Hikari to Mizu no Daphne

In the future, water has covered much of the Earth due to the effects of global warming. The orphaned Maia Mizuki, 15, just graduated from middle school and has already applied for employment in the elite paramilitary Ocean Agency, part of the futuristic world government. Only the best, most intelligent, and physically fit students are eligible for admission. Maia, the series' protagonist, is set to become one of the few.

But her ideal life quickly falls apart. To her disappointment, Maia unexpectedly fails her entrance exams. Making matters worse, she promptly gets evicted from her house, pick pocketed, taken hostage, then shot. She is "saved" by two women (Rena and Shizuka) that are part of an unorthodox help-for-hire organization called Nereids (inspired by the Greek mythological Nereids ). With nowhere to go, Maia joins up with Nereids, taking jobs from capturing wanted criminals to chasing stray cats, often with unexpected results. Gloria and Yu later join up with Nereids.

"Daphne" in the title refers to a subplot that starts midway into the series and eventually become important to Maia. "Brilliant Blue" refers to the fact that this is a world covered by water with almost no land. The world consists of vast oceans, a few islands, and floating cities.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Mizuki, Maia Main

Nakahara, Mai Japanese

Gloria Supporting

Asano, Masumi Japanese

Park, Yu Supporting

Kaida, Yuuko Japanese

Honjo, Rena Supporting

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Hayama, Shizuka Supporting

Ueda, Kana Japanese

Takahashi, Kenta Supporting

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Fujiyama, Alexander Supporting

Houki, Katsuhisa Japanese

Leonskii Supporting

Anderson, Mark Japanese

Zeming, Yan Supporting

Itou, Kentarou Japanese

Man with Sunglasses Supporting

Kanemitsu, Dan Japanese

Ikehata, Takashi Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin Sound Director

Mizushima, Tsutomu Episode Director, Storyboard

Shimizu, Kazunobu Episode Director

Reviews

Mar 12, 2009

Drizzt

Recommended

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is really a hidden treasure amongst anime. This series was a pure enjoyment, from beginning to end. So on to the review...

Story! Like the title suggests everything in this anime revolves around the sea. In (not so) distant future people are living in mega-hi-tech cities that resurfaced from the ocean floor when Earth recuperated from pollution and could once more sustain life on the surface. In one of this cities live our main protagonist Maia Mizuki who has a case of amnesia and as story unfolds begins a quest for discovering her past. She and her female friends trough series ... of adventures finally come to the conclusion of the main plot which also as of near everything in the series has to do with the sea. It's not by any means revolutionary plot but it grows on you and is spiced with great humor and funny situations like those deja vu gags that always make you smile!

Characters! Main characters are females, the part of the organisation called "The Nereids" (nymphs of the sea from Greek mythology-name suits them well indeed) which are somewhat rather stereotypical in characterization but all for the better! E. g. Maia is a sweet and nice girl next door type who doesn't really enjoy bullets flying over hear, on the other hand Gloria is that Revy type: shoot first and ask questions later type and also case of pathological materialist... It is that different characters of our female heroines and their contrasts that produce those great comedy moments and plot twists! Maybe it's overdone sometimes but it's never like that it becomes a nuisance!

Art! I could easily call it an eye candy! Everything is done very well with fluid animations and what's easily a "trademark" of the series are beautiful paysages: palms, vast skylines, cities, sunsets and of course brilliant sea and its depths! It gives that nice Seychelles/Balearic touch to it! I must make notice of outfits that our heroins wear which are rather hmmm "provocative" showing curves and are in my opinion to please more a male audience:) Also there are nice little details throughout the series which sometimes serve as a tribute. Gloria is e. g. wielding a PSG1 sniper rifle and a SOCOM gun which is tribute to MGS I believe-really nice to see those and other well implemented remarks and details! And in the end the whole title of the series is symbolical and has connection to the plot (meaning of Daphne).

Music/Sound! Koh Otani! Need I say more! Those who are acquainted and love his work shouldn't miss this one! Beautiful soundtrack all round with truly excellent main theme! This has my highest recommendations!


Conclusion/Enjoyment! Daphne in the Brilliant blue was a great show! Beautiful presentation, funny moments, emotive and climatic ending, nice details, exceptional music score... It's a shame, I could say, that this one is still not uncovered by many because it has has to offer so much!

ps: There are two Bonus episodes which are hilarious and if you liked the series be sure not to miss them also!


Thank you for reading!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Oct 3, 2017

Cyanice

Mixed Feelings

STRUCTURE / PRESENTATION: (4.8)

Daphne is an episodic anime with a big 4-episode conclusion at the end. This episodic format fits well with the series, for it's mainly just Nereids doing odd jobs and getting Maia out of trouble. The great story was probably good enough to turn this from an episodic to a serial anime, but in the end, I believe the choice was justified, giving the show the ability to basically have as many episodes as it wanted, while still remaining flexible enough to add in whatever kind of story they wanted. But that is just what I would expect from an episodic ... show of this nature. However I would've maybe liked to see some more mini story arcs that lasted for at least 2 or 3 episodes just to ease up the monotony a bit.

