Aoi Umi no Tristia

An ocean city, Tristia.
Tristia used to be prospering playing an important role of the maritime trade, and it was as beautiful as to be praised as "marine jewelry".
However, that was a long time ago.
The attack of the dragons deprived the city of their original brightness. The people in Tristia worked hard to reconstruct their city, but everything they did went wrong, and the city became desolated on the contrary.
At the end of their hope, they asked a Great Artisan for the recovery of the city, Prospero Flanka. Prospero was a legendary inventor who had revived cities that otherwise would have been ruined.
The long-awaited day came when the Great Artisan Prosper arrived in the city... However, it was only one girl who stood at the port of the city. Prospero sent his grand daughter, Nanoka, for him.

(Source: AnimeNfo)

Flanka, Nanoca Main

Kawasumi, Ayako Japanese

Tornado, Panavia Main

Chiba, Saeko Japanese

Carat, Faury Main

Oono, Marina Japanese

Tenzan Supporting

Kirii, Daisuke Japanese

Rafarew Supporting

Tomonaga, Akane Japanese

Whitley, Val Supporting

Kazama, Yuuto Japanese

Guliani, Mayor Supporting

Kashii, Shouto Japanese

Griffen, Arthur Supporting

Nakamura, Hidetoshi Japanese

Hampden, Nene Supporting

Nogawa, Sakura Japanese

Kutanie, Reygurett Supporting

Hatamiya, Kanoko Japanese

Kondou, Hikaru Producer

Takechi, Tsuneo Producer

Matsui, Hitoyuki Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin Sound Director

Reviews

Sep 13, 2024

SgtSalamander

Recommended

Tristia of the Deep Blue Sea is a simple, archetypal mid-2000s OVA, rising out of obscurity, and slipping right back beneath the waves, as it were. It's not really anything special, but it is simple, straightforward, and at times nostalgic fun. Beginning with the story, it's pretty boilerplate- a town called Tristia has mechs as a major industry and the granddaughter of a famous inventor lives there, whose goal it is to revitalize the town via inventions and urban planning. However, we don't really get much of that in the show, as it's instead completely focused on a tournament arc ... where the mechs have big robot battles. You're dropped right in the middle of a story without any context or introduction, but it's not necessarily jarring as there isn't much more to 'get' beyond what you see. Like I said, not anything to write home about, but not bad by any means. I certainly had fun, if for no other reason than this entire show, from the way the story is constructed down to its art direction, is unapologetically a product of the mid-2000s, the era of anime I grew up watching. Plus, if you're looking to kill some time, you could certainly do worse.

This brings me to the art, which I will say is the strongest aspect of this anime, if by a thin margin. It, like the story, isn't necessarily special, but it is colorful, fun, and engaging, communicating both action and visual comedy in a way which feels smooth and, once again, nostalgic. Though, I must make particular note of the outro animation. The decision to go completely claymation for the end credits sequence is simultaneously brave and bizarre, but it's also well-executed and betrays a certain love for the show as a project you wouldn't necessarily expect the team behind it to have.

The sound meets all basic standards of quality for the time, so no complaints there, even if it's not necessarily remarkable.

The characters also meet all basic standards of quality, serving their purpose as personified archetypes with little depth, who nonetheless manage to have lively interactions within the confines of the show itself. Of them, my favorites are the easygoing genius Nanoca Flanka and her spiteful second-fiddle Panavia Tornado, the protagonist and antagonist respectively. They embody a simple back-and-forth which provides some necessary narrative motion to the show, and manage to be fun characters in their own right as well. One last note on the characters here is that I noticed a little detail which made me chuckle- the Mayor's name is Mayor Guliani, undoubtedly a reference to the Mayor of New York between 1994 and 2001 of the same surname, though a slightly different spelling. Why did Ufotable do that? Oh, also, this is an Ufotable production, now known for Demon Slayer. These little details say something about this anime, I just know exactly what that is. Overall, this obscure, unremarkable OVA from 2004 isn't bad, but it doesn't really have anything specific going for it outside of its nostalgic production and design. I say give it a watch, especially if you're looking for something quick, or a simple watch that delivers exactly what's advertised up-front- a straightforward show about anime girls and their giant robots.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 22, 2008

Retro8bit

Mixed Feelings

Aoi Umi no Tristia certainly would appear to have a lot things going for it, upon just looking at the picture you might feel its a cute shoujo with lovable characters and a heartwarming story, and while it does indeed have it in this two episode OVA, its a shame that it does it so by the book!

