My Review (no spoilers)...
I just finished Blood+ and, I must say, it exceeded my expectations. It's definitely cleaned up a LOT and lacks much originality in that department. The animation, however, is extremely smooth and quite pleasing to the eyes. The character designs are pleasing though slightly disappointing in comparison to the movie because it's difficult to see the Saya that we saw in the film when looking at this new Saya (and no, not just because of the short hair! hah). The other characters are extremely interesting though! The action scenes are superb and very well paced but the other scenes have some great dialogue and movements that really help to round out the characters - even in just the first episode - and it really makes you want to know more about them. The characters are also extremely likeable without getting annoying (opposed to most recent anime - when characters 'try to hard' to be likeable ::coughmaihimecough:: ). The music and sound is also superb (though I wasn't all to fond of the opening/closing themes - but they could grow on me). I look forward to a soundtrack definitely though because the underscore is great!
The story seems promising enough as long as the series doesn't succumb to that formuleaic structure that most action series do; and I look most forward to learning more about Saya's recent forgotten past.
One of the greatest things for my experience during this viewing, however, was anticipating how the events that occur in the first episode might tie into the events of the movie. While I understand the possibility that the writers might not choose to take this route, it's still extremely entertaining to contemplate the options pertaining to Saya's transformation from Saya of the film to Saya of the series.
I must say, I'm not very fond of Chizu Hashii's ending illustrations at all though.
I definitely recommend having watched the movie (OVA) before this series. It adds to the viewing experience! (Even though I recognize that the series is most likely unrelated.)
Blood+ gets an A+ from me (no pun intended).
As for Live-eviL's subbing, I think the subs were particularly great. I chose Live-eviL over Shinsen-Subs simply because I enjoyed seeing LE release something since I hadn't enjoyed a series fansubbed by LE since Wolf's Rain (not to mention LE was quicker to release than SS!). Some of the footnotes felt unnecessary, but I suppose that they may provide useful to some more than others.
One footnote observation, however: Cheiroptera are any form of mammalia whose forelimbs are fashioned like wings. This doesn't pertain solely to Eocene (bats). A cheiropteran is not always a bat while a bat is always a cheiropteran.
Certainly, you may already know this but I thought I'd point it out in case otherwise. Thanks, Live-eviL, for picking up this release!
