So that was both an excellent ending an an excellent hook for the upcoming movie. The whole story of the village is wrapped up nicely, while the main villain is still alive and proving to be an awesome foe for a movie storyline.
And heck, I’ll say it: for me this was the most emotionally intense ending of the season. I mean, gore is one thing. Gore animated by Production IG is of a whole different level. This episode was incredibly disturbing in how this episode surpassed the previous episodes. Even when censored it was hard to watch, so imagine what the DVD version must look like. The animation and especially the choreography made it one heck of an intense ride.
My one complaint of this episode was that I still don’t get why the extras never suspected anything. I mean, I can understand that they all used this as a last resort: we’ve seen what the main bad guy can do: grant certain kinds of wishes. The main cast was lured in with their magical bells, but how were the extras prevented from just running away? Were they just not informed that their counterparts died by clever logistics?
Overall, I have a message for the ones who hate this show, and yet decided to keep watching it: this is a series that heavily relies on its atmosphere and suspense of disbelief. If this series manages to successfully suspend your disbelief, it will be able to build up an awesome horror atmosphere that never lets up. If this series doesn’t manage to suspend your disbelief though, you’re not going to get anything out of this series. It’s flawed storytelling in the sense that the creators made no back-up plan in the case that your suspense of disbelief was broken (which granted was rather easy), but bad storytelling? Nah, I disagree with that.
Especially after this episode explained the entire series. I love the ideas that the creators put into the overall plot. It had some often used Clamp tropes, but there was more than enough to set itself apart. The whole idea that the happy and simple minded Saya was just a creation of the main villain, and was what he wanted her to be is especially an idea that worked really well with me. Especially now that we got to see the real Saya. The entire series was an attempt to get her away from that persona of her.
I wouldn’t call it character development, but what I really like about this episode is how it gave the main side characters a totally different meaning. Saya’s “father” suddenly became someone who is the closest to who she really is, and Yuuka was a nice subversion of the high school girls you usually see in fiction who look way too old for their age.
There are also still plenty of mysteries left for the movie to solve, but what I’m particularly intrigued about is Saya’s background: this entire series teased us with such a false persona, and the movie will be a great chance to really get to know her, and find out why she can’t kill humans, or what makes her want to kill humans so badly.
There were things that this show did wrong, but here is the thing: this show took risks. Huge ones. And for that, I really appreciate it.
Rating: *** (Awesome)
Normally my tolerance-level for gore is pretty high, but the part were all the villagers were slaughtered was absolutley gruesome and disturbing. Especially when one Furukimono started to collect many people in a bag and then just MIX them ALIVE, omg…
I really like this series, i would rate it 8 out of 10 because of its exellent atmosphere, good fights and the gore.
Just the thought of the BD version of this episode with all of the censoring taken out is going to give me nightmares.
nightmare? I think I will have it tonight
still, the last boss battle is probably best fighting scene this season
So turns out they CAN do it when they want to… THIS is what all the Blood fans expected when Blood C was announced… As soon as the real Saya shows up, things change dramatically, for the better
Baffles me how anyone could think spending 11 episodes on a worthless plot would be better than a pure action series with the same caliber as this episode…
And since Saya is back and all the annoying characters are gone (twin getting her legs detached from her body was one of the high points of the show), it means the movie actually has a lot of potential, since it should be a lot more like the old Blood stuff
So yeah, probably the biggest waste of potential of the year, and the director should be punched repeatedly for thinking this would be a good idea
Assuming @gecd is talking about the fight with Tadeyoshi, I completely agree! That was one of the best fight animations I have seen in a while. Just great!
As to the impact of the gore and violence, “wow”. That’s just about all I can say. I was truly horrified, especially at one of the twins getting dismembered like that.
@ Joojoobees that twin getting split like that was one of the most horrific moments I have ever seen in any anime or show literally — though she kinda deserved it I cringed and felt somewhat sorry for her.
