Blood-C (stylized in all caps) is a 2011 Japanese anime television series co-created by studio Production I.G and manga artist group CLAMP. It is the second anime series in the Blood franchise following the 2005–2006 series Blood+. The original 12-episode series aired during 2011, with a sequel film, Blood-C: The Last Dark releasing in Japanese theaters the following year. The anime was subsequently adapted into two manga, a 2011 novelization, a 2015 stage play, and three live-action films.
Blood-C focuses on Saya Kisaragi, an outwardly normal teenage high school girl who serves as a shrine maiden to a country town; in reality, she is a skilled swordswoman charged by her father to defeat Elder Bairns, monsters who feed on human blood. As her battles grow more desperate and more people she cares for fall victim to the Elder Bairns, Saya begins finding faults in her reality, and eventually uncovers a disturbing truth about herself, the town and her surviving friends.
Blood-C was designed to share only thematic similarities with earlier Blood projects. CLAMP was brought on board to both design the characters and help create the scenario. It featured several new elements to the Blood franchise, such as being primarily set within a high school environment. The Elder Bairns were inspired by the Great Old Ones from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, and modeled after traditional Japanese monsters. Its bloody violence, a stylistic choice following the series' themes, resulted in censorship in Japan and eventual blacklisting in China. The series has received mixed to positive reviews from journalists.
Plot
Blood-C is set in an isolated rural town on the shore of Lake Suwa in Nagano Prefecture. Saya Kisaragi is a shrine maiden of the Shinto shrine run by her father Tadayoshi, and is outwardly a friendly and clumsy high school girl. Her circle of friends include neighbor and cafe owner Fumito Nanahara; school friends Yūka Amino, identical twins Nene and Nono Motoe, class president Itsuki Tomofusa, the taciturn Shinichirō Tokizane; and Saya's schoolroom teacher Kanako Tsutsutori.
While living a normal school life by day, Saya spends the night defending the village against Elder Bairns, monsters who feed on humans. Saya's skills in the "art of the sword" enable her to defeat the Elder Bairns, but those capable of speech accuse Saya and the humans of violating a covenant dubbed "Shrovetide". Saya also encounters a talking dog, which says it is here to grant someone's wish. She suffers from blanks in her memory and is pained by headaches whenever she tries to remember.
Saya's battles with the Elder Bairns become increasingly desperate as they begin attacking during the day. Both Nene and Nono are killed, leaving Saya deeply hurt. Shinichirō learns of Saya's burden and offers to help, but is later killed himself. An attack on Saya's school results in everyone but Saya, Itsuki and Kanako dying. Saya later realizes that only her class was present at the school. Due to the blanks in her memory and comments from the Elder Bairns, she begins questioning her identity and mission.
Kanako asks Saya to see Tadayoshi's library, which contains information on the Elder Bairns. They find that the library is a fake. Kanako confronts Saya with the living Nono, Nene and Shinichirō before forcing her to drink Elder Bairn blood. It is revealed that the town's entire population, including those close to Saya, were actors in an experiment organized by Fumito, and that Saya is actually an Elder Bairn in human form. She had sworn an oath not to kill humans and in turn hunted her own kind, but Fumito captured her and implanted her with false memories of a past "human life," with the goal of seeing whether her inner self could be altered so the oath could be broken. Whenever Saya began relapsing and remembering her past, Fumito used drugs and hypnosis to make her docile again, and all the Elder Bairns she faced were controlled by Fumito using her blood. Kanako had wanted to use Saya to prove the existence of Elder Bairns, suborning Nono, Nene, and Shinichirō to help her.
Fumito, Itsuki, and Yūka confront them, with Fumito unleashing an Elder Bairn that brutally kills Nono, Nene and Shinichirō for their treachery. Saya saves Kanako from the Elder Bairn and kills it, but Kanako is then killed by Tadayoshi, revealed to be a human-Elder Bairn hybrid driven berserk by an overdose of Saya's blood Fumito gave him. Saya—now back to her true self—is forced to kill Tadayoshi, and witnesses Fumito release an artificial Elder Bairn that slaughters the town's population before Saya kills it. Fumito's soldiers attempt to shoot Saya, but Itsuki sacrifices himself to save her, as he had grown to love her. Fumito and Yūka—who participated to achieve political power with Fumito's help—escape on a helicopter. When Saya tries to stop them, Fumito shoots her. Recovering on the lakeside, Saya learns from the dog that her wish was to remain herself when in Fumito's experiment, and that she must now pursue her next wish. Saya sets off in pursuit of Fumito.
