Ranked #2155

Blassreiter

Blassreiter is not among the highest rated animes on MAL, and for a reason.

But that reason has nothing to do with any supposed inferiority of the series, nor is it about any glaring fault in the show - Blassreiter is a good anime. It's also understandable why many haven't considered it great, or not even all that good.

The biggest fault in the show is it's seemingly lack of any clear direction or plot. In the first few episodes we see a bunch of these weird, robot-ish, human-like creatures running around causing havoc, including turning a motorcyclist idol into one of them. Along with the infected Gerd Frentzen the other main cast of Amanda Werner, a hot pinkette with a cool and professional attitude, her hot-headed partner Hermann Saltza, and the dark and mysterious Joseph Jobson, whose unimpressive screen time at the beginning of the show wouldn't at first suggest him to be a main cast member.

As many of you may have already figured out from the short descriptions above, a cast of unique and compelling characters is not one of the show's merits. Amanda is again one of your typical strong female-type of character whose usually calm and collected at her job, but, oh so surprisingly, is capable of showing a good bout of defiance and passion when it comes to her loved ones and what she sees as just. Hermann is almost her polar opposite, doing his job with personal feelings constantly at the surface and always, quite loudly if I may add, questioning his orders when they contradict his sense of right and wrong. Joseph is there to heavily add on the show's gloom and doom with his brooding air of a misunderstood hero who secretly fights for the good guys despite everyone thinking of him as a villain.

A good portion of the show's dark air stems from the characters' feel of guilt and responsibility over, well, various things. Amanda feels she hasn't been quite the big sis she should've been for her adopted brother Malek (the angsty crybaby), Sasha for creating some pretty damn advanced technology that just got used the wrong way, Joseph for pretty much everything, and so on. The constant, over-the-top blaming for one's self over matters beyond their control is nothing new in fictional characters who're supposed to appear heroic; an aspect that sure as hell isn't any less annoying in Blassreiter. On more than one occasion I found myself cringing at the characters' angsty antics, which did little to help the show's enjoyability.

"Mature storyline", boasts the show's summary. As the show goes on it becomes evident that by mature, they mean shitty. Not the storyline itself, but rather the pasts and circumstances of each character. Shit seems to be the share of especially the poor and foreign folk in the show's fictional German society. We see this through Malek and Joseph, mainly, who both have been the target of some truly hideous cruelty for no other reason than that they're not as well-off as the people around 'em. The series does make a powerful attempt at gaining the viewers' sympathies for the characters by showing us in great detail and abundance the torment they've been through. Unfortunately some of this effort was lost on me, for the "harsh reality" card being played as clumsily as it sometimes was in this anime has a way of making me laugh rather than weep. Sure the poor have always been looked down on at some level, but come on. A poor kid getting beat up by a rich one time and again to ensure his church keeps getting donations, and in a modern society no less? Fuck off.

In the same vein of showing how crappy the world is for some, Blassreiter seems to take every chance it gets to jab at Christianity. Shit happens, people pray, and God does nothing. Blah blah blah. Never think of me as a vigorously religious person, but to me nowadays trashing religion is like most of black metal. Immature and drop-dead ridiculous. Plus it seems that japs trying to depict the western way of life is somewhat of a pet peeve of mine. Huh.

So why, after all this bitching, do I think Blassreiter was good, you ask? Short answer: it just was. The longer one? Well...

On the occasions I actually bothered to tune it on (I'm a rather lazy anime watcher nowadays), Blassreiter kept me entertained. It wasn't an anime that rushed through its plot 1000000mph, but let the events roll at their own pace. It's not like I would especially mind fast-paced anime (TTGL ftw), but I do tend to appreciate it when a story takes its time to tell whatever story it has to tell. And though Blassreiter went through its story at a moderate pace, it didn't exactly lapse into sluggishness either; there was something going on in each episode to keep the viewer on their toes. Also the complete turnover the series takes around halfway through was, though sudden, an interesting twist.

