Blood Lad (ブラッドラッド,Buraddo Raddo?) is a manga series created by Yuuki Kodama and serialized in Young Ace. The manga series has been licensed for distribution in English by Yen Press. Blood Lad follows Staz Charlie Blood, a vampire from the surreal "Demon World", who meets Fuyumi Yanagi, an ordinary girl who accidentally wanders into the Demon World through a portal. Shortly after their meeting Fuyumi is killed by a carnivorous plant and turned into a ghost, causing Staz to take responsibility and pledge to help bring her back to life.
An anime adaptation aired between 7 July, and 8 September 2013 and was licensed in North America by Viz Media for streaming on their website VizAnime and home video distribution in 2014. Neon Alley also acquired the series for streaming on their web service.
Blood Lad follows Staz Charlie Blood, a vampire from the surreal "Demon World" who avoids attacking humans unlike his ancestors. One day, he becomes excited when Fuyumi Yanagi, an ordinary girl accidentally wanders into the Demon World through a portal. The two's first meeting is cut short by the attack of a demon. Staz goes to stop the enemy and save his allies. However, Fuyumi is killed by a carnivorous plant and turned into a ghost, causing Staz to take responsibility and pledge to help bring her back to life.
Characters[]
Main characters[]
Staz Charlie Blood (ブラッド・チャーリー・スタズ,Buraddo Chārī Sutazu?)
The main protagonist of the series. He is one of the territory bosses of East Demon World. He is the descendant of a noble vampire who would go to the human world to suck blood, but unlike his honored ancestor, Staz shows no interest in this. He is an otaku obsessed with goods from the Human World, especially Japanese games, anime, and manga. Other characters view Staz as a lazy moron who does nothing and has too much free time, but acknowledge his strength and the danger their territory would be in if he were to give up his position. When he sees Fuyumi, he falls in love/bloodlust at first sight and wishes to spend more time with her and to protect her. But just as he gets to know her, she is eaten by a carnivorous plant and becomes a ghost which causes him to lose his initial attraction to her as he is only interested in humans. However, he then makes it his life goal to bring her back to life. In order to bring her back to life, he will do anything; even becoming her vampire bodyguard.
According to Bell, Staz has an untapped power. He later admitted that his brother, Braz, sealed his true power with a bullet he modified.
The human girl who becomes lost in the Demon World after wandering into a portal that suddenly opened up in her bedroom. She becomes a ghost after being eaten alive by a carnivorous plant, leaving behind only her bones and clothes. She wishes to be resurrected and become human again, and accompanies Staz on his quest to bring her back to life. It is later revealed that she is Bell's sister as their mothers were doppelgangers who merged making them sisters.
Bell Hydra (ハイドラベル,Haidora Beru?)
Voiced by: Sarah Emi Bridcutt (Japanese), Kira Buckland (English)
Bell is a treasure hunter who can travel through dimensions using frames. She is a high level user of spatial and teleportation magic and the owner of the Black Curtain that brought Fuyumi to the Demon World. She uses these powers to hunt for treasure in both the Demon and Human worlds. She wants to catch the magic thief who stole her Black Curtain and make him her husband. At first, she thought Staz was the magic thief, but after several investigations, it is known that the magic thief is dead. She starts to fall in love with Staz after Staz fulfills her wish to see his true power (unintentionally). It is revealed that she is Fuyumi's sister.
Wolf (ウルフ,Urufu?)
Voiced by: Takuma Terashima (Japanese), Ben Diskin (English)
He is the hybrid werewolf (the English manga uses lycanthrope in place of werewolf) who controls most of West Demon World. He is Staz's friend and rival, having known each other since Staz ran away from Acropolis. He seems to be attracted to Fuyumi when he first sees her, but is very shy about it. He is of noble blood and was supposed to live in Acropolis, but admitted that he was abandoned because he is not a pure-blooded werewolf. According to himself, he is "a mix of lycanthrope and nobody".
Staz's right-hand man. He is often the one leading the gang when outside and patrolling because of Staz's laziness.
Mimic Yoshida (ミミック吉田,Mimikku Yoshida?, alt. Yoshida the Mimic)
Voiced by: Kazutomi Yamamoto (Japanese), Max Mittelman (Credited as Jason Baker) (English)
The newest member of Staz's gang. He is a mimic and can transform into other people. He typically transforms into people he admires, such as Staz. He serves as Staz's double while Staz is away.
Saty (サティ,Sati?)
A three-eyed woman who never speaks. She is the manager of the restaurant, Third-Eye Cafe, along with her partner, Mamejirou. She and Mamejirou have clairvoyant powers thanks to their third-eyes. Even without speaking, she was able to stop Staz and Mamejirou from fighting with an intimidating stare.
Mamejirou (豆次郎,Mamejirō?)
Voiced by: Chiwa Saitō (Japanese), Cristina Vee (English)
A three-eyed talking demon animal who works at the Third-Eye Cafe along with his partner Saty. He is very talkative. He and Saty have clairvoyant powers thanks to their third-eyes.
West Demon World[]
Kiji (キジ?)
