There are many vampire anime out there, but none manage to stand out on their own quite as much as the Blood+ anime does. It has a complex story, interesting characters, and dark twists. I stumbled across this anime when I was younger, and it’s been one that stuck with me due to its darker story elements.

Saya Awakens To Her Powers

Blood+ is an anime about a girl named Saya Otonashi who was raised by an adopted family. She’s both anemic and has amnesia about her past, but she tries hard to be like any other schoolgirl.

Unfortunately, those plans are quickly derailed when she is attacked by a Chiropteran, which is basically a monstrous vampire-like creature. Saya realizes that she has unique abilities that allow her to fight the monsters and that this ability is closely tied to her past.

It Starts Slow And Picks Up In The Second Half

The series is long, with 50 episodes. While it’s all considered one season, it’s pretty easy to realize this show was broken up into two halves. The first half is a little slow and is primarily about establishing the main characters and the settings, acting more like a drama than action.

The second half of the Blood+ anime is where the action really kicks up, though the drama does as well. Everything is explained and the characters are established.

All that’s left is to fight and reveal how the situation changes the main characters as they go on.

A Lot Of Puzzle Pieces

There are a lot of storylines going on at once during the series. Many characters are growing and learning even as their backstories are being revealed, and several twists are included in the story in detail. Thankfully, with 50 episodes, it was plenty of time for all of these subplots, twists, and characters to be fully flushed out without feeling rushed.

I have to admit, I absolutely loved this series growing up. Was it one I should have watched when I was still a kid? No, but I did and I enjoyed it, despite the disturbing reveals at the end.

A Surprisingly Complex, Dark Ride

Though the Blood+ anime was already pretty dark, featuring plenty of murder and torture, that twist made the series so much more disturbing. It didn’t feel like the show could get darker, with no character having clean hands by the end of the series, but it did.

Overall, this was a surprisingly dark show that I stumbled across randomly one day, and it swept me up into the story in no time. I’m a huge fan of having villains with complex backgrounds that make them seem not quite so villainous in the long run, and the Blood+ anime definitely delivered on that.

Watch It When You Can

Additionally, the animation style was done very well. It was released in 2005, and compared to other anime of the time, the animation stands out as being quite well done and smooth.

Despite being a very dark and strange anime, it was fairly popular. On My Anime List, the Blood+ anime received an average score of 7.61.

It’s also #621 on the popularity scale. Considering this was an anime that was never widely released and has always been rather difficult to find, that’s a pretty impressive score.

Unfortunately, the Blood+ anime is still notoriously hard to find. On occasion, it pops up on Amazon or Tubi, so it’s worth checking those places first. Or, you can add it to a watchlist on JustWatch so you’re alerted when this dark anime becomes available.