Mari Wakatake is a young amnesiac and sole survivor of a tragedy that left hundreds dead. She remembers nothing before waking up in the hospital and has lived with her wealthy grandmother ever since... that is until her grandmother sends her off to an all girls boarding school. Here Mari meets Hagino Senkouji, a girl highly admired by her fellow students, but also quite mysterious. As it turns out Hagino has some big secrets, as she has ties to Mari's past