Review of Strike the Blood

I can't rate this series a 10 because some episodes are rushed unfortunately and I can't rate this a 5 because its well above average so an 8 is the only one that really felt right. This series does a wonderful job with its characters and their interactions with each other even making you feel like part of the group at times. Their conversations flow well and feel natural and this along with some exceptional voice acting brought the characters to life. The only thing I would like to see more however is main character growth. The main constantly lets other people risk their lives whilehe watches on the side only realizing the threat this has towards the end of the season and even then he still doesn't seek to improve himself even though he is said to be the strongest vampire in existence. One portion of the series that really brought this to my attention was with the line that goes "Its only your familiar that is strong. You are not." When that was said to an enemy it made me realize that for some reason it doesn't apply to the main character even when he is standing in place like a target for 90% of his fights.

I really liked the setting of this world and how things in the story tie together as the story progresses. All the events happening in the background that we are given small bits and pieces to make this series really interesting to pick apart and I'm curious how the other seasons will grow on this series. Speaking of world the music fits wonderfully and they developed their moods with it in a way that really attaches certain sounds with moments in the story.

For animation this series is somehow really good and really bad at times which is why the first sentence at the top exists. The inconsistency is what really caught my attention and It started to become distracting after awhile. There are moments where everything has a good flow to it and feels really good, almost as if your seeing the story move naturally. Then there are moments where its like watching clip art with how they try to draw out single scenes in order to hit their target episode time which is really disappointing and hurts their pacing.

Overall this is probably up there in the top 5 Vampire anime that I have seen. Its got a wonderful group of characters that are easy to get attached too and an interesting world to really dive into. Its not perfect but it was very enjoyable to watch.