The artwork of Blassreiter is also worth mentioning here on the plus-side, even with the fact that most anime is a parade of eye-candy. The machinery depicted in the anime is generally really neat looking, though flying motorbikes and such quirks tended to appear more amusing than cool. A big hand to the character designs as well; I could stare at Amanda's shiny green eyes and luscious lips forever. Also, I hope you like cleavage shots. You'll be having a hard time watching Blassreiter if you don't.

Though I spent a good while beating on the show's forced realism with cruelty, the aspect does accentuate the fact that Blassreiter is not your heap of moe-blob bullshit. Which is always a plus in my book. And no matter how much I'd think that gluttoning with harshness is just plain lame, a scene of a poor boy confessing crimes he didn't do with his hand on a bible while the true culprits sneer around him did clutch my innards. Always a good sign for an anime to be able to do that.

So yeah. Wanna see a solid, serious anime that'll keep you entertained till the end but with which you don't have to fear it'll shatter the earth below you? Grab Blassreiter. read more

Right, this is my second review. I'll try to control myself on length this time. Take note that I'll update the review at the end of the series. Additionally, no summary will be provided. This anime's main page has a brilliant one already. So, off we go.

Story (8/10):
The story extremely interesting in the sense that it evolves from small incidents to macrosmic effects. In the first few episodes, one couldn't really tell where the story was going, who the main characters were and just what was going to happen next. However, slowly, but surely the dam broke and plot flowed to swamp us. We are placed in an out of Japan setting with the familiar plot of demons rising to attack humanity, but suddenly we can't be sure whether that's all there is to it. I look forward to seeing it grow as the recent episodes seem to hold an extremely promising future for this series.

Art (7/10):
I never really like Gonzo's animation. Sure its pretty, but somehow there are some times you wish it didn't do that. The artwork of Blassreiter is clear. The settings are quite well done, living up to standards of being set in a small German town. The Demoniacs, however, really don't fit to my taste. The designs look good, until they're in action. Well, most of the protagonist designs look good (Examples include Gerd and Joseph) But,(spoiler) Malek's demoniac armor looks really....ugh...at times (end of spoiler). Nevertheless, the action scenes are generally well done, if a bit confused. Most of you'll enjoy it, but don't expect Last Exile or Gankutsuou level animation or artwork.

Sound (6/10):
Perhaps the weakest point in the series. Both OP and ED are really good, particularly the ED (first time, I ever downloaded an anime ending of Gendou). However, the soundtrack in between isn't really significant. You're usually too engrossed in the storyline to even notice the sound. Vocal acting meets most of the standards of the series, but ain't to my taste. It might be to yours, though.

Character (10/10):
This series's characters are hands down one of the most realistic and powerfully depicted personalities this season. You may think I'm lying, but I'm not. You will learn to HATE Jill Hoffman. You will feel Malek's pain even though you may not have lost someone close to you. You may find yourself questioning Gerd's intentions and wondering just who the hell Beatrice is. Development of characters is rapid, but also realistic. There personalities may not be thoroughly distinct, but you will find that they may be like one of you: A sister in confusion about her brother's actions or a disillusioned man trying revive his hero's faith or a lone wolf watching from afar, living day by day for revenge. Sounds far fetched, but see for yourself.

Enjoyment (8/10):
Blassreiter managed to keep me awake until 3 am (where I'm living anyway) every Saturday or Sunday, just to get a chance to see a new episode. I am enjoying the series quite a bit. It beats your general run-of-the-mill shonen that gets over 200 episodes, but barely achieves anything in that time a million times over. It's sad that this must end at 24 episodes, but then again, maybe its one of those animes that have to end there. Those are generally the good ones.

Overall (8/10):
Whew, I thought this was going to short. I'm glad if you've read this far. My advice to you is, don't look at the top anime score. That's what people thought when they watched the first couple episodes. This is a heavily underrated series and I hope that this review convinces you to watch it too. Thank you for reading. read more