BLoOD+
Welcome to the Blood+ Frequently Asked Questions and General Discussions Thread.
Ok, I s-uck at html or doing fancy things on this here boards, so sue me. That letter head is the best I can do given the circumstance but if anyone out there can do better than post it or use it as a header on some of the upcoming episode discussion threads that'll be started once the series airs.
Purpose of this thread is to ask and answer some of the overall questions that concerns the anime series Blood+ airing on [adult swim] starting March 10th and 11th, 2007. Questions can be about anything in the series while the answers posted on this here thread can be fact or opinions or both.
Mind you that most the facts and information on this here thread and on these here boards are compiled from other web-sites or other sources, and since I am just one person and this being a public discussion boards, feel free to ask / add or add answers to any questions posted on this here thread.......and yeah, I am will aware that some of the questions on here might already have been covered on other threads and such, but this is a "Show FAQ Thread" which means this is the place with all that information compiled in to one thread on these here boards.
A few notes about spoilers on here:
Since by the time of this posting the series is likely to have not started to air yet I am going to ask everyone to take a restricted approach in regards to questions and answers on the series' future plot events and details which includes characters that will not be introduced until later on in the series and episode titles beyond the first five episodes at this point in time. Which means that if it hasn't been aired yet DO NOT POST OR DISCUSS ABOUT IT IN THIS TREAD! There will be plenty of opportunities to post and discuss that in the very upcoming future when the series airs, but for now let's just wait until the proper time to post that. All future posts of information of that nature will be marked "spoilers" in this here thread as per board rules. Yes, this means that more details will be added or updated later on in this here thread.
Most of us board members been through this so I do not need to remind you all about the rules and such in regards to spoilers on this here boards. Again, I do not want to see any post on any thread, including this one, on this here Action Discussion Board about what happens in any future episodes or any blahs about so and so characters that hasn't been introduced yet. I do not want to see any obvious hints either until after the fact that stuff has already aired on [as].
And now on to the FAQs.........
1) What is Blood+?
Blood+ is a anime series that first aired on Tokyo Broadcast System (TBS) and Mainichi Broadcasting Channel (MBC) network television in Japan in October of 2005 to September or 2006 on the Saturdays at 6:00pm (prime-time) slot there. It is the anime series that spawned out of the year 2000 anime movie Blood: The Last Vampire.
Plot Introduction Summary from the Production I.G. Blood+ Series page:
The war never stops: in a different time, on a different battlefield, hiding deeply into the folds of History... They are called Chiropterans. They can change their form and disguise as human beings, but they are not. They are immortal creatures that feed off blood.
An organization, named Red Shield, has being fighting to exterminate this pestilence, and the struggle has now evolved into something of a much bigger scale.
Okinawa, Japan. Year 2005. Now.
Saya Otonashi is a high-school girl living peacefully with her family... with one exception: she has no memory of her life except for the past year. One day, a startling event causes her happy life to shatter into pieces.
An enemy to destroy, a mission to accomplish... the vortex of an ancient struggle is dragging Saya back to her destiny. A young and handsome cello player in dark clothes appears... his name is Hagi. The moment he hands Saya a Japanese sword, History starts a new course.
Will Saya be able to restore her memory, and find her own identity?
More basic series information including the names of both Japanese and English voice acting cast can found at ANN's anime encyclopedia page for Blood+ (in English, Spoiler warning: contains all of episodes titles of series as well as character names that will appear later on in the series)
2) Who or what company produced Blood+?
Production I.G. The folks behind such anime as the Ghost in the Shell Anime Movies and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Anime Series, IGPX, and Co-produced FLCL (Fooly Cooly) and Neon Genesis Evangelion. They are also the ones that made the original Blood: The Last Vampire anime movie.
Yes, I know that [as] on that press release to ANN has stated that Aniplex produced Blood+ as well and that is partially correct since some of the folks at that company came up with some of the concepts and wrote some of the episode scripts, but I can assure you that Production I.G. did most of the animation production work.
3) How many episodes is Blood+?
50 24 to 30 minutes episodes.
4) What sub-genres is Blood+?
Mostly it is a Action, Adventure, Drama with some partial mysteries while dealing with some supernatural and science fiction subjects. I am not going to say it is about vampires since that is debatable given certain elements that is in the story of the series.
5) What is the content like?.........Is it as violent or as "bloody or gory" as it sounds?
While I am not sure at this point as to how high [as] will rate each episode but by judging what I've saw of the series I would say the majority of the episodes in the series will be in the range of TV-14 with a few episodes in the TV-PG and TV-MA range. While there will be some very bloody and gory parts in the series, it'll mostly be very brief and are "few and far between" some times. Yes, some of the episodes will be totally devoid of any action or killing or death. As for the violent parts, it'll mostly be on the level that is mild to moderate as i.e. severed parts of the human body and of non-human creatures, death by blade violence, death by firearms (guns) violence, and some mild levels of blood. No where that exceeds the level of violence on anime / action shows currently on [as], so the answer to that second part of that question is no it is not as "bloody or gory" as some of you out there think Blood+ is........it is no where near as bad as the first parts of Elfen Lied, Berserk, or even Hellsing. Along with the violence, there are some controversial subject matter (both political and moral), and little to no nudity. Sorry gals and guys, Blood+ is actually one of those anime with really no "fan service" but it doesn't mean the characters in the series won't look attractive for both of the sexes.
6) How old is or when did Blood+ first aired in Japan?
Blood+ first aired on Japanese network TV on October 8th, 2005 to September 23, 2006, so yeah it is fairly new.
7) Who licensed Blood+ in North America? Are there DVDs released for the series?
