Blood-C is a 2011 original television anime series directed by Tsutomu Mizushima and produced by studio Production I.G. Staff credits also include writer Nanase Ohkawa from CLAMP, character designers CLAMP, and music composer Naoki Satō. The series first aired in Japan in Japan in July 2011.
Blood-C: The Last Dark is a 2012 original theatrical anime film by the same team. The film was first theatrically released in Japan in May 2012.
Background:
“Blood-C – Horrifying beasts with a hunger for human flesh prey on the citizens of a quiet town. In moonlit twilight, Saya slays the monsters and returns home drenched in blood. As the attacks increase in frequency and intensity, her enemies relay cryptic messages about a broken contract. Limbs are torn from flesh and skulls are crushed and devoured while the huntress struggles with paralyzing visions and gaping holes in her memory.
When the humans Saya promised to protect reveal the sickening truth about her role in the violence, she learns her mission isn’t as clear cut as she thought – and her most sadistic foe of all is so close she can taste it.
Blood-C: The Last Dark – Saya is part human, part monster, and has one thing on her mind: revenge. Visions of twisted experiments and creatures slaughtering everyone she loved fuel her thirst for vengeance. With blade in hand and rage boiling in her veins, she tracks her tormentor to Tokyo, where flesh-hungry beasts have begun to feed. There, she joins a group of young hackers hunting for the same man.
As Saya slices her way through lies, traps, flesh, and bone, how much blood will she shed to cut down the mastermind behind her madness?”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, August 2022.
The Blood franchise I considered to be under the radar for a lot of people. We have had a film, a four-cour television series and then a single-cour series by an iconic artist group and that is pretty much it, with only one of those still available for the modern anime audience. Blood: The Last Vampire was released back in the old Manga Entertainment days of anime distribution and while it did receive a Blu-ray release by Manga UK (which I do own), it’s now out of print. Then there’s Blood+ which is considered the fan favourite in the franchise but is stuck in licensing hell between Aniplex and Sony.
That leaves us with Blood-C, another take on the main character Saya with the Ghost in the Shell studio Production I.G as well as Cardcaptor Sakura artist group CLAMP. The idea makes perfect sense and the artwork is really nice when you watch the anime, but at the end of the day Blood-C does falter on its story and progression. There’s a lot of bloody death scenes throughout but that’s the only stand out part of the whole thing.
So you might be wondering why I have decided to go for the 2022 UK re-release by Anime Limited. The reason is because I do like the show’s art style and am curious about the series production. The first time that I watched Blood-C was via the North American Funimation release back in 2015, which was region locked, though I first bought Blood-C: The Last Dark‘s UK collector’s edition combo pack by Manga Entertainment earlier on in 2014. So in a sense, I had a Region A series and a Region B film in my collection.
Anime Limited revealed they had rescued the UK & Ireland rights in 2020 when they first made both titles available for Amazon Prime streaming, before eventually revealing home video plans on social media (alongside K Season 1). Later down the line, they had so much material on-hand they decided to release Blood-C and Blood-C: The Last Dark together in one collection as an Ultimate Edition release. It was available for pre-order during the 2021 Christmas early bird line-up for an early 2022 window, but was delayed numerous times and eventually released in the late Summer that same year alongside a limited edition version which is just a regular box and Amaray cases for the series & film together.
Ultimate Edition Contents:
The ultimate edition release for Blood-C is almost similar to how Perfect Blue was handled. The main difference here is that there’s no rigid box and only one book this time around.
The packages is presented with a cardboard slipcase that contains the Hardcover Materials Book. The book’s first and last pages are where the Blu-ray discs are kept, whilst the rest of the content focuses on character designs, monster designs, background artwork, interviews, essays and more for both Blood-C and Blood-C: The Last Dark. That said, the middle portion of the book does explore more of the franchise with pieces on Blood: The Last Vampire and Blood+.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The ultimate edition Blu-ray has 500 units printed for an SRP of £119.99, and is exclusive to the AllTheAnime store. I bought my copy from a lightning deal for £35.99 using the 10% Anime Unlimited membership at their 12 Days of Christmas 2023 sale. A limited edition Blu-ray was released on the same day, and standard edition Blu-rays for both the series and film eventually followed suit.
Physical Contents:
- Cardboard Box with clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 144-page Hardcover Materials Book
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 29th August 2022
The ultimate edition release for Blood-C from Anime Limited contains all 12 episodes across two Blu-ray discs, plus the theatrical film Blood-C: The Last Dark on a single Blu-ray disc, with the authoring & encoding produced by Funimation but modified by Madman & Manga UK.
The audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles and the Funimation English dub. The white subtitles are locked during playback and the disc is region locked to B for Blu-ray players.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Blood-C & Blood-C: The Last Dark: English, Japanese |
| Audio | Blood-C: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Blood-C: The Last Dark: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 |
| Video | Blood-C: 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio Blood-C: The Last Dark: 1080p High Definition Native format 1.85:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | Blood-C: 2 (1 BD-50, 1 BD-25) Blood-C: The Last Dark: 1 BD-50 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1: Blood-C
- English Audio Commentary for Episode 6 with ADR Director Jerry Jewell & Voice Actor Robert McCollum
Disc 2: Blood-C
- English Audio Commentary for Episode 12 with ADR Director Jerry Jewell & Voice Actress Alexis Tipton
- Original Commercials
- Promotional Videos
- Textless Opening Song “Spiral”
- Textless Closing Song “Junketsu Paradox”
- U.S. Trailer
- Madman Trailers
- Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation
- The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
- King of Thorn
- Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance
- Puella Magi Madoka Magica
Disc 3: Blood-C: The Last Dark
- English Audio Commentary with ADR Director Mike McFarland, Voice Actors Alexis Tipton, Jad Saxton, Josh Grelle, Tia Ballard & TV Series ADR Director Jerry Jewell.
- NoNeNoNe Theater – Parts 1-6
- Promotional Videos
- Original Teaser
- Original Trailer
- U.S. Trailer
- Madman Trailers
- Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation
- Appleseed XIII
- Baka & Test: Summon the Beasts Season 2
- The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
- Eden of the East: The King of Eden
- Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Blood-C & Blood-C: The Last Dark are available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland territories. The ultimate edition Blu-ray is exclusive to Anime Limited’s store, however a limited edition Blu-ray is available to order through retailers Amazon UK, Anime Limited’s store and MVM’s Anime-on-Line store.
The Normanic Vault 
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