Blood-C

[Ryllharu]

This episode illustrated perfectly why this should have been an OVA from the start. Though the fight between Tadayoshi and Saya was very fluid and well scripted, the animation was definitely lacking. Cut out the 6 useless episodes of cruft, and you've got a really good OVA series with a high budget. They slap on a movie conclusion anyway (I had been hoping it was a summary movie...), so to me, it makes the planning of the series even worse. Half the series was blatant filler.

Regarding Saya and her reward for victory, didn't she always refrain from drinking human blood in the original movie? In fact, I'm not sure she ever drank any blood at all. The series definitely made many references to Saya's 1966 final standoff in the burning gym of the movie. That was the flashback that kept giving her headaches. That reference would lead me to believe that there isn't much of a connection to the primary CLAMP universe (CCS, xxxHolic). I would guess that her promise was more the members of Red Shield than anyone in the CLAMP universe.

In retrospect, I enjoyed the series, but it should never have been stretched to 12 episodes + 1 movie. It was absolutely weaker for it.