6 episodes watched of 2 Seasons
GENRE: Japanese Action-Horror Anime
SUMMARY: Saya, a half vampire half human with amnesia of her past, must rally her wits and protect her happy life and family from the onslaught of vampire hordes.
REVIEW: Because the live-action movie didn't complete the anime movie, I decided to check out the anime series the made to see if it might be any better. It was better but another disappointment compared to the original and I won't be finishing the series (I only like to finish shows that strike me as awesome).
In the original, the main character Saya is an unapologetically harsh hunter who uses a standard legit katana and finds herself disgusted and annoyed with the humans she protects and appreciative of the vampire race's power and grace. She suffers from an internal struggle and associates more with her prey than those she works for, but the vampires are just too dangerous to allow to live. It's a fascinating story of an antihero who doesn't like her role and a 16-year old girl who is actually a 400-year old badass. The psychology isn't too complex, but is really interesting too me. Its a rare find in anime to have a powerful female lead who is worthy of respect.
In this series, they ruin all that by making Saya have amnesia turning her into the typically weak anime female character to appeal to the paternal instincts of males watching the show. Her sword is now a weird katana that channels her blood and she has a male servant and government agent to lead her around and protect her while she freezes in combat and cries because her "female emotions" are just too much to handle. Don't get me wrong, I don't think every female character in media has to be strong, but why take an awesome example of one and just ruin it when it's the most interesting thing about the franchise? It was a stupid choice but the directors/producers/writers. However, had I not seen the original I think that the show would have been moderately good, though Saya would have eventually annoyed me too much to continue probably. What is it about anime that people have to make it so emo? The art isn't as good as the movie (which is probably one of the most impressive displays of animation I've ever seen) but is pretty dang solid. Save for Saya's character, the look and feel of the show are much more loyal to the original than the action movie, but that's a pretty major shift that hurts the show too much for me to enjoy. I would say skip it (along with the live-action movie), watch the original anime movie, and know that you will never be completely fulfilled since its story is so short and everything that comes after only takes away from the original's glory.
***SPOILER ALERT***
I skipped ahead to the last episode of season 1 to make sure she doesn't become the awesome character she was in the movie. She is annoyingly weak the entire time. Sad news.
***END SPOILER***
ART: 8/10
STORYTELLING & PLOT: 5/10
CHARACTERS: 5/10
OVERALL: 6/10
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