- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/24-bit), English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
- Subtitles: English
- Subtitles Color: White
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: TV-MA
- Run Time: 300 Mins.
- Discs: 4 (2 x Blu-ray + 2 x DVD)
- Studio: Funimation Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: January 22, 2013
- List Price: $69.98
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Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:2.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Series
[Rating:2.5/5]
Production I.G and CLAMP teamed up for this third entry in the Blood series. Previous releases included Blood: The Last Vampire and Blood+. In Blood-C the character of Saya returns, slightly altered from her stint in Blood+, and far less charismatic. The story here finds Saya living life as a quiet, somewhat sheltered and naïve high school girl in a sleepy rural town. Her father, Tadayoshi, is a priest at the local shrine and she is the shrine maiden. It is her duty and the shrine maiden, unbeknownst to her classmates and teachers, to battle beastly, human eating creatures known as Elder Bairns, that often attack the town. That is the gist of it, and the series slowly progresses along those lines for most of its 12 episode arc; and when I say “slowly” I mean “slowly.” Hardly anything happens in Blood-C beyond an intimation that there’s something else going on with Saya that she must discover, but we’re just not privy to this information. From episode to episode, it becomes a freak of the week show, with one Elder Bairn to the next taking on Saya in one “epic” battle that she, unfathomably, is overwhelmed by until, mysteriously, her eyes glow red, she pulls out a super move like she’s playing Nintendo, and slays it. Between battles, the writers offer us some clumsily handled high school romance moments, but since they’ve made Saya so socially inept in this series, none of these subplots pan out. But we are ultimately given a reason for this in the final episode. Not to spoil anything, but when you hit episode 12, the entire rest of the season becomes moot, and you realize you’ve just waisted about 6 precious hours of your life. If this series has any merit, it is in the gorgeously animated characters, detailed backgrounds, and rich color palette. It is a marvelous bit of eye candy, but the the character development and storyline make the animators’ efforts a waste.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Befitting what is unquestionably a superbly animated series, at the very least, Blood-C comes to Blu-ray with a strong AVC/MPEG-4 1080p transfer from Funimation. Only very slight color banding can be spotted at times in what is an otherwise flawless presentation of the digital animation. The detail is quite crisp, colors are vivid, especially those vermillion splashes of blood, and line art is detailed and absent of any aliasing.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Also of a high caliber is sound, offered in the original Japanese in Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (48kHz/24-bit) or an English dub in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. The Japanese is always my preference even if it doesn’t provide the additional channels. Here it offers a strong stereo mix with clear dialogue and good dynamic range. The English track, though rather divergent from the Japanese text, is also a good listen. It is nicely balanced, though less aggressive than one might expect. It has a reasonable amount of low frequency extension and clear dialogue as well.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]
The two English audio commentaries will be of the most interest here. Too bad they haven’t included anything from the original Japanese cast and crew as well.
The supplements:
- Episode 06 Commentary
- Episode 12 Commentary
- Original Commercials (1.78:1; 1080i/60; 00:02:12)
- Textless Opening Song “spiral”
- Textless Closing Song “Junketsu Paradox”
- Textless Closing Song “Junketsu Paradox” (Episode 12)
- U.S. Trailer (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
- Funimation Trailers
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:3.5/5]
I haven’t seen the Blood-C film that follows on from this series, but one can only assume that almost anything could be an improvement over what feels like a half-baked effort in the Blood franchise. Only get this Blood-C release if you are a completist, otherwise, leave it be.
Additional Screen Captures
[amazon-product]B009T3ADGA[/amazon-product]
Purchase Blood-C on Limited Ed. Blu-ray Combo pack at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
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[amazon-product]B009T3ADGA[/amazon-product]
Purchase Blood-C on Limited Ed. Blu-ray Combo pack at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:3.5/5]
The Series
[Rating:2.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:2.5/5]
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