What They Say:
The fourth progenitor is the most powerful vampire once thought to exist only in the world of legends. Yet when it appears in Japan, the government for some reason chooses an apprentice “sword shaman”, Yukina Himeragi, to observe and obliterate it. Bewildered by the disproportionate task and its specific details, Yukina arrives at the Demon District of Itogami-jima to watch Akatsuki Kojo, and a student at a private high school on Itogami-jima.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Strike the Blood has landed our two main characters on a remote island for a mission and then opted to throw in a good number of the classmates as well. Keeping them separate and unaware of each other has its uses as we get to see Akatsuki and Himeragi spending some good quality time together, one of those areas that has been a brighter point in the series for me. Of course, while Akatsuki is out coping with his own issues privately, he ends up next to a lake where he sees Kanase bathing naked, which obviously gets him to stop everything he’s doing. At least until Himeragi shows up and calls him out on it, not that she sees who he was looking at. The tension between the two is pretty simple but it’s the usual kind of jealousies that crop up in a show like this so it’s not all that unusual.
Akatsuki and Himeragi don’t get a lot of quiet time as the night rolls on though as a Magus Craft has landed on the beach with a group of darkly clad men with weapons that are intent on finding him. Though they’re able to deal with the situation well enough since Akatsuki knows that the situation must be met with some power, it does make it clear that he’s being hunted here. And we get a good deal of that kind of material as the first half of the episode goes on and we see what’s going on with Kanase and the examination and research being done on her. Which is what’s making Akatsuki all the more valuable to the organization since they want him to complement the research.
While we get a lot of back story material here, with only so much of it you can trust considering the sources, it all does come down to a fairly black and white situation where one side is manipulating things to achieve their larger goals and the good young kids that oppose it. It’s not exactly bad here as we learn what’s going on and why it should be stopped since it’s not the right thing to do and it’s dangerous what Magus Craft is working with, never mind their terrible personalities that wouldn’t win anyone over, but it’s just too simple here. Too black and white. What helps to salvage it is that as Magus Craft brings out Kanase, we get a visually impressive action sequence since she has a great design to her and the animation for it hits all the right notes to be appealing, though it’s the kind of material that I think will look weaker in the long term and not stand up as well.
In Summary:
Focusing more on Himeragi and Akatsuki this time around with only a token nod to who else is on the island, the episode spends its time well in having some fun with them at the start. Then it decides to throw a lot of information their way which is interesting but ultimately just a lot of blather to serve up a black and white situation where Akatuski has to do what he does because it’s the right and good thing. There’s not much in the way of nuance here and that just makes the whole thing far too simplistic. It’s executed well and it has some nice moments in terms of animation and design, but beyond that it’s just another notch in the belt for the series and the episodes it has to run through.
Grade: C
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
