Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

Blood-C: The Last Dark Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 21, 2013

It’s at least a little surprising how viscerally negative even longtime fans of Blood-C have been with regard to Blood-C: The Last Dark, a feature film which acts as a sort of sequel to that series. On one level, it’s understandable, for this sequel seems to jettison one of the more startling aspects of the original series, a kind of “meta” approach that resulted in one major and rather startling reveal as the story unfolded. On another level, though, it’s at least a little confounding, for Blood-C: The Last Dark continues what was arguably one of the series’ strongest elements, its lush visual aesthetic.

If there’s a flaw in Blood-C: The Last Dark (and there undoubtedly is), it’s that the plot of this sequel is fairly rote and surprisingly predictable. Things get off to a slam bang start, with a startling transformation on a subway that soon wreaks all sorts of havoc, but then Saya, who is now in Tokyo, just kind of meanders along for a while until the film works itself back into a frenzy for its expectedly hyperbolic climax. There are a number of sidebars here (a kind of fascistic governmental presence and a new “friend” for Saya—not that she wants one) that supposedly round things out, but just as often seem like afterthoughts that never really amount to much. Fans of the series may want to check this out, or in fact they may simply want to rewatch Blood-C instead.

Blood-C: The Last Dark Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Blood-C: The Last Dark is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is an often gorgeous looking anime feature film, once again dealing in a lot of dark blacks and crimson reds, giving the film a slightly desaturated look some of the time. Line detail is very crisp and there's a bit more attention paid to character design here than in the series. The banding issues which were quite prevalent in the series are nowhere to be seen here and this is overall a really nice looking presentation.

Blood-C: The Last Dark Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Blood-C: The Last Dark features Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mixes in English and Japanese. The Japanese mix sounded just slightly less aggressive to my ears, at least with regard to voice work if not to actual effects (which may be due simply to the different styles and approaches of the voice actors). There's some great surround activity here, often with quite fulsome LFE, in the film's gruesome action sequences. Dialogue is cleanly presented in both languages. This release offer hardcoded (non removable) English subtitles that are only available on the Japanese language track.

Blood-C: The Last Dark Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• U.S. Actor and Staff Commentary


• NoNeNoNe Theater (1080p; 11:51) is in six parts.


• Promotional Videos (1080p; 4:16)


• Original Teaser (1080p; 00:34)


• Original Trailer (1080p; 00:37)


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 1:12)

Blood-C: The Last Dark Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

After having heard some fans' complaints about this film, I was actually expecting an out and out disaster, and if there's good news here, it's that Blood-C: The Last Dark actually has some great action elements and it is a really beautifully animated feature. The bad news is that it's resolutely predictable about every step of the way, and it really does little to either reinforce or develop the series' mythology. Those who liked this film will be pleased to know this high definition presentation is fantastic looking and sounding.