[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Black Blood Brothers episode 1: First Impressions
My belated intro to the season continues with what can best be described as a guilty pleasure: Black Blood Brothers is cliched, derivative, formulaic and all similarly-themed adjectives. It’s also one heck of a lot of fun. Y’see, vampire-themed stuff is something of an Acchilles’ Heel for me - I have a weakness for undead-themed entertainment, especially when it’s as stylish as this. Jirou Mochizuki is an angsty, charming vampire with a large sword, a cool hat and the ability to stop bullets at will; add to this a decent soundtrack with an 80s heavy metal-style guitar solo in the op theme and I’m sold.
Jirou comes from the Vampire Hunter D school of cool, or at least frequents the same tailor. He’s a guy with the inevitable shady past but is part of some vampire fraternity - possibly the Brothers of the title. In the opening episode we see Jirou take on some zombie-like creatures, then stow away aboard a ship with his kid brother Kotarou to travel to what is known as the ‘Special Zone’, presumably a safe haven for their kind.
We also meet one or two others in this first outing, including a rather attractive female vamp named Cassa who Jirou considers to be a traitor and some other vampires who accompany the Mochizukis on their journey. What makes Black Blood Brothers more promising than might be expected (apart from the visuals, obviously) is the background to the story: there appears to be an uneasy truce between ‘black blood’ vampires and ‘red blood’ humans, as well as rifts within the Vampire community itself.
There’s a lot of name-dropping and unexplained events and allegiances, but what makes me hopeful for this series is that it’s seeemingly aware of how over-used the vampire theme is so has a little fun with it - take the good-natured spats between Jirou and Kotarou, for instance. In some ways, it reminds me more of Hellsing than the serious and atmospheric horror fare, which could be a refreshing change as Halloween nears! With a stylish bishie hero, well-choreographed action and the beginnings of a decent story, Black Blood Brothers might prove to be a surprisingly enjoyable addition to this season’s schedule.
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