So I was translating or rather, loosely translating the Material Settings book 2 of BLOOD+ using DeepL (cuz I’m too lazy to translate it myself) and oh friggin’ boy, I have never been so pissed on an interview, lol.
I’m exaggerating but I am still very furious with Fujisaku’s responses or as I would call, revelations on why he killed off my blorbos.
Anyway, the interview I’m referring to is page 82-83 of book 2.
Going to copy-paste the important highlights of the interview where I got so angry on.
(SPOILERS AHEAD)
Note: AGAIN, I used DeepL for the translation because it had the most accurate version.
It’s still a bit off on some minor parts so take a little grain of salt when reading this but I think they’re accurate overall.
小夜が青森に転校、ハジが成層圏まで飛ぶ予定だった?
先程カイの話が出ましたが、 他に、最初の構 想とは違ってしまったキャラはいますか?
カイ以上に予定外だったのが、ソロモンでし た「あれコイツ、思った以上にキャラが立っち やったな」と。ラストでアンシェルと一緒に死 ぬっていう“途中退場” の筋書きも用意してい たんですよ。 ただソロモンが立ちすぎると、今 度はハジの存在が薄くなっちゃう。 ソロモンと ハジのどっちを取るかといったら、当然ハジだ ろうと…こんな話をすると、 ソロモンファン に怒られそうですが (笑)。 ともかくこの場面で はハジを立てることに決めて、ソロモンの生死 はあいまいにしてしまいました。 彼らしい騎士 道で、自分の去り際を決めるという形ですね。 ま あ、僕としては 「死んだ」と伝えているつもり なんですが…..。 彼以外にも、キャラクターそ れぞれがそれぞれに合った振る舞いを見せてい った。そういう意味では、恋愛ドラマよりさら に深い、“人間ドラマ”までたどり着いた気がし ます。
Saya transferred to Aomori, Haji was supposed to fly to the stratosphere?
You mentioned Kai earlier. Is there any other character that was different from your original vision?
Even more unexpected than Kai was Solomon. I thought, “Oh, this guy has become more of a character than I thought he would be. I had prepared a plot for him to die with Amshel in the last scene, and to leave the film in the middle of the movie. However, if Solomon was to stand out too much, Haji’s presence would be diminished. If I had to choose between Solomon and Haji, it would naturally be Haji…I’m sure Solomon’s fans would be angry with me for saying this (laughs). Anyway, in this scene, I decided to stand up for Haji and left Solomon’s life and death ambiguous. In his typical chivalry, he decides when he is going to leave. I think I told him that he was dead. ….. In addition to him, each character had his own way of behaving. In that sense, I think we have reached a deeper “human drama” than a romantic drama.
—
I mean, ngl Fujisaku didn’t give Hagi much personality in canon. He was more of a utility rather than a character in the series so it would make sense that Solomon would stand out more since he has more of a personality than Hagi there. (LOW BAR there)
But Solomon deserved to die, albeit should have died earlier because that guy is a total incel, lol. Chivalry, my arse he’s a fucking creep who gets excused for his disgusting behaviour all because he’s a white, blonde billionaire CEO bishie. //rolls eyes//
I do not know how he even has fans, haha. Incel behaviour aside, the guy is complicit in US imperialism and experimentation of the global south in the anime. Not to mention being a billionaire. That enough is a fucking turn off for me. He deserved to die in such a lame way, haha.
—
どんなキャラがどう変わったんでしょうか。
たとえばネイサン ただのオカマじゃない何か…. 達観した印象を、藤原啓治さんの演技に感じ たんですよ。それで「こいつはただのシュヴァリ 「エじゃないな」と。 大体30話のあたりですね、設 定をいじろうと思ったのは。 小夜の母親のミイラ を出した時点で、引っかかるものがあってそれ で、彼が小夜達の母親のシュヴァリエで、二人の 末を見届けようとしている。そう設定すれば、 彼が戦わないことの理由が付けられるし小夜達 よりもずっと前から翼手が存在していたという 秘性も残せますしね。
生死という意味で一番変わったのは、斎藤千和 さんが演じたルルゥですね。まさか、あそこまで 生き残るとは…………。本当は最初の方で殺してしま おうと思っていたんですけど、アフレコ中に彼女変わったという の芝居を見て、「これはキャラとして長く使えるてください。 な」と感じたんです。 本当に とても器用な芝居 アンシェルと一緒 をしてくれる方でした。
How did you change the characters?