STORY / SETTING: (7.2)

Up until the 20th episode, the story was just basically the cast saving people, and beating up bad guys. Clearly nothing that hasn't been done before, but some formulas just never get old. The mini-plots in each episode weren't super original or exciting, but it did the job. The idea of Maia having amnesia and forgetting her childhood could've been spread out a little more throughout the series as it was only really mentioned in eps. 11 and 12, and at the end. The mysterious figure made a few appearances though, which helped remind me that there was at least a little bit of story happening behind the scenes. The ending really took me by surprise though. The last four episodes were a real treat to watch. Everything was wrapped up very nicely, and the plot twist at the end utterly shocked me, and the way the truth was reveled was very nice indeed. I would've rated this section much lower if not for the epic conclusion. The setting was certainly intriguing, but it could've been utilized much better. The story and various episodes DID make a little use of the vast oceans, and floating cities, but they really should've squeezed a little more out of it, because there was still so much more more milk in the tank at the end of the series setting wise. Even still, the setting really did grab my attention, and is what made me want to watch this in the first place.

CHARACTERS: (4.3)

I would expect the characters in an episodic anime such as this to be varied, interesting, and to be able to synergize well with each other. Was this the case in this show? Well, kind of. Gloria, Yu, and Shizuka were well made, and I loved their designs and personalities. Rena and Maia on the other hand, not so much. Rena; despite being the leader of the group, we don't see her as often as we should, and when we do, she's sitting in an office yelling at her underlings. She has a good character, but it really wan't utilized well. And finally we get to Maia. The main character Maia was without a doubt the worst character in the whole show. I get the idea of intentionally creating the main character to be bland and uninteresting to make the other more unique characters shine that much brighter, but this tactic only works well in large-scale anime with a huge diverse cast like Hunter X Hunter or One Piece. I don't know if this is what the producers were going for but Maia is the most annoying, clueless, oblivious, and most air-headed character I've seen in a long time. For the entire show she's just moping around depressed over the tiniest thing, and then she gets herself into trouble for the 47th time, and the crew has to go save her again. The way she reacts to the little events in the series, and her use of language, and her portrayal of emotions just really makes me cringe. They could've used ANY character but her for the main. As far as supporting characters go, there was nothing to complain about. The trio (later a quartet) that kept kidnapping Maia every now and then were a fun, and interesting bunch, and the various staff at other Nereids branches and the Ocean Agency were good too.

AUDIO / VISUAL: (6.2)

The art was a solid pro throughout the series, and while the animation was only average, the art made up for it. Facial close ups looked really nice, and the style really helped to distinguish the characters from each other and bring out their best features. The music is about what you would expect from this kind of show. It was used tastefully, and although it didn't take precedence over the art, nor the animation during high action scenes, it helped add a nice sweet layer on top of things.

OVERALL: (5.6)

This show is a gem. A dull one. But still a gem. It could shine much brighter if only not for the horrible MC, and the lack of utilization of the otherwise brilliant setting.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 3, 2016

monochrome-kiss

Not Recommended

From previous experience I have often found that the more obscure unknown anime are actually very good and are hidden gems. Sadly this really isn't one of them.

The art isn't that great but it's decent considering this anime is quite old. Although the ending credits are just stills from the manga with a very bland song.

The story itself is terrible. It starts with a girl called Maia Mizuki trying to get a job at the elite Ocean Agency. Supposedly she is one of the most promising agents there and aces the exam, but gets rejected anyway. At the end of the first episode, ... she then gets shot in the chest. But in the following second episode she is not only fine and fully recovered, but she appears to have no wound and hasn't even been to hospital. The rest of the story revolves around her working for the Nereirds (a group of awful women who do jobs...reluctantly and badly).

The main problem with trying to enjoy this anime is that none of the characters are remotely likable. I had some symapthy with Maia in the beginning (although a bit confused as to how she was still alive) but she goes on to get kidnapped or knocked out in almost every episode, and basically has no use. So how she supposedly was excellent at the exam I don't know because she fails in every episode from there on.

Rena is the leader of the Nereids but has no leader-like qualities. She is spiteful and bullying towards Maia for no reason, and is incredibly bitchy to pretty much every character. She is greedy and will only accept jobs that pay well. She's also a shameless slut who sleeps with random men.

Shizuka seems nice at the start but ends up freeloading off Maia and others for free food. She is obsessed with food, never pays anyone back and also is a complete idiot. Don't accept drinks from strange men in seedy parts of town. That's obvious!

Gloria is loud and obnoxious, and is also bullying towards Maia and any extra characters. She's also obsessed with money.

Yu is probably the most likable character since she doesn't seem particularly greedy or bossy. But she's very quiet and never has a real backstory established.

In fact, apart from Maia, none of the main characters are given a backstory. They are simply annoying just because.

There's two main questions that I desperately wanted answered during this series. Firstly, who is Daphne? Secondly, why did Maia get rejected from the Ocean Agency. The answer to the first question is just ridiculous and very disappointing. The answer to the second and the mystery of Maia's past is finally revealed but considering you have to watch over 20 episodes of filler, it just feels frustrating to watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	Poll: Hikari to Mizu no Daphne Episode 3 Discussion xchee - Aug 2, 2014	4 replies	by tchitchouan »» Jan 10, 3:13 AM
	Poll: Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Episode 1 Discussion ballistique - Feb 1, 2009	7 replies	by Seabury »» Oct 6, 2024 5:14 PM
	Poll: Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Episode 2 Discussion vansonbee - Sep 23, 2012	4 replies	by Archean-Return »» Sep 16, 2024 5:48 PM
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	Poll: Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Episode 17 Discussion ballistique - Feb 3, 2009	5 replies	by Shmubm »» Feb 9, 2024 5:14 AM