I guess it was always a valid question – was this going to be a “Blood” series adapted to fit CLAMP, or was the CLAMP going to be adjusted to fit the “Blood”?  Any questions we had going in are pretty much answered now – this is a CLAMP series with Blood character names.  And a dash of Madoka ripoff for good measure.

That said, I see Saya’s Dog/Cat/Fox friend as more Watanuki than Kyuubey (who’s stil eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeevil, BTW).  Yes, that’s right – it’s not enough that they’ve twisted Blood into their own CLAMP shape, but they’re doing their usual crossovers, too.  I don’t guess I have any right to be surprised, but it does irritate me a bit that this series doesn’t really need to be Blood at all – it could be anything, really.  They could have at least tried to incorporate some of the soul of the source material, but then, I guess it wouldn’t be CLAMP if they had.

So we have a xxHolic character turning up as a wish-granter for Saya, though we don’t know whose wish at this point.  What’s clear is that it’s someone who appears displeased with the way Saya is being manipulated.  Am I the only one rooting for the elder bairns in these fights?  They seem to be the most interesting characters in the show, frankly.  This scarab beetle samurai was certainly a twist – though the CGI was clumsy as usual, he made an interesting sight doing battle with Saya (who, by the way, walked around town with a sword all day and drew nary a comment).   The fact that Saya was about to drink the elder bairn’s blood before Tokizane entered the scene would indicate that there’s at least some frail connection to the source mythology.

Is Saya’s father really her father?  Is the entire town a fake?  Who did Saya promise to defeat the elder bairns?   Is there enough here for me to care?  Honestly, I’m not sure.  After the modest improvement in the last two episodes I was a few steps back from the ledge, but not I’m strongly ambivalent again.  I’m disappointed that after all the relentless prologue, this is all we get – just another CLAMP rehash.  I don’t feel anything for this Saya – she’s just too dim and lacking in spark for me to care for her.  None of the other (seemingly) human characters has made any kind of an impression – even the great Fujiawara Keiji seems lifeless and bland here.  In the final analysis, I just can’t escape the notion that this whole thing was a bad idea.