For example, Nathan. He is not just a gay guy. …. I got the impression from Keiji Fujiwara’s performance that he had a more mature outlook on life. I felt a sense of mastery in Keiji Fujiwara’s performance. I was thinking of changing the setting around the 30th episode. When he showed the mummy of Saya’s mother, something stuck in my mind, and I realized that he was the Chevalier of Saya and her mother and was going to see them through. If I set it up that way, I could have a reason for him not to fight, and I could keep the secrecy that the winged hand existed long before Saya and her friends.
In terms of life and death, the most unusual character is Lulu, played by Chiwa Saito. I didn’t expect her to survive that long. ………… I was going to kill her at the beginning, but when I saw how she changed during recording, I thought, “Please use her as a character for a long time. I felt “This is a character that can be used for a long time. She was really very dexterous in the performance with Amshel.
—
So Fujisaku mentioned that Nathan was meant to be just a regular, effeminate chevalier aka just Diva’s chevalier but for some reason, his VA, Keiji Fujiwara (RIP) made an impression on him that he changed his background in episode 30 aka making him the chevalier of Saya and Diva’s mum.
First of all, the changes are a fucking lot and in episode 30? Like you’re just going to suddenly make big changes in the middle of the story? No wonder him turning out to be their mum’s chevalier in the end came out of nowhere.
Fujisaku also gives Lulu from the Schiff as an example of a character that he didn’t expect to survive. Just like Nathan, her voice actress, Chiwa Saito left an impression on him when she was dubbing her in a play (Seems B+ had a play back then?) or just voice acting in the series itself. Apparently, she was supposed to be killed from the very beginning.
“Please use her as a character for a long time. I felt “This is a character that can be used for a long time.
BUT THE REST OF THE SCHIFF COULDN’T?!!!
ughhh. /facepalms///
I don’t understand sparing characters because of their voice actors, lol. what in the ever loving fuck is that kind of writing? I don’t hate Fujisaku personally though I am really annoyed at what he did here because it seems he was just…not so committed to his story. It’d be fine if they were minor changes but especially with Nathan, those are huge! You don’t suddenly change a character’s background when the story is more than halfway through!
—
ルルゥやソロモンの他に、 死亡時期が変わっ したキャラはいますか?
デヴィッドも48話ぐらいで死ぬはずだったんで すよ。 でも、ジュリアに子供ができたので、生か した方がいいなと。 その時点で、赤い盾は誰も死 なせないことに決めたんです。 本当はルイスも早 めに死ぬ予定だったんですけど(笑)。
シフも、モーゼスとカルマン以外は26話ぐらい でみんな死んでしまう予定でした。 イレーヌの物 語が終わった29話の時点で、もうシフは出てこな くてもいいかなとさえ思ったんです。 でも生き残 らせたのは、ルルゥのキャラが立ち始めたからで 最後に彼女がシフの希望になることまでは 予想していませんでしたが。
Besides Lulu and Solomon, did you change the time of death of any other characters?
David was supposed to die in episode 48. But Julia had a baby, so I thought it would be better to let him live. At that point, we decided not to let anyone die in the Red Shield. Actually, Lewis was going to die early too (laughs).
(Laughs.) We also planned to have the Schiff die in about episode 26, except for Moses and Karman. I even thought that by the end of Irene’s story in episode 29, the Schiff wouldn’t have to appear in the story anymore. But I let her survive because Lulu’s character started to take off, and I didn’t expect her to become the Schiff’s hope in the end.
—
So…
ALL of the Schiff’s deaths have been planned for around 26 episodes?!!
WTF?! Then why the hell did you introduce them for if you were just going to slaughter them in a few episodes?
I’d waive it off if there were just two or three of them but it was a group of fucking TEN PEOPLE! Why even add them in the first place?!
UGHHH..
I don’t get it…
And the way all of them went out except for lulu, it was mostly brutal. And it felt like he didn’t know what to do with them.
