…it doesn’t do it right. The truth — the one and only truth — is finally revealed for all to see:

• So the anime is The Truman Show… except that there are hot anime babes and ridiculous toy-like monsters.
• Every person we see in the story is an actor except for our very own Saya. The only morbid twist here is that when we see people die, they actually die. The main cast is just exempt for special reasons. I’m not exactly sure how the people behind The Saya Show has managed to replace the main cast with their doppelgangers whenever it’s time for them to “die,” but hey, that’s what the anime tells us.
• As predicted, the cafe owner has been drugging Saya after each and every Elder Bairn fight. Apparently, Saya imbibes Elder Bairn blood out of instinct or something and the liquid helps the girl regain her old memories.

In any case, the revelatory episode is still largely a failure. Why? Because it is eighteen straight minutes of five characters standing around in a single place, talking about the story’s plot in a very inorganic fashion.

“What does the blood do?” one person will ask.

“It will allow Saya to regain her memories!” exclaims someone.

“What’s a Shrovetide, anyway,” wonders a twin.

“Ah yes, I’m glad you asked,” says the older woman.

[Question.]

[Answer.]

[Question.]

[Answer.]

Christ, it’s as though Hideo Kojima wrote this sorry script. This episode is basically a bottle episode, but there’s no cleverness here. There’s nothing to break up the monotony of the show’s dull exposition. For example, Moryo no Hako will spice up a conversation-in-a-room about goblin mythology with stylized animation of said folklore. On the other hand, the Blood-C characters are only interrupted by unexciting flashbacks of Saya’s past. Production I.G. does nothing interesting with these scenes except to slap some thick, annoying film grain on everything. I, uh, guess she fought some Jin-roh-looking soldiers until she got knocked out by a tranquilizer dart. Then when she comes to, a mysterious dude in the dark (probably the cafe owner) can be seen draining Saya of her blood.

The Brits love their blood sausages.

Moryo no Hako also helps itself by having its bottle episode be about an obscure subject. Let’s face it — most of us are not experts on malevolent Japanese spirits and various other paranormal creatures. Blood-C‘s eighteen minutes of mind-breaking revelations (not really), however, mostly confirm what we’ve already gleaned from the series’ previous ten episodes. The only new information we get regards the actors’ various quirks. It turns out the twins are criminals of some sort. It also turns out Tokizane is only out for money. Fascinating.

The episode reaches ridiculous heights when a silly-looking Elder Bairn finally makes an appearance at its regularly scheduled time. This causes the actors to freak out and run. Of course, with Saya out of commission, Saya’s sensei has to slowly drag the girl away from danger. They don’t get far before running into more of the show’s characters for even more exposition. Meanwhile, the audience is sitting here wondering, “Uh, what about the goddamn Elder Bairn that just wrecked the storage house?” Well? Where did it go? Did the weird lion thing just decide not to give chase?

“Welp, the script called for more dialogue so I’m just gonna chill out here in the back until I need to kill someone!”

Oh Blood-C, you still suck. Whoever wrote this script is an amateur.