Writer: Joe D’Ambrosia, Tom Teves
Director: Junichi Fujisaku, Michael Hack
Cast: Kari Wahlgren, Ben Diskin, Crispin Freeman, Dave Wittenberg, Olivia Hack, Steven Jay Blum, Quinton Flynn, Liz Sroka, Christopher Nissley
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Sony Pictures
Release Date: March 4, 2008
Who knew I would love this anime as I much as I do! Going into this review, I knew absolutely nothing about Blood+. Little did I know that I would quickly become encapsulated in it’s grasp, unable to do or watch nearly anything else until I finished a 25-episode marathon.
I don’t know why the creators of Blood+ aren’t still making the series. The show is excellent. It’s fresh, fast-paced, entertaining, and contains enough mystery to keep you going, while wanting to know more between each episode.
As of now, I am stuck in a situation where I have seen 25 episodes in the series and now I want to see the rest. I’m just hoping that Sony releases Blood+: Part Two in a second half set that provides all of the remaining episodes for the series, because after the excellent ending for this DVD set, I want to know what happens next.
Release Information:
Blood+ is somewhat of a spin-off from the anime movie, Blood: The Last Vampire. This series originally aired in Japan on Sony’s channel, Animax as well as other channels in the country including TBS, MBS, and RKB. The show originally debuted on October 8, 2005. It lasted for 50 episodes ending on September 23, 2006. The show then moved into other markets, premiering in the United States on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. The show first aired for U.S. audiences on March 11, 2007. At the present time, it airs at 1:30 AM EST on Sundays. The show is only a few episodes from airing the finale.
Sony Pictures is releasing the series in a 25 episode set, Blood+: Part One, which is what this review is focusing on primarily. The company also released Blood+: Volume One, a DVD featuring the first five episodes of the series. Frankly, I recommend you go for Blood+: Part One. It’s worth it to buy all of the episodes at once, because, if you’re like me, you’re going to want to know more. Blood+: Part One and Blood+: Volume One were released by both online and offline retailers on March 4, 2008. Blood+: Part One can be purchased on Amazon for $99.99 USD, while Blood+: Volume One will cost you $19.99 USD.
The Blood+: Part One Plot
Blood+ is one of the best animes I’ve seen. I’m not a huge anime fan, but I really was able to get into this. There should be a disclaimer that this isn’t really a show for kids. It has plenty of sexual innuendos and gratuitous, cartoon violence. I would possibly let an older teen watch this, but ultimately, it would be up to the parents as to whether they would allow their child/teen to watch this. I recommend checking it out first, on your own, to see what you think of the show.
The show centers around a high school student named Saya Otonashi (Kari Wahlgren). Saya has been living with her adoptive father, George Miyagusuku (Wally Wingert), and her adoptive brothers, Kai (Ben Diskin) and Riku (Kamali Minter) in the city of Koza (which is also known is Okinawa City) on Okinawa Island. Saya is both anemic and suffers from amnesia. She doesn’t know who she is or where she comes from, but that doesn’t seem to matter as she’s built up a life with her new family.
The series starts in the midst of the Vietnam War. As beasts attack soldiers, a girl with long dark hair, and glowing red eyes comes out of nowhere with a katana. As she attacks the beasts, she goes insane and kills anyone and anything who gets in the way of her sword. This even includes a young girl. From there, the show flashes to present day. Saya is on the track team, and she helps out with the bar and restaurant George (a Vietnam war Vet) runs. Her brother Kai is a troublemaker and we learn that he’s protective of Saya. He used to be a great baseball player until he got hurt. After that, he started getting into trouble and hanging out with the wrong crowd.
After Saya realizes she left her track shoes at school, she returns to the school. On the way, she’s bothered by the music of a man with a cello. The music makes her remember flashes of things. She freaks out and runs to the school. Once there, she walks with a teacher, around the school to look for her shoes. During the search, a weird monster, which we later learn is called a chiropteran, attacks them. The teacher dies, but the strange cello player, Haji (Crispin Freeman), shows up and gives Saya a sword. Acting upon instinct, she cuts her finger, blood trickles down along a special track in the sword, and she slices the beast in half, crystallizing it in the process. Kai just happens to witness the entire thing.
