Yeah, this is horror, a genre that I’m a big fan of because of how well you can build up in this genre. It’s not just the fights that are amazing, but all of the quiet moments together quietly build up a very tight atmosphere. The more I watch this series, the more I’m beginning to think that Clamp intentionally made the slice of life scenes as empty as possible.
This episode, things are a bit different, though. For once the formula is broken up by having a fight in the first half, and second of all the second half starts as quiet and random as ever, but then slowly builds up a ghost story about the background of the village. Again, it’s not just a matter of randomly yelling “the village has monsters who eat people!” -it’s all about storytelling and that same atmosphere.
The big question for this series is really whether it was properly balanced. All this build-up is wonderful, but a bit pointless if there is to little time for the actual climax, which is by far the biggest pitfall of shows who take too much time building up. With this kind of story though, this series can really pull things off if it just keeps building up its atmosphere. The ending here is going to be a crucial one: last year I expected similar things out of Sengoku Basara II, but unfortunately the ending there was ultimately disappointing. The big difference for me at the moment however, is that Blood-C has made every episode worth watching so far. At this point I’m not watching the quiet scenes just to get through them and get to the action scenes, but instead they’re part of the overall atmosphere now. Without them the action scenes wouldn’t nearly have as much impact.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Saya didnt sing in this one so thats a huge improvement already! This episode was the best so far, or should I say, the least worst one, but the problem now is that the characters are already set as pointless and annoying and Im not sure if they can be redeemed… My point is, I dont give a damn if the whole village is killed, in fact Id probably cheer along
And will the damn dog talk already?
Wfrost agreed. . .especially that twin that came and interuppeted at a crucial moment. . .I mean were already halfway through the series, they could have revealed that thing they were *going* to reveal. Now Im just rooting for the villagers to be eaten except the father but since the father is voiced by a guy who has voiced so many memorable major characters that have been killed you know from the beginning hes doomed. Cant wait till next week to see the twin get eaten…hey maybe Saya will go crazy and start eating the annoying villagers herself!
That would be awesome.
Those twins had to go and throw up death flags during the episode. I can already see one of them dying in the others arms after being mauled by one of the monsters if they even survive that long.
Ok, I’m ranting a wee bit but……..
After pulling all those swordzilla moves shouldn’t you at least have some sore muscle? How many uniforms do you have anyway? At least the color is good….blood red and dead black are so you.
The schoolmates are like bad clamp zombies dug up from other clamp stories.
The quiet slice of boredom had a sliver of info passed off as a fairy tale. Wow, saw that coming.
Daddy priest and the cafe are so bland but even they stand out in the ghost town.
I am cheering for the monsters …..they at least are interesting and have something to say when they speak. Go forth and kick some human ass, they need to wake up and stop drinking the coffee.
I’d love to see this next episode;
“er…..father”
“…….”
“this sword?…..”
“……”
“where the sun don’t shine, please place it”
I really think Clamp can do better than this and I am sure the manga is. C’mon Clamp did you not get a script for this show?
Frost you really nailed the coffin on this one. I was really expecting better.
＠Psgels I just re read your review and I agree on one thing, The Atmosphere IS interesting. . .I think, the combination of the the suuuper slow pace *in a 12 episode series* combined with the fucktarded characters, and tired anime Cliches brings people’s rage onto the series, especially since its done by CLAMP who usually does really really good stuff. . .I mean Im a fking CLAMP Fanboy! What I see here is just like “Really Guys?” THEN I would have to wait for a movie in a years time?! total bs. One thing I dont get is how every episode has been worth watching. . .I watched ep 3, 4, 5 to see if I could care a little more and yeah I dont lol.
Anyway, at least someone likes this show.
I love how everyone always likes to complain about “stereotypes” when the average person in the real world is very much a stereotype. Look around you. Most people don’t display their depth for all the public to see. It’s frowned upon. Even most friendships never get past a very shallow cordial relationship of “hanging out”.
With that said, I do prefer stories where characters have more depth to them even if it’s not realistic to get to know the cast so well. You need to lower your standards accordingly for Blood C and realize it’s not dedicating episodes to people’s history. So you just aren’t going to get that depth immediately or at all.
Anime/movies/tv series though, have plenty of opportunities to show the depth of their characters to the viewers, without the other characters taking notice.
So.. I don’t see what your point is? They could have characters that appear stereotypical to everyone else, but actually have real depth. As it is in reality.
“At this point I’m not watching the quiet scenes just to get through them and get to the action scenes, but instead they’re part of the overall atmosphere now. Without them the action scenes wouldn’t nearly have as much impact.”
really love that you feel the same way as I do, amidst a large shower of hate for this show. I continue to appreciate the guts of the creators for abandoning the typical action-show pitfall of: directional creativity in first episode -> second episode full of dry plot/setting exposition via talking heads. I’m still shocked at how many people watch anime with the ‘I have to understand it to enjoy it’ mentality.
personally, I love that it refuses to explain so many aspects and that they are dedicated to making these episodes week after week with such contrasting scenes/moods. not only does it break the mold, but I feel engaged THROUGHOUT each episode.
It’s these risks that keep me coming back to anime as a worthwhile medium and source of enjoyment.
It’s episodes like this that remind me what Blood-C should’ve been from the very beginning instead of wasting time with slow and stupid slice-of-life in the beginning. Even if it’s on purpose and serves the plot – it’s still just slow and stupid slice-of-life.
“The more I watch this series, the more I’m beginning to think that Clamp intentionally made the slice of life scenes as empty as possible.”
Yeah, it seems they do. At least it hopefully also means that it will serve a purpose in the future because right now it’s still just empty and boring slice-of-life that’s setting an atmosphere, I agree with that, but not a very good one because if you look closely at it, it just reveals itself to be empty like you said. One shouldn’t aim for such a silly trick on purpose…
Also I really hate how this series still avoids its plot like a major secret that needs to be saved for the finale. It’s really all hints, vague comments and suspicions of the viewer with this series plot and that after five episodes. It’s one thing to make a secret of what’s going on but another to also not see an effort to reveal what’s going on. Saya is more or less at the mercy of the plot with her “light-thing” and she’s surrounded by a bunch of characters and monsters that seemingly don’t want to tell her the truth or (in the case of the monster) falsely assume Saya knows it.
Even if they were trying to make the scenes as lifeless as possible…isn’t that a bad idea in a way since then people are bored through them?
Also: I think that some of the slice of life parts kind of hint at certain things like when she was talking with her teacher & the way people keep telling her to not hide things like the cafe guy and her friend. At least if you want to believe something comes out of those scenes.
But still I can’t help but think that what happened in this episode probably could have been done at least one episode ago. Personally, I think we only need so much of the slice of life dull atmosphere to get the idea. I mean, I love slice of life, but even I found it dragging at times.
“For once the formula is broken up by having a fight in the first half, and second of all the second half starts as quiet and random as ever, but then slowly builds up a ghost story about the background of the village.”
Perhaps it’s just me getting pessimistic about this series since it’s disappoints me that much… but right now instead of talking about how the formula changed, I found myself asking whether there was such a thing as a “formula” to begin with or if it wasn’t simply just a bad kind of repetition. I mean, what is that formula exactly besides just a meaningless pattern? For example, would it have made a difference if an episode would’ve started with a fight in these “formulaic” episodes? Actually not, the plot would’ve been just the same in the end…
Well this was the first episode of this series to have me want to see the next episode right away, so I guess that’s a good sign…