Looking back: Blood+

I'm getting pissed at Sony's strategy for selling "Blood+". Sony's release of part one of the series is premature. Their box set, priced at a whopping $90-$100, is $40 more expensive than all four of the single DVDs.

That, and that "Blood: The Last Vampire" movie looked disappointing.

With all that said though, part two of the series is (finally) coming out in October 2009. The big question is whether people will actually buy it, knowing that the big box is a complete rip-off.

Despite all these problems, and the terrible scheduling of the TV broadcast, I'm looking forward to watching the end of "Blood+". It was the big series that quenched my thirst for bloody, but beautiful action anime. And Saya is still the coolest female vampire hunter in anime history.

Look forward to seeing a review of part two of "Code Geass." The series is reaching its dramatic peak. Sorry if I couldn't finish a review sooner--I had to wait a long time for the DVDs to arrive, due to high demand for the series.

DVD Review - No Turning Back from this Bloodbath

In case you haven’t read my previous posts about “Hellsing Ultimate,” here’s a simple warning. If you’re the type of person who would faint at the sight of blood, definitely do not watch this series.

Now then, let’s move on.

“Hellsing Ultimate” continues its goofy plot with a storyline where the Catholics are creating violent forces to help the Nazis.

Yes, it is admittedly a silly plot, when you actually think about it. I’m guessing that the Catholics supported the Nazis for money, to pay for retirement plans for their vampire-hunting paladins.

After a heated discussion with a papal official which almost ended in a bloodbath, Integra von Hellsing discovers that the Millenials are the Nazis, who escaped to Germany after World War II. They’ve apparently got plenty of violent ghouls ready to kill people around the world

Thankfully, the Hellsing organization recruited Wild Goose, a band of the best mercenaries around. They needed them after that bloodbath in the previous episode. Alucard was given a pretty simple mission in Brazil—search and destroy.

There’s really not much to this series—it’s a big, wild bloodbath. At least for part of the episode. At the end of the episode, Alucard drinks the blood of the assassin hired to kill him. Through the blood, he discovers that the Nazis want to engage the world in a never-ending war. And Alucard's even more determined to kill the Nazis.

But even if this is a bloodbath, “Hellsing Ultimate” has the strongest anti-war visuals ever. Blood gushes over in an ugly mess. Bodies are left as empty skeletons. Bodies are torn apart. Nothing is glamorized.

And war is ugly, but then again, nobody should even be fighting Alucard, the ultimate soldier, in the first place. All armed forces undergo the risk of their lives if they ever face him. Alucard is an invincible bloodthirsty monster. He wants to exterminate the Nazis, even if humans get in his way.

Admittedly, “Hellsing Ultimate” is almost way too nihilistic for its own good. But that’s the point—-the violence is splattered in a grotesque mess that no one wants to see. Alucard would almost be a complete anti-hero, if Integra didn't give him the guidance to take down the Nazis.

And even though Seras, the former policegirl turned vampire, doesn’t like blood, she still joins Alucard in his killing spree. After all, she has been sexually mistreated in awful ways, especially in the beginning of the series. Perhaps she wants her revenge against the masculine forces that hurt her.

Sure, “Hellsing Ultimate” is a revenge anime with the most sinister hero in anime history, but the characters are taking their sweet revenge against the violent masculine power of the Nazis. Despite how absolutely mindless this anime is, “Hellsing Ultimate” is a grotesquely beautiful romp to destroy all the extreme hatred and violence in the world. Just keep in mind that the Catholics are not really secretly supporting the Nazis as they are in this DVD. Believe me--they’re not.

Image courtesy of mysite.verizon.net

DVD Review - Hellish rampage

It's an understatement to say that the second volume of "Hellsing Ultimate" is a gorefest. If an anime fan gets squeamish at the first sign of blood, then they really, really, really don't want to watch "Hellsing Ultimate."

Volume two of "Hellsing Ultimate" is filled with soldier decapitations, hundreds of chopped limbs and buckets of blood. It's not pretty, and the plot is somewhat stale, but the action and drama will keep anime fans on the edge of their seat.

The volume starts at the Hellsing Organization building, where Integra discusses with some executives about the recent increase in ghouls around Romania. But then two tough ghoul brothers decide to invade Hellsing by turning the entire army into ghouls.

Fortunately, Integra's professional killers are ready to take them all down. Seras Victoria has her powerful sniper rifle and Walter C. Dornez (codenamed the "Angel of Death") has invisible strings that can slice through bodies. And Alucard is, well, the most indestructable vampire I've ever seen.

To make a long story short, the Hellsing vampires make mince meat out of the ghouls. The last ghoul revealed that they are controlled by microchips to follow orders from a group called Millenium. And Millenium is somehow related to Hitler and the Holocaust. Yeah. It's really implausable, but considering how many people died in this volume, I'm willing to believe anything.

So far, "Hellsing Ultimate" doesn't really have much of a plot, even though it involves some creative storylines involving conspiracy theories and German Nazis. For the most part, "Hellsing Ultimate" volume is a big bloodbath, with body parts flying everywhere. One scene in particular almost turns into a rape scene, until Seras breaks out in a bloodthirsty vampire rage. Oddly enough, only Integra is able to calm her down by embracing her and telling her that everything's alright.

