Blood+: Part 1 DVD Credits:

Region: 1

Blood+: Part 1 DVD Release Date: 4th March 2008

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Blood+: Part 1 DVD Review:

Blood+ is the popular Cartoon Network: Adult Swim anime series based on the anime feature length movie Blood: The Last Vampire. Set in Okinawa, Japan, Blood+ tells the story of high school student Saya Otonashi. She seems to be your average girl, save her amnesia. Saya cannot remember anything beyond the last year of her life, where she has happily spent her time with her American father and two adopted brothers. Saya is outgoing and popular, and an aspiring track and field star.

The only thing setting Saya apart from her fellow classmates, beyond her amnesia, is the frequent, clandestine meetings between her father and an American government agent named Mr. George.

One evening, while returning to school for her track shoes, Saya encounters a bizarre creature. This creature brutally murders a teacher in front of Saya. It looks as if Saya is next on the chopping block when suddenly a cello toting stranger intervenes. He thrusts a sword into her hand and pours his blood into her mouth. As if awoken from a trance, a new Saya emerges. Saya makes short order of the monster that killed her teacher, literally slicing it in half.

A whole new world is suddenly opened up to Saya. She quickly discovers that she is humanity’s only hope in the defeat of these new monsters called chiropterans. A new breed of ravenous, shape-shifting, immortal creatures that feed off blood, they often disguise themselves as human beings. The vampire like creatures can heal themselves when wounded almost immediately and can only be killed when the blood of a fellow vampire, Saya’s, is introduced into their bloodstream. It is revealed that the same secret organization called Red Shield that has been protecting Saya has also been trying to study the creatures in an attempt to wipe them off the face of the Earth.

Things begin to intensify for Saya when the only father she has ever known is seriously wounded trying to protect her from a chiropteran. Suddenly, Saya finds herself alone with the knowledge that she is a secret weapon against a violent and evil force hell-bent on eliminating all humankind.

Blood+ is an interesting approach toward the classic vampire story. The series is considered a Seinen, which is a subset of the anime genre, targeted toward young men ages 18 to 30. Seinen anime generally ranges anywhere between the avant-garde to pornographic in its material. Blood+ is somewhere in between those two poles. Blood+ is violent with depictions of sword fights and gun battles. The blood from wounds in the series is over-the-top. In the first episode, Saya cuts a chiropteran in half, causing blood to gush from his wound like a fountain. In a like manner, for much of the series, Saya and her fellow classmates traipse around in their school-girl uniforms, complete with overtly short skirts.

Despite a certain amount of embarrassment potential in the gratuitousness of the short skirts and excessive blood loss, Blood+ is a fun series. Fans of anime and/or martial arts will revel in the excitement as Saya discovers her true identity while battling a unique and original group of super-villains.
Blood+: Part One is an expansive 6 disc box set. Included are all 25 episodes as well as an exclusive special feature, Inside Blood+, including interviews. The box set also includes a special edition Blood+ t-shirt and sample manga. The episodes are presented in full frame. It can be viewed in both English and Japanese. The DVD also features subtitles in English, French and Korean.

Fans of the show will find Blood+: Part One to be the kind of DVD release that the show deserves.

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Blood+: Part 1 DVD review written by: Andrew Mattson