Shelf Life

Panic Attack

Next up was the third and last volume of Black Blood Brothers, which continues to hurtle towards its finale just as fast as it originally started out. It's almost difficult to succinctly describe what happened. If you recall, the Kowloon Children are ravaging the world and infecting everyone they can get their fangs on. Trying to stop them are a few heroes, one of them being Jiro, our red-clad protagonist. Along the way, he runs into a lot of old adversaries and friends, but in the end, it's fight after fight until the bloody finish.

There are a lot of fights in this show. They aren't necessarily bloody, or even action-packed, but there are a lot of fights, almost to the point of "too many." It gets to be a pain after awhile, because there are simply too many characters with too many motivations. It's not hard to figure out what's going on, but it comes off as a bit too cluttered. Things would be much more clear if the story was slowed down, and maybe stretched out by another 12 episodes. Then things wouldn't have had to be crammed into three discs, and there'd actually be time for things like character development. As it is, there's barely enough time to throw out crazy nicknames for all the characters, like Black Snake and Blue Wolf.

In the end, Black Blood Brothers is a fairly amusing show. It happened a little too fast, and perhaps not furiously enough, but it was quaint. For fans of vampire shows, this'll be a fun little side journey into a different mythology, but it might not be the best bang for your buck.[TOP]

As far as money saving goes, Funimation's released another boxset—this time, it's Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid. Continuing the storyline for the first series, this 13-episode follow-up takes place three months later. Another enemy has appeared on the radar, one that has the technology to defeat the Electronic Cloaking System with powerful missiles. This new enemy, Amalgam, has plenty of Black Technology at its disposable, and it's up to the good guys at Mithril to try and stop them.

If that synopsis made zero sense to you, then you should probably start over with the original Full Metal Panic! series. Since it came before this season, it's absolutely essential that you start there first, or else the series won't make nearly as much sense. And, since all the main characters are carried over from the original, much of their development was played out in the first show.

That having been said, the obvious is also true. If you liked the first series, then you will undoubtedly like the second. It has a similar tone, though occasionally maybe even a bit darker, and it furthers many of the relationships between the characters. It's a far cry from the Fumoffu side series that was released, and actually focuses on a genuine storyline rather than one-shots. There is also a lot more revealed about the characters' backstories, so fans will definitely have more to chew on. Of course, if you're just here for the action, you won't be disappointed. Although the fighting often takes a backseat to character development and plot advancement, The Second Raid has plenty of battles to please those who live for such things.

All in all, this is a fun show for fans of the original series. The DVDs come in a plastic fold-out case within a thin plastic slipcover, so it's not going to immediately fall apart either. Combine that with an MSRP of $59.98 (even though I know all of you can find better deals out there!), and you've got a decent purchase on your hands. To be honest, I was never a giant fan of the series, and could never get past all the comic relief, but I had a lot of friends who couldn't get enough of this show. Even if you're in my boat, and just casually liked the series, it could always make a decent birthday present for that FMP fan in your life.[TOP]