Blood C: The Last Dark (2012) Review
Japanese Anime and horror often go hand in hand and Blood C: The Last Dark more than proves this.
The feature film set 1 year after the anime series and linked to the cartoon and live action film Blood: The Last Vampire sees part human, part monster Saya chasing the man responsible for her creation in search of revenge – no matter what gets in her way.
Teaming up with a rag tag group of teen hackers lead by the wheelchair bound cousin of Saya’s arch nemesis Fumito Nanahara, the gang set about taking down his shadowy organization known as The Tower.
Fumito is not only powerful and influential but responsible for the Youth Ordinance Bill which sets curfews for the young and censors the internet. Unbeknownst to the masses however is the fact that he is also messing with the occult creating mutated monsters one of which Saya saves the freedom fighting gang from.
With the help of her new found friends Saya has a chance at finally getting to Fumito to make him pay for what he did but it will take all her will and skills to get her there as he throws his endless armies, skilled assassin and horrific monsters at her putting the people that have become most dear to her in danger.
Filled with the many clichés of Manga we have come to expect and love Blood C: The Last Dark has samurai sword action, school girl uniforms, nudity, gore and a massive fight with a multi-tentacled beast. Surprisingly it also has great characters, a cleaver storyline and an excellent script which may be unexpected to many.
Although containing a relatively simple story of revenge and seemingly stereotypical characters the film develops the multiple relationships gradually drawing out different strands subtly especially in regards to Saya and her blossoming relationship with Mana who she saves at the start of the movie and becomes infatuated with her.
Brilliantly animated director Naoyoshi Shiotani utalises some excellent but unobtrusive computer generated imagery in the larger set piece scenes and furious chase sequences infusing it with realism and artistry without taking the audience out of the action helped along greatly by the epic soundtrack.
Fans of the series will love Blood C: The Last Dark and the uninitiated will have a ball as prior knowledge is most defiantly not needed. Action packed and entertainingly fun this is a horror manga with more heart than many live action movies and plenty of full on fighting and freaky creatures to keep horror heads happy.
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