|
Click here to return to the main site. DVD Review
Saya Kisaragi’s life has taken a long and difficult journey, from her simple beginnings of being a young, cheerful and outgoing school girl. In the past she spent her time studying swordsmanship under her father and secretly hunting monsters at night. But then she was forced to kill her father, under the manipulation of Fumito Nanahara. Arriving in Tokyo, on the trail of Fumito, Saya hooks up with members of SIRRUT, an organisation dedicated to defeating the restrictive laws which are placed on young people... Blood-C: The Last Dark (2012 - 1 hr, 41 min, 43 sec) is the feature length anime film which follows on from the television series. The film was directed by Naoyoshi Shiotani, from a Junichi Fujisaku script. The story was based on characters developed by CLAMP for the manga. Many of the criticisms which dogged the show have also been transposed to the feature. There is no denying that the film looks sumptuous, but you can’t help the creeping suspicion that all this window dressing is hiding a dearth of good ideas. As a character Saya is withdrawn and sullen, I guess this was supposed to give an indication as to the depth of pain her soul was carrying and consequently the level of hate which was driving her on. Nuanced emotions are best brought out by comparison and Saya has none, just the single mode of being. The other attributes which she should have displayed are distributed around the younger members of SIRRUT, who fight against the government’s curfew and the restriction on information. So one is a wide eyed innocent, another has a crush on her and yet another has the habit of gurning at the audience in that strange way which is supposed to be funny and probably is in Japan, outside of that cultural background the behaviour is somewhat incongruous given the overall dour personality of the heroine. The film is extremely violent. It opens on a Tokyo subway where a monster attacks and rips the throat out of an unsuspecting passenger. Of course, our girl is also on the train and dispatches said monster in a visceral attack. Saya is handy to have in a fight and the film does not stint on providing opportunities for her to display her various abilities. From this blood soaked beginning the film cranks up the fighting, culminating in the film's over-the-top ending. The DVD does come with a number of extras, kicking off with a full length commentary by the American dub team. You also get the English Language Trailer (1 min, 12 sec). KokeKoke Theatre (11 min, 12 sec), it’s an animated presentation which recaps the anime series. There are a number of short Promotional Trailers (4 min, 03 sec) shown all together. The extras wrap with two more pieces of advertising with the Original Teaser (31 sec) and Original Trailer (35 sec). Ultimately, it’s a film which looks great, but somehow misses out in really putting meat onto the visual splendour. 6 Charles Packer Buy this item online
|
|---|
