Strike the Blood (2013-2014)

[ストライク・ザ・ブラッド]

Director: Takao Sano, Hideyo Yamamoto
Studio: Silver Link, Connect
Starring: Yoshimasa Hosoya, Risa Taneda, Asami Seto
Episodes: 24

Synopsis:
A high schooler inherits the power of the Fourth Progenitor, the strongest vampire in the world, and a priestess is dispatched to observe him and, if he poses a threat to world, to defeat him.

Impressions:
This series has been in the periphery of my awareness for a while now and I decided to check it out. I like the premise and the setting with all the different mystical factions locked in an uneasy peace and our protagonist serving as the catalyst to upset the balance. For the most part, I think Kojou is pretty good as a protagonist, not as spineless or brainless as many MCs, but he can be annoyingly thick at times and he's largely hampered by his "better" half, Himeragi. Himeragi is one of those heroines, the sort that really tends to grind people's gears yet they keep on showing up in the role of the lead female. She's not all bad, but she never grows out of her worst traits and the real test of how much you enjoy the series is how much you can tolerate her. The rest of the cast is far more compelling but gets comparatively limited screentime, which is a shame. A lot of the fights turn out to be a bit formulaic, which is a waste of the potential. There is also an ecchi factor with Kojou's feeding being particularly suggestive. Oftentimes it's played more for comedy than titillation, though. All told, this is definitely a flawed series with some intriguing elements. Those intriguing elements are strong enough that I'm willing to be more charitable than I might be otherwise. I'd say give it a watch, but if you find yourself screaming at the screen after the third or fourth repetition of "No, Senpai, this is our fight!", then you should probably just spare yourself the increase in your blood pressure.

Rating:
Watch It