The immortal Saya returns, a generation later, but still clad in her trademark sailor suit and armed with an ancient samurai sword continuing her holy war against the vampiric Chiropterans.
1 Volume (Complete)
This was a follow up to the original 45 minute movie from 2000. The movie was way too short, almost like a first chapter and as I understand it was meant to be a little experimental and used several new talents to make it. Those 45 minutes were pretty darn good with fluid animation and non-stop action. The only thing really holding it back was that the story and the background needed to be fleshed out more. I think they could have done it in another 20-30 minutes, but they didn't and this is where the manga comes in...
The art style in the manga is purposely rough looking, doesn't look anything like the movie nor the later TV show Blood+, and some may not like it. It was ok for me except for some of the faces looked a little too rough. This is fairly violent, has nudity and some yuri/lesbian sex. Why its tagged here at this time as Shounen is a little weird. The story sort of reveals some of the background of Saya. I found it unsatisfying, because like the movie its too short. I don't think it really takes the time to develop characters and the background feels rushed. The show Blood+ takes some of these similar elements and expands on them more (but it has a problem with pacing and dragging things out in contrast to this manga and the movie). The manga is more in line with the dark tone of the movie, but doesn't really go with the TV show and seems to contradict it a little. Its just not really a very good story, we learn a little more about Saya but not much about anyone else or the world that they exist in. The shortness and lack of background sort of makes the whole lesbian/yuri thing feel like its just being thrown in there as a gimmick to titillate the audience. The end is predictable considering how they are setting things up. I see this one-shot more as a "what if?" scenario or parallel world to what gets presented in the movie and TV show. Blood always had great possibilities as a franchise, it just never seems to be handled well by anyone (yea, Blood-C show is another example of an abomination) and this manga is no different. Disappointing. I give this a 5 or C+ grade.
Visceral. That's the word, I think. In sex and in combat, it does not shy away from being crazy.
And it shows us, again, that anyone unfortunate enough to have his/her life touched by Saya will have it destroyed.
This has to be the absolute worst manga I've read. I was expecting something on the level of Blood+ A, which goes into Saya's history before Blood+ and hopefully would warm me up to that character a bit more. Instead I got lesbian sex, violence and nonexistent character development that leaves you not caring either way when someone gets killed off. It makes me very glad that I read Blood+ before this as I otherwise might not have touched that one.
Just read the other comments & I think Blood 2000 has possibly been attracting the wrong reader demographic. This really should be listed as "seinen" genre (I've just added it on), which may go some way to explaining why it's got rather low ratings.
I, like many before me, read this novel after watching blood+ to see more of the story (and waiting for the movie to download), well, I'm guessing blood+ was just a loose adaptation because its a lot different (obviously) and the facts conflict.
So about this manga: can't say I'm too fond of it, too out there for my tastes :/
Gratuituous panty-shots in battle ftl. Seriously, am I reading Saya's story or a raunchy manga? It's a bit of both, disappointingly. >_< It also features the first yuri (aka 'hot lesbian action) I've read/encountered. It was okay, but not my thing.
Not much plot here but the manga presented an interesting concept in Saya's backstory.
It's just like the others said, mainly "lesbian sex and blood" and a bit of action here and there. I wish the story could have continued longer, but I guess that is being told in the spin-off version of this manga.
This novel clarifies all the mysteries about Saya. As expected, this manga contains violent scenes and some lesbian sex.