Ranked #5026

Crystal Blaze

…you are walking down through the foggy wet night of an old badly lit neighborhood when you suddenly spot a humming neon sign on top of a brick thorn wall with a small wooden door by it. Walking steadily towards it the echoed water splashing sound caused by your steps against the water on the pavement, give place to a still stuffy mellow deep bass from inside the place. As soon as you open the door your eyes instantly loose themselves on the tick mist of smoke against the small green lamps on each table, which provides the only light to the small cramped room. Your ears get absorbed by the slow jam so loud now that even your thoughts are difficult to reach, and your nose goes numb with the strong stench of smoke, alcohol and a faint scent of gunpowder. All your senses seem to plead you to turn back and go away, but by the time the neural impulse reaches your fingers they had already let go of the door.

On the left you spot a long dirty bar filled with broken dreams and misleading smiles on the small uncomfortable sits. A few steps where enough before the almost faded green light behind the gorgeous mistress holding a glass and inviting you to sit by her, made the blurry whisky glasses by the counter shine like stars on an empty night sky. By now you are fully aware, neither bullets nor kisses will save you, and if the green girl on the other side of the room screaming as she burns inside a huge pyre, or the two teenage girls playing with a dog casually right by her are any indication, it’s obvious what awaits you…

So, in a nutshell, this is what you should expect out of Crystal Blaze… outside the fact that this is not how the story goes. Obviously, if you are keen on specifics or my mental image simply left you absolutely clueless, please, feel free to keep reading, I will do my best to refrain from further insanity.

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Story & Characters

If you are looking for cross-references there are a few, Heat Guy J, Speed Grapher and Cowboy Bebop amongst others. These come pretty close to this title in terms of development and overall feeling, with some going a bit further sharing more similarities than others. Being even remotely familiar with the genre, there is nothing out of the ordinary to be expected from Crystal Blaze. From the very first episode all the twists become obvious and the small remaining margin for originality is never reached.

Predictive as it is, this is not the major issue here. The usual beat down story of mad scientist making ultimate weapon is all there with everything that comes to be expected for such an uninspired theme, but what really hurts is the lack of urgency. One might come to Crystal Blaze expecting a thriller of some sort, but the murders we are presented to are tedious and mostly at random, the conspiracy that the plot revolves around is dull and consists of nameless entities that are nothing more than extremely convenient plot devices, and the thrive to unveil the mysteries is never interesting on its own.

The characters themselves simply put are shallow. They are somewhat well designed and seem to be interesting, but with their past never being explained thoroughly, and the interactions they go through mostly forced, we end up with badly developed arcs and difficulty to relate to their plight as consequence. This is not to say they are bad since they do play exclusively by their strengths, never trying to get out of character or doing anything not to be expected from the default role they are occupying. You, as well as I did, might end up relating to one or another based on premises and expectations alone, just don’t think they will be fully delivered by the time the curtain closes.

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Animation, Art & Sound

Such is the case with such anime, as ironic as it may sound, animation it not its strongest point. All in all, despite somewhat insipid the animation does hold itself well under scrutiny for the most part, but its less than stellar quality does show some problems when the script requires over the top sequences. On the stances where we get past the somewhat awkwardly staged gunfights, with people running straight at gunshots with disregard for their own safety, and bullets making miraculous trajectories to avoid life threatening wounds, the animation is not extremely fluid, but since these are rare enough it don’t get in the way of the enjoyment.

The art is just fine, with well designed characters containing a fair amount of detail and personality, particularly the females that are gorgeous, and thankfully so since the male characters do nothing more than fill the basic traits for their roles, even if well executed. The color pallet seemed a little off putting for me from time to time, but the background is also competent and not overly used, making the city seems fairly lively and diverse.

Opening and ending themes are good and add a crucial vibe to the whole production. The background music is very competent presenting itself unobtrusively, coming off on the right moments and setting the mood while not aspiring for the spotlight. Stepping outside the music arrangements, the sound effects feel authentic without ever going too over the top, and the voice actors do a remarkably good job giving an extra tinge of originality to their characters.

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Value/Enjoyment & Conclusion

Whatever reasons someone might have to start watching a series, be it the advertisement surrounding it, be it interest in the plot, be it a friend’s recommendation or simply out of curiosity, one thing is certain, a much greater effort is necessary to put it away after you got sucked into the plot and started to relate to the characters.

Being the average anime it is, after you get into the plot, albeit not an incredibly interesting one, after you get to know the characters, albeit not particularly well developed ones, after you get into the mood of the show, albeit not very climatic one… well, after you get yourself into the trap it won’t present you any major flaw to break away the immersion.

What this particularly pessimistic painting of the twelve episode series is trying to present itself as, is simply that Crystal Blaze comes pretty clear with its premises, and even while not reaching out for anything beyond that, for fans of this specific type of anime or people just interested by its plot, characters or setting, I can’t build a strong enough case not to recommend it. Even if it won’t take the center spot into anyone’s shelf, it can be a valiant effort into giving one some diversity, just drop your high expectations outside the room before you give it a shot.
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It's the atmosphere that really makes this show a gem. The artists and writers really made the setting pop -- it really feels like a gritty, sexy, noir, near-future world. The story is just OK, but the characters are varied and interesting, and combined with such an incredibly realized setting, it is a great show to immerse yourself in for 4 hours.

This anime has flaws, no doubt about it. However, the flaws are easily overlooked, and do not detract from being able to thoroughly enjoy this show. A highly recommended miniseries.