Blood-C: Demonic Moonlight #1 Review: A Letdown

Ever since “Blood: The Last Vampire,” anime/manga fans have fallen for Saya, her many incarnations and her battles against unspeakable evil. The newest addition to the series is “Blood-C: Demonic Moonlight,” a prequel to “Blood-C” brought to you by artist Ryo Haduki, CLAMP and Production IG. Sadly, this iteration is pretty dry.

During the occupation of Japan in 1946 David, an American soldier, is tasked with investigating a string of gruesome deaths. After investigating, he finds that what’s going on is beyond his capacity. It’s a good thing he has Kagekiri, a priest who can deal with this problem.

What many fans will find upsetting with this story is that Saya, the series’ main heroine in every incarnation of the story, only makes two brief appearances. While it is nice to write a “Blood” story through a different point of view, David and Kagekiri aren’t that interesting of characters.

First off, David is boring. He comes off as the typical clueless outsider investigating something beyond his realm and that’s it. He barely has any presence and comes across as more of a background character. In fact, he’s practically useless in every battle this volume has.

Kagekiri isn’t exempt from the poor characterization either. He’s the stereotypical “I’m the only one that can fight the evil” character this series is known for. Yes, he is a bit of a goof, but that’s nothing more than a lame way to make him interesting.

The story itself is just one incident after another with all of the incidents being essentially the same. While the “monster of the week” storyline isn’t great storytelling, it can be interesting. Here, they are about as interesting as watching paint dry.

The artwork is basic manga fare. The designs are basic, the backgrounds are hardly there and there’s nothing that stands out. It’s a shame since the art for “Blood-C” and “Blood+” were spectacular.

“Blood-C: Demonic Moonlight” is a week chapter in the “Blood” mythos. Dull characters, boring story and basic art will make anyone glad that this story is thankfully only two volumes (eight chapters) long.