Non-Spoiler review
2014’s leading harem ecchi show about Vampires, Familiars, Sword Shamans, Alchemists, Homunculus, Witches and Mages promises a lot of thrills, panty shots, nose bleeds and tons of moe falling from the sky to complicate the routine, languid lifestyle of our humble and unfortunate high school protagonist, the Fourth progenitor. Strike the Blood delivers in ample amounts where guilty pleasure is concerned and offers a splendid, entertaining show filled with situational humour, colourful characters, the cutest assortment of junior high harem candidates since baked bread. Will this show be able to strike the right balance between its elements? Read on!
Premise
Harem shows are one of anime’s guilty pleasures – where else can you get a single male hounded and harassed by multiple women of all ages anywhere else? To complete this every male fantasy, it is imperative to focus on the right amount of fan service with a solid story and character depth to differentiate it from the other darker side of animation. Too much fan service and gratuitous nudity, and it can fail to register emotionally altogether, whereas combining too many various elements can make it convoluted and ponderous. Strike the Blood yearns to hit multiple concepts about the supernatural, while still delivering a laid back, slice of life harem interspersed between the fights, mysteries and adventures.
The story follows the rather likable Kojou Akatsuki, who has somehow become the fourth progenitor, a vampire immortal entity through an unexplained and off screen accident. He lives on Itogami Island, a man made floating city held in it’s place by utilizing magic floats along dragon veins (magic tectonic pressure points); a free-for-all place for magic creatures to reside, having been driven to extinction by man. A normal human high school student, he suddenly becomes the aforesaid entity who is destined to create a drastic change to the supernatural balance of the world. The government, along with the Lion King Organization dispatches a Sword Shaman, the impetuous Yukina Himeragi, who bears an anti-progenitor spear to observe him, with instructions to finish him off if he poses a threat to their establishments.
And of course, caught in between these duo are the friends, enemies and interested groups that they must befriend, fight and resist in their quest to understand their situation, to unravel who the fourth progenitor as determined by Himeragi’s incessant observation.
When it happens.
Critical Assessment
There have been very enjoyable series that encompass ecchi and harem shows recently, but a decidedly long gap resulted between quality shows because there is only so much you can variate between adult situational humour. Notable examples of this genre, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, Infinite Stratos, Isekei no Seikishi Monogatari, Kampfer, Monogatari, Nyon Koi, Oda Nobuna no Yabou, Omamori Himari, Ore No Imouto, Rosario + Vamp, Sora no Otoshimono, Walkure Romanze and Zero no Tsukaima; to name a few, always relied on deep story telling and world building, keeping ecchi at a backdrop with just the sporadic fan service to provide an overall coherent experience. Although I’ve enjoyed them all, nothing quite trumped Sekirei in terms of sheer fun factor, repeat value and lovely characters, but after a gap of a few years, we finally may have its true spiritual successor.
If you’ve expected to be enthralled in an intricate, exceptionally written and sophisticated universe – I will be at a loss for words. On it’s own, Strike the Blood never exceeds the familiar trappings of this kind of show and never derails from generic plot points and retreads; but where it excels is that it is implemented to be a sum of its parts – a generic harem/ecchi show that does every well to variate within its parameters, and on that sheer premise, it is exceptionally well executed. Being bloody well entertaining cannot dent its chances, and exceeds the expectations of this genre with a resounding wallop.
Story
Very similar in veins to Toaru Majutsu no Index – the familiar talk-no-jutsu, self declared righteousness of the protagonist and cuteness of the female characters, this show features a pretty straight laced story of Kojou discovering powers that he is remotely interested in, a school routine that he does not find engaging and though he may not be overwhelmingly perverse, his happenstance of unintentionally witnessing nudity and undressing from the main heroines obviously puts him in a bloody state, no pun intended. However, he is driven by a strong moral code, and like any other vampire worth his salt, requires a good dose of blood to awaken his familiars during combat. He is observed and aided by Himeragi and other independent gangs of supernatural affiliates and has to constantly battle these elements to grasp a sense of purpose and save the city from harm whenever a baddie so threatens it, which is every once a few episodes.
It does help that Himeragi proves an equal footing when it comes to supernatural standoffs – due to her exceptionally gifted combat skills and the special magic-negating spear she always carries. And when the occasional situation often demands it, she provides him with the blood required to stamp his authority over the familiars imprinted in his body.
Along the way, we are introduced to a bevy of female characters, all of them lovingly fleshed out, who end up on Kojou’s love bite sessions regardless of how much animosity they have for him in the beginning. This also extends to enemy underlings, artificial experiments and semi-magical human beings. And interpolated between them are would be girl friend class mates and younger school girls – so much so that our poor protagonist is often branded a lolicon and hentai, much to his chagrin and our bemusement. It doesn’t help when his vampiric urges require the need to be sexually stimulated, putting him in a needless array of questionable circumstances.
With 24 episodes of exciting material and interesting twists, devoid of technical fillers, this is one of the most entertaining harem shows in the format, although a few villains may border on the outright silly. There is a wonderful twist in the end that promises more supernatural nosebleeds, and without spoiling, a vast potential for perverted comedy if there ever is a follow up series.
Characters
Oh, where do we start? Perhaps bettering Sekirei, with its bountiful buxom vixens and appealing characters, Strike the Blood literally goes to school on the same concept, delivering wonderfully drawn, uniquely beautiful school girls – the art is simply stunning, and possibly on par with the efforts of Toaru Majutsu no Index. Apart from the kawaai galore, they are fleshed out exceptionally well and all go on to show character development.
Himeragi, the star of the show, is wonderfully animated and strikingly unique, not just with her range of vocals, acting and character design. She makes an exceptional team with Kojou and is implied to be the one who will be his life partner in the future.
Her blueprint is applied to all the female characters, making them all on equal footing in beauty, something that is not prevalent in all shows. You have the faithful Asagi Aiba, a blonde cutie and best friend of Kojou, Saraya Hirasaki, the archer extraordinaire and best friend of Himeragi, La Folia Rihavein, the white haired buxom beauty who is also a princess and the cute and sweet Kanon Kanase, a former enemy and younger bait for Kojou.
It does not even help when all the villainous females of this shows are lookers too, along with their very evil and twisted ways.
But if it is one highlight of this show, the one transcending beauty and side character who steals all the limelight and commands pole position – is the deviously cute, impossibly sexy and kawaai goddess – Minamiya Natsuki.
Dressed is her trademark gothic lolita attire and old english mannerisms and a hand fan to boot – she is perhaps the strongest witch and Kojou’s beneficiary in this universe and is everyone’s trump card if all else fails.
And it adds to her cuteness that she is supposedly 26 years old, but is no bigger than a middle school girl, having a lovely chibi appeal to proceedings. And she is an English teacher to boot.
And if you thought she wasn’t the cutest around with her unique attire, she does manage to hop in with a variety of other get ups, ranging from a school girl undercover to catch chikans or an even more younger, chibi version of herself.
And of course, being the teacher, affords Minamiya Sensei certain privileges and authority within her field of expertise.
It’s very pleasing that all of our characters go through a great deal of development, some more so than the rest, when it also goes to show that almost every girl gets her equal shot at Kojou, that you would have your own favorites to root for, despite Himeragi being the defacto number one for most – unfortunately except for Minamiya Sensei, who is just not into him this series. We pray and hope that this is put in order next time around.
Animation
The animation is top notch in quality, everything from the fights to sword clashes are done with impeccable choreography, with both Himaragi and Hirasaki stealing the show with their stylish and vainglorious combat skills with the spear and sword/bow respectively.
Kojou is no slouch himself and does find himself in the thick of the action, summoning his familiars who get stronger as the series progresses. The clashes are all staged at various locations, and the show gets to display its animation and textures to good effect. The fights really top anything for this kind of show – which is important to engage those probably turned off by the ecchi in tow.
Along with the anticipation of every new familiar, there is also the characters themselves, who are wonderfully animated. Top notch goes to the show’s animators to set their focus on the chicks and guys on this show, they all look good and stunning in their environments and match the lushness poured into the background.
There is a slight dip in quality towards the very end, but thankfully very negligible to the entertainment factor and nothing that seriously impedes the preceding good work.
Voice Acting
Everyone sounds terrific, even the occasional side characters and passer-bys, and that’s the real strength of the show – they put an ensemble cast of actors and actresses of previous highlight shows under one roof. We have a diverse crew with credentials including Rinne no Lagrange, Dog Days, High School, Toaru Majutsu no Index, The World God Only Knows, Accel World, Ino X Boku SS, Sword Art Online, Love Lab and so forth – all great shows with exceptionally talented voice actresses. This wonderfully translates into the show, as in particular, all the girls sound fantastic.
There are brilliant role reversals in the middle and towards the end, where the actresses really bring in their vocal range to interplay character mannerisms of others – which is an absolute delight to watch.
Soundtrack
It of course helps when the OST is a sterling effort – made of the same techno vibe that accompanies Toaru Majutsu no Index, for example, there are various pieces that are memorable and that can leave an impression as they blend very well into the fight scenes without taking too much away from them. The album in its entirety is a worth a listen, for sure.
Both the two OPs and EDs are satisfactorily done for a show of this kind, although you will still be bumping the first ED for a more grander effect.
Conclusion
Strike the Blood was perhaps the best fun I’ve had in recent times as far as ecchi and harem shows are concerned, where you can leave your senses at the door and be awe-enamored with the girls on show, not solely on looks but also of their overall character and cuteness – and also experience a coherent adventure of sorts that blends genres with great humour. And humour is delivered in spades by our ever valiant vampire, Kojou, who simply has it down to poor luck to keep himself away from extenuating circumstances.
Somethings never get old..
Despite my low expectations, Strike the Blood did not disappoint with its execution as much as it did at times with its generic appeal and some obviously unoriginal plot and character tropes.
The nudity and ecchi here weren’t as blatant as many other shows, but was rather a pleasant add-on to the other things going on, making it seamlessly blend in. There are some arcs with obviously before seen instances and predictable elements, but overall, Strike the Blood, despite its shortcomings, triumphed as one of the worthy additions to a select class of highly entertaining shows with great girls, a funny and likable protagonist and lots of adult humour.
Story: 7/10 | Characters: 10/10 | Animation: 9/10 | Soundtrack: 8/10
Pros: beautiful, kawaii and lovely girls, unique character designs, expert animation, nice comedy, all the way entertainment and fun
Cons: story, sparing nudity
Overall Rating: 8.5 Hi10z
Until the BD is out, cop our very own Hi10 720p rip exceptionally well encoded by Varian and Alpha, here.
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