It isn’t long before a mysterious man named David (Christopher Nissley), who works for an organization of the Red Shield, is overheard by Saya, talking to George about how he will be taking Saya away. He works with a doctor, who gives Saya regular blood transfusions, named Julia Silverstein (Abby Craden). Other important characters in Blood+ include Diva (Kari Wahlgren), Saya’s sworn enemy and her chevaliers, Solomon (Dave Wittenberg), James (David Rasner), Nathan (Wally Wingert), Amshel (Wally Wingert) and Carl (Quinton Flynn). Her former chevalier, Grigori (Liz Sroka) also has a small role in the series.
The Red Shield characters of importance are the organizations leader, Joel Goldschmidt VI, second to him, Collins, and David’s right hand man, Lewis. Characters that don’t fit into any group, but are nevertheless important to the story are Akihiro Okamura, a newspaper reporter investigating the strange occurrences and something he witnessed from Saya. Mao Jahana (Olivia Hack) accompanies Okamura during his research in France, to find Saya, because she knows Kai is with her, and she’s in love with him. Her father also happens to be a leader in the Okinawa mob scene. Van Argiano is a wacko scientist studying chiropteran. There are other side stories and smaller characters, but these are the main characters that appear in episodes on the Blood+: Part One DVDs.
This is a six DVD set. It comes in a very nice box. It has some extras that accompany the box, but I’ll get to that in the bonus section. The list of episodes included in the Blood+: Part One set includes:
Disc One
1. “First Kiss”
2. “Magic Words”
3. “The Place Where it All Began”
4. “Dangerous Boy”
5. “Beyond the Dark Forest”
Disc 2
6. “My Father’s Hands”
7. “I Must Do It”
8. “Phantom of the School”
9. “Rainbow for Each”
10. “I Want to See You”
Disc Three
11. “After the Dance”
12. “Lured by the White Mist”
13. “Jungle Paradise” (End of Season One)
14. “The Last Sunday”
15. “I Want to Pursue!”
Disc Four
16. “Siberian Express”
17. “Do you Remember the Promise?”
18. “Moon Over Ekaterinburg”
19. “Broken Heart”
20. “Chevalier”
Disc Five
21. “Sour Grapes”
22. “The Zoo”
23. “Two Chevaliers”
24. “Airy Singing Voice”
25. “The Red Shield” (End of Season Two)
Storyline/Plot: 
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:
Audio/Visual:
The video quality for Blood+: Part One is excellent. Despite not being released in widescreen and being available at a 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the full frames hold up amazingly well. The animation for Blood+: Part One is stellar with brilliant colors, amazing drawing, and no visible flaws that I noticed. This quality really helps to make the fight scenes more exciting with vibrant colors and clear details. Overall, it’s great!
Blood+: Part One was originally in Japanese. That original audio as well as an English audio are available as Dolby Digital Stereo sound. The tracks though substandard compared to a 5.1 track, actually sound exceptionally good. You’ll need to remember to change the language to English before watching because Japanese is the default for Blood+: Part One. I liked the English. I’m not used to hearing Japanese and reading subtitles (which are available in both English and Japanese), so I can’t say which sounds better. You’ll have to make that determination yourself.
Visual: 
Audio:
Bonus Features:
The big case has room to fit a large Blood+ t-shirt. There is also a manga excerpt for the Blood+ manga. The main bonuses are located on the sixth disc in the box. There are interviews with the creative staff of Blood+. There are five interviews in total. This set of interviews are only included in this Blood+: Part One set.
Bonus Features:
Bottom Line:
Blood+: Part One is a must own box set for lovers of anime, entertaining cartoons, and well made action/adventure stories. I loved Blood+ and now consider myself a fan. If you aren’t sure if you’ll like it, you can check the show out on Sundays at 1:30 AM on Cartoon Network. Otherwise, I recommend just buying the Blood+: Part One box set. This set is highly recommended.
Overall Rating:
Technorati Tags: Blood+, Blood Plus, Saya, Japanese, Diva, Anime, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, DVD, Box Set Review
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