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trismugistus.com
and digital-bondage.net
are my web sites.
trismugistus.com
is where I upload my anime, manga and tv&film reviews,
and also where I occasionally post short stories and
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You can also read my blog here
or check out my anime list here. |
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| daphne in the brilliant
blue review |
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| details |
| The Genre: Sci-Fi with elements of Humour,
Mystery and Fan-service |
| The Format: 24 episodes across 7 DVDs from
Geneon (plus 2 DVD exclusive episodes) |
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| The plot: Maia Mizuki seems to have everything
going for her. She's young, energetic and a top
candidate to enter the Ocean Agency, the first
name marine law-enforcement. However, in just
one day her whole life falls apart around her.
After being rejected by the Ocean Agency, she
loses her home, her money and becomes a hostage
to a pair of bank robbers. Could it get any worse?
Of course it can. |
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| back
to top |
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| opinion
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| Mediocre. Average. Middle of the Road. Nothing
special.
These are all words and phrases that could almost
have been invented to describe Daphne in the Brilliant
Blue.
I mean, it's not bad; it's just that it manages
to hit about every predictable medium you can
think of. Tell you what, I'll give you a list,
and you can mark them up on your own particular
'scale of average'.
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First off, it's set in the future. A
future where all of the land is underwater,
and everyone lives in floating cities. But
these cities aren't all they seem to be,
and there's some mystery or another.
Our main character, Maia can't remember
her past, and has lived with her uncle for
the last few years, until he dies, which
kick-starts the story. But Maia is not all
she seems to be, and there's some mystery
or another.
Maia has wanted to be in the Ocean Agency
since they helped her after she lost her
memory, and she is clearly the 'brightest
light' of the new recruits. But she fails
her entrance exam. However, this isn't all
it seems to be, and there's some mystery
or another.
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Maia is made homeless (there's some weird proto-communist
system involving housing, but which then seems
at odds with the slum districts that there are
in these floating cities) and jobless by the above.
She eventually ends up working for Neried's, a
bounty hunting/PI/trouble shooting agency, which
is staffed entirely by totally hot women. Well,
part from the office manager, who's a wimpy, emasculated
man. But Neried's is not all it seems to be, and
there's some mystery on another.
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Well, the mystery isn't actually much of a
mystery here--the tough-as-old-carpets staff of
Neried's are all actually heart-of-gold types.
And many of them have clashing personalities,
leading to comedic situations.
For some reason, the staff of Neried's seem to
have perfectly reasonable clothes that they wear,
but then also have 'combat clothes' for no readily
apparent reason. These other clothes are extraordinarily
skimpy (to say the least) and look a lot like
bathing suits. However, these costumes are not
all they seem to be, and there's some mystery
or another.
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Okay, okay, I'm pushing that tag-line
too hard (though there are two mysteries
with the costumes--first off, quite how
they manage to stay on the girls is puzzling;
but secondly, quite why nice-girl Maria
isn't utterly embarrassed to where virtually
nothing, and why the ordinary citizens don't
even bat an eyelid at their skimpy attire
is very mysterious), but you get the point.
All of the above can be found in dozens
of other series, and they really aren't
given any sort of unique spin here to make
the series stand out from the rest.
There are a few other mysteries kicking
about, by the way. There's a mysterious
guy that follows Maia around; the agents
that helped Maia aren't quite what they
seem to be, and even her uncle isn't quite
what he's initially presented as.
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It's mysteries galore, and I suppose there
are always going to be problems when you make
abstract concepts and mysteries the 'bad guy'
of your show. Actually, this sort of structural
device tends to work better in a literary form
(the series is adapted from a manga), but I think
anime tends to demand a more rigid protagonist-antagonist
structuring. Or at least nominally so.
We do have antagonists, of course, but these
all fall into the single episode cardboard cut-out
villainy or bungling incompetents stereotypes.
The only real and consistent 'villains' are Maia's
past, and the mysteries of the cities. Which,
I suppose, are good motivations for Maia, but
for the audience, they do rely quite a bit on
us caring what happens to Maia, and unfortunately,
with the distinctly predictable nature of everything
here, I'm not sure I can truly say I did care
that much about her.
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The actual structure of the show's individual
episodes is also quite predictable, with an episode-focusing-on-a-character
format, found in shows like Star Trek. This is
pretty much rigidly stuck to, with the only real
deviations coming towards the end when the focus
shifts more squarely back to the mysteries of
Maia and the cities.
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It sounds like I'm ragging on the series
from the above, and you may therefore be
surprised to see the 3 stars at the bottom.
Well, truth be told, there are plenty of
things to like in Daphne, because, although
it deals with story elements we've all seen
plenty of times before and characters that
fit precisely into neat moulds, it doesn't
mean the series isn't quite engaging at
times.
And it doesn't mean you can't be entertained
by Daphne in the Brilliant Blue. However,
it does mean you shouldn't expect too much
of it.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about
Daphne is the animation quality... but it's
not remarkable in a good way. Although again
it's not bad as such, the animation is definitely
below the standards set by many of today's
works.
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Daphne's animation looks a bit like a throwback
to the early-to-mid nineties. I mean, we're not
quite down to the level of the late eighties/early
nineties, but the show is noticeably clunky in
places; a point which is highlighted by the superb
animation quality of the opening title sequence.
Sound is reasonable, with a passable English
dub, but I did much prefer the Japanese version.
Squeaky, high pitch characters always grate less
in Japanese than when re-dubbed by English VAs.
For a Geneon release of an unremarkable series,
the extras are actually pretty good. Most notable
amongst them are the two whole bonus episodes
which are exclusive to the DVD (I know this is
a little contradictory for anime in the west,
where almost everything is DVD only, but that's
obviously not the case in Japan). Ironically,
these bonus episodes are probably the best of
the lot, with fractionally better animation quality
and certainly much stronger plots and better laughs
than the series itself. |
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| back
to top |
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| summary |
| The Summary: Not bad, not good, but distinctly
average. |
| The Score: 3/5 |
| The Pictures:
(click for larger versions) |
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