Animania

Back in February, I reviewed the first volume of the Blood+ manga adaptation. As I mentioned there, in addition to the manga adaptation, two light novel adaptations of the original Blood+ anime series were written and published in Japan. Both are licensed by Dark Horse, and the first volume of the main series, also entitled Blood+, has been released. Written by Ryo Ikehata, the series is illustrated by Chizu Hasahi. Each volume is subtitled, so to avoid confusion for the rest of the review, I'll refer to this first volume by its subtitle of First Kiss. Unlike with the manga, the main novel series is a fairly straight novelization of the anime events, with First Kiss covering the events in the first fourteen episodes of the series, with the introduction of the characters and Chiropterans, and the trip to Vietnam. All of the novels are divided into two "books", which each book divided into two parts and each part into varying numbers of chapters.

For those unfamiliar with the anime series, Blood+ tell the story of Saya Otonashi, a high school girl with amnesia who can't remember anything of her life beyond the last year. Her otherwise normal life is destroyed when she encounters monsters called Chiropterans, and discovers that she is the only one who is capable of killing them. Joined by the mysterious Hagi, who is her companion, and taken into the care of an organization called the Red Shield, each battle with Chiropterans causes Saya to learn more about the past she has forgotten, a past she realizes she needs to remember if she wants to protect her brothers and her new found companions, not only from the monsters, but from herself.

While the series is a novelization of the show and follows events pretty much right on track with the episodes, it adds more descriptions and more in-depth views of the characters thoughts and reactions to events. David, in particularly, comes across more sympathetically here than he did in the first parts of the anime, and Riku as being less bland. The writing is very well done, flowing well with descriptives that not only helped me remember the scenes from the anime, but visual them with greater depth. I also got a better feel for the individual characters and their motivations. Dark Horse's translation of the work is good, with only one or two minor typos. Like most companies releasing light novels, Dark Horses released the work in the typical manga size, though they did choose to keep the full color front pieces. All in all, this was an excellent read, and it was nice to have a novel keep me busy awhile instead of the usual quick 30 minute read of the typical manga volume. I'm looking forward to picking up the second of the four volumes, Chevalier, in July.

Rating: A