Blood-C 12 (final) ~ warning: spoilers

In this censored image, a giant monster eats a human like a corn on the cob.

Blood-C was an extraordinary show. I will provide my overall thoughts in a separate spoiler-free post, but here I intend to comment on the series finale, which means this post is loaded with spoilers! Don’t read this post if you haven’t watched the series yet.

Now that the series is over, there are some interesting issues that are unresolved that I had thought would be. In particular, the “promise” was seemingly unrelated to the “test”. I thought that the questions the dog was asking would be more closely related to the mystery of the village.

Saya, uncensored.

There was a LOT of shocking violence in this episode. I don’t even think Saya getting a quarter of her head blown off was the worst of it. Seeing one of the twins ripped apart at the hip joints was pretty damned horrific. Even watching Itsuki, the class rep, get gunned down was pretty intense. Some have said that the scenes of nameless villagers being slaughtered lack impact, and I’ll admit that Tsutsutori-sensei’s death, though less gruesome, had more impact than some of the bizarre scenes of people being ground up, or having their heads twisted off like soda bottles. Still this episode was full of crazy explicit violence, and the horror of the Shrovetide, and the inhumanity of those that unleashed it, was plainly evident.

Speaking of those who unleashed it, I thought Yuuka’s scene with Fumito, where she asks to be governor of Tokyo was interesting. Beyond the mystery of Saya, we have a deep, if fantastic, critique of power. All of this was seemingly approved and monitored by the Japanese and American governments. In fact, Yuuka makes it clear that the path to power takes one right through the gruesome scenes of the Shrovetide. Fumito’s operation isn’t some criminal operation, attempting to grab power, they are the Powers That Be, who have always made the decisions that resulted in many “necessary” (or at least useful) deaths.

Personally, I think this was a pretty good close to the arc. We know there is a movie coming, but it will not be for the purpose of finishing off this arc, nor will it bring more of the same. Even Saya seems to be radically changed, first because she may now be missing an eye, and second because she is awakened, both from the hypnotic control and drugged coffee, as well as having control over her own power (as was made clear in the fight against Tadayoshi). On the other hand we have at least two escaped villains that can be used in the upcoming movie, if the show’s creators should so choose. This backstory makes Yuuka a compelling target for a revenge movie, and Fumito is far more of a monster, despite his humanity, than Saya can ever be.

So, how will the story of Saya, and Clamp’s Blood-C continue? I am very interested in seeing what happens next.