New Anime Series: Blood-C episode 1

Nothing is on TV. Tis a very sad thing for meeeeeeee. When the Sci-Fi move sucks so bad that even I don’t want to watch it…it’s really bad. I should just bite the bullet and rent Quarantine Two since our theaters are full of hate.

In other news my living room has turned into Pokemon Card center. Too bad the husband does not collect the Japanese version of the cards. Or maybe it is a good thing, so we didn’t go totally broke in Japan. XD Also rejoice that I can stop eating at McDonalds as the Pokemon toy/card promo is over. After all was said and done we got 10 of the 12 cards which is pretty good in my book. He seems happy anyway.

The first battle was of course Saya verses the cute puppy! Sorry for spoilers.

Rounding up the summer anime 2011 line-up (for me anyway) is Blood-C. C is for CLAMP. XD No probably not but that is what I think anyway. Spoilers for a different take on the Blood franchise.

Oh snap time to kick your butt!!

Summary: The opening sequence has some dramatic talk about souls and humans having one. Also the voice talks about how people’s personalities are determined, whether it is by birth or by upbringing. After an opening of fighting verses Happy Saya we return to the now. Saya is praying and trying to determine what her white light vision is all about. Her father arrives and she falls flat on the ground. Her father is really worried about her breaking her nose but also show concern about her light vision dream thing. She runs across the street to eat breakfast at her buddy Fumito’s café. She talks about being a burden to her father but Fumito tells her not to worry. After eating breakfast Saya walks to school and sings a song for about an hour about the air, trees, and cement. She is a very happy girl. She barely makes it to class in time and through her classmates Yuka, Nene, and Nono this is because she often stops to help old ladies cross the street and give directions to strangers and such. Even the teacher teases Saya about being late all the time. One classmate arrives late but is too mysterious to get in trouble. Later during gym class Saya is amazing. This makes her friends comment about her past and we learn that Saya’s mom died and bento boxes can fix all problems.

Serious business face mode!

After school the class president person Itsuki asks Saya out because he obviously likes her. Saya says she has to go home and help her father out with some temple stuff. She leaves but not looking at the mysterious boy Shinichiro. She goes home, occasionally looking around like she senses something. She returns home but dad is like dude there is an Old One around. He dramatically gives her her sword and off she goes to a big puddle near the house. There a statue like thingy comes to life and attacks. Being as it is made of rock the battle is slightly tough. During the battle the monster morphs into a Praying Mantis type deal which opens up some vulnerable spots. Saya gets kicked around a bit and even has her head almost popped off like a cherry. But after some quick maneuvering she is able to come out of the battle a winner and the monster a big bleeding mess. She returns home covered in blood and happy to see her father. It is on to the bath and to wonder what her vision is all about. THE END!

Can't slay stuff without breakfast XD

After the first episode the internet seems to be very divided on how they feel about Blood-C. While I have hated animes after just the first episode that was usually because the direction of the show was obvious. I could TELL it was going to be a horrible show full of huge boobies and men acting stupid. But with Blood-C I don’t know how anyone can tell the direction. I feel as if it could go two very different ways.

Err...super serious business?

But the die-hard fans of Blood franchise are not very impressed with the first episode. Not enough blood, too much CLAMP cuteness, and an overall feeling that this will be a light and fluffy version of a show about guts and death. Saya is too adorable, clumsy, and happy. Saya is supposed to be moody, depressing, and distant. And some people aren’t fond of CLAMP’s artist style.

See? There is danger!!

However I think these die-hard Blood fans can’t just think of CLAMP as Kobato and Card Captor Sakura. RG Veda had most of the world dead at the end of the final volume. X/1999 (despite not being finished) had a rather high body count and was fond of cutting off people’s heads. And while Tsubasa was in the middle of the CLAMP spectrum of pain and suffering (Card Captor Sakura being the least and RG Veda being the most) it still had the main characters....well that is a bit spoilerish. Let’s just say that not everyone ended up alive, existing, or happy at the end of the day. So to write off this show already is a bit extreme since CLAMP can go either way.

Smiles for all!!!

