Blood+

Blood+(stylized asBLOOD+and pronounced "Blood Plus") is a Japaneseanimetelevision series produced byProduction I.GandAniplexand directed and written byJunichi Fujisaku. The series was broadcast onMBSandTBSfrom October 2005 to September 2006.Blood+is licensed for international distribution in several regions throughSony Pictures' international arm,Sony Pictures Television International.
Blood+was inspired by the 2000 anime filmBlood: The Last Vampire; however, there are only a few allusions and basic elements from the film. Fujisaku has been involved with both works, including acting as the director and writer forBlood+and writing thenovelizationofBlood: The Last Vampire.
The series is initially set in September 2005 inOkinawa City(Koza) onOkinawa Islandnear the USKadena Air Base. Under the care of her adoptive family, the protagonist Saya Otonashi had been living the life of ananemicamnesiac, but otherwise ordinary schoolgirl. However, her happy life is shattered when she is attacked by a Chiropteran, a hematophagous bat-like creature that lives by feeding on human blood. Saya learns that she is the only one who can defeat them, as her blood causes their bodies to crystallize and shatter. Armed with her specialkatana, Saya embarks on a journey with her family, friends, allies, and herchevalierHaji, to rid the world of the Chiropteran threat and recover her identity. The course of the journey reveals the background history of the Chiropterans and Saya's mysterious past, which extends into the mid-19th century. Over the course of the series, Saya travels across the world fromJapantoVietnam,Russia,France, theUnited Kingdom, and finally theUnited States.
Produced byProduction I.GandAniplex, and directed and written byJunichi Fujisaku,Blood+was inspired by the 2000 anime filmBlood: The Last Vampire; however, there are only a few allusions and basic elements from the film.Fujisaku has been involved with both works, including acting as the director forBlood+and writing the novelization ofBlood: The Last Vampire.
TheBlood+anime series premiered in Japan on October 8, 2005, onMBSandTBS, replacingMobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, with a new episode airing weekly for a full year until the final episode aired on September 23, 2006,totaling 50 episodes. The series is directed byJunichi Fujisakuand features original character designs by Chizu Hashii. Each season has separate opening and ending themes from a variety of artists, with the final episode using the season one ending theme. The series simultaneously aired onAnimax, Sony's Japanese animesatellitechannel, with itsnetworksin Southeast Asia and South Asia also later airing the series.
Through Sony's international division,Blood+was licensed for distribution in multiple regions.The Englishdubof the series aired in the United States onAdult Swim,premiering March 11, 2007, and running until March 23, 2008.The English dub also aired in Australia on theSci Fi Channeland in the Philippines onStudio 23.
The firstRegion 1DVDs were released in North America on March 4, 2008, with a simultaneous release of a single five-episode volume and a twenty-five episode box set,Blood+ Part One.Sony continued released individual volumes on a regular basis. Despite that Sony Pictures Television International since 2014 has not completed releasing volume 5 of the first half of the series. Leaving the first half separate releases incomplete. The second half was released in a second box set,Blood+ Part Two, on October 20, 2009.In June 2020 the entire series was added for free streaming in the United States onTubibefore being removed two years later in June 2022.
Except for the opening and ending themes, the entire musical score forBlood+was the work of noted film score producerHans Zimmerand noted composerMark Mancina.Blood+was the first anime project Mancina worked on, and afterward he stated that working on the project turned him into an anime fan.All of the opening and ending themes were created at Sony Music for the project, after the production team, headed by Yutaka Omatsu, presenting the project concept andBlood+worldview. The opening and ending themes are performed by a variety of artists, includingHitomi Takahashi,Chitose Hajime,Hyde,Mika Nakashima,Angela Aki,Uverworld,Jinn, andK.In an interview with Production I.G staff, Omatsu noted that he felt Sony did an excellent job of providing music fitting for each season, as did the team of Zimmer and Mancina.
Four CD soundtracks, all produced by Hans Zimmer, have been released in Japan bySony Music Japanthrough theirAniplexlabel.Hagi Plays J.S. Bach(ハジ プレイズ J.S BACH)was released on February 2, 2006. It contains six tracks: selections fromJohann Sebastian Bach'sCello Suite No. 5 in C minor (BWV 1011)performed by Nobuo Furukawa(古川展生,Furukawa Nobuo), who is the cellist behind Hagi's playing in the series. The seventh, and final track, is a bonus remix of the music performed by Yoshihiro Hanno(半野喜弘,Hanno Yoshihiro). The soundtrack included a DVD with a special episode telling some of Hagi's backstory and a music video with Furukawa playing the first track, "Prelude"(プレリュード).
The first full soundtrack,Blood+ Original Soundtrack 1, was released on April 26, 2006. It contains fourteen instrumental tracks of background music used during the series and one vocal song "Diva", sung by Elin Carlson, which is the song the character Diva sang in several episodes of the series.On September 27, 2006,Blood+ Original Soundtrack 2was released with an additional eighteen tracks of instrumental themes from the series.Blood+ Complete Best, released October 25, 2006, is a limited edition compilation set containing a CD, a DVD, and an eighty-page booklet that includes a full episode guide and some final notes from the series production staff.  The CD includes the full versions of all eight series' opening and ending theme songs, as well as last two instrumental tracks from the first soundtrack. The DVD contains music videos for each of the theme songs from the CD.
To lead up to theBlood+anime series, threeBlood+manga series were released and published in three different manga magazines. Thetankōbonvolumes of all three series were published byKadokawa Shoten.Blood+, by Asuka Katsura, is a five-volume series that first premiered inMonthly Shōnen Acein July 2005. It covers the same story events as the anime series.Blood+: Adagiowas written by Kumiko Suekane. It is a two-volume series that premiered in the September 2005 issue ofBeans Ace Magazineand follows Saya and Hagi's experiences during theRussian Revolution. The third series,Blood+: Kowloon Nights, released in Japan asBlood+ Yakōjōshi(BLOOD+ 夜行城市,Blood+ Nocturnal Castle City), is a single tankōbon series by Hirotaka Kisaragi. It premiered in the September issue ofAsuka Ciel.Set in Shanghai, it follows Hagi as he searches for Saya and the complications he must deal with. Unlike the otherBlood+manga adaptations, which are bothshōnenworks,Blood+: Kowloon Nightsis ashōjomanga, particularly of theshōnen-ai(or Boy's Love) genre. All three manga adaptations have been licensed for release in English in North America byDark Horse Comics.
There are two Japaneselight noveladaptations of theBlood+series.Blood+, written by Ryō Ikehata with illustrations by Chizu Hashii, is the four volume official novel adaptation of the anime series, expanding upon the events of the fifty-episode anime series and giving greater background on the battle against chiropterans.The first volume was released in Japan on May 1, 2006, byKadokawa Shotenunder their male orientedKadokawa Sneaker Bunkolabel.  The remaining volumes released every four months until the final volume was released on May 1, 2007.
The second adaptation titledBlood+ Russian Rose(BLOOD+ ロシアン・ローズ), is a two-volume series written by Karino Minazuki and illustrated by Ryō Takagi. It was released at the same time asBlood+, with the first volume was released on May 1, 2006, and the second on September 1, 2006. The series, published under Kadokawa's female oriented label Beans Bunko, details Saya and Hagi's lives at the start of the 20th century and theRussian Revolution.
Both novel series have been licensed for release in English in North America byDark Horse Comics. Dark Horse released the first translatedBlood+novel on March 19, 2008.
In 2017, Fujisaku wrote a third novelization ofBlood+, titledBlood#, which takes place after the series finale, focusing on Diva's grown children, Hibiki and Kanade.
TwoSonyPlayStation 2video games have been created that are based on theBlood+series. Both games are currently only available in Japan and have not been licensed for release in any other countries.
Blood+: One Night Kiss, fromNamco Bandai GamesandGrasshopper Manufacture, is anaction-adventure gamethat was originally released on August 30, 2006.Set in the fictional town of Shikishi, players spend most of the game playing as Saya, occasionally switching to Aoyama, an original character created for the game.Goichi Sudawas the game's director and writer in consultation with Fujisaka, whileMasafumi Takadawas composer.Production was completed on a tight five month schedule so it would release within the anime's broadcast.The cel-shaded graphics based on those of Suda's earlier titleKiller7using a custom-built engine for thePlayStation 2, while the purely urban setting was settled on by Suda as a return to the setting of his earlier gameMoonlight Syndrome.Suda and the studio were asked to hold back on their established tone, with Suda's initial plan for the game's Saya to be a Chiroptera clone killed at the game's end being vetoed.
Blood+: Sōyoku no Battle Rondo(BLOOD+ 〜双翼のバトル輪舞曲(ロンド)〜)from Sony Entertainment is anadventure gamereleased on July 27, 2006.Set during the year between episodes 32 and 33, after Riku's death, the game alternates between an "Active Demo" section where the player can make decisions that change the story line, and full action sequences where the player, as Saya, fights with her sword to collect chiropteran crystals.
In addition to the two PS2 games, Sony Entertainment released thePSPgameBlood+: Final Piece(BLOOD+ 〜ファイナルピース〜)on September 7, 2006. It is anadventurerole-playing video gamethat uses animated sequences from the series as well as new footage created specifically for the game.The game is set during the first season of the series, and features an original story in which Saya, joined by three friends from school, investigates the mystery of her father's disappearance.
A Java game, covering most of the anime's plot is also available.
In September 2006,NewtypereleasedBlood+ Encyclopedia, a special issue fan book that includes interviews with the staff and cast, an episode guide, and information on the related media – the manga, novels and video games.
WhenBlood+first aired in Japan, it was shown in TBS and MBS's 6 pm. Sundaytimeslot, which has been used to air anime since 1993. AfterBlood+began airing, the ratings for that time slot began dropping. The drop in viewership became more pronounced afterNHK Educational TV's baseball animeMajorpremiered on a competing time slot.
Carl Kimlinger ofAnime News Networkgave the series an overall score of B stating, "The plot is propulsive, never lingering for long in one place, yet never rushing to leave. Slickly executed, compulsively watchable and highly entertaining".In December 2005,Blood+was one of several anime series selected as being a "recommended as an excellent work" at the 9th annualJapanese Media Arts Festival.The series was ranked number 41 onTV Asahi's list of top 100 favorite anime series for 2006.