Fall 2013: Strike the Blood

I don't know why, with a title like Strike the Blood, that I didn't think that this show would be about vampires. At first glance, the world seems like it's completely normal. But once you get about seven minutes in, you realize that magic and demons are  a natural part of the world, as a PA system announces that an abnormal magical surge has been detected. To top that all off, something called the Fourth Progenitor is coming.

Image source: http://www.crunchyroll.com/strike-the-blood

The interesting part is that all these mythical and magical beings live on this island, seemingly isolated from the rest of the world, to be protected and researched. But they mention this halfway through the episode. This is the kind of thing that your typical shonen tournament fight show would mention at the beginning of the first episode. In fact, Hunter x Hunter DID explain all that at the beginning of the first episode. Instead, Strike the Blood opts to talk about the mysterious Fourth Progenitor with some weird filters to make it seem cool, or something.

The mystery of who the Fourth Progenitor is solved relatively quickly, only to have the question of WHY is HE the Fourth Progenitor raised, as well as who was the Fourth Progenitor who gave him the Fourth Progenitor-ness. The first episode is raising more questions than it's answering and it isn't doing the most important part: setting up the characters What I currently know about the main character, Akatsuki, is that mystery surrounds him and that he's a vampire. What I currently know about his protector, Himeragi, is that she gets way too worked up over people seeing her panties.

Strike the Blood hopes to grab with intrigue, but it isn't doing it. It's TOO mysterious and doesn't answer enough questions, nor gives enough just general information about the world or the characters.

Rating: 2/5

Is it really the primogenitor? Or is Crunchyroll's description spelled wrong and I just kept reading progenitor? Because they also say "sward shaman" and that's gotta be wrong.