Review of Strike the Blood
Itogami Island is an artificial island not far from Tokyo, one of the many "Demon Districts" that was home to demons and other mythical creatures. They live along side humans and were protected as endangered species while under observation for research. Kojou Akatsuki had discovered himself one day as a vampire with no memories of his past as a human. Not only that, he wasn't the average vampire either. He had become the "Fourth Progenitor", a powerful vampire that who can take out an entire human army if he desired. However, he has no such thoughts and continues living as a normal senior high studentas best as he can while keeping it all a secret. One day Yukina Himeragi is sent by the Lion Organisation in Japan to observe him and was to eliminate him if he was considered a threat. Meanwhile, not all is at peace and Kujo soon finds himself relunctantly honing his skills to protect himself and the island as he is caught up in various incidents.
Show's based on a light novel series and has an interesting world setting. It's not the first time a Japanese title tried to fuse technology and magic together though. Despite the protagonist Kojou being a vampire, the main plot is more about how humans and demons try to live together in harmony but obviously some aren't happy with the way things are. Kojou having just gained the power of a vampire happens to experience both sides of the world and ends up wanting to maintain the peace. His genuinely nice character and heroism ends up winning the hearts of all the girls he comes up across.
Of course, this also becomes an excuse for ample fan service as there is plenty of nudity and your usual "accidental" sensual situations like groping. The female cast willingly tries to arouse Kojou so that he would take their blood during "dire" situations so that he can awaken and take command of a new power. Obviously the show is aimed at the male audience but at the same time, there's just enough happening to stop the show from turning into a complete mindless fan service show. And believe it or not, there's actually romance.
Other than that, background art's good and fight scenes are short but well animated and intense. There's a bit of gore but not too many. The OST is good too but the theme songs are so-so. Characters are cute - you've got Yukina who's easily flustered and, Natsuki a loli AKA "Witch of The Void", a firm teacher fond of gothic fashion. It's fun watching your usual Anime personalities bicker and, your nice guy completely oblivious to all the girls falling for and fighting over him despite all their initiative. The lines "This is my fight!" followed by "No, Senpai. It's our fight!" becomes pretty stale.
The plot barely moves in season 1 and feels like Kojou is fighting against lots of random terrorists at first although, maybe it was just building up the relationships between the characters and revealing more of the world setting. It isn't until the last few episodes of the show, does the story go back to Kojou and reveal more about his powers and forgotten memories.
One for the guys.