Familliar is. No wonder all the entire world is afraid of Kaleid Blood.

      haseo0408
      Reply

  9. I have a question. Did anyone else get a “Zelda’s Lullaby” vibe from the music that started during this scene? I don’t have a great ear for music, but it immediately struck me as I heard it and I’m trying to verify if I’m deaf or not.

    shifobrains
    Reply

  10. The only difference between Strike Blood and the Toaru franchise is the romantic relationships for Toaru lean more on the comedy and cute feels while Strike Blood does the same, but makes it sexier and is not afraid to show it, if that makes sense lol.

    Personally I love to compare them, but Toaru has Index and Railgun, both with their own memorable cast of characters while Strike Blood doesn’t seem to have as big of a cast of memorable characters. Maybe in its source material, but not in the anime…yet.

    Misaka’s face would be red with embarrassment at the thought of doing something like this with Touma

    Index would be chomping all on Touma’s head in this situation

    Magoiichi
    Reply

    1. While I agree that misaka is one of the best anime character made, index is pretty far from it as well as borderline annoying.

      Also if your gonna compare, you should compare them based on how far they are. And I can honestly say that the first 12 episodes of to aru didn’t really give as much character impression to make me like anyone yet (hell, mikoto was just barely known and hardly did much in that arc to be memoral).
      Its only after repeated appearances that they become memorable, unlike here where the characters are just fresh yet get ingrained in our minds already as zephyr said.

      amado
      Reply

  14. To jrj:
    1)Did the LN ever elaborate on how Kanon was connected to the destruction of the monastery where she grew up?

    2)How does Lafolia know so much about Kojou, the Familiars and Avrora? Is she connected to the great backstory you speak of?

    3)Will Lafolia play a major role in future story arcs?

    zztop
    Reply

    1. Hope these helps 🙂
      1. that is a spoiler for vol.6 material and also possibly to an even bigger plot point, so I am going to refrain from saying much. Right now the only thing I can say is that she just happened to live there while the incident happened.

      2. It’s been a while since I last read vol.3, so I am a little rusted here, but as far as I remember, she only knew so much as the legend being told (most powerful people tend to know a bit about the mighty and legendary forth progenitor)…

      3. well, Zephyr’s preview cap already suggests that you will see her, so she will reappear, but I can’t guarantee how major her role is at this point.

      jrj
      Reply

      3. I’d like to ask some questions, if you don’t mind.

        1.Why do some familiars need more than one blood partner? And why is Yukina gets her blood
        suck again. I thought it’ll be only one girl per familiar

        2.Will we see Kojou kiss Sayaka and maybe Kanon in the future?

        4.Will Kojou and Kanon be closer? What kind of relationship will those two have?

        5.Can you share some thoughts about the next arc? Some hints?

        Vaans
        Reply

      4. not at all… so here are what I know from reading the LN:
        1. the exact mechanics of awaking a familiar isn’t explicitly stated, so here is the speculation part, different familiar have different “personality”, in other words, different taste for blood, so while some are satisfied with just high powered blood from one person, others may require more just because they are more picky (for that matter, it doesn’t even have to be a girl’s blood… but no one wants to see Kojo stick his “fang” into a guy, right? no, don’t hit me, vatler fan) On the other hand, I don’t know who started the perception that it has to be a new blood every time… Kojo only said that familiars won’t listen to him because he didn’t suck blood for them… plus where would he find so many 12 different girls with high spiritual power? this guy is not Touma…

        As to the next arc, I already said in my own comment, the keyword right now are Natsuki, Asagi, and cosplay… maybe I will add another one, that is festival. I definitely think it is one of the more interesting arc. Unfortunately I won’t be able to answer your other questions since they are either spoilers or you will find out soon…

        Happy holidays!

        jrj
        Reply

  17. It’s a pity really… and by that I mean the fact that Stilts got last week’s episode to cover instead of this one. If there was one episode made for him, it would be this one

    No truer words have been spoken before.

    Serapita
    Reply

  18. another solid finish 🙂 I like how in this arc, Kojo had to suck blood from two girls to get a new familiar haha… plus blood from the same girl can be used multiple times as offerings to awake new familiars, so unfortunately for us, no 12 girls in Kojo’s harem (at least not yet)

    La Folia is sure hawt, but she is so devious… Kojo is sure to yell his misfortune given 4 girls witnessed that act haha… I don’t envy him one bit there lol

    I must be watching the series from a different source, there seems to be a special program that is a recap episode, and I didn’t see the regular preview after that… interesting indeed… but from the screen cap of the preview, we are heading into the next arc, which will be somewhat different from the previous arcs in several ways. At this point all I can say is that Natsuki fans, Asagi fans, and fans who like cosplays might really like the arc (not to say others won’t, cause this arc is AWESOME!)

    jrj
    Reply

  19. “…you’re not going to hit me?”

    The priest mage dude or whatever he is could smell a familiar scent from Kojou. Perhaps he was punched by a a certain imagine-breaking guy before.

    Index/Blood cross-over pls pls pls

    Waffles
    Reply

  20. Best first 8 minutes of an episode ever, at least for this series. W00t

    https://randomc.net/image/Strike%20the%20Blood/Strike%20the%20Blood%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2011.jpg
    La Folia: Don’t stop, you must continue.
    Yukina: O///O!!! D, don’t look! Ahh!!! Sempai! Don’t! The Princess’s watching… Ah~~~

    Dialogue taken straight out of a saucy manga. 😀

    And LOL at Kojou’s reaction at realizing he might have xxxx with Yukina in his sleep:
    WTFFFF!!!!
    https://randomc.net/image/Strike%20the%20Blood/Strike%20the%20Blood%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2013.jpg

    Still, La Folia managed to steal a lot of attention, in many ways…
    https://randomc.net/image/Strike%20the%20Blood/Strike%20the%20Blood%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
    https://randomc.net/image/Strike%20the%20Blood/Strike%20the%20Blood%20-%2012%20-%20Large%2005.jpg

    And finally, Nagisa has the potential to be a great troll, judging by how excited she looked just by watching all the girls fight over her brother. Touma at least was a single child.

    echykr
    Reply

  21. Erm, mods, care to unlock my post above, please?

    I don’t know whether it’s because I put one too many links (all of them happen to be internal, linking right back to the screenshots here in RC) that triggered your spam filter.

    echykr
    Reply

  28. Please, could you guys help me? PLEASE!! There is a song on the episode 13 ( Check here: watch?v=y0rS53cOets) at the minute 19:27 before Yumma kisses Kojou, there is a song playing, very relaxing and calmly, coud you tell me the name of that song? Can’t find it on the Original Soundtrack.. PLEASE!! I love that song!! ( TT^TT )

    Barney The Dinosaur
    Reply

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