O'rly? Strangely i get quite the opposite impressions although watching Blood TLV 1st. Blood TLV was more a visual showcase for Production I.G rather than anything else. It lacked any story or plot. The story was further developed in the Blood TLV PS2 games and novels though. Blood + being a series has the luxury for character development and plot progression so i felt Blood + was pretty good.

To clear something up, Blood + has no relation to Blood The Last Vampire in terms of story other than the main character's name is Saya in both shows and they both use swords to kill vampires.  Blood + is an alternate universe as it doesn't follow the events in the novels and games.  Also in the movie, Saya mentions to kill Chiroptera, she must inflict a fatal wound that will make them lose blood, that's why guns are useless and she must use a sword. But in Blood + they change it that her blood is poisonous to Chiroptera. So Blood + is neither a prequel nor a sequel to Blood TLV.