But "Hellsing Ultimate" is also confronting the serious issue of chaotic violence, rape and fear. Certainly violence and sexual violation is something worth fighting against. This makes Seras a rare character that possesses the dual-personalities that Nausicaa had in "Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind." She is compassionate, but she has the potential to turn into a violent monster when she needs to.

And Alucard is a veteran vampire warrior, who wants to die with honor. Some might call him insane, because of his immense power. However, he also has the psychotic desire to die from a worthy opponent. He's an insane undead man, tired of living through numerous wounds, who just wants peace of mind.

"Hellsing Ultimate" is a fascinating character study of masculine and feminine personalities. While the series' plot is a little too simplistic, the characters are so amazingly complex. "Hellsing Ultimate" is a series about violent wars against ghouls, and the vampire warriors who are traumatized by the wars. "Hellsing Ultimate" may be one of the surprise series this year. My only complaint is that each volume is only about 45 minutes long.

Image courtesy of bignanime.files.wordpress.com

DVD Review - What the hellsing?

"Hellsing" is one of the deadliest vampire action series ever released. This review is about "Hellsing Ultimate," supposedly the ultimate version of this bloodfest.

However, it reflects so many changes to the original TV series so much that previous fans might not appreciate the so-called ultimate version.

For the uninitiated, "Hellsing" is a series about the Hellsing organization, bent on keeping the bloodthirsty vampires from sinking their teeth into the citizens of Romania. The organization, led by Integra Hellsing, sends a special vampire to slice the chests of these other vampires. His name is Alucard, and as far as I know, even if someone chops off his head, he can come back to life.

The first volume of "Hellsing Ultimate" covers the first three episodes of the "Hellsing" television show. In a short summary of this disc, Alucard recruits Seras Victoria, a policewoman, as his apprentice vampire. Alucard and Seras also fight Alexander Anderson, a Catholic paladin. Yes, there is actually a clash between the Protestant Hellsing Organization and the paladins of the Vatican.

There are many changes that could keep old fans of "Hellsing" from watching the new ultimate version. For starters, the first DVD is a near-perfect adaptation of the original manga. Because of this, the ultimate version is missing the cool, collected style of the priest vampire, who seduced Seras Victoria in the TV version. Now the priest is a blatant pervert who grabs her crotch and declares that he intends to rape her.

Of course, the ultimate version of "Hellsing" is close to the manga, but the director sacrificed his own original take, which was admittedly much cooler. The original TV show had an awesome mix of honky-tonk pianos and funk music in the background. It felt like a dark version of "Shaft," with Alucard saying in Japanese "Keep your hands off her," and yelling "PUNK!" in English. And Alucard even had cool dialogue about his custom-made silver bullet pistol.

Then again, "Hellsing Ultimate" was made with a much more horrific mood in mind. The series has plenty of bloody action sequences where thousands of zombies riddle Alucard with a million bulletholes, and yet Alucard manages to come back to life. Of course, with a nearly invincible vampire, I wonder how dramatic this series can possibly get if Alucard cannot die.

Still, this is a solid second rendition of a good vampire series. Some people may want to steer away from this super-violent series, but if anyone is in the mood for violent anime, "Hellsing Ultimate" is a must-see.

DVD Review: Black Blooded Vampire Fun

"Black Blood Brothers" is an adrenaline-filled romp that makes up for its uneven storytelling with superhero vampire action and heartbreaking romance.

Each episodes opens with flashbacks, revealing that the main vampire hero, Jiro, failed to protect his girlfriend from being assassinated. He is a Kowloon child, but Jiro is on a mission to eliminate the members of his vampire clan. The Kowloon are bloodthirsty murderers who only live to suck to kill humans or convert them into more Kowloon.

The series lacks much needed direction, especially through the first episode. In that part alone, Jiro is forced to defend his brother Kotaro from the Suppression team of the Special Zone, which eliminates vampires. The fight gets interrupted when Kotaro falls into the sea and Jiro dives to rescue him. Jiro emerges with Kotaro at a nearby beach in episode 2, meeting with his tour guide, Mimiko Katsuragi. Katsuragi is set to welcome Jiro to the city, if she and Jiro can avoid run-ins with the Suppression team. In future episodes, Jiro's enemy, Cassandra Jill Warlock, is willing to do everything she can to enter the Special Zone.

As one can see, this is a confusing plot that leaves more questions than answers. "The Organization" has to be the lamest name for a city council that I've ever heard. However, this is one of the more impressive action series, with plenty of heated sword and gun battles.

Most of all, however, the love story between Jiro and Katsuragi is strong and heartbreaking. Katsuragi clearly likes Jiro, who is handsome and likes to keep other people out of trouble. But it's going to be a struggle for her to get Jiro away from his violent assassin life, especially when the Kowloons are ready to take over the Special Zone.

By the way, I really want to date Katsuragi. Her face is so lovely...












