AKA: 劇場版 ブラッドシー ザ ラスト ダーク (Japanese)

Genre: Supernatural Action Horror

Length: Movie, 110 minutes

Distributor: Currently licensed by FUNimation.

Content Rating: 18+ (Frequent Bloody Violent and Infrequent Nudity)

Related Series: The movie is a direct continuation of Blood C but it also shares a franchise with Blood: The Last Vampire and Blood +.

Also Recommended: Berserk, Garden of Sinners and Mardock Scramble films.

Notes:

Rating:

Blood-C: The Last Dark

Synopsis

Spoilers for Blood C TV!

The Last Dark begins six months after the bloody end of the television series and now Saya is in Tokyo, which has fallen under the control of series antagonist Fumito and a collection of anti-teenager legislation. Saya proceeds to team up with anti-Fumito group Sirrut and pursues a plan of revenge against her nemesis.

Review

How do you elaborate on a shrug? That is exactly what commenting of Blood C: The Last Dark feels like. Blood C, meaning the television series that preceded this movie, had a lot of things wrong with it but, as Brad's review of it explains, there were a lot of things about it that were interesting enough to be worth discussion. This is not the case with this movie.

First of all, don't misunderstand me. The Last Dark is not a bad action movie. It is true that it is a little sluggish in the pacing department (a five or ten minute trim would have done the movie good) but the action is quality stuff, well drawn and well animated, and those of us who don't mind a bit of school-girl-with-katana violence should be satisfied. The problem when it comes to commenting on The Last Dark is that it is nothing more and nothing less than adequate. The plot is a bare bones affair - the whole legislation angle serves no purpose other than to give Saya a supporting cast to be taciturn to and be humanised by - and really could be encapsulated in one sentence: "Saya comes to Tokyo to kill Fumito and then does it." Even the obligatory third act twist is so bleeding obvious that the real twist would have been if there hadn't been a twist at all! It is by-the-numbers stuff from beginning to end. That said, simple plotting is not an evil in and of itself and, aside from the aforementioned sag in pacing due to the film's excessive runtime, the plot does its job adequately.

The cast is adequate and validates their existence, playing necessary roles in the narrative. Mana is the girl that (somewhat) befriends Saya and there are a few other characters that move the plot along or provide light comic relief as required - all adequately. Saya herself is a bit different from the character we knew from Blood C, i.e. more like the character we know from the rest of the franchise, and I was worried that the stony faced, cold-blooded, revenge thirsty routine would get a bit tiresome. Happily, the character development kicks in before that happens and she becomes fairly well-rounded and sympathetic by the end of it. Overall there is a bit of characterisation here and a bit of fanservice there (including the inevitable CLAMP crossover) and it all comes together to make something that is best described as... adequate. For those of you worried about whether the mysteries of the series are answered, I can tell you that there is enough explicit and implied information to tie up the most important loose ends.

So yeah, what more is there to say? If you watched the series and care even a little about a resolution for that story then watch The Last Dark. It delivers what is required of it.

It's not a great action film nor is it a bad one but it is notable that the main characters are perhaps slightly above average for its genre. — Aiden Foote

Recommended Audience: Just like the TV series this is for adults, a little nudity and a lot of violence.