“You’re two friends hurting one another… This is nothing but a nasty fight!”
Synopsis: Blood Lad follows Staz, a vampire that is obsessed with the human world, and Fuyumi, a human girl that was killed and turned into a ghost after wandering into the demon world. Staz promises to help Fuyumi regain her humanity by bringing her back to life, as it means that he would be able to visit the human world.
Impression:
I gave Blood Lad three episodes and… I’ve decided to drop it. We’ll call these three episodes worth of reviews so far a ‘quick look’ just for future reference. It’s not that I’m not liking it, I am, it’s just that I don’t think I can make a post about this every week… it’s not possible. I personally don’t think there’s enough content for me to write about and the only comment I know would appear in every review would be ‘it was funny’. That’s not something I can elaborate upon. And so, here’s to my final review of Blood Lad. Let’s delve deeper into why, firstly, this episode didn’t convince me to continue reviewing it and, secondly, what I thought the episode was lacking… or, as the case me be, not lacking…
Let’s just get this out of the way… this episode was funny. As was to be expected I guess. Blood Lad never fails to make me laugh and I guess that’s always a bonus. (I know I said I couldn’t elaborate on the point but I’m a hypocrite, okay?!). A comical scene is thrown in every five seconds and, just when you thought a joke or a scene was getting stale, BOOM, another funny moment. Thing is… and I know I’m going to sound hypocritical again… Sometimes Blood Lad just isn’t funny. Now, of course, humor is subjective and what I don’t find funny, someone might find it hilarious. For example, when Wolf cut the carriage in half… to me, that was just an action scene, not a comical moment. The pigeon’s? Creepy as f*ck and in no way funny… maybe I’m just a pessimist? What happened to the innocent child in me that used to laugh at anything… probably School Days…
Oh! And speaking of Wolf… I guess you could say that he’s exactly what I expected? And I think that’s the point… It’s become apparent to me that this show is a ‘parody’ of Shounen manga’s, continuously pointing out comical tidbits that exist in ‘cliche’ shounen manga’s and exploiting them to the point where it becomes hilarious. The explosion of blood from Wolf’s nose when he became aroused, for example, that was the perfect cliche to bring up at that point in time and, that time, I did laugh. It was funny. All the puns and parody’s in this show are funny and, maybe, that’s why it isn’t for me. Parodies tend to lack substance. Take this episode for example, what was actually achieved and how quickly did they achieve it? The group is moving from place to place without any real exposition and everything (and I mean everything) is just thrown in as a comical plot device. Nothing is taken seriously and that’s not why I’m watching this show. They move from point A to point B without any regard to actual ‘plot’ and or logic… and I guess this isn’t meant to be a ‘logical’ show but… Fuyumi. She’s a plot device. The mangaka wanted a cute girl and way to drive the plot so he threw it a large chested Japanese girl with cutesy tendencies. She’s a freaking side character! She does nothing! It’s almost ridiculous…
Staz as a character however (and especially in this episode) is where the show shines. He’s you’re typical overpowered shounen hero but… he doesn’t want more power. In fact, he’d be content with less… and I guess that’s why I like him! Naruto and his speeches get on your nerves after a while and whilst it’s great to see a shounen hero grow and develop, I think (in some cases) it’s probably better to have a character who isn’t as power hungry as the rest of them. Then again, I’m thinking that the mangaka just kept throwing powers at Staz because, y’know, a vampire has an arsenal of powers to help them in any occasion… even bowling.
Staz was getting the shit beat out of him… and then he wasn’t.
His teeth cause a power transference? How much more can this guys mouth do?! Does his tongue drive girls into crazed orgasms…? Is this group just going to be an overpowered comedy gang that runs around in different dimensions causing havoc? Cause I’m cool with that, I’m up for a great laugh in the demon and human worlds… just as long as they keep the shounen puns coming! I expecting at least one ‘you’re taking too long to power up’ joke, at least one ‘you’re outfit looks ridiculous’ jokes and, at least one ‘that sword is ridiculously over sized, how can you even hold it?’ joke… too much? I think not.
Fuyumi’s dramatic moment… was ruined by Aqua Bell! It was cliche and actually pretty funny but… the drama was there! And, whilst Fuyumi is still the ditzy heroine/side character of every otaku’s dreams, her moment was ruined by her innate ability to express herself properly! “Stop fighting! Cry, cry, sniffle… what where am I?”… no! Why Fuyumi? Why you gotta ruin the only drama this show has to offer in such a funny way, you imbecile.
Let’s wrap this up! Blood Lad, I’ve had fun reviewing you but… it’s over now. No, stop, don’t speak. It’s me, not you, okay? We had a good run, beautiful almost. We had our up and downs, we had our quarrels and we had our passionate make ups… I’ll continue to watch you from afar, you’re guardian angel, if I may. A final kiss? No? Well okay then… I know we only knew each other for three 25 minute periods but… y’know? Thanks for all the great times… Oh, and you are officially…
DROPPED!