Blood-C: The Last Dark (Blu-ray) (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Audio Commentary-US Cast and Crew Featurette-NoNeNoNe Theatre (11:51) More…-Promotional Videos Teaser Trailer Trailer-Original Trailer Trailer-US Trailer Trailer-x 5 for other films
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	106:15 (Case: 105)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Naoyoshi Shiotani
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Nana Mizuki Alexis Tipton Kenji Nojima Robert McCollum Ai Hashimoto Jad Sexton Hiroshi Kamiya Mike McFarland
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Naoki Sato

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English Audio Commentary Dolby TrueHD 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Saya Kisaragi (voiced by Nana Mizuki / Alexis Tipton), the sole survivor of a failed experiment, comes to Tokyo intending to find and kill Fumito Nanahara (Kenji Nojima / Robert McCollum), the man who controlled the experiment that had killed all her friends. In Tokyo vampire like beasts have begun to feed on the population and Saya saves Mana Hiiragi (Ai Hashimoto / Jad Sexton) by killing one beast. Through Mana Saya is introduced to Kunoto Mogari (Hiroshi Kamiya / Mike McFarland) and a group called Sirrut. Sirrut is a team of young internet hackers including Fujimura (Yuki Kagi / Josh Grelle), Matsuo (Yuichi Nakamura / Justin Cook) and Hiro (Kana Hanazawa / Tia Ballard) who have their own reasons for wanting Fumito dead. But Fumito knows that Saya is coming for him and has plans of his own for her. By the climax Saya will find out just who, or what, she really is.

     Blood-C The Last Dark is in effect the final, movie length, episode of the TV anime series Blood-C which I reviewed on this site here. While some knowledge of the TV series is useful, it is not essential for in its last few episodes Blood-C took a dramatic about face, basically negating everything that had gone before. Blood-C The Last Dark starts about 3 months after the final events of the series but with only a couple of characters carried over from Blood-C. Blood-C The Last Dark also includes enough exposition for new viewers to get an idea of the background story. Some things may confuse new viewers, such as the rather pointless short scene that included the small talking dog from Blood-C, but on the whole Blood-C The Last Dark can be taken as a reasonably straight forward revenge story and, for me at least, it did not really add to the themes of identity, time and emotions that made the series so compelling.

     In its own right Blood-C The Last Dark is bleak, dark and bloody. This is a very grim and gritty Tokyo and the colour palate of the film reflects this. There are lots of dark greys and blues, with areas of shadow and darkness in most frames. There are occasional flashes of brighter colours including yellow in fires and sunsets, but even the blood, and there is lots of it, is a dark crimson. As well, the happy singing Saya of the TV series is gone: this is a grim, hard and focussed Saya, although her character is softened by her relationship with Mana, who has to go through her own journey of discovery.

     The battles in Blood-C The Last Dark are less frequent than in the series, but remain gory and gruesome as bodies are ripped apart and blood spurts and flows. The Elder Bairns also take a bit of a back seat in Blood-C The Last Dark and the film does try to tie up some loose ends from the TV series, not always successfully. Yet, in its own right Blood-C The Last Dark is thrilling, dark and bloody and brings the Blood-C saga to an acceptable conclusion.

Video

     Blood-C The Last Dark is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the original release ratio, in 1080p using the MPEG 4 AVC code.

     As noted, this film has a very dark colour palate. The greys, blues and red are dull and dark, and there are lots of shadow and blackness in many frames. The blacks are solid, and I suppose the shadow detail is purposely obscured so we see only what we are supposed to see. There are occasional flashes of brighter yellow in the fire, gunshots and explosions. The print is also quite soft, I suspect deliberately, and there is some out of focus shots to add to the sense of being disoriented or in a damaged world. Contrast and brightness is consistent.

     There was occasional ghosting but I did not notice any marks or other artefacts.

     It is anime so lip synchronisation is approximate in either audio track.

     The English subtitles in a clear white font are easy to read and seemed error free. They are burnt in when the Japanese dub is selected.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is a choice of either English or Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1. The languages cannot be changed on the fly by using “audio” on the remote, but must be changed via the menu. There is also an English commentary track in Dolby TrueHD 2.0.

     Both audio tracks have similar characteristics. Dialogue is clear and centred and the surrounds and rears are frequently in use for vehicle noises including trains, cars and helicopters, crowds, gunshots and explosions. There were occasional panning effects and the subwoofer added bass to vehicles, explosions and debris.

     The music by Naoki Sato is great, being moody, atmospheric and powerful when required.

     The English dub in this case is reasonable, but I still prefer to listen to the original Japanese.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

U.S Actor & Staff Commentary

     This is a commentary hosted by Mike McFarland, the US ADR director and voice of Mogari, who questions separately or in pairs cast members Alexis Tipton (Saya), Jad Sexton (Mana), Josh Grelle (Shun), Tia Ballard (Hiro) and Robert McCollum (Fumito), as well as Jerry Jewell, the US ADR director of the Blood-C series, Kyle Phillips, US ADR engineer, and Neil Malley, sound mix engineer. They are not watching the film so this is not screen specific but McFarland holds the commentary together pretty well, and things they explore include the character played by each of the cast members, other work they have done, the style of the animation in Blood-C The Last Dark, voice recording, the creative process and vampire lore. Some interesting stuff, some inane sections, but this is better than many commentaries of this type I have listen to.

NoNeNoNe Theatre (11:51)

     The twins Nono and Nene Motoe (voiced by Misato Fukuei) from the TV series (where they were killed!!)) present six short promotions for the film, basically recapping the characters and events from the series. Quite fun.

Promotional Videos (4:16)

    Two Japanese trailers for the series.

Original Teaser (0:34)

Original Trailer (0:37)

U.S. Trailer (0:34)

     Trailer for the Blu-ray / DVD.

Trailers (8:07)

     Trailers for Appleseed XIII Series Collection, Baka and Test Series 2 Collection, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Eden of the East Movie 1 and Evengelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance.

     The Blu-ray releases of Blood-C The Last Dark in Region A US and Region B UK are the same as our release. The Region A Japanese release is not English friendly.

     Blood-C The Last Dark concludes the Blood-C saga. Knowledge of the TV series could be useful but is not essential, and Blood-C The Last Dark can be taken as a reasonably straight forward revenge story which brings the Blood-C saga to an acceptable conclusion.

     The video and audio are good. Extras are not extensive but there is nothing extra available in other English language regions.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall