Blood+ Episode 21

Episode title: Sour Grapes (Suppai Budou)

The rest of the Shifu gather; they will attack Saya and Hagi. A Shifu named Guy, who appears to be their leader, has vein-like cracks appearing on his body. As he looks at the full moon, he realizes his time is nearly up.

Mao and Akihiro the reporter are in France, but their cheap car has broken down. As the reporter goes for water/help, she daydreams of meeting Kai, then sees Solomon, as he drives up behind their stalled car; he doesn't wait, however, as he manages to drive his sportscar up the enbankment, bypassing the blocked one-lane road. She thinks his face looks familiar, and realizes she's seen him in a magazine; he is the CEO of the Cinq Fleches Group. The reporter comes back with water but she knocks it over excitedly. Anyway, they head toward a farm and ask about the Chateau Duel wine. The old man there eventually tells about the original winery and the building depicted on the wine label; that building's been burned down a hundred years ago. It used to belong to Joel Goldsmidt, but the strange part of the story is that it was rumored that everyone was killed and their bodies sucked dry of blood before the fire had even started.

Saya and Hagi slowly make their way to the zoo. She is quite weakened to the point of collapse; Hagi knows what she needs: his blood, but she refuses. On a bridge, they are ambused by the Shifu. Hagi grabs Saya and leaps away with the Shifu on their tails. He hides her in a tree hollow and goes off to fight them. He's doing quite well, but their leader, Guy, realizes Saya must be hidden and goes looking for her instead of engaging Hagi. Hagi tries to stop him, but gets nailed by one of the other Shifu. Guy nears the spot where Saya is. Hagi arrives to stop him but Guy overpowers him and nails him to a tree and sucks his blood. However, it doesn't help him. Saya emerges and the other Shifu say that if Chevalier blood doesn't work, then they have Saya. As they are about to strike her, the sky lightens; soon it will be dawn and the Shifu flee. Guy is dying; there's nothing they can do, and he wishes to die facing the sun. They leave him on a slab and he burns as the sun rises.

Comment: well, it looks like the Shifu are more like the vampires of legend, but it looks like they have a limited lifespan and needs Saya or maybe Diva's blood to cure themselves of their illness. They tried yokushuu blood in ep. 20 and a Chevalier's blood in this one, but those blood did not help. One stupid thing: they seemed to have a lot of time. They could've easily picked up Saya and taken her with them where they could've easily killed or taken her blood in the darkness somewhere.

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