Voiced by: Shūsaku Shirakawa (Japanese), Matt Mercer (English)
Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (Japanese), Patrick Seitz (English)
A scientist within the Demon World. He is an expert on demon physiology and conducts experiments on demons. He is interested in experimenting on Fuyumi and was working on a secret project to create a supreme body for the phantom Akim Papradon.
Demon World Acropolis[]
Braz D. Blood (ブラッド・D・ブラッズ,Buraddo Dī Burazzu?)
Voiced by: Ryōhei Kimura (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
Staz and Liz's older brother. He is the one who wrote the book of resurrection that Staz and the others believe can bring Fuyumi back to life. When they were younger, he conducted experiments on Staz to unlock his true potential. He later sealed Staz's powers away with a magic bullet that he shot into Staz's heart. While his intentions are always under suspicion from Staz, his true motive is to dethrone Wolf-Daddy's reign as King of Acropolis and hence to achieve this goal, he orchestrated the creation of Akim Papradon who he further used to test Staz's strength on.
Liz is Braz and Staz's younger sister. She has a great respect for her eldest brother Braz and a deep disdain for her older brother Staz. This is partly because Staz ran away from home and partly because Braz would spend all his time on Staz. She is the jailer of Acropolis and has the power to judge and imprison demons in her own personal dungeon known as Liz's Toy Box. Due to her brothers' neglect towards her, Liz ends up growing very close to Fuyumi and becomes fiercely protective of her.
Wolf-Daddy (ウルフダディ,Urufu Dadi?)
Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), Richard Epcar (English)
King of the Demon World Acropolis. He is Wolf's biological father and killer of the Blood siblings' father, the previous king. However, it appears their father told him to kill him as the two and Heads Hydra appear to be close friends.
Voiced by: Masumi Asano (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)
Chief Goyle (ゴイル部長,Goiru Buchō?)
Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio (Japanese), Ben Pronsky (English)
Dimensional Highway[]
Neyn (ネイン,Nein?)
Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)
She is the mother of both Fuyumi and Bell. She is the result of a fusion between the separate mothers of both girls, who were each other's doppelgänger.
Knell Hydra (ハイドラネル,Haidora Neru?)
Voiced by: Yūki Kaji (Japanese), Erik Scott Kimerer (English)
Bell and Fuyumi's younger brother and a fellow spatial magic user. He is a transporter and takes on jobs to transport goods to different locations. In the anime, while revealing the family's history, Heads Hydra mentions that Knell's powers are not as strong as Bell's due to him being born after Neyn's fusion: she was no longer full demon.
Heads Hydra (ハイドラヘッズ,Haidora Hezzu?)
Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), Keith Silverstein (English)
A powerful monster who is Neyn's husband and Bell and Knell's father.
He is a monstrosity created by Franken Stein after building on and improving on the research left by his relative. In order to obtain stronger parts for his body, he escaped from Franken's lab via spatial magic and began hunting and killing demons with exceptional magical properties in order to harvest their limbs. Akim's true form is that of a phantom and hence possesses the ability to manipulate the separate body parts which make up his physical form. Akim's entire creation was orchestrated by Braz in his conspiracy to dethrone Wolf-Daddy and hence anonymously delivered the corpse of a demon known as Pantomine to Franken to serve as the central container for Akim. Following his later research, Braz has Franken develop a much more powerful container for Akim.
Pantomime
A spy who was serving under Wolf-Daddy's direct order. He was killed by Braz who anonymously delivered his corpse to Franken Stein to serve as a body for Akim Papladon.
Yanagi
Voiced by: Eiichiro Tokumoto (Japanese), Matt Mercer (English)
Fuyumi's father. He was aware of the Demon World's existence following his wife's fusion with Neyn and decided to give up being with her to Heads Hydra to instead raise Fuyumi on his own.
Media[]
Manga[]
The manga was written and drawn by Yuuki Kodama and serialized in Young Ace since 4 September 2009.[1] The series was later licensed for distribution in English by Yen Press.[2]
The American release features the manga as an OMNIBUS. Each volume holds two Japanese volumes of the series.
The anime is produced by Brain's Base and directed by Shigeyuki Miya, with series composition by Takeshi Konuta, character designs by Kenji Fujisaki, art direction by Masaki Mayuzumi and Toshiyuki Sakae and sound direction by Satoki Iida.[20] The 10 episode series began airing on 7 July 2013 on tvk and were later aired on Tokyo MX, Sun TV and BS11. The series has been licensed in North America by Viz Media for streaming on their online service Viz Anime, which was revealed at Anime Expo 2013 along with streaming by Neon Alley and home video release in 2014.[21] The opening theme is "ViViD" by May'n whilst the ending theme is "Bloody Holic" by Yuuka Nanri.
Reception[]
Spick Mich from Spickmich reviewed the German version of Blood Lad, stating that the manga's art style occasionally reminded him of Soul Eater and that fans of action and horror would like the series.[22] Bamboo Dong from Anime News Network praised the anime adaptation, finding its humor appealing as well as the portrayal of the main character Staz.[23]