Story: 5/10
Well there isn't much to it, basically it has Nanoca (our young heroine) fighting battle after battle by way of her own huge mecha called Golems which she herself created, and at this point I was instantly reminded of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, but with robots! Which honestly, ... this series is basically a combination of. There really isn't anything else to comment on about it, basically she must prove her skills as the best of her kind by defeating her rival who challenges her.....and that's it! It can be said though, that if you love this kind of storyline (what with the one on one monster styled battles)then you will definitely be drawn into the story. I just wish they could have come up with something to give it a bit more distinction from the other titles like this, the Golems themselves just weren't enough to do so. To be fair though, there were a few scenes in this title that made me think: Hmmmmm, I wonder how she will get out of this pickle? I also feel I should warn some of you that in episode 2, Nanoca and her friends are enjoying their time at the bath house, and the animators may animate their little female bodies a bit too much for some viewers, so just expect there to be a little light nudity.

Art: 7/10
The creativity that went into the animation is nice, the artwork is pretty good to look at, though no where near as sharp or colorful as other titles out there. But the style of clothing and characters themselves (while some may feel lean more towards the generic side) are well detailed and fun. All the ladies have distinct hair colors, which is good because its pretty much the only way you distinct some of them from each other, since they don't play much of a part in the over story.

Characters: 6/10
Honestly the only ones I got to really know as far as characters went, was Nanoca and her rival, all other supporting characters would stay in the background, and seemed to only pop up when necessary. Their personalities are fair, but again its the same kind we have seen before. (ie. the main girl who doesn't have confidence in herself, the out spoken rival etc.) Their not bad, just lack style and substance.

Soundtrack: 8/10
The best part of the title for sure, it really gives you a sense of adventure and sea filled excitement. All done with large orchestral scores that fill the background for most of the two episodes. I swear, I was actually humming along to some parts! The opening and closing theme work well enough, but felt a bit out of place and seemed like they would have worked better with a romance dating title. (which this title contains none of) The character voices themselves were appropriate, but I never got a real thrill from them, as most sounded pretty basic and lacked an over all sense of excitement to them.

Bottom Line: 6/10
Aoi Umi no Tristia was a nice little experiment with the whole seaside theme and Golem style battles, it just never went to any length at being a better title than it could have been. I really wanted to love this series........I really did. Its an alright watch if your looking for something cute yet action packed to fill your time with. It just doesn't do any of it in a particularly memorable way. A descent enough watch though.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 18, 2009

Skadi

Not Recommended

Aoi Umi no Tristia (Tristia of the Deep Blue Sea) is another example of a series that just throws together cute girls, mechs, explosions, fan service and hopes enough suckers will watch it. Consider myself hoodwinked.

The plot for Tristia starts off simple enough, with a domestic Golem (mecha) competition. Yeah it’s what it sounds like, robots doing housework... exciting huh? Of course it soon turns into mecha battles between rivals Nanoca and Panavia. Panavia seems to be bent only because she finishes second in every inventor contest the two of them entered. There is a mysterious man seemingly behind Panavia ... who is after information about Nanoca's mecha Tenzan. This might have proved to be an interesting plot element, except for the fact that there is no resolution to it! None, zero. So when the show is over it doesn’t really feel like it ever ended and leaves you with an unsatisfied feeling. Well that is if you could work up enough emotion to care about the story in the first place.

In addition to the bland unfinished story there is unrelated bath scenes, boob jiggle and other examples of pointless service. The action isn’t good enough to be noteworthy either. They aren’t exciting or interesting and the battles between the mechs have a feeling of been there, done that. The script is also pretty silly, with a lot of dialogue that will just make you wince. This could have been the translation, but call it intuition, I suspect it is equally cringe-worthy to native Japanese speakers over the age of 15.

The characters could best be described as bland. They are all stereotypes of personalities everyone has already seen many times over. While the girls are all cutely animated that’s about the most redeeming feature any of them have. We learn almost nothing about any of them, besides a little back story about why Panavia dislikes Nanoca and we get a little of her background mainly in passing. Honestly you will learn more about the characters and the town of Tristia by reading the plot summary than by actually watching the anime.

Animation is good but not great. The characters are cute looking and the backgrounds are pretty good but the fights and action aren’t spectacular. Despite having a couple of respected actresses, I would have to give low marks to all of them. Mostly due to the poor material they had to work with. I found the music, in particular the background sound to be really dreadful and cheesy.

In the end, Aoi Umi no Tristia has few redeeming qualities. There are a few laughs but overall it feels uncompleted and boring. It doesn’t have enough mecha action to appeal to fans of that genre nor is the fan service good or even plentiful enough to attract fans of that. Spend your time with something else.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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