Black Blood Brothers, Volume One

It so happens I love vampire novels and movies. When Anne Rice, vampire novelist extraordinare, was the toast of the goth world, I read all her books, even the Witching Hour (blah). I even read the less than complimentary novels featuring vampires by other novelists, but became burnt out on it all.

Black Blood Brothers is an anime I’ve been much looking forward to in 2008, not least because it’s an anime showcasing vampires. It’s a series with an undead ensemble, fighting against wrong and living for the night. Maybe this anime will pump some life back into my interest for the genre.

plot summary

Years after a terrible war revealed the presence of vampires to humans, one of the Black Bloods, aka vampires, is seeking asylum in the guarded city known as the Special Zone. Jiro Mochizuki, an Old Blood, has with him on his journey to the Special Zone, Kotaro, his younger brother. Jiro wishes to hide himself and his brother in the secret city where other vampires also live unbenownst to humans. The Special Zone is special because mankind believes all vampires were eliminated during the war, yet vampires live peacefully within this city.

The Special Zone is highly sought after as a safe haven as it’s guarded by a force field capable of keeping out the dreaded Kowloon Children. The Kowloon Children are a wretched type of vampire who’s bite will kill anyone who feels it, vampire or human, and then turn them into another Kowloon Child. Their existence is what sparked the conflict between Red Bloods, humans, and Black Bloods. But Jiro and Kotaro are Old Bloods of a broken bloodline, who only wish to live in peace.

The two find themselves embroiled in a battle between the Order Coffin Company, vampire refugees also traveling to the Special Zone and a strange murderer who may be one of the reviled Kowloon Children. In order to stymie the erupting violence, the Coffin Company sends out a compromiser, Mimiko Katsuragi, to smooth things over with Jiro. Things quickly spiral out of control for Mimiko, and Jiro sees his worst fears come to light underneath the full moon!

review

Despite a beginning which was almost laughable (Why do vampires need machine guns?), the anime turned out to be really enjoyable. After getting off to a less than stellar start, Black Blood Brothers, pulled itself together and marched strongly forward.

There’s an air of romance to Black Blood Brothers, and not in the sense of two souls finding each other. It’s romance in the sense of idealizing vampires, and creating a fiction in which vampires are handsome, charming, noble, yet altogether deadly. In turn these romanticized beings must destroy twisted images of themselves who are evil, vile, and disgusting things. Both the romantic and unromantic depiction of vampires are popular in literature and film, now the two come together.

The story is an interesting take on how vampires and humans relate to each other. Instead of killing or turning mortals, a vampire’s bite gives vast pleasure. The Kowloon Children, however, are a disease, a bane upon both mortals and vampires. And both mortals and vampires had previously banded together to exterminate the threat. Or so they thought.

Character Development

I already feel a connection with both Jiro and Mimiko as both were given background and motives in the first volume. Kotaro is cute as the clueless vampire kid, but I sense there’s more there than meets the eye.

Jiro is a likable character with the potential for real depth. He’s suffered, and suffers still, from a profound loss in his past. His sadness and anger play out as purely human, even though he’s a powerful vampire capable of stopping tank shells with a thought. He gets angry with his little brother, Kotaro, and tosses him around like a cat toy, but then holds him affectionately.

Kotaro is a naive, happy youngster who’s the opposite of his strong, brooding brother. He’s immune to the sun and the sea, while both negatively affect his brother. Kotaro laughs and giggles while Jiro broods in pure angst. It’s impossible to see how these two are related, except in a vampire sense.

Enter Mimiko, the Company compromiser. This gal has gumption and will go to any lengths to resolve a dispute between Red and Black Bloods if they’ll lead to peace. She does what her title suggests, she compromises with people. Mimiko’s got a tough personality with a touch of innocence. Most importantly, however, she’s, thus far, not annoying.

Character Design

Some of the characters are stereotypically anime, Kotaro being a prime example. His huge eyes, button nose and tiny mouth are anime’s way of saying “innocence”. I dislike this style, but I can stomach it in small doses.

Most other characters were free from the giant eyes and over cuteness. Speaking of eyes, what’s up with Jiro’s guy-liner? Is that a vampire thing?

Aside from Jiro and Kotaro’s costumes, nothing is either too freakish or too creative. I personally would have dressed Jiro in purple or blue, but I suppose it’s an anime thing to have the supernatural hero wearing red.

Animation

Group TAC, the studio behind Black Blood Brothers, also did Gilgamesh. Interesting. The animation for BBB was well done but seemed patchy in places. One shot would be absolutely gorgeous and detailed while the same scene two seconds later wouldn’t be so grand. Still other scenes were merely good, others okay, and others so-so. It averaged the animation out to good to okay. There needed to be some truly exquisite shots to bump the anime up to great. It lacked those shots, sadly.

Music

I dislike the OP, “Ashita no Kioku“, by Naozumi Takahashi very, very much. It’s the metal riffs along with the straight forward rock vocals which rubs me the wrong way. The ED, “Shingiru” by Loveholic, sung in English, however, is a lovely, soft melodious ballad. Quite the contrast between the OP and ED.

Voice Acting

Either the Japanese or the English voice cast are good options. I went with the Japanese voice cast, but the English cast is decent. If you’re a die-hard dub fan, you shouldn’t be too disappointed with the English dub.

conclusion

Rating

Black Blood Brothers, Volume One gets 3 outta 4 Hammies!

Retail Info

• Publisher: Funimation
• Release Date:2008
• Retail Price: $24.98
• Number of discs:1
• Episodes: 1-5
• Run Time: 121 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Language: English, Japanese
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen