As for the second i somewhat partially agree to it, it's not bland, it is just not explored.
The Story is set the distant future after the destruction brought about by Armageddon. Set 900 years after an apocalyptic war between humans and vampires, the series focuses on the on-going cold war between the Vatican and the Empire. Fighting on the Vatican's side is Abel Nightroad, a Crusnik which feeds on vampires. some in the Vatican and the Empire strive for peace, other factions will do anything to stop it, Vatican has to rely on other allies to counter the situation.
so it's not your typical Vampire story of humans versus vampires in a struggle for survival or whatever, after the war some peoples of both sides desire peace others believe there should be war and the main antagonist and his faction of the series are trying to to star a war, the story focuses, on the main protagonist and other main characters in their attempt to stop a war for happening a work for a peaceful future. so it's not a complete rip off, of Hellsing or anything.
The only problems with the story is that it lacks some originality, the whole vampire theme and some of its story outlines have been done before, and that in the Anime it is not as explored as deeply or as thoroughly as it should have been. It mainly shows the characters and their interactions with others and their relationships, their own personal conflicts, their missions etc. in short it doesn't really show the bigger picture, and the anime assumes you have read the Manga and Novels, so it leaves a lot out.
however it does give a good blend of sci-fi, fantasy, political intrigue, drama and horror. So the it can't be written off completely. i rate the story at 8.
The artwork is animated by Gonzo and going by Gonzo's works it is done extremely well, very impressive looking with stylish and vibrant looks for the characters in their clothing, varied character designs, and also good detail on other minor characters, they are not left as bland as they are in other anime's they still look pretty sharp so it doesn't ruin the whole thing, the whole thing is very eye catching, excellent CG enhanced backgrounds, brilliant fight scenes. The quality does lessen a bit in some scenes though and though there is varied character designs, some can complain that a few of the female character's would look the same if you changed the hair and eye colour for this reason i rate it at 9.
The sound for the anime is done really good, excellent sound effects for various things, good theme musics to help with the drama of the scene, i'm not too keen on the opening song, but thats down to preference really, i enjoyed the ending theme though had great sound to it. Unlike many anime's Trinity Blood has a got a really good English dub, the voices fit with most of the characters well some of the voices i really didn't like and for the opening theme sound rated at 9.
The characters of the story are well done and also interesting, and show a lot of development, always a strong point in anime. The main protagonist in the anime, Abel Nightroad, is quite similar and often compared to Vash the Stampede from the Trigun series, and with good reason, they both have goofy and kind also somewhat pacifistic nature, they also have refused to kill unless in extreme situations that is beyond their control and they are always sad at the loss of a life, all of this is also hiding a rather highly intelligent and a powerful being, also hiding the fact that neither are human. They both have MASSIVE appetites, shown to eat great amounts of food, rather quickly. most consider this a rip off, but i think its more of a tribute or parody if not more of a coincidence, it is definitely not the first time i have seen a character that is similar to Vash.
Most major developments of characters come from the two main protagonists Abel and Esther Blanchett, Abel showing how he deals with his own conflicts and dilemma's etc, Esther is shown to mature quite a bit and does have quite a lot of plot relevance, almost as much as Abel does.
The other major developments come from the Methuselah(vampires) Asta and Ion, who are shown to let go of their prejudice's against humans.
Overall, all the character's play their part well and add their bit to the story, probably most of the Anime is taken up by showing the character developments, even some of the minor character's grow and develop, character development is a strong point in Anime however it probably spends a little too much time on them hence, it does not get into the story as deeply as it should. i rate character's at 9.
After watching the Anime i loved it, great characters and visuals with good quality all the way through and a good story into the bargain, Trinity Blood deserves a little more credit than it is generally given, I understand that some probably won't like it, but you really need to read the Manga to understand it better and certainly need to read the Novels to get the full background story of the series.
There are difference's between all three of them (Anime/Manga/Novels) each telling it slightly differently. As an Anime on it's own i would give the Anime an 8 overall, but after reading the novel's and Manga i would give it a 9 overall since i understood the background and story better, i would loved to have given this anime a 10 overall but the way the Anime tells the story kind of marks it down a bit, it also has similar and it ended quickly (24 episode season) if it had another season or a few OVA's that could fill in the gaps it would be better, so overall i rate the Trinity Blood Anime at 9.
still considering i stumbled across the anime completely by accident, that score is pretty good. Read the Manga's and Novels to get a better story, after reading them, i re-watched the series and enjoyed it a lot more. Even on it's own it's still well worth watching.