However even I was surprised that Saya was so happy. CLAMP is known for having moody characters. But thinking back most of them tended to be boys (Kamui being the poster boy) who needed someone to break them out of their shell. Most of the girls (especially if they are main characters) tend to be HAPPY. Like their family could be murdered in a drive by shooting and things still look bright and cheerful. The grass is beautiful, all animals are their friends, and people flock to them, worshiping the gentle nature of the heroine.

I swear I am a defender of justice!!!

Saya being clumsy in the temple and excellent at sports was a bit weird. I saw some commentators saying she was only a klutz in a temple because of her long robes. Which would explain why Saya didn’t trip down stairs, was able to make basket after basket, and was able to waste the rock monster pretty fast. So maybe she isn’t THAT bad…just the robe was holding her up.

This went on entirely too long.

The song on the way to school lasted about 2 minutes too long. It sounded like a 5 year old song. Oh look here is a ladybug. I see a flower. I crossed the street. My shoe lace came undone. I am going to have rice for lunch. Oh look another lady bug. END SONG. Yes folks. When you are episode 1 you need to stand out and capture an audience. Not bore us with your crazy happy songs. We got enough of the happy in other ways.

A winner indeed!!!

There seems to be a lot of boys for Saya to choose from. There is Fumito from across the street. But he is a longtime friend so he might be out of the running. There is Itsuki the class president. He seems rather obvious with his affection for Saya. My prediction for him is he will get turned into a monster thingy and Saya will take care of him. Or he is an enemy monster already and despite finding Saya cute wishes to nom her. And then there is Shinichiro the mysterious classmate. He said one line the entire episode and gave Saya one look. So congratulations Shinichiro you is in the running!!!

Just so super amazing!!!

The school friends seem to exist to remind us that Saya is an amazing person and should be praised for being so awesome. Yuka might be a voice of reason. However I had a hard time deciding if she was a she or a dude. The twins Nene and Nono could annoying very fast. But then they all acted like they didn’t even know Saya. This was done so Saya could say some important facts about her life for the audience but it did not flow well with me.

Saya skips home to help her dad with a festival or something. She is all smiles and rainbows but the second her dad says an Old One is here she switches to serious mode. OH there is Saya. She has returned! Time to don a sword and kick some ass.

Old ones? More like Ugly ones.

Not sure why on this version (which I can actually SEE and READ verses the one I watched last night) says…whatever that is but the internets are calling the Old Ones. This too is different from how the monsters were previously described but maybe for good reason. As this one looked like a statue come to life. But as I did not watch all of Blood + and I tend to only remember the people monsters maybe I am wrong.

Just give me the sword pops.

The battle was probably not what most people were expecting. I think due to the fact that the monster was mainly stone there was no as much blood as one would usually have in a sword fight. Also I thought the ceremony of giving Saya the sword was a bit dramatic. Homegirl needs to get that weapon at a moment’s notice. Also dad knew about the Old One and not here? She needs to be sensing these things the most, not being informed of them.

Getting Mami flashbacks here...

The battle itself wasn’t that bad. I think Saya is less supernatural then in previous versions. This was probably a low level Old One and she got her ass kicked a little. Actually I thought she was going to get her head cut off for a second. But that would make for a rather short anime yes? But Saya managed to walk away with no broken bones or massive bleedings. And her eyes were all glowly red so that is all that really matters. Put on the serious face and kill them baddies.

The smile comes later I promise. For now we get really angry and serious Saya.

After all was said and done Saya smiled to her father (who is probably not really her father) all covered in blood. A bit weird but I guess Saya is a happy little girl at the end of the day. Something about seeing a vision of light and that is our show. Not sure what the light thing has to do with anything but surely it shall be important.

So there you have it folks. Saya is a monster killer with a heart of gold and a smile on her face. All that in a CLAMP style package with tons of good looking characters. I love CLAMP despite the fact how many times they stab me in the face and leave me to die in the streets so I shall be sticking around for that factor alone. But I think CLAMP will pull through and soon there will be a large body count and a depressed Saya all over the place. Until then….ew I got to go to work?