Blood C: Complete Series
Released By: Manga Entertainment
Rating: 15
Running Time: 300 Mins
Audio: English & Japanese DD 5.1
Release Date: 10/6/2013
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes

Saya Kisaragi is a shrine maiden, but most shrine maidens don't fall on their noses all the time, so she decides she will have to be more careful as she is an older student attending high school. She is a cute and ditzy girl on the outside, but at night she is armed with an amazing sword and goes out slaying evil demons called elder bairns, spilling as much blood as she can in the process.

Like her mother before her, Saya has been fighting these evil demons and as she is the only one who can kill them, she has a harsh and demanding duty to perform if she is to keep the town demon free. Blood C: Complete Series starts out like any normal anime. Saya goes around her life in a cute world of her own, admiring the scenery and appreciating her existence as a human. At school, her classmates are the sort you would imagine in an anime of this type, a couple of twins who will remind viewers of the twins from xxxHolic, the naughty kid and a class president who acts as cute as she does. This might seem all too nice from the offset, but just go with it - you won't be disappointed. If you remember the equally 15 rated anime Shiki, that started out the same way with the characters going about their business until the village started to get wiped out by rogue vampires. This is similar, but with a rather interesting plot twist at the end. There are mixed opinions of this type of series as it questions the idea of good and evil, fight or flight and what becomes of us if we take on the evil in the world - will we become evil too as a result?

As Saya continues her night time killing sprees, no one but  her father knows of who she really. There are feelings of tension as soon her friends start to be murdered by the elder bairns, and she has her work cut out for her trying to keep them all at bay. It might appear that everything is ordinary, and her life is peachy living with her father,  having friends at school, and even the interest of another handsome boy there, but after watching six or so episodes you feel there might be a problem with the whole story. Saya gets late to school almost every day, and constantly spots a strange dog at the side of the road who talks to her, and is considered the model student. She does her chores, studies hard for tests, helps her father at home and doesn't even have a TV, or do the other girlie things expected of her. She goes to the cafe Guimauve where she is served cakes and coffee, and her life goes on as normal as she thinks it is, but is she right about how normal it is?

Clamp are the most successful all women manga group working today with classics such as RG Veda, xxxHolic and Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles under their belts, it's no wonder this one has also been made into an anime. Remember what happened in Tokyo Babylon? Subaru Sumeragi thought his one true love would be his right up until the end. Blood C: Complete Series is very much like that, as it is set in a quaint little town where Saya lives a double life, her slayer life she keeps from her classmates, but behind the scenes there are secrets Saya wants to uncover. At first Blood C: Complete Series seems like a frivolous anime full of fluff, but if you judge it by the first few episodes, you might not have given it a chance.

Bonus Material: Episode 6 Commentary, Episode 12 Commentary, Original Commercials, Promotional Videos and English Language Trailer.

Verdict: Gory, bloody and character driven - Blood C: Complete Series isn't anything like you would think - keep watching and you will find out.