The vampire brothers, Jiro and Kotaro, will finally learn their fate in the Special Zone in the last installment of Black Blood Brothers!

plot summary

After coming face to face with one of Cassa’s “brothers”, Jiro loses all control and is unable to defeat his young enemy. Afterwards, Jiro decides to leave the Special Zone with Kotaro, only to find his little brother missing.

In a panic, Jiro single-mindedly searches for his sibling, only to discover more threats lurking in the shadows. Cassa and her band of brothers have come to the Special Zone to wreck havoc among its vampire population and to resurrect an evil from the past. Kotaro and his brother are caught up in the mayhem against their will but pledge their strength to the uniting forces of the vampire houses. Can Jiro master his blind hatred towards Cassa in order to save his bloodline and the Special Zone?

review

This series was far, far too short. While other anime suffer from being overly long and drawn out, despite their lack of plot or interest, Black Blood Brothers suffers from just the opposite.

This anime is an engaging and action packed story filled with twists, unexpected moments and unique characters. For whatever reason, a large amount of information has been severely condensed and crammed into just twelve episodes.

At the beginning of the series, the pacing was perfect. There weren’t any fluff moments or unnecessary scenes, and the story never deviated from its course. But at the end, the pacing became too fast, and the info which was easy to swallow before, started to become too much at once. In episode eleven for example, there was far too much to absorb in just twenty minutes. This series deserved twenty six episodes, or at least thirteen, and could have filled each one with enough story, history and background to satisfy all the nagging questions left at the end and yet still be entertaining.

Character Development

There was a lot of good development in the final installment of the series and many questions were answered, though not in as much detail as they could have been. Some questions actually gave rise to further questions and left a feeling of “Is this all there is?” And some answers felt too pat, too convenient, especially when it came to Kotaro. There was a moment I was taken aback in an explanation of his heritage, not because it was surprising, but because it was too easy an answer. It would have been good if more in depth story was given for Jiro, Cassa and Alice’s history. That was one aspect of the series which was given a cursory pass and taken for granted.

Animation

The animation for the series stayed strong throughout all twelve episodes and had good consistency. Style-wise, it was a bit on the generic side, yet it had a shonen feel which made it better than run-of- the-mill.

Volume Conclusion

Volume Three had a lot to deliver as the last installment of a short but very involved series. It did deliver, but felt incomplete on some levels. On other levels, there was an open-ended finality which left room for interpretation; not necessarily a bad thing, but not always a good thing either. Very open in other words, in a series which worked well in the time alloted.

Series Conclusion

It’s a pity Black Blood Brothers was unable to be produced as thirteen episodes, let alone twenty six. This is an anime which would have done very well as a complete, one season twenty six episode series. Yet, it still had enough panache to pull off an interesting, exciting story in only twelve episodes, something other series can’t even do with a full season. The story was a unique take on a fascinating subject, vampires, and handled the subject matter with class. The only complaint I have for Black Blood Brothers is its abbreviated length and the lingering feeling that much more could have been done with this anime.

Volume Rating

Black Blood Brothers, Volume Three gets 3.5 outta 5 Hammies!

Series Rating

Black Blood Brothers, Complete Series gets 4 outta 5 Hammies!

Retail Info

• Publisher: Funimation
• Release Date: May 6, 2008
• Retail Price: $29.98
• Number of discs:1
• Episodes: 9-12
• Run Time: 100 minutes
• Rating: TV-MA
• Language: English, Japanese
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Format: Animated, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen