Holy crap! When was the last time we saw such uncompromising villains? I mean, being monsters is one thing, but this was just something of a completely different level: once they determined Saya to be a threat, they actually wasted no minutes in not just going after her friends, but also outright murdering them, and actually succeeding. These guys are definitely something else. Saya may succeed every time in killing them and all, but every time they manage to take people with them. They’re terrific in actually posing a threat, rather than the usual villains we always see who are either morons, or fail to kill off the important characters due to them being important characters.
With this, I also understand the reasoning of the creators to make Saya’s friends this bland. They could have pulled extra background, like dead parents, or complex back-stories, but the whole point of the slice of life series was for Saya to live a normal life with the only thing special about it the small details, like happening to live next to a baker who sells exotic sweets. It indeed was all for build-up, because that same tension could now be cut by a knife during the aftermath of Nono’s death. The atmosphere during this was just terrific, as it progressed with the same slow pacing as it has ever had.
It’s definitely a different way of building up the cast compared to the other end of the extreme: No.6, which tries to stuff as much details into its characters as possible. Blood-C instead depends a lot on the things that aren’t said. They’re both very tricky to really do well. At the moment I’m convinced that No.6 is going to nail its attempt. As for Blood-C, I don’t want to say that yet, but that’s only because I remember what happened to Sengoku Basara. The thing however, is that Blood-C is so far much, much better in keeping up and building its atmosphere, compared to Sengoku Basara who just kept on building up and building up, only for a few really good episodes and an ending that disappointed.
For a long time, this is also why I don’t minded Nurarihyon no Mago’s strange turn in focusing more on Rikuo’s friends: they were just spending time together, having fun and nicely fleshing out their characters without actually developing. The big problem with that show however is that all this build-up never really paid off. It was just… there, getting in the way of just about everything else.
I don’t mind a really slow pacing, as long as it’s used consciously. Blood-C has kept showing that it is one of those series, albeit in an unorthodox way that definitely isn’t for everyone. Only now it has been hinting at background, which really shows that it’s planning to reveal its background at a very late stage. That can work too! There have been tons of great series that build up a ton of intrigue and ended up closing off wonderfully by wrapping everything up. This isn’t a manga adaptation, so the creators know full well how much time they have. The big question right now is who they’re going to use the movie in this. The point is that it will take a long time for that movie to arrive. It’s therefore crucial for this series to really have a good and satisfying climax at episode 13, or otherwise the wait will just be too long (like what happened with Eden of the East, for example).
Rating: *** (Awesome)
This was by far the best episode of Blood C, and you know why?
If it was Clamps intention all along to make the cast as annoying as possible and then get them killed in the most gruesome ways possible to bring extreme satisfaction, they have succeeded… I was literally cheering as the Nono sisters got slaughtered
But whats the deal with the stupid censors? It took away half of the fun… I want to see decapitated Nene NOW!
I feel like the mystery building around the teacher is a red herring and that she is actually going to help Saya. Where as i bet Fumito is evil…cause he is super creepy already.
also I pretty much agree with Frost in a less extreme way. Nene and Nono were easily the worst part about the show and Im kinda glad I wont have to deal with their simultaneous talking.
NO! Neno and Nono were awesome, though im a twin so I may be slightly byeist (spelling? I tried Googleing it to no avail).
And the dog FINALLY TALKS.
About damn time.
I didn’t like the first two episodes of this show. Should I give epi 3+ a try, given that fact?
@TomTom: At this point (ep. 6) Blood-C is nothing like the first two episodes. Episode 3 was not quite the transition, though (more like the hint about the transition to come). episodes 4-6 have been steadily building in intensity. I, personally recommend checking it out, but the ending, obviously has yet to be seen.
More generally, I agree with @Psgels. This show is building nicely. I didn’t mind the twins, but I respect what the show has done by taking such an extreme move, And I completely agree that the monsters are a major threat. Even if Saya manages to remain safe till the end, many people have already died, and will undoubtedly more will die before this is over.
The dog is the class president!!! No, I’m not sure, but I think they have the same seiyuu.
And, I think I’m the only who is glad that they censored the cutting scene, I didn’t even want to watch this episode full screen, it would be too disgusting…
But yeah, this episode it’s still slow for my taste
nooooo!
Nene & Nono was/were the best thing in the anime. why did they have to die. đ
now I wonder how they are going to cover this up since even bystanders have been killed and also in broad daylight. So I winder if the organization that saya’s father (or suppose to be) are going to clean up this mess. And the dog spoke but it didn’t give up anything as in information wise. . .All it did was affirming saya that it can speak. The building up was nice but I am dumb i can’t read between some lines like others so if there is too little information I pull my hair out. so far this series leaves more questions than answers and the answers are usually in the form of death. =P
@kurini: no, the dog is voiced by Jun Fukuyama.
The twins are dead.
Butchered, garrotted, flayed, squashed, disemboweled. DDEEEEAAD!!
No one deserves such and end, especially not cute twins!
I really want to commend the voice actress of Nene, her death scream was really well done…..
@xxxholic_wing: ahh… đ arg, if Jun Fukuyama is in blood-c, they better give him a good role! Well, I think the dog will be important…
Bloody amazing!
My thoughts so far (spoilers for at least one of two shows):
I think this is either a dream or a made up world/reality. Someone’s either trapped her in there to hold her back, or created the world to observe her. What the dog said made it seem even more possible. Sort of the way the world was like in The Big O.
This would explain why no attempt has been made to give any characters a history or purpose other than being her friends. And also why it’s so easy for aftermaths of the battles to be covered up, beyond just people being missing. It’ll be interesting to see if there are any repercussions from her fighting in broad daylight with witnesses this ep.
I think the show will end with her breaking free, and the movie will show the battle with whoever it was that created that world, or whoever created a need for the person to create that world.
uhh… no…
There is like a 2% chance of that being true. It is more likely that the people of the village made a covenant with the demons in which they provided them with a weapon of their own kind to protect them from demons that were harassing their village, but due to the village refusing to uphold their end of the bargain, the demons are taking matters into their own hands and are killing the villagers as punishment. Saya is the weapon that was given to the villagers and the villagers are using her to kill the demon attackers in order to postpone their inevitable demise.
It’s either that, or Saya was a demon that attacked the village and there was a covenant made with the other demons in which they would appease her and wipe her memories, etc, on certain conditions (possibly to give Saya back to them or something) And since those conditions were not met, the demons are trying to take Saya back with them by force/destroy the village. Also Saya’s teacher is probably a government agent; I’m calling it.
Also the guy at the cafe probably puts blood in the pastries that he feeds Saya in order to keep her from attacking other villagers. That’s probably why they are pinkish.
I don’t know…. All the talk about experiments about the root of personality lead me to think that it’s an experiment in which Saya agreed to be the guinea pig in. They washed her memories somehow (or cloned her? lol) and then, maybe along the lines of what Blue Bomber’s saying, they put her in either a strictly controlled environment or a fictional world. Maybe the monsters are parts of her psyche impacting the setting, if it’s the latter?
If it’s still a real place, though, the monsters throw me off a bit. Maybe the researchers are trying to figure out how much of Saya’s violence is instinctive, and are planting monsters? The covenant might be a trick on the part of the researchers, like only attack the townspeople here and we’ll make sure you don’t get disturbed. So many possibilities. Curse you, Clamp!
But um… I do agree with you about the cafe guy giving her blood in the food and coffee, and why he does it.
I just have to say that thank god that finally someone other than a nameless non important character died……. and that it was the twins. I hated them because they were so annoying
Those who keep saying they’re glad the twins died.
I WILL FIND YOU >:[
@WTF.
I’m here…
How is it that the morning after the battle, she flinched from a scrape on her leg but barely noticed the places where she had been STABBED?
Just saying.
But great episode. I hope to see it uncensored at some point. Even the love triangle was good đ
I think the dog is Tokizane (he is always here for her).
I think too, that Fumito is an evil.
The best episode đ
I’m glad that I persist in looking at this series
sorry for my bad english. I really like this blog for several years.
I…I. am like completely lost, and got so mad, i am in a WTF just happened moment, after seeing episode 6 ._. I like the possibilities of the covenant, but the characters and how they all “If something happens come talk to me” Its..like, its all a lie. e___e dude. either they’re all GOOD. or they’re all BAD. or SOMETHING IS ABNORMAL. this anime makes so much suspense and CONFUSION!
First of all I wanna thank you for alerting me blood has a new series thanks dude ^_^
Ok, I saw ep 6 and 7 and I am finding some things very redundant and not like blood + everything is too vague all I understand is that this is more interconnected with the movie
And yes I loved the reality of it the fear of people actually being threatened makes us understand that saya’s mission is problematic and painful. I actually cringed when some bystanders were killed!
but saya needs to get her game into action
I feel folks have been way too critical of the series because they wanted it to be fast paced like Blood +. The slowness IMO is necessary because everyone is obviously hiding behind a mask of “normalcy”. They had to show us that this “normalcy” we see, is, in fact, not normal at all. It’s Stepford-esque eeire.
It’s pretty obvious lots of people are in on what’s going on and everyone knows more than Saya.
As for town, I’m convinced that almost everyone there is at least partly, if not totally, an Elder Bairn. Fumito’s been drugging the town inhabitants with his food and either drawing on dormant genes or feeding them monster blood. The angst will come from Saya realizing that it’s the human part of their nature that causes them to act like monsters, which will make her promise impossible to fulfill.
Honestly, I like this series better than Blood +.