Blood+ Volume 1
Reviewed by Derek Tersmette
January 31, 2008

I believe I’ve lost count of the amount of anime-shows out there at the moment, but frankly I couldn’t care less. They have never appealed to me, with the exception of one or two, but for some reason, most of the anime-series from Japan that make there way to Europe and the States quickly gain a large audience. So is the case with Blood+, which tracks the adventures of Saya, who is a seemingly ordinary student, but at the same time a skilled vampire hunter. Hans Zimmer was asked to handle the music before Mancina was considered, but after Zimmer suggested him, Mancina was contracted. Zimmer did stay involved with the project by composing some thematic material, as well as supervising on the development of the score.

The result? Where Steve Jablonsky (Steamboy) and Klaus Badelt (The Promise), also both Media Ventures veterans, did great jobs on their Japanese entries, Mark Mancina doesn’t quite make the cut, although I don’t consider Blood+ Volume 1 to be completely unentertaining. The main theme as heard in ‘Saya’s Victory’ is a nice heroic theme, but nothing that made me jump out of my seat, even with the generous amount of time I spent with the disc. No, it is not the main theme where the strength of this release lies, that strength is more effectively represented in several standout, individual tracks of which the strongest are by far ‘Chasing the Enemy’ and ‘Chasing thru Time’, both featuring excellent layering and great buildups, but the downside is that these tracks don’t last very long and while they don’t really require any development to be enjoyable, you’d just like to hear more music like it.

The rest of the score consists of more average music that thrives on the main theme and some other reoccurring motifs. The vampires get their own theme of much more hectic and dark composition, accompanied by ostinato strings and percussion. The theme is heard in ‘Vampire Battle’ and ‘The Vampires’ Threat’ and I must say it works well, although the theme itself is not very memorable. The big climactic battle cue is presented in the form of ‘Blood+ The Final Battle’, which covers the entire vampire-theme, as well as the main theme and wraps the whole in a pretty neat package. Sadly, nothing really sticks, the different sections of the music rarely connect, which makes for a pretty weak overall presentation. The rest of the music tries to be a lot more interesting than it really is. The cues ‘Saya’s Destiny’ and ‘Saya’s Courage’ are not all that different, both derived from the same, lyrical theme. ‘Saya’s Love’, on the other hand, is quite nice, featuring attractive piano composition accompanied by orchestra (notice that no aspect of the cue can be remotely related to the previously established thematic material).

As you would expect, near the end of the album you will find the glorious, marching statement of the main theme in full. Surprisingly it is presented in ‘Blood+ Grand Theme’. This kind of thing has been done by so many composers in the past, I doubt this loud piece will move you in any way. In Mancina’s last and final effort to evoke emotion, he has written an impressive vocal piece, ‘Diva’, in which a female vocalist is given a heck of a run for her money. I doubt she’ll be singing anything ever again. Still, the track is not without merit, regardless of its frequent atonality, it certainly attracts your attention. It is just that it should happen more often, for I don’t feel Mancina manages to capture the listener on a frequent basis. The album is very much ‘by the book’, which, in this case, results in bland orchestrations, sparse thematic development and the occasional, predictable triumphant outburst. I can’t be blown away by it anymore. Thusly, I will have to conclude that this is a mildly entertaining action score, which has a couple of fine moments to enjoy, but is just a little too disjointed and tasteless in the end.

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