Blood-C (CLAMP x Production IG)

[Sinestra]

late to the party

well caught the first episode and wow there is no doubt in my mind that this is CLAMP no one can mistake those character designs. I actually dont know how i feel about it just yet. Its interesting and the character designs are different from Blood+ i like different but this one might take a min to warm up to. Not too much info from the first episode but it was enough to peek my interest.

[Kyouka]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2F-P...el_video_title

[Triple_R]

I very much liked the first episode, but I can see why someone wouldn't.

It feels very different from Blood+, and for fans of Blood+, that could be a negative.


This anime also reminds me of what I like to call "90s popcorn action movie". Stuff like 3 Ninjas, Mortal Kombat, pretty much anything that Hulk Hogan starred in.

It has that happy-go-lucky-even-though-this-is-serious-well-choreographed-action feel to it.

I kind of like it, but I can see where it would be disappointing for someone wanting a darker and/or more intense atmosphere and feel.


Still, I have to say that this really hit the sweet spot for me.

I found Saya very endearing and amusing in this. I especially liked her relationship with her father. It's been a long time since I've watched an anime where a teenaged lead has a good, onscreen relationship with his or her parents.

Saya's classmates are a fun and zany bunch, and even her teacher is. The art style is one that I really like too.

The action scene was pretty creative, and well-executed.


My only significant criticism right now is that Saya's character design seems a bit too "busy" for me. Just a bit too much going on between the glasses, the long pouffy twin-tails, the dark red/black student uniform and how its stylized a bit for Saya. Personally, I think Saya would look a bit better if she just had long, straight hair, not tied up.

But... that's pretty much it. I really enjoyed this first episode.

[creb]

Well, it's only one episode, and it's really dumb to condemn anything just from one episode, but so far, I personally don't see this being better than Blood+. Then again, I don't really understand why Blood was getting another rendition in the first place, as I thought the first one was pretty good (then again, I seem to be the only person on the planet that thought the first FMA was superior to Brotherhood, so I'm aware my opinions could be way out of touch). :/

Also, am I suppose to assume her clumsiness is just an act? Because she certainly stopped being clumsy when it came down to fighting.

For full disclosure, I generally find CLAMP shows to be disposable fluff, so I won't exactly be disappointed if this follows the same vein, but I was hoping it having the Blood name would mean it'd be different than a typical CLAMP show. I'll give it a few more episodes before making a final judgement though. In this day and age, any show that isn't about high school harems and panty flashing deserves a few episodes before passing judgement after all (hell, just not having that almost makes an anime instant watch status in my eyes). ;p

[Kanon]

Well, well, well, that sure was an unexciting first episode. And by unexciting, I mean boring. Everything feels so contrived, and I can't say CLAMP-ish since I'm not very familiar with CLAMP, but it's very.... that. The chara design is worse than I thought. Please, do not ever make them wear gym outfits again, it emphasizes their noodleness too much.

Saya is exactly as I feared she'd be. Her moe klutz personality is a huge turn-off. I hope she'll radically change once she awakens, but I doubt it. I thought I'd love the twins, especially after I saw them shake their little butts in the OP, but their way of speaking in chorus annoys me to no end. They're not twins, they're the same character copy/pasted. Lame. This episode really made me wish they'll later get rid of the school setting like they did in Blood+.

Now for the good stuff. The animation was good, the music was great. I liked Saya and her father's relationship. Red-eyed Saya looks cool in the OP. Hmm, that's about it.

[Friday]

OK!!!

A slow start to the series but it will pick up.
My impression of Saya.....not bad and I like her song, needs a hair cut & loose the glasses
The twins.....probaly a throw over from the last series but they are cute.

overall we just see how the series turn out, hopefully good

[Hooves]

A slow start for an anime. But hoping that it will pick up since we've been introduced to possibly all the characters, and got to see the action quite quickly with Saya (maybe they were rushing it because of the 12 episode limit?).

[Malkuth]

LOL@1stEP

Count me in as a C-Saya fan-boy when she works part-time at a maid cafe, since she covered all other of my requirements

But seriously, this was too shoujoish, and even worse too standard, animation, char-dev, designs, etc.

[Skyfall]

After finishing the first episode my most prevalent emotion that I felt through it would be: boredom. Sitting through the first half of the ep was a true chore, I felt like dropping it halfway through. Most of the scenes felt unnecessarily draggy and "empty", as if it was the time to save budget already. The result being tediously uneventful longish phases of Saya prancing through otherwise empty streets from different camera angles. It really felt like this first half of the ep existed with the purpose of dragging time out while spending as little budget as possible. Not really the best way to impress during a pilot episode.

The fight was reasonably ok, but hardly something I could care about either - I mean, it's a random stone statue at some backwater marsh. Sorry, Mr Statue, the one from Sacred Seven has you outclassed Choreography of the fight itself wasn't bad, but the part where the statue was waving Saya around like a rag doll by her neck did raise an eyebrow - her neck should have snapped five times over from that.

Overall ... not impressed. First part was dreadfully dull, and the fight in the second half seemed to lack purpose, aside from demonstrating that there is more to Saya than a helpless klutz with a daddy complex. Could it get better with time ? Possibly, but I don't think I will be around to find out - the job of a first episode, more so than any other, should be to serve as a hook for the series. If there was a hook, looks like it managed to miss me by a wide arc.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Skyfall

The result being tediously uneventful longish phases of Saya prancing through otherwise empty streets from different camera angles.

