Vampires have always maintained an undeniable appeal in genre fare, even in spite of countless lame fictions. In the film world, for every good Dracula movie there are a handful of Queen of the Damned, Vampire Wars, and Modern Vampires movies. The anime world is no different, as for every Vampire Hunter D there are uninspired Hellsing, Vampire Princess Miyu, or Dark Stalkers titles. Given this, one could safely say that quality vampire tales are very few and far between. So, with my expectations adjusted to an accordingly low level, I’ll set about reviewing Funimation’s latest release, Black Blood Brothers, an adult targeted Vampire animation promising an abundance of style, and hopefully a little substance.
The basic setup of Black Blood Brothers is this: Black bloods are vampires. Red bloods are humans. Red and black don’t care for each other much, but both are aligned against Kowloon Children, a breed of Chinese hyper-virulent vampire whose spread proves a threat to humans and vampires alike. You see, Black Bloods have existed in secrecy for centuries, but the arrival of the Kowloon Children has forced them into the public eye. Prior to the start of the series, humans and vampires had teamed up against the Kowloon for an ultimate showdown in Hong Kong, commonly referred to as the Hong Kong Crusade. The hero of that venture was a lone vampire of broken blood-line, known as Silver Sword – one of the brothers of the title.
As the series starts, Silver Sword, known privately as Jiro, travels with his young brother, Kotaro to the Special Zone, a protected city of providing peaceful vampire and human cohabitation, set up in the aftermath of the Hong Kong Crusade. As luck would have it, their trip proves anything but smooth. The first disc sees the two caught in an ambush by government troops on Kowloon Children, their meeting up (and teaming up) with Mimiko, a human “compromiser” used in vampire and human negotiations, and their first ever battle with Kowloon Children.
In terms of its story, Black Blood Brothers appears as if it might have a delightfully subversive bent, sneaking social commentary into its tale of vampire action. With the recent scares in Asia due to SARS, the ongoing threat of Bird Flu, and recent reports of tainted products, it makes a perverted sort of sense that the deadliest of deadly vampire strains would arise from China. And, as such, this gives the series a noticeable (and arguably topical) element of Japanese/Chinese tension. However, like the Ronin aspect above, that’s pretty much where the narrative undercurrents end. Most of the show proves fairly straightforward “good guys vs. bad guys” affair, without a whole lot of twists (at least so far). It’s entertaining, but for the time being, only passively engaging.
Black Blood Brothers character roster proves something of an amalgam of other pop vampire/demon anime/games. Its hero, in particular is something of a Frankenstein’s monster of genre trademarks. He possesses the cool and quiet of Vampire Hunter D, the fashion sense of Dante (his annoying sarcasm thankfully left behind), the reserved and kind (and borderline vanilla) disposition of Trinity Blood’s Abel Nightroad, and the bushido honor of countless Toshiro Mifune characters. Yup, Black Blood Brothers sees one of, if not the first ronin vampires to ever hit the anime scene. Admittedly it sounds cool, but in all honesty this final trait is rather subdued, never really evidencing itself through more than his wielding a samurai sword (again, at least not in this disc). Other characters being featured in the story include Jiro’s brother, Kotaro, a sickeningly cute, annoyingly airheaded-type who serves as the show’s punching bag, and the aforementioned Mimiko, a stereotypical cute police girl.
While narrative and characters may be a bit underwhelming, when it comes to animation the show really shines. Character models have an anime-infused Joe Chiodo look to them, being a uniquely expressive and attractive mix of big eyes and toothy grins. The color scheme itself is surprisingly bright and friendly for a vampire anime, and the scenes of battle pack an impressive punch, fully reminiscent and on par with classic works such as Ninja Scroll. If you’re looking for slick battles, Black Blood Brothers is the place to be.
In the end, Black Blood Brothers seems an entertaining diversion, but little more than that. As with Witchblade, I’m a bit reluctant to give a determination on the series after seeing only the first four episodes. I believe the series has potential, but sadly, have a nagging feeling it might not prove that memorable. Here’s hoping it picks up in the second disc.
The DVD.
As always, Funimation’s DVDs look tops. Black Blood Brothers receives a very nice transfer, with bright, uniform colors and not a trace of dither. And, as usual, the disc is presented with your choice of English 5.1 or Japanese stereo tracks. Both are good, but this time out I would have to say I preferred the Japanese track.
In the extras department, Black Blood Brothers features original Japanese commentaries for the individual episodes (hosted by the series creator and “The Order Coffin Club”), reversible cover art, television spots for the series, textless opening and closing animations, and the usual Funimation trailer gallery. After completing the first disc, and going back to check out the commentary tracks, I found I had forgotten a good deal of the story. Arguably the coolest item here would be the commentaries, which have an off-the wall quirkiness to them I’ve not heard outside of the Resident Evil movie commentary. They’re quite entertaining (though debatably informative), and if you take a chance to listen you’ll probably find yourself listening the whole way through. The reversible cover is cool as well, providing textless Japanese artworks on one side, and the equally eye-catching American artwork on the other.
All in all, the Black Blood Brothers DVD is a nice offering from Funimation, but the story leaves a little to be desired. For now, I would give this disc a conditional recommendation to fans of vampire animation. The rest of you might want to proceed with caution.
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