Dec 15, 2010
1)Intro/Synopsis
Rags Town is the garbage dump of Japan. The place where people who want to forget their pasts run to. In this town, where the rules strictly forbid asking about the past or getting to know people, there is small detective agency called S&A Detectives.
The story revolves around Ayamana, the inseparable pair of misfit wannabe detectives, the case Manami takes on impulse, and the trouble that arises from it. On the case they find a woman who is abnormally hot, and who is being chased by a bunch of women with guns. After being dubbed Sara, the detectives try and figure out just what
...
is going on with her. At the same time, all over town teenage girls are burning up and turning into glass. The government is covering everything up, but the detectives, as well as a nosy reporter and the local police, are determined to find out what is happening.
2)Plot
Crystal Blaze follows the story of Sara, a young woman who’s being pursued by an evil organization. This is just the beginning of the cliches folks, I hope your prepared. What’s the twist, then? She’s a biological superweapon capable of localized devastation and nearly invulnerable to attack. Despite that, she’s still just a perfectly nice girl that wants to live her life. She ends up in the protection of a detective agency, and naturally the two groups start trying to outmaneuver each other. In the process, they discover a huge coverup and factory to produce these weapons, including an even more powerful weapon
3)Characters
Sara aka HW9 is a Nice Character with a good amount of character development as the entire plot mainly focuses upon her.Like Sara, the rest of the cast is pretty much a bunch of stock characters. Shu is the main protagonist of the story, he’s a ladies man who’s quite aloof and only concerned about conducting his business.I really like Shu coz he is Charizmatic and exudes Style and Precision in his actions throughout the Anime. Akira, his brother, is the nice guy that does most of the footwork for the agency as well as the House Chores. Manami is a high energy tomboy who will honestly grate on your nerves a bit in just a few episodes and she has secured a place in my Top 5 Most annoying Anime characters. Ayaka is the exact opposite, she’s very quiet and withdrawn. Porilynn is Shu’s cross-dressing boss who has his thumb over the pulse of the town through an immense security camera network.He is one of the Main attractions among the Cast,a good friend of Shu and offers a nice Comic relief.Sophia,a Crime reporter cum journalist is definitely one of the best characters in the anime who gives an emotional perspective to the storyline. And finally there’s Sensei and Monica, the lecherous doctor and his assistant.
4)Animation
The animation is Pretty good and all the characters are well drawn but need a little Getting Used To kinda feel..The backgrounds are decently detailed and this is all we would expect from this kind of series.
5)Choreography
The overall choreography is incredibly well done But I felt that the direction in some of the show's more fast-paced scenes could use some tightening up. There's nothing more annoying than a gunfight where everything pauses for a key exchange of dialogue, and you're left wondering why the rest of the participants should have suddenly decided to hold still and stop shooting.
6)Music-Op and Ed
The music really deserves a little Praise here and Succeeds in successfully capturing the Mystery cum Suspense vibe throughout the Anime.
I really enjoyed the Opening video song very much.
7)Perks(A word Coined by Me to indicate all the Out of the Box strategies the Animation Studios use to attract the Viewers such as Fanservice,and use of References from famous Anime).
Shuu, the head of the detective agency, may not be a conscious homage to Ryo Saeba from City Hunter, but it has to be said that there's a haunting resemblance. Both of them earn their living as freelance tough guys, they both carry huge revolvers, and they both go through women like popcorn. Shuu even drives a classic '80s car.There is very minimal fanservice and far from being called Ecchi.
8)Final verdict
So with all these cliches, this series must be absolutely horrible, right? Well, not quite. The story follows a fairly predictable course of events, but there’s little moments of surprise that managed to make me rewind and look at th scene again. All of the characters grow to a decent degree by the end of the series, except for Manami, who is eternally annoying as sin. The balance of action and story filler is pretty decent, I never felt like the series was dragging, nor running too fast, which is pretty good for a 12 episode series. And, well, it’s just entertaining, and sometimes that’s what matters. pretty well paced out right up until the end were it seemed a bit to rushed so I didn't really care for that but at least it easily tied up all the loose ends up rather nicely into one little episode. It's no Black Lagoon but it is a decent detective/scifi show that tosses in a little fanservice and a little dark humor
The bottom line, is Crystal Blaze is just decent; you can tell they were trying to do something here but just fell short. It’s definitely not a series that breaks new ground, but it does have little glimmers of greatness. The art style feels a little awkward at first, but it grows on you. As the series progresses, it naturally gets darker to match the overall tone of the story. And as I mentioned before, I waited three months for the conclusion. So if you’ve got the time, give it a chance.
9)Review Score
Introduction-8/10
Plot-12/20
Characters-18/20
Animation-12/15
Choreography-8/10
Music,OP and ED-12/15
PERKS-7/10
OVERALL SCORE-77/100 or 7.7/10==Great!!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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