That scene seriously made me wonder if I was truly watching Blood-C and not some Mary Poppins anime adaptation, especially when she started singing. What the hell were they thinking?

[hanashi]

I guess I don't get all the criticism? I mean, it did have all the warning labels on the box. WARNING: CLAMP INSIDE.

This Saya makes a lot of sense to me. I mean, think about it. She was raised with a father that loves her and a mostly trauma-free childhood. I would disagree with that, but she obviously thinks of the whole slaying demons business as her duty, so I'll let that slide. (With a few trauma points thrown in because it seemed like the blood unsettled her a bit after she snapped out of her trance.) She actually reminds me a bit of Blood+'s Saya

Spoiler for Spoilers for Saya's backstory in Blood+:

when she was being raised by the original Joel. She was pretty sweet and innocent and very childlike. Before Diva killed everyone, of course. This Saya is less bratty, but I'm sure she has chores, responsibilities around the house/shrine, etc.

Whether or not you like her character...that's a matter of taste

Regarding the stone statues, I'm guessing they haven't fully woken, since the one she fought grew more nimble as the fight went along ad the one in the preview is pretty speedy. The demons in the OP and at the beginning of the ep are much more mobile. If I had to guess, they were sealed and something woke them up. That's my theory from the shots of the island in the lake. It looked like some of those guardian stones had been broken.

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Ugh.. I am gonna abstain from outright condemning it for now. But I haven't really liked Clamp's stuff in a while barring xxxholic ._. and I am more in it because it's Production IG. I just hope there's a catch somewhere because the first episode was downright boring even if it had hints of massive catch lurking right around.

[solomon]

Well you can actually dig or rag on clamp here since Ohkawa is writing it.

My opinion on the pilot, a big whatever so far.

Total by the numbers but decently made. Something tells me that I'll be able to call all the major plot points cause all the shit they're laying out I've seen like a zillion times before.

Shows like this don't really get interesting until the at least 1/3 of the way in. (hints at Saya's orgin story, what happened to her mom, whats with Mysterious Bishonen type A23B5 and so forth) So I'll wait and see what the buzz is and probably partake of it after it's run if it's really lauded or just does something out of the ordinary.

Only thing that really spoke to me is the OP, the song and footage are sexy on a stick. Even if I have no idea what half of the lyrics are.

(BTW Saya's teacher is HAWT!!)

[magnuskn]

What is the point of bringing out another Blood series so soon after the last one, especially since Blood+ was pretty damn good?

[bigdeath]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

What is the point of bringing out another Blood series so soon after the last one, especially since Blood+ was pretty damn good?

Errr..........make moar money?

[hanashi]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

What is the point of bringing out another Blood series so soon after the last one, especially since Blood+ was pretty damn good?

Meh, I look at it as just another variation on a theme, the same as most anime (or any entertainment medium). This is just a really specific theme. One thing that I sometimes run into when introducing people to anime is "How many mecha/magical girls/teenagers saving the world anime can you have?" What matters is the execution, and I'm enjoying this. If you came into this expecting X/1999 or Blood+ or Blood: the Last Vampire, I can see how you might be disappointed. But shoujo isn't my favorite genre, so I think having this kind of carnage in a shoujo-y feeling show is refreshing.

I do agree that the pace is disappointing. I don't mind it but a lot of the people who're drawn by the Blood name will. CLAMP's stories usually start slow and then kick you in the face, but with only 12 episodes, that was too much build-up. It's almost as though they wrote the story backwards, and then realized that they didn't have enough plot threads for the first episode. lol

[Fran~]

Clamp is so predictable in their designs but i dont know why i feel so much attraction to them.

I watched this because Clamp. I was trying to forget Blood+ while i was watching this new anime, because i don't want to compare them.

To me it was pure eye-candy and scenary pr0n...

[solomon]

Originally Posted by Fran~

Clamp is so predictable in their designs but i dont know why i feel so much attraction to them.

I watched this because Clamp. I was trying to forget Blood+ while i was watching this new anime, because i don't want to compare them.

To me it was pure eye-candy and scenary pr0n...

I sort of agree but it depends on how they're drawn. I didn't really care for clamp artwork until Chobits which had much fuller and 3d figures with presence. Thanks to the strong draftsman at IG, the designs really come to life.

I also like the more restrained eye to face proportions, X was overkill.

[Fran~]

I was speaking not only about art... Saya remembers me Sakura from CCS because her interaction with her father, the coffee guy and her friends. But when she took the sword, i thought in Arashi from X (i was hoping to see her taking the sword from her own body too ).

Originally Posted by solomon

I also like the more restrained eye to face proportions

I noticed that too!.

[Aeriven]

Seeing as Last Vampire is currently sitting in my to-do pile and I never cared to try BLOOD+, I'm walking into this with zero expectations. I gave it a shot because I'm a sucker for CLAMP's gorgeous artwork :3

Even so, the pacing does seem a bit odd. I didn't mind Saya's little song and synchronized steps on the walk to school, but the walk home did seem a tad unnecessary. Plus, did she and the statue really have to stare each other down that long??

Ah well, with only twelve episodes, they aren't going to have time to fart around with the story. I don't mind a few scenes of school life myself, but I certainly hope the action will go up a notch in future episodes.

Plus, I'm in love with the OP animation. Had to sig it the second I saw it.