Images courtesy of animecafe247.com and black-blood-brothers.com

A look at the past - "Blood: The Last Vampire"

While "Blood+" is indeed one of the best anime series of recent years to be released, the series actually a sequel to a classic one-hour anime film, "Blood: The Last Vampire". It goes without saying that this is a beast of a film, one that demands even more attention than the sequel.

"Blood: The Last Vampire" stars Saya as a monster-hunter, one who appears to kill innocent human beings without a thought in the world. In a haunting first scene, Saya slashes someone in an empty subway car. One military witness wasn't happy about it afterwards, but Saya's military commander, David, tells the man that Saya is the only one able to find and kill humans who will turn into demons.

In another turn of events, Saya gets transferred to a local school in the area, where she kills one of the demons in the school nurse's office. The nurse tries to run away from Saya, but she keeps getting attacked by more and more of these demons. Saya takes her to a military base for safety, informing the nurse that anyone who sees a demon's dead body isn't supposed to live. Yet, Saya still takes pity on the Japanese nurse.

After a series of violent scenes, the nurse survives, but the military denies any existence of Saya or David. This is a haunting film about war brutality in Japan, in which anyone who sees this violence will turn into a monster. Yet, the military is hardly willing to talk about it, in reference to the U.S. censorship of all discussion about the bombing of Japan in World War II. And even as Japan headed off to fight with the U.S. in the Vietnam War, the nurse still wonders how long censorship will really last, if more and more people turn into monsters.

It's hard to imagine that such a great storyline can fit into one hour, but "Blood: the Last Vampire" does this effortlessly. Although "Blood+" seems to go into further detail about the origin of chiropterans, "Blood: The Last Vampire" is a straight-to-the-point look at the reasons why frightened people can turn into monsters in Japan.

If anything, anime fans should at least check out "Blood: The Last Vampire" before watching "Blood+". Both are great, but "Blood: The Last Vampire" is an anime legend that is like no other. Keep in mind that not all the voices are Japanese, either. This is an incredible film with both American and Japanese voices, with each representing the language of their respective country. This is one of the few films that is truly bilingual, and very thought-provoking at the same time. This is a classic anime horror film that no one can resist, as long as they are willing to stomach some gut-wrenching violence.

Early review - Blood+ offers both compelling storyline and plenty of blood

There are many impressive anime out now, but "Blood+" could possibly be the most impressive and dramatic series to date this year.

The animation studio behind the production, Production I.G., really pushed the limits of anime with "Blood+". The story involves a high-school girl, Saya, an anemic who has no memory of her own past. She lives with her father and her two adopted siblings. However, things turn for the worse on a night when Saya runs back to the school at night to get her athletics uniform. A humongous monster grabs his teacher and kills him. Trapped in a science laboratory, Saya is saved by Hagi, who feeds her some of his blood through a kiss. When Saya's brother goes out to tell her that her uniform is still a home, the beast attacks Riku and is about to kill him when Saya goes berzerk. Cutting her finger to release her blood on her sword, she chops the monster in half.

To make matters worse, the U.S. army and organization known as Cinq de Fleches sends an army regiment to their position. Haji manages to carry them to safety to the top of another building. Soon enough, Saya's foster father explains that she is actually a warrior who was laid to rest in a cave after the Vietnam War, when she fell into a hibernation cycle. George was ordered after the war to guard Saya and kill her if she went into a killing rage as she did in the war. After she awoke, George adopted her, seeing that she was no longer a threat. She also adopted two other boys, Kai and Riku.

After another battle with a chiropteran, where Hagi saves her again, George is wounded and is taken to an army hospital. Meanwhile, George's friend in the army, David, also reveals that she is the only one capable of killing the monsters with her blood. Whenever a monster is hurt with blood from Saya sword, it becomes paralyzed. As a member of the Red Shield, David asks her to join their fight to save the world against the monsters. Things turn bad after George is kidnapped by Cinq de Fleches, and Saya has no choice but to join her guardian, Kai, and David to find George in a secret U.S. army base.

And when you think things can't get any worse, Cinq de Fleches injects George with Delta 67, the drug that turns people into chiropterans. In a brutal scene, George, wounded and kneeling in a pool of his own blood, begins to transform into a chiropteran. Saya cannot bear to kill him with her sword, but George told her that there was no other way. In a heartbreaking scene, Saya cuts herself and lets her blood flow down into George's wounds to paralyze him for good. Although her father died, Saya decides to join the Red Shield in their epic battle against Cinq de Felches.

Even though I've only seen about two volumes of this box set, it is clear that "Blood+" is one of the best anime I have ever seen this year. Technically, the series is a sequel to the 30-minute film "Blood: The Last Vampire", but this series certainly stands alone as an incredible piece of work. The music is also composed by Hans Zimmer, best known for his music in the epic film "Gladiator." Despite the bloody violence in this series, there are tender moments as well, as Saya and her brothers struggle to spend time together as a family.

The box set of the first 25 episodes of this series is not cheap--it costs more than $100. However, the story, action and drama conveyed in this series is worth every penny. On an unfortunate note, from what I've seen on the first two discs, there are no extras, and I really didn't like the English dub. Still, based on the subtitled version, this is one of the best series of 2008, and I cannot wait until the part two box set is released.