Blood-C - Episode 8

With another Elder Bairn defeated at the end of last week's episode, you can't really fault Saya's ability to get things done (even if she always seems to wait for a bunch of people to die before leaping into action - more on that later), but she's now been well and truly caught in the act by Tokizane.

Rather oddly, Saya's classmate doesn't seem particularly bothered by the fact that there's some weird, dead giant right in front of him, as he instead concerns himself with cleaning up Saya and tending to her injuries before walking her home - oh, and hugging her at every possible juncture, the cheeky upstart.

Things only continue to get tougher for Saya from here though, as she returns home to find her father passed out (although he comes around quickly enough), and continues to suffer on account of her own memories; or rather, the lack thereof, as her talking dog friend continues to push her down the path of remembering just who her promise to protect people and kill the Elder Bairns was made to - indeed, from what we see this episode it seems that this is less of a promise and more of an experiment or game...

Although school soon returns to normal in the village after a period of quiet and no further missing persons, any such peace doesn't last long as the next Elder Bairn appears within the school grounds themselves before running roughshod around Saya's class and causing her to finally drop the facade of normal schoolgirl as she draws her sword - not before letting half the class be sliced and diced in a bloody massacre though mind you; so much for protecting everyone...

After a decidedly weak action scene last week, the end of this week's Blood-C instalment at least treats us to another of those more deliciously, mindlessly violent efforts which suit the series much better - it's just a shame we had to wade through some story-telling treacle to get to it, as the series continues to drag out the background story behind Saya's memories (or lack thereof) and the truth about the Elder Bairns.  It's unfortunate that these lacklustre elements of plot progression are hampering what is otherwise a pretty slick and decent series with their needless elongation - still, there are at least some moments to enjoy this week, even if they leave us wishing for an uncensored version of the episode sooner rather than later.