Charles from Blood+.

I’ve been a fan of Blood+ for a very long time; I remember having watched the series back in 2007/2008 on Animax. The anime was really good, and although I had people telling me that the manga had a different story, I thought I wasn’t missing much by not picking it up.

Boy, was I wrong. I started reading the Blood+ manga two days ago, and I found it really endearing. I’d say it’s better than the anime, but each has its good and bad points, so I won’t go there.

Diva turns out to be not as bitter as she is in the anime, and her history with Saya is altered dramatically. Van Argiano is so much more than the idiot he is in the anime; I thought he was very intimidating and shrewd and, well, evil. Solomon is such a girly pretty boy and a real creep; far worse than his anime counterpart (seriously, the entire time I was reading the manga I was liking Solomon less and less). Riku isn’t annoying, and even likable. Haji isn’t as cool or as expressionless as a rock as he is in the anime; he had his stupid moments with Kai, which I thought were hilarious. Kai isn’t an idiot, and a great big brother to Saya. Nathan is still very gay, although I like him less than his anime version. Amschel is still obsessed with Diva, but I thought he cared for her more in the manga than in the anime.

And Karl - holy frikking thing, he did not exist in the manga. Instead, his counterpart is the adorable little Charles, who is Diva’s favorite chevalier. I was absolutely disappointed when I realized that they decided to rob the anime of its Charles. Seriously, Charles is so cute and evil and adorable and I’d prefer him to Karl any day. It’s not as if I ever liked Karl to begin with, but really - I thought Charles was a great symbolism of chiropterans who, just like Saya, are trying to fit in with human beings, especially since he’s always with his caretaker, Van Argiano.

On that note, I really think Van and Charles make a good pair. No, seriously: I love Charles x Van. There’s something about their master-servant relationship that is both twisted and fascinating to me. (And I also ship Charles x Riku, although I’m guessing to a lesser degree.) I’ve never even considered yaoi before, but Charles x Van and Charles x Riku made me.

I was browsing through the fan fiction archive just a while ago, and I’m terribly disappointed to see that there isn’t much about Charles, or his relationship with Van or Riku. Which really sucks, because he deserves more stories about him. People who have seen the anime don’t even know who Charles is, and if you’re one of them: You don’t know what you’re missing. (Give the manga a try. NOW.)

I just realized how difficult it is to fan girl over a character/pairing that only a very few people know about. It’s terribly frustrating, and I’m just glad I have this anime/manga blog where I can post something like this.

Here’s to hoping that more people will give the Blood+ manga a try.

P.S. Go here if you’re a fan of Charles. ♥