@Mikuru yeah that scene was pretty disturbing especially that the bunnies were pink in colour and were smiling the whole time O_O
I do still agree that the series had holes but after Episode 8 the real stuff begins and actually keep you hooked (did I mention I stayed up till 4 in the morning to watch this ^_^)
@psgels I don’t think the sweet Saya is all a farce as Tomofusa indicated but yeah her kick butt personality coming back was beautiful and it made Blood + Saya look stupid because though I like Blood + Saya I have to admit she does not engage in such extreme battles as the battle with Tadayoshi was one of the highlights of the series especially that phenomenal jump at the end ^_^
One of the best finales to a series really ^_^ I am looking forward to the movie
Ok, is it just me or *spoiler somewhat* does Fumito have a big, slightly demented attraction for Saya? The way he is kinda creepy lol
Yes, bad storytelling. Bad writing. Too much of an infodump. Waiting until the last episode to explain everything is always poorly done. Not only that, you don’t use exposition scene after exposition scene(BIG BAD REVEALS HIS MOTIVATION AT THE END AS USUAL, come on how cliche can you get). Had this been spread throughout the course of the show, it’d be better, but not at the very end.
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. How about Tadoyashi’s death scene? “Hey, here’s some sad music! Time to cry now!” SO FORCED. We were supposed to feel bad for him and Saya? And, god, he transformed into a furry! WHAT WAS THAT?
On a side note, I can’t say I understand why people were so disturbed by the violence, especially in the last episode. It was over-the-top, silly and gratuitous, and just plain ridiculous in the final episode. Besides, were you guys even able to see anything with the flashes of white everywhere? Now, Shigurui – there’s an anime that knows how to disturb you, without being gratuitous.
…….did they play a slow instrumental version of Saya’s song in the last scene?
I don’t even.
The gore fest is unbelievable. I got muscle cramps from cringing throughout. Its like the story’s universe folded up on itself.
SPOILER PARTS!!!
Seriously, the exit wound at the end really shocked me. The villain had it all planned out, salt to injury with his smug face, then telling her about the secret ingredient behind the guimuave. Sickening!
Wow. Just wow.
I’ve never seen a final episode that justified so much of the series to me. I have been nagging about every single episode so far and I hated it. Never really questioned myself why I even kept on watching it. It’s just something that drew me to this show. It must’ve been the atmosphere, somehow, even though the battles felt boring to me, the slice-of-life just cringe-worthy, and characterization (especially Saya) so bland and mundane… but with the final episode, it worked! Going to rewatch the series as soon as I find time and make myself sit through the tedious parts just to get to this amazing climax again.
Absolutely contrary Mormegil’s comment, I found Tadeyoshi’s death surprisingly emotional. I’d laugh if someone’d told me a day before I’d feel empathy for a character like Saya, but now… the whole scene left a very strange feeling upon me.
What the hell just happened?
This episode was insane.
Saya vs her dad had downright incredible animation.
The class president sacrificing himself tugged at the old heart strings.
The town massacre
What the…? The violence is so over the top that I wonder if the creators are trying to say something. Truly horrific stuff but damn if it didn’t leave an impression.
But with all this amazing action the moment that quite literally dropped my jaw was the single gunshot. Fucking masterful.
I already stated that I am tried of complaining about this show so I will just refrain from mentioning the bad points.
That fight between Saya and her father was excellent. And the gore was so silly that I laughed.
@AidanAK47
Try to find a longer series to hate next time, because you obviously don’t have anything better to do with your time than keep on watching what you think is a shitty anime.
fumito you can go FUCK yourself
The human blender in a bag was great, and the monster eating humans off its fingers was epic. Hey we even got to see some annoying school characters die again! I will buy this on DVD because I love gore, and when I saw all the deaths I smiled.
I’m surprised the Japanese censors didn’t just blur the entire episode and just have us listen to the finale.
*smug* I would just like to say that I was like 95% correct on what was happening.
Can’t wait for the dvd and the movie