Characters
: The main protagonist—she is unrelated to any previous entry in the Blood franchise aside from her first name, chosen weapon and abilities. Outwardly, Saya is an innocent and clumsy girl who acts as a shrine maiden at her father's shrine, going out at night to hunt Elder Bairns as part of a sworn duty. In reality, she is an Elder Bairn who was abandoned and raised by humans. Due to an oath she swore, she is unable to feed on humans herself, and the experiment was designed to see if her nature could be altered. Saya is voiced by Nana Mizuki in Japanese. Mizuki described Saya as she is portrayed in the anime as an easygoing girl who enjoys her school life and shares a strong bond with Tadayoshi. In the English dub, she is voiced by Alexis Tipton. : Saya's father, and the owner of the Shinto shrine where Saya acts as shrine maiden. He also supervises her role as a slayer of Elder Bairns. In truth, he is a human-Elder Bairn hybrid used by Fumito to capture and manipulate Saya due to their strong similarity. Tadayoshi is voiced in Japanese by Keiji Fujiwara. Fujiwara described Tadayoshi as a stern character who hides the depths of his fatherly feelings for Saya. In the English dub, he is voiced by Bill Jenkins. : The owner of a cafe just opposite Saya's home, who acts as cook for Saya and her father, preparing Saya's school lunches. Fumito is revealed to the mastermind behind the entire experiment and the main antagonist, manipulating events in an attempt to rewrite who Saya is. Fumito is voiced in Japanese by Kenji Nojima. Nojima described Fumito's character as a mysterious, friendly and knowledgeable figure. In the English dub, he is voiced by Robert McCollum. : A member of Saya's class who acts as an older sister figure, chastising Saya for being late or distracted while also caring about her. In reality, Yūka is an ally of Fumito who joins his experiment in exchange for political power in Tokyo. She is the only member of the "main cast" to survive. Yūka was voiced in Japanese by Masumi Asano. Asano described Yūka's initial character as a rough and loud person with a kind heart. In the English dub, she is voiced by Martha Harms. : The class president for Saya's class, he is considered the class' star and has unspoken feelings for Saya that she is oblivious to. He is also part of the experiment, but develops genuine feelings for Saya that lead to his death when he tries to defend her from Fumito's men. It is later revealed that he was a spy sent by enemies of Fumito to observe and report on the experiment. Itsuki is voiced in Japanese by Atsushi Abe. Abe described Itsuki as a distinguished figure who is overly quiet about his feelings. In the English dub, he is voiced by Chris Burnett. : A taciturn classmate of Saya for whom she develops a crush during the course of the series. While he feigns affection for Saya, he is in revealed to be a mercenary taking part in the experiment on promise of a high payment. Shinichirō is voiced in Japanese by Tatsuhisa Suzuki. Suzuki defined Shinichirō as a silent character with an air of importance surrounding him. In the English dub, he is voiced by Scott Freeman. : A pair of identical twin girls in Saya's class, who act in a mischievous way and often speak in unison. In reality, they are former criminals who participated in the charade to have their records erased so they could find work. The pair are voiced in Japanese by Misato Fukuen. Fukuen described the duo as the anime's "mascot characters". In the English dub, they are voiced by Lindsay Seidel. : Saya's homeroom teacher, a woman with a casual and sometimes joking attitude, and a liking for Saya. She is also fascinated by old stories and folklore. In reality, she is a scholar who agreed to participate in Fumito's scheme to learn about Saya and prove the Elder Bairns' existence. Kanako is voiced in Japanese by Miho Miyagawa. In the English dub she is voiced by Lydia Mackay. : A character who converses with Saya over the course of the series, being the one responsible for granting her wish to remain herself. Its true identity is the familiar of Kimihiro Watanuki, a character from the manga series xxxHolic. The dog is voiced by Jun Fukuyama in Japanese. When he was recording his dialogue for the series, Fukuyama was surprised that the very last line of the final episode was given to a dog. In the English dub, the dog is voiced by Todd Haberkorn.
Production
Blood-C was a collaborative production between Production I.G and CLAMP. Production I.G is an animation studio that had created the Blood franchise with the 2000 film Blood: The Last Vampire, which was the studio's first attempt at an original in-house project. CLAMP is an all-female manga artist group made up of writer Nanase Ohkawa and artists Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi. The main staff included both newcomers and people who had worked on previous entries in the Blood franchise. These included concept supervisor and co-writer Junichi Fujisaku, one of the original creators of the Blood franchise; and director Tsutomu Mizushima, whose most notable recent work was the anime adaptation of CLAMP's manga xxxHolic. Background artwork was created by Hiromasa Ogura, and setting artwork was created by Kazuo Kanpei of Kusanagi. 3D CGI was handled by Tsukamoto Mori. The music was composed by Naoki Satō, whose previous work included Sword of the Stranger. The opening theme "Spiral" was performed by Dustz, who worked hard to make the song a suitable addition to the Blood canon and incorporated both Japanese and French lyrics. The ending theme, "Junketsu Paradox", was sung by Nana Mizuki—the voice actress for Saya—who used the anime's story as inspiration and incorporated archaic phrases for the lyrics. The production team was dubbed "Project BLOOD-C TV".