Blood-C

"What do you think people are made of? I'm not talking about blood or flesh. We do care about what's on the exterior, but we want to focus more on what people even now still call the "inside." You can also call it "nature." I guess you are either born this way or raised to act this way. Are people born like this or do they become like this? The answer is..."

—--Opening Narration

Blood-C is a Summer 2011 Anime series that was produced and collaborated on by Studio Production I.G and CLAMP. It is the second anime based on Blood: The Last Vampire, following 2005's Blood+, and the fourth overall incarnation in the franchise.

Kisaragi Saya is a High School girl born to a shrine family. By day, she's completely ordinary and enjoys hanging out with her friends. By night, she fights and kills the monsters called "Elder Bairns" who invade her town and attempt to feed on humans. But as Saya continues to fight for her life each night, she begins to notice something isn't quite right in this town...

The movie Blood-C: The Last Dark, which was out on June 2, 2012, is a sequel which continues the events of the TV series, one year later, and is set in Tokyo.

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Tropes used in Blood-C include:

• Action Dress Rip: Saya rips off part of her school skirt and turns it into an Eyepatch of Power in episode twelve.
• Adorkable: Saya in spades. Taken Up to Eleven in the manga...CHIBI SAYA!
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Tokizane confesses to Saya in Episode 9. She reacts in confusion and asks what he likes about her. Turns out the whole thing was just an act.
  • Played straight with Itsuki
• Ankle Drag: Happens to the Motoe twins in episode 12. Nene is dangled in the air and then repeatedly smashed into the ground, while Nono gets ripped in half.
• Anti-Hero: Saya in spades by episode 12
• Anyone Can Die Double Subverted Sometimes twice. The second time, though, it manages to stick.
• Armor-Piercing Question: "Who did you promise?"
• Asshole Victim: This could be said about Tokizane, the Motoe twins and Kanako.
• Badass Adorable: Saya.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
• Becoming the Mask: Itsuki comes to actually care for Saya while acting out his role as her classmate.
• Big Bad/The Man Behind the Man: Fumito
• Bishonen: Well, CLAMP did the character designs, so the males that have been introduced so far fit the trope.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The Motoe Twins, Tokizane, Kanako and Fumito.
  • As of the last episode, Yuka can be added to the list. She only participated in The Masquerade because she wanted to be a politician and doesn't seem to care when the rest of the participants are slaughtered.
• Bloodier and Gorier
• Bloody Hilarious: Lots of the Gorn.
• Blood Is the New Black: Saya in the opening and in Episodes 3 and 4 has her covered from head to toe in blood.
• Bob Haircut: Yuka has a glamorous, asymmetrical one.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: What Fumito does to the Elder Bairns and Tadayoshi when he gives them some of Saya's blood.
• Break the Cutie
  • Broken Bird
• Chaste Hero: Saya
• Censor Shadow / Lens Flare Censor:
  • Several times when monsters attack. Replaced with blurs half the time in episode 12 for unknown reasons.
  • Removed in the BD/DVD releases.
• Class Representative: Itsuki
• Cliff Hanger: The ending left us with Saya pursuing Fumito into the city.
• Continuity Nod: In the teaser trailer for the movie, we see Saya in her school uniform from Blood: The Last Vampire, the very first installment of the franchise.
• Cool Sword: Saya's mother's sword. Though it's not really her mother's.
• Cradling Your Kill: Saya briefly does this to Tadayoshi's corpse.
• Cruel and Unusual Death
• Cute Clumsy Girl/Dojikko: Saya's habit of falling on her face.
• Daddy's Girl: Saya.
• Dark Reprise: Listen closely to the BGM playing during Saya's Heroic BSOD after Fumito escapes. It sounds like the song she always sings.
• Daylight Horror: Episode 6 and 8.
• Dead Foot Shot: Nono.
• Death By Genre Savvy: An unlucky student from Episode 9. Safely getting away from the monster, and escaping outside, he is promptly killed by falling glass because Saya kicked the monster into the window.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Itsuki towards Saya. It's hinted that Tokizane is also one for Saya.
  • Subverted, at least in Tokizane's case it was all an act.
• Downer Ending: Fumito gets away, Saya loses an eye, Itsuki and Tadayoshi die redeeming themselves, and the entire town is massacred.
  • But Wait! There's More!: Don't forget the movie coming next year. The finale has only just begun...
• Dying Declaration of Love: Itsuki in episode 12
• Eaten Alive: Only if an Elder Brain doesn't kill its victim first.
• Eldritch Abomination: Most of the Elder Bairns that are bigger than an average human
• Eyepatch of Power: Saya, after taking a bullet to the eye in episode 12
• Eye Scream: The Eyeball-head Monster in Episode 5 and Saya thrusting her hand through its head/eye.
  • Saya gets a bullet to the face in episode 12.
• Fake Memories: Most everything Saya remembers that isn't from a flashback is fake.
• Faking the Dead: Tokizane, the Motoe twins, and Yuka.
• Failure Hero: Saya when it comes to saving people. Big time.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Doesn't matter whether you were too dumb or just trying to get the hell out of there.
• Fan Service: Saya's bathscene and the opening.
  • Fan Disservice: The Motoe twins' panty shots during their deaths. Then there's Kanako who not only had several panty shots, but a full breast exposure when she was killed.
• Food Chain of Evil: Saya eats Elder Bairns.
• Girl Next Door: Saya is this towards Fumito. Or not
• Girlish Pigtails: Saya.
• Go Out with a Smile: Itsuki but just slightly.
• Gorn:
  • Dripping with it during monster fights.
• Godiva Hair: In the opening and bath scene
• Gory Discretion Shot: As the Elder Bairn of Episode 7 is cleanly bisected, his two halves turn around so that the gooey bits remain off camera.
• Gratuitous English: In the opening theme (Spiral by Dustz). The full theme also adds Gratuitous French.
• Gray Eyes: Saya has these unless she's kicking a vampire's ass.
• Half-Human Hybrid: Tadayoshi.
• Hannibal Lecture: The Elder Bairn in Episode 9 gives Saya the shortest one while killing her classmate.

Why are you sad?

• Healing Factor: Saya's is officially recognized in Episode 8. Though it does take a day or two, the end result is fairly clear.
• Hidden Depths: Despite her established klutziness, Saya is REALLY good at sports.
• High-Pressure Blood
• Hot Chick with a Sword: Saya.
• Hot Teacher: Kanako.
• House Husband: Fumito.
• Humanoid Abomination: Elder Bairns in episode 5 (first half), episode 7 and episode 9 and Tadayoshi who is a Half-Human Hybrid
• I'm a Humanitarian: In a weird twist:While the Elder Bairns feast on humans, Saya (being one herself) cannot. Instead, she can only feast on the blood of other Elder Bairns.
  • The Guimauve that Fumito fed her was made from the blood of Elder Bairns.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Multiple of Saya's classmates (including Yuka's fake body) that weren't eaten.
  • A bunch of extras in the final episode.
• I Will Definitely Protect You: What she promised her class in Episode 8. She couldn't deliver on it.
• Karma Houdini:Fumito.
• Katanas Are Just Better
• Kill the Cutie:
  • The Motoe twins, and the rest of her class except Itsuki and Tokizane.
  • Tokizane was eaten in Episode 10. Which revealed that the Motoe Twins are still alive.
  • And then it turns out all three of them are alive. And are complete jerkasses. They eventually die for real later on, along with Kanako-sensei.
  • Itsuki is killed trying to protect Saya in the final episode.
• Kill'Em All: Everyone in Saya's class in Episodes 8 and 9, with the exception of Itsuki and Tokizane.
  • Everyone eventually dies except for Fumito, Yuka and Saya. Even the entire town gets eaten.
• Killed Off for Real: All but Saya, Fumito and Yuka by episode 12.
• Killer Rabbit: Episode 12 features giant rabbit-like beasts during the finale
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Saya.
• Late for School: This is how Tokizane is introduced.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In episode 11 Nene and Nono explain that: Saya, Tokizane, Yuuka, Itsuki and the twins themselves are the main characters and the rest are just extra.
• Living a Double Life: There's sweet Saya, and then there's cold, red-eyed vampire hunter Saya.
• Living Shadow: The Elder Bairns in episode 6 that possesses Nono
• Love Dodecahedron: Sort of. There's a mild one with Itsuki and Tokizane having feelings for Saya, who "loves" Fumito.
• Lyrical Dissonance: The cheerful Nono and Nene in Episode 7... just an episode after their deaths. Talk about Mood Whiplash.
• Made of Plasticine
• Magic Skirt: Apparently just for Saya.
• Meaningful Name: Kisaragi means "to cloak oneself or change form," ironically a fitting name for Saya's role.
• Megane: Itsuki.
• Meganekko: Saya.
• Miko: Saya.
• Mind Screw: Gee, thanks, Episode 11.
• Missing Mom: Saya's mother died when she was a child. Or did she?
• Monster of the Week: Starts off this way.
• The Movie: A movie connected to the series will air in June of 2012.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The Samurai Elder Bairn in Episode 7.
  • Multi Wield
• Names to Know in Anime:
  • Nana Mizuki as Saya Kisaragi (Mizuki also performs the ending theme)
  • Keiji Fujiwara as Tadayoshi Kisaragi (This is Fujiwara's second involvement with the Blood franchise)
  • Kenji Nojima as Fumito Nanahara (Nojima's second involvement with the series as well)
  • Masumi Asano as Yuka Amino
  • Misato Fukuen as the Motoe sisters, Nene and Nono
  • Atsushi Abe as Itsuki Tomofusa
  • Tatsuhisa Suzuki as Shinichiro Tokizane
  • Jun Fukuyama as the Narrator in the first episode and the dog
• Nice Guy: This is mainly the reason for Saya "loving" Fumito (for being kind, making delicious food, and listening to her). He's ANYTHING but.
• Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here: So it seems for the people who don't get to see the Elder Bairns. Which leads to
  • Be Careful What You Wish For: As Nene found out.
  • And Nono would have if she were in her right mind.
• Noodle Incident: What exactly were the Motoe twins arrested for?
  • In episode 11, it's implied that the twins were previously arrested for pimping out other girls when one of them suggests that they should get more school uniforms for "the girls" to wear, but that this time they'd have to be more careful.
• Noodle People: Well, CLAMP is doing the character designs.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Everyone.
• Oblivious to Love: Saya. Poor Itsuki and Tokizane. Or maybe she can tell their hearts aren't in it.
• Off-Model:
  • Fumito during a few scenes in Episodes 2 and 8.
  • And the monster in Episodes 8 and 9. The tips of its fingers seem to have a different shape, depending on the shot. They're either a continuous purple blade or something resembling a scorpion's stinger.
• Off with His Head
