Blood+ is an animated television series created by Production I.G. It premiered in Japan on October 8, 2005 on MBS/TBS, and continued with episodes every week (except on December 31, 2005) until September 23, 2006. The series simultaneously aired on Animax, Sony's Japanese anime satellite channel, with its networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia airing the series later. It was directed by Junichi Fujisaku and features original character designs by Chizu Hashii. Fifty consecutive episodes were aired spanning four distinct seasons. Each season is differentiated by opening and ending themes from a variety of artists, with the final episode using the season one ending theme.
Through Sony's international division, Blood+ is licensed for distribution in multiple regions, including Region 1. It began airing in dubbed English in the United States on March 11, 2007 as part of the Adult Swim block of Cartoon Network, where it ran until its conclusion on March 23, 2008. The first Region 1 DVDs were released on March 4, 2008, with a simultaneous release of a single five episode volume and a twenty-five episode box set.
The series was first released to Region 2 DVD in Japan by Aniplex in thirteen volumes. The first volume contained two episodes, and each subsequent volume contained four more. The first volume was released December 21, 2005 and the final on December 29, 2006. All of the volumes have Japanese language tracks with no subtitles. The first Region 1 DVDs were released on March 4, 2008, with a simultaneous release of a single five episode volume and a twenty-five episode box set.
Sony Entertainment began releasing its English adaptation of the series on March 4, 2008. Sony released two versions simultaneously: an individual volume containing the first five episodes, and a six disc special edition set containing the first 25 episodes and several exclusive extras. The second box set, containing the remaining 25 episodes and more extras, was released on October 20, 2009
Each season uses different songs for its opening and ending themes. For the first season of Blood+, the opening theme is "The Tears of the Blue Sky" (青空のナミダ, Aozora no Namida?) by Hitomi Takahashi and the ending theme is "The Things I Pass Down" (語り継ぐこと, Kataritsugu Koto?) by Chitose Hajime. "Seasons’ Call" by Hyde is used as the opening for the second season, and "Cry No More" by Mika Nakashima is used for the ending. For the third season, the opening theme is "Colors of the Heart" by Uverworld and the ending theme is "This Love" by Angela Aki. Final season episodes open with "Raion" (雷音?) by Jinn and close with "Brand New Map" by K. For the series finale, however, "The Things I Pass Down" is reprised for the closing sequence.
Famous quotes containing the words list and/or episodes:
“The advice of their elders to young men is very apt to be as unreal as a list of the hundred best books.”
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1841–1935)
“What is a novel if not a conviction of our fellow-men’s existence strong enough to take upon itself a form of imagined life clearer than reality and whose accumulated verisimilitude of selected episodes puts to shame the pride of documentary history?”
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924)