Blood+ – 04

Summary:
After arriving at the hospital with the Saya and the injured George, Kai feels so frustrated that he rushes out. Saya, of course, blames herself for what happened. From her conversation with David, we learn that Julia is on the medical staff of Red Shield. After Riku comes to the hospital, he and Saya set out to look for Kai. At that time, Kai is tracking down one of Forest’s friends, Reimi, at a bar. She goes out after getting a call from him, so Kai follows her. Saya, who is in the same neighborhood, starts to see a red haze and is able to hear everyone’s conversations. When the voices stop, she looks at the moon and hears some strange cries. Riku, Saya, and Kai’s friends arrive at the same bar where Kai just was, and find Mao also looking for him. She helps them search by taking Saya and Riku in her car. At that time, Kai has followed Reimi to a warehouse. He pulls out a gun, getting ready to enter, but he hears a scream from within. Inside, he finds Forest sucking Reimi dry. Forest sees him and lunges after dropping Reimi. Kai’s gunfire alerts Saya, who gets out of Mao’s car and starts running, eventually encountering Hagi in an alley. She asks for his help in saving Kai because she doesn’t want anyone else to get hurt. Hagi slits his mangled hand again, and this time Saya willingly drinks from it. Riku, who was chasing Saya, enters the alley in time to see her with blood on her lips. Hagi then takes her towards the warehouse, jumping from roof to roof. They arrive there just in time to save Kai, who is out of bullets. Hagi tackles the vampire and holds him off while Saya cuts herself to get the blood flowing into her sword. When Forest charges her, she swings and cuts off his arm, causing him to crystallize. With the battle over, Saya breaks down crying. As dawn approaches and the Red Shield guy is packing up the bodies, Kai tells Riku that he was still so powerless. David asks Hagi if he obeys Saya, but then gets a phone-call from Julia saying that George has been taken away by the US military.

Plenty of new information this week:
-Julia is part of Red Shield.
-Kai can handle a gun, but that’s useless against the Chiropterans.
-Riku can also hear the voices that Saya can.
-Saya now knows Hagi’s name.
-David now knows who Hagi is.
-Red Shield and the US military aren’t working together.

It’s great to see that George is still alive, though he gets no lines this episode. Instead, he gets taken by the US Military. I find it funny that animes often tend to villanize the US/military, and this is no exception. Anyway, there seems to be three factions now: Hagi, Saya, and her family & friends, Red Shield, and the US military. Hagi will probably continue helping Saya, while David and the Red Shield will continue to fight the Chiropterans. As for the military, I just hope that them kidnapping George doesn’t somehow lead to him becoming a vampire too. I’d hate to see him die, especially by Saya’s hands, though I guess it would make for good plot. As for Kai and Riku, the former seems to be bent on finding a way to be useful, to protect Saya, and the latter seems to have a latent ability to hear voices, similar to what we saw in Saya.
Next episode looks to have David going up against the military to get back George, and Kai wanting to go with him. It’s called 「暗い森の向こうへ」 (Beyond the Dark Forest), which I think is a rather fitting title since Forest is the name of the guy who turned into the vampire.