Witchblade

I don't understand why they made a ship between Masane and Takayama, all the misfortunes that happen to her are because of his weapons company, plus he forces her to fight and that's putting your life in danger.

The clone witchblade and the real witchblade should have joined forces against Doji and the father.

I don't understand why they made a ship between Masane and Takayama, all the misfortunes that happen to her are because of his weapons company, plus he forces her to fight and that's putting your life in danger.

The clone witchblade and the real witchblade should have joined forces against Doji and the father.

This is an odd mix of good, bad, awesome and mediocre which in the end - all things considered - averages somewhere in the middle.

So overall score of the title is either 5/10 or 6/10, and I'm unsure which.

At the beginning of the anime there are amazing fight scenes that are both creepy and at the same time charged... even sexually charged even. The design of protagonist is interesting as well, and protagonist - Masamune - is an extremely unusual archetype (a bit silly/foolish, but sincere and good hearted character...), that very rarely is shown in an adult form in anime. The anime also ... excels in a few slice of life scenes, where it shows human side of their characters....

However at the later half something odd happens, pacing breaks, the anime touches many different themes, drops some of them, fails to properly conclude some more of them, quality of script drops, and characters that previously were full of life suddenly turn into carton cutouts. It is really odd. At the same time, when script quality starts going down, the anime tries putting more melodramatic scenes, which don't feel right or convincing, and in the end it finishes on a weird note.

So, it is an oddity. Despite good moments, I can't say it is great, due to some ridiculous story turns, that are completely unbeliavable. The anime also includes very magic-like ability to make weapons which is never really explained, and doesn't seem to fit the fairly realistic world. Some central elements are never explained as well.... so it really feels like some content was cut or missing. Oh well. Music delivers on occasions as well, with its main battle theme being interesting.

So, detailed breakdown:

Story: 4/10. There are very nice scenes of slice of life nature where character shines. However, there are ridiculous story turns where characters are acting oddly, where they make weird decisions and everybody takes those for granted, very strange technologies that can't be possible in a realistic setting, and very uncertain tone. Basically, it is as if the anime can't decide if it wants to be a monster anime, comedy anime, drama or anything else. Some things are good, but there's a large amount of oddities in the story.

Art: 6/10: The art is nice, but it runs on consinstent low fps low level of detail. Lots of details are abbreviated. The character style is realistic, though, and veverybody is an adult, which creates postiive experience. I really liked design of combat forms as well, those were pretty and had "dangerous kind of sexy" feeling to them, which worked well with depictions of combat thrill that were so very well done in the first half of the anime. Still, it could use an improvmenet.

Sound: 6/10: The voice acting is a mixed bag, with certain male character being quite wooden. The music, however, has some interesting tunes I liked.... it also had plenty of tunes I didn't like.

Character: 5/10: The anime shines in slice of life scenes centered around group of certain secondary characters. However, when it requires dramatic portrayal, drama, it fails to pieces. Characters act in unreasonable fashion, act crazy for no reason, do things that are accepted by others for no reason, etc. So, the amazing slice of life moments are very often outweighted by another blunder elsewhere. And I said they lose personality closer to the end of the anime.

Enjoyment: 6/10: It is okay. I watched half of it, put it on hold, and when I resumed it.... I realized that the series no longer have the energy they had in the first half. Which was a disappointment.

Overall: 6/10: It is okay series htat is either 6/10 or 5/10 and I'm uncertain which is more appropriate. The primary reason for watching is heroine's design, few interesting fights in the first half, and some nice slice of life moments in the middle. However... this is not masterpiece, and I wouldnt' call it a must watch. You oculd pick it up if you're interested in heroines character (which is unusual), because she is an unusual archetype. If only they could maintain the proper pacing and story quality througought the series....

So... Bottom line is: Decent, interesting design and interesting character of heroine, however has as many ups as it has downs, and overall averages in quality. Might be worth checking out if you have the free time, but is no masterpiece.

Have fun.

✪ Genre: action, comedy, drama, sci-fi (genetic enhancement), military, seinen


✔ Positive Aspects ✔

◧ The quality of the animation is typical of any Gonzo production, highly saturated, fairly vibrant colors, with the characters being distinct from one another, with clear facial expressions.

◧ I found the concept of this series very interesting, even though it could have developed more.

◧ Probably the strongest aspect of the show was the character development of its protagonists, with the mother-daughter duo taking center stage, and every plot change being understandable only through this lens.
...

✘ Negative Aspects ✘

◧ As far as the unfolding of the plot goes, this was a major bummer for me. The series seemed to lack an obvious antagonist. At best, there was a mixture of different characters periodically acquiring antagonistic roles which were allowing the plot to unfold in its distinctly inconsistent manner, constantly giving me a sense that it was lacking in direction. The wearer of the Witchblade did not appear to be progressing much, either with regard to her fighting abilities, or her growth as a person on an emotional and/or intellectual level. Also, we did not get to know much about the device itself, besides some sporadic references very early on in the series.

◧ Another gigantic bummer for me was the character development of the deuteragonists. Both the mother-daughter duo’s fellow residents and her 2 coworkers were barely developed. For most of them, I did not get a clear idea of where they were coming from, I did not get to know much about their personal histories, their motivations, their thought processes. It’s not that the series dedicated that much time in action scenes or the story was sufficiently complex that it required extensive air time.

◧ On the sound department, there was not much to speak of, since I can barely recall anything at all.

◧ The action scenes seemed to be very rushed, escalating normally but ending somewhat abruptly, not allowing the viewer to take much pleasure in them.


Overall: A pretty boring series which had decent potential but did not make much effort to live up to.