• Oh Crap: The Motoe Twins, and Kanako in episode 12, when the nearby Elder Bairn kills Tokizane, and Fumito informs the the talismans protecting them from it, are fake. And he sics it on them as well.
• Older Than They Look: Yuka.
• Our Vampires Are Different: They can look like just about anything, they're called 'Elder Bairns', and... they're not really vampires at all. Saya, though...
• Panty Shot: We get a clear panty shot of Nono. Right before the Elder Bairn rips her legs off, split wise...
• Rain of Blood: Near the end of episode 6
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Saya
• Rapunzel Hair: Saya.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: When Saya's eyes change color, it's over.
• Red Shirt: The entire town besides the main cast is specifically designated as this by Fumito.
• Redemption Equals Death: Itsuki goes down protecting Saya, and admits that he was actually beginning to care for her.
• Revenge: Saya towards Fumito.
• Screaming Warrior: Saya in episode 12
• Scenery Censor: Played with when the dog appears while Saya is taking her bath.
• Scenery Porn
• School Uniforms Are the New Black: Pretty much the only thing we've seen any of the teenagers wear, except for Saya's miko clothes. She even wears her school uniform when she's out hunting vampires.
• Shout-Out: The train in the third episode may have some relation to the one in Blood: The Last Vampire, even if the train is the monster in this case.
  • Episode 6: Death by decapitation through a monster's maw.
  • Episode 7: The dog owns a shop that grants wishes.
    • Note that the seiyuu is even the same as Watanuki's.
    • The monster of the day in Episode 7 looks a lot like Tadakatsu Honda from Sengoku Basara, of which Production I.G did the anime adaption for.
• Single-Minded Twins: Nene and Nono Motoe.
  • Creepy Twins: As of episode 11
• Small Town Boredom: Nene and Nono, who wish that they could do more normal high-school things.
• Specs of Awesome: Saya.
• Strictly Formula: Episodes 1 through 5 followed a predictable pattern. Sing on the way to school, play with the puppy, eat and chat with friends, and kill the Monster of the Week. And then came Episode 6...
• Strong as They Need to Be: Saya seems to only gain the strength to kill the Monster of the Week after they've managed to slaughter everyone in sight.
• Supreme Chef: Fumito, who owns a coffee shop that Saya often visits.
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Saya and Yuka.
• Tall, Dark and Handsome: Tokizane.
• Tempting Fate: In Episode 8, one of the students in Saya's class remarks that the monster seems to be a Mighty Glacier, giving them time to run, seconds before he went Lightning Bruiser on them.
• Theme Twin Naming: Nene and Nono Motoe.
• Third Person Person: Saya.
• Tomato in the Mirror: Saya who is an Elder Bairn in human form.
• Too Dumb to Live: The villagers, seriously. It's understandable that they are not aware of the existence of the Elder Bairns. But when Saya tells them to run away while she deals with the monsters, they just stay on one spot near the battle field and then, they got killed.
• Town with a Dark Secret: It increasingly seems like everyone is in on some sort of plot with the Elder Bairns. Then, well, look at the next trope down.
• Truman Show Plot
• Trademark Favorite Food: Saya always eats Guimauve (or marshmallows) and drinks coffee. Both are mixed with blood of the Elder Bairns
• Twelve-Episode Anime
• Unorthodox Sheathing: Saya does this in the opening sequence by holding up her sword and having the sheath land perfectly in place.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Nobody comments when Saya brings her katana to school in Episode 6. By Episode 8, they start to take notice.
• Unwitting Pawn: Saya. Big time.
  • All of the unfortunate villagers who have no idea that they're meant to be slaughtered when everything's over.
• Vampire Hunter: Saya, for certain values of 'vampire'.
• Vapor Wear: When the multi-armed Samurai Elder Bairn from Episode 7 cuts up the back of Saya's uniform, no bra is seen.
• Wham! Episode:
  • Episode 6 throws the series into Anyone Can Die territory with the deaths of the Motoe twins.
  • Episodes 8 and 9 together formed another Wham! Episode, where Saya's entire class was slaughtered, sans Tokizane and Itsuki.
  • Episode 10 has the death of Tokizane and the return, or not, of the dead Motoe twins
  • Episode 11. That is all.
• Wham! Line: Two in Episode 10. First...

Kanako: That's fine, but... How long will you play at this stupid game?

• • And after that:

Nene and Nono: It's all fake!

• With Friends Like These...: More like, with a sister like this. Nono knocks Nene over, so she can escape the Elder Bairn in episode twelve. She doesn't get away though.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Tokizane, the Motoe twins, and Kanako in episode twelve.

Fumito: Actors who refuse to play their parts, should leave the stage.