Black Blood Brothers

Information of Anime

Ten years ago, a war called the Holy War was set in Hong Kong to battle as the Kowloon Children.  Present time, Jirou Mochizuki & his younger brother Kotarou Mochizuki from the Old Blood go to Hong Kong to live in an area called the Special Zone, the remains of old Hong Kong.  To get in, vampires, referred as Old or Black Blood, need to get permission from The Company.  Mimiko Katsuragi, a representative of The Company invites the brothers into the Special Zone.  However, there have been reports of Kowloon Children appearing in the area.  Jirou, aka the Silver Blade that fought against the Kowloon Children in the Holy War, draws his sword again.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I've seen.  This section does contain some spoilers.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

The show does a lot of flashbacks in the first few minutes of the episode of Jirou's past & a girl named Alice whom he fell in love with.  When the show enters the present era, we see the Mochizuki brothers trying to get use to the Special Zone with Mimiko helping them out.  When the Kowloon Children appeared, Jirou didn't want part of the action until Kotarou got involved.  Although The Company consisting of Black & Red (aka humans) blood want Jirou to stay & help them get rid of the Kowloon Children, he refuses & plans to leave the Special Zone with Kotarou to prevent more troubles to happen in the Special Zone.  It turns out that his old friend & enemy, Cassandra Jill Warlock, is causing the Kowloon Children incident by illegally importing Black Blood secretly & feeding it to vampires in the Special Zone.  Although she is trying to look for Jirou, she was lucky to find out that he's in the Special Zone.  During this time, Jirou gets convinced by Mimiko & the others in living in the Special Zone to help fight against Thus, a battle begins between Jirou & Cassa.

The battle between Jirou & Cassa is intense as the two fight to the death of their bloodline.  During the battle, Jirou telepathy tells Mimiko after biting her for the second time, that Kotarou is the reincarnation of  the sage Eve (or Alice).  Jirou planned to have Kotarou to come to the Special Zone to make friends in case something happens to him.  After the truth of Kotarou, Jirou finishes off Cassa.

The story ends with Jirou learning the truth about the Eleventh Yard holding the corpse of the king of Kowloon.  Jirou was chosen to be the crypt keeper since he defeated him before.  To finish it off, Jirou, Kotarou, & Mimiko are living together at an abandon warehouse & working together for Company as well.

My Personal Review

Black Blood Brothers isn't a great anime.  Although it sticks with the storyline very well, it felt dry & boring.  I actually had no interest in watching it at the start.  I only watched it to fulfill a need to watch some anime. 

Animation

The drawings are have a bit of that 70s look.  Long faces & sharp pointy noses.  Also, they have sharp eyes regardless of them being big or small.  In terms of the fashion, it's not too appealing or is it plain.  It's got some style & distinction, but it's not something you will go nuts for.

The backgrounds are pretty good.  It's more of a manga feel than reality.  It's not very detail, but still enjoyable to look at.

The animation movements are quite natural at times, but most of the time it's unreal.  Air attacks & jumps are superhuman like.  The movements are very smooth & flowing.  The fights are sometimes exciting while others are so-so.

Sound

The sound effect are on the reality & fake side.  It's pretty clear & crisp when you hear the sword slicing.

The seiyuus are somewhat weak.  They aren't the best cast in my view even though they play their characters well.  There wasn't anyone that I like out of the bunch,

The music is sounds a bit childish with the rock & some of the silly songs the show offers.  They aren't too likeable for me, but the first part of the opening theme song sticks to my head for some reason & I really hate that song.  The ending theme song was probably the best one I liked as it's soft ballad & it's done by the Korean group LOVEHOLIC.

Story

The show pretty much sticks to the point about the Kowloon children & how its threatening the Special Zone.  I found the story to be quite dry & a bit predictable such as why Jirou suddenly has a younger brother that never appeared in his past life.  Although the pace is steady & flowing, the way the other vampires in the Special Zone decided to take action was too slow.  They were stalking most of the time even though the city was under attack.  Plus, their characters wasn't too great in terms of developing them.

The ending is reasonable for a short show & it managed to tie up everything perfectly well.  I'm actually surprised on how it managed to get the job done pretty well.

Overall Conclusion

Black Blood Brothers isn't something vampire fans will enjoy.  With the exception of the last battle, the action is pretty boring & the story is quite dry.  The story is very easy to pick up & easy to understand, but the interest level to maintain it is low.  I don't suggest watching this show.

Black Blood Brothers gets a 6/10.  Although the ending closed everything nicely, the story is boring & didn't offer a lot of spunk.  Also, the mysteries surround the story is predictable right off the bat.  The story is more suited to a younger audience to the easiness of picking it up, but the amount of blood & violence is too high for younger children.  The show is more to a young teenager audience.

Last updated on December 19, 2007