Today in anime: Blood-C… oh and The Last Dark… yeah, horror!

WARNING… do NOT watch Blood-C without having The Last Dark ready to start the minute you finish the last episode because the series does NOT have a satisfying ending… in fact it’s down right frustrating. I remember watching this when it first came out and being severely unhappy about the ending… then having to wait a couple of years for the movie which finally concludes the story with a reasonable ending… it’s not a happy one, but it’s a hell of a lot better than the way the series ends!

This is an interesting entry in Production I.G’s Blood franchise, being created with CLAMP, the characters exude their particular aesthetic and there’s a significant role for another famous  CLAMP character which is making me want to re-watch xxxHolic! (I don’t think that’s a spoiler… but sorry if it is).

This is one of those things I binge-watch because once you start it’s hard to stop. It’s as much a mystery as it is horror and things progress through the 12 episodes from nice sweet everyday slice of life with a tiny (and a bit gory) fight in the episode through surreal psychological assault with nothing but brutal mass-murder and raw unabashed evil. This series makes me think a bit about it’s underlying philosophical question, but it does an excellent job of crafting a villain you can really hate, and a heroine you genuinely feel for. The twists near the end are difficult to see coming and even on a re-watch the hints are subtle and you’ll probably forget all the details of the various character machinations.

If you want something powerful and affecting and difficult to forget, long after the credits stop rolling, this is a good candidate for that. It’s hard to recommend for everyone though. While there’s little fan service or sex, the gore is substantial and progresses throughout the series. Dismemberment is always on the menu… as are most of the cast. No one is safe from death, even the main characters. For those wanting something safe and predictable, this is not it. It’s also not an uplifting series. There’s no feel-good ending (even after the final conclusion) and no happily ever after. The survivors just move on… trying to put the past behind them. It’s supernatural horror, with unrealistic developments (the antagonist’s motivations are particularly hard to grasp, literally until his dying breath), and the protagonist becomes equally enigmatic, making the entire thing feel like a long strange journey you didn’t so much enjoy as experience.

You know, now that I think about it, I’m not sure this is really horror… sure it’s gory and filled with violence and bloodshed, but I think it’s defining characteristic is perhaps psychological torture. Maybe in that regard it’s more mystery/thriller than horror? Although there’s nothing thrilling about the mental assault depicted. Maybe it’s mystery/psycho-horror? I’m really not sure… I haven’t seen too many things that push my buttons in quite the same way as this one does. There have been a few… but most of them I don’t revisit nearly as often as this one. There’s something special about it that can bring me back again and again (probably once every 18 months).

Anyway, it’s well priced and truly unique and if you’re in the right mood for it… you’ll never forget it. Give it a try.