'Blood +' gets an A+ for originality
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By G. Michael Dobbs
Managing Editor
An epic anime production and a documentary about a crucial year in American history are in this week's DVD column.
Blood +
Sony Pictures has released "Blood +," an anime series which has been seen on the "Adult Swim" programming block of Cartoon Network.
Japanese animation or anime is much more adventurous than American animation in its willingness to use the medium to tell a variety of stories. The problem with anime is that like any other type of popular culture there is a large percentage that relies on clich s or on the conventions set by truly innovative productions.
Anime is filled with school girl heroines, hideous monsters and overly intricate plotlines that are like soap operas, as well as visual and animation devices that are used over and over.
I'm happy to say that while "Blood +" has a school girl heroine, hideous monsters and an intricate plot, its writing is compelling, the animation strives for a kind of realism other productions never achieve, and I was definitely hooked.
"Blood +" is about Saya, who at first resembles any other teenage Japanese school girl. The difference is that Saya is suffering from amnesia and her adoptive father has kept the story of her past from her. What she doesn't know but is to find out is that she is the one person capable of destroying vampire-like creatures known as "chiroptera."
Although there is plenty of blood-letting, "Blood +" seems to avoid many of the primary pitfalls of anime: the reliance on conventions in order to avoid having to do something different.
Sony has released the first five half-hour episodes onto one disc, "Blood + Volume One," and the entire 26 episode first season in a six-disc boxed set that comes complete with a T-shirt and a mini-comic adopting the story into manga Japanese comic book style.
There are no extras on the stand-alone volume, but in the boxed set , one of the six discs is all interviews with the series' creators.
Be aware that if you buy the stand-alone disc, those five shows are all repeated in the boxed set.
Animation fans who would like to try something different, should seek out "Blood +."
For more information, log onto www.sonypictures.com.
1968 with Tom Brokaw
Do you remember 1968? If you're like me you probably recall a year that was rocked by the growing division in this country due to the Vietnam War, two assassinations that changed the course of this nation's history and social changes that were bewildering to many.
I was 14 years-old in 1968, a ninth grader at Granby Junior-Senior High School and I remember watching many of these events unfold on my television screen with the ripple effects being felt in my family and school.
Tom Brokaw reports what 1968 was all about from both the perspective of a historian and as someone who lived through the era. The result is something that perhaps could bring the events of 40 years ago alive to those people who view it as ancient history.
Race relations, how women view themselves and the drug culture are just three of the social topics that came to the forefront in 1968 and still are affecting America to this day.
Based on his book, "Boom!: Voices of the Sixties: Personal Reflections on the '60s and Today," Brokaw peppers his documentary with interviews with people who grew up in the sixties or were prominent then. Western Massachusetts is represented by interview segments with Arlo Guthrie.
If someone you know says that history is boring, show this production and perhaps they'll understand why knowing where you've been will help you understand where you're going.
For more information, log onto www.HistoryChannel.com.
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