Ancient lore says that vampires are vulnerable to wooden stakes and sunlight, but modern television has come up with an even better weapon: cute high-school girls.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer exterminated ghouls for seven seasons in the U.S., and now with the new series
Blood+, Japanese TV has its own miniskirted demon killer, Saya, who speaks softly and carries a wicked samurai sword. This being animé, however, she won't be hunting your classic Bram Stoker-style vampires, but rather vicious, blood-sucking anthropoids that devour humans whole. Right now, your inner 11-year-old should be getting really excited.
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Blood+ (which debuts in Japan Oct. 8 on TBS) is a spinoff of the 2000 film
Blood: The Last Vampire, Japan's first digital feature-length animé, which won critical acclaim from the likes of James Cameron and Quentin Tarantino. TV series derived from old movies tend to be as reliably bad as movies derived from old TV series, but
Blood+ should buck the trend. The effects budget is high for TV, and Production I.G.—the team behind the original film and groundbreaking animé such as
Ghost in the Shell—signed on for the series, while Academy Award-winning composer Hans Zimmer will contribute to the soundtrack. Sony, which has some experience with undead projects, has said it will support
Blood+ across its corporate platforms, and will even make shows available online for less than $2 a month at
www.aii.co.jp. All that's missing is a garlic tie-in.