—
変わったというか、ボツになったネタを教え てください。
アンシェルと一緒に成層圏まで飛び出て、 自由 落下で落ちてきて燃え尽きるという壮絶な最 期を、ハジに用意していたんです。 でも、 脚本家 達から総スカンを喰ってボツになりました(笑)。 それから企画当初は、 最初の1クールは小夜を沖 縄から東京、 青森まで転校させようと思っていた んです。でも、プロデューサー達の意見で、海外 を駆け回るロードムービーに変えました。 日本編 に1クールかけていたら、間違いなくドロ~ッと した暗ぁ～いドラマが展開したと思いますよ(笑)。
Can you tell us about an unusual or rejected story?
I had prepared a spectacular ending for Haji, in which he and Amshel fly into the stratosphere, free-fall, and burn up. However, the scriptwriters were not happy with the idea and rejected it (laughs). (Laughs) In the beginning of the project, I was planning to have Saya change schools from Okinawa to Tokyo and Aomori for the first season. However, the producers changed it to a road movie where Saya travels around the world. If we had spent one cool season on the Japan part, it would have definitely been a dark and dreary drama (laughs).
…
wh…WHY?!!
IS THAT EVEN NECESSARY?!!!
Why would you even give Hagi such a fucking cruel death when Saya’s sword is just there to stab him with hahaha.
And yeah, maybe Haji didn’t have much personality all throughout the anime but did it have to be in an episode where he managed to do something worthwhile? (at least once haha)
UGH
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST.
Fujisaku is really sadistic, ain’t he?
He seems to love his shock deaths as if it’s a fetish of his and I hope to God it’s not.
Why does he like killing characters so much and in such BRUTAL ways too?!
Makes me wonder if Blood C was just him off the chain and with no filter because that shitty series is a mindless gorefest where everyone in the town dies.
I think that other production staff; the higher ups, and or screenwriters reined him in with his fondness for shock value and thank god for that because Blood+ would end up being as crappy as Blood C if they didn’t, lol.
When I told Rin about this, she was like, “Really seems like the qualities of Blood+ are in spite of him.” haha, which is true. We always suspected that Blood+ was more of a fluke rather than a skill and even Blood+ has many writing faults like these ones.
I don’t have anything personal against Fujisaku. I think his concepts and ideas in Blood+ were refreshing to see. He managed to use Chiropterans as an allegory for CIA ops worldwide. He used this series to heavily criticise US imperialism, US bases around the world, the military industrial complex, their use of biowarfare througout history and other fucking disgusting yet covert experimentations that the CIA used on the global south to exploit them and mantain hegemony and power.
It was so inspiring to see that kind of blunt criticism especially in an anime series. Most anime series aren’t even this direct in criticising the US Empire, haha.
He also made such compelling characters like Kai who subverted the Shounen Hero trope later on and of course, my blorbos, the Schiff. Even if he planned to dispose of them in around 26 episodes which I’m extremely pissed off at, he managed to make you root for them. Despite their little screentime, he got to make them have very distinctive but wholesome personalities. I would even go as far as to say they were the most mentally stable out of the entire cast, haha.
But it feels like his insatiable, sadistic need for shock value and brutal deaths got in the way and pulled the series down when it could have been in such a top spot. You can kill characters if they have a point but just butchering most of them needlessly, I think that makes for bad writing.
And I won’t even go for his sequel that seems to just be a complete rehash of the series just that the Saya and Diva versions here get along. (they even have the same faces).
Sequels imho should be expanding from where they finished from the last one or have them explain the plot holes in the original.
Or he could make a prequel or a side story about the Schiff for example. Explain how they came to be, how they knew about each other, forged a friendship /comradery to free themselves from the lab. There is so much stuff to develop on and yet out of all the potential side stories that could have been so compelling and add to the story, he focuses on a dynasty trope. Redoing the entire original but with the villain’s kids.
whoop dee effing doo.
RANT OVER.
haha I should make a tag here called “BLOOD+ rants” because I have so much to say about this series. Some are angry rants (mostly on the way Fujisaku kills them off like mosquitoes and the dubious writing that’s all over the place) but I’m sure most of em would just be me fangirling over my blorbos and ships, lol.
m i l l i e k o u 