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment have the North American rights to Blood+, and yeah, they are part of Sony's Film and Television Production Division of that large corporation. They are also the ones that kind of took over the North American distribution rights for anime that was once held by Columbia and Tri-Star, and keep in mind that both of those companies is owned by Sony since the 1990s.
While the Blood+ DVD release schedule has not been announced at the time of this post, Sony has stated in the past that Blood+ will have a North American R1 DVD release as well, so it is still unknown when those DVDs will be out. The Japanese R2 DVDs of the series are all out now though.
8) Which company is doing the English Dubs / ADR?
STUDIOPOLIS is doing the English Dubs for Blood+. They also done the Bleach, Naruto, Zatch Bell, and Afro Samurai dubs.
9) I heard that there is a Blood+ manga / comic.......but most folks said that the series is based on Blood: The Last Vampire movie, then why the manga?......I am confused.
Blood+ the anime series did orginally spawn from the Blood: The Last Vampire Movie, but there is a special serialized manga based on the Blood+ Anime Series done to promote the anime series some more I guess. There is a preview of it on the official Blood+ web site posted on the answer part of question 1 on this here thread. There appears to be like 3 volumes currently of the Blood+ manga and it's only in Japanese and from the looks of it is just more "side stories" and some extra minor details about Saya and Hagi's past travels that wasn't in the anime series. In other words it doesn't add anything new to the anime series itself and no, the Blood+ anime series isn't a adaption of that manga or any manga.
Side note: there was a manga based on the movie Blood: The Last Vampire as well as a novel written about it.
10) What's the difference between the original anime movie Blood: The Last Vampire and Blood+ the anime series? Do I have to see one or the other to understand both?
The story and events in Blood: The Last Vampire has no direct relation to Blood+ the series, so it is not really necessary to see the movie to understand the series completely.
From a perspective it is understandable why some would consider the anime movie Blood: The Last Vampire as sort of a prequel for Blood+ in the from of a prologue episode of the series since the events in that movie does happen before the start of the Blood+ series. I won't go in to details now because of spoilers, but since the story in the series is so broad, there will be one part in the series that will directly mention the time period that was in the movie. All episodes of Blood+ does not make any direct mentions or connections to the events seen in the movie since that has no relevance to the main plot story of the series, but some viewers who has seen the movie can sort of make their own subtle connections between the events in the movie and those in the series.
11) What's the name of that song in the Opening and End Credits?
The title of that song for the first opening of Blood+ is "Aozora no Namida" by Hitomi Takahashi and the title of the first ending is "Kataritsugu koto" by Chitose Hajime. Both songs are in Japanese.
Note: there is a total of 4 openings and endings, all with different songs each, in the entire series. Yes, Hans Zimmer and Mark Mancina (both well known Hollywood movie music producers and composers) produced and is responsible for the music in Blood+.
12) When is Blood+ going to air on [adult swim]?
Saturdays / Sundays at 12:30am Eastern Standard Time starting on March 10th /11th, 2007. Yes, I know it is a late time slot but that's the way it is I guess.......in case you are all wondering, yeah I have checked the schedule on the main [as] web site and I saw the changes for Saturdays coming on March 10th. Let's just say I'm not surprised that anime got pushed to the "back-burner" again for more re-runs of American animated works on that night.
There are currently no official announcements or scheduled plans to add Blood+ to the [adult swim] Fix line up (at the time of this writing), so it is anyone's guess at this point if Blood+ will be on the Fix or not.
13) Hmm.....I have seen the original movie Blood: The Last Vampire and Saya and as well as some of the other characters in that movie spoke in English in some of the scenes. Not the "English Dubbed" kind but the original film is dual language, both in English and Japanese. Will it be the same in Blood+?
I understand that but I hate to break it to everyone, but No, Blood+ will just be in one language (Original Japanese and there's the English Dubbed version) only. Saya in Blood+ wasn't voiced by Youki Kudo (who originally voiced Saya in the movie). Yeah, I wished Youki Kudo would lent her voice to Saya again but that wasn't the case in the series. It doesn't mean that the series will be stuck in one location since the characters in Blood+ does some heavy amount of traveling around the world but everyone in Blood+, in the majority of the time, will be speaking in one language.
Also, if anyone out there don't know who the heck Youki Kudo is then you need to go out and see some quality movies, but to save you all the trouble of looking it up else where, she is one of few Japanese Actresses that speaks fluent English perfectly and have appeared in a few major American films such as Memories of a Geisha, Snow Falling on Ciders, and the upcoming (at the time of this writing) Rush Hour 3.
14) Can you tell me about some of the Characters in Blood+?
Without spoiling too much of the series I will mention some of the main characters of the series that will appear in episode one only:
Saya Otonashi -main heroin and character of the series.
Kaori Kinjo -Saya's friend from school and fellow track team member.
Kai Miyagusuku -Saya's older adopted Brother.
Riku Miyagusuku -Saya's younger adopted Brother.
George Miyagusuku -Saya's adopted Father and runs the "Omoro" restaurant and bar in Okinawa.
David -??
Lewis -??
Julia Silverstein -??
Vin Argiano -??
Haji -a person seen on the street playing the cello and appears to know Saya in the past.....
Chiropterans -monstrous and beastly looking creatures that feed off blood. Note that the word "chiroptera" is the scientific order for all bats in real life.
As you all know there will be more details added to this in the future so keep an eye on it in this thread as the show airs.
15) What are the episode titles in Blood+ if any?
Yes, all the episodes have titles and the below are the first five:
Ep. 01 "First Kiss"
Ep. 02 "Magic Words"
Ep. 03 "The Place Where It All Started"
Ep. 04 "Dangerous Boy"
Ep. 05 "Toward The Dark Forest"
Again, more will be revealed and added later on when the series airs on [as].
More later as I am sure that this is one heck of a long post already......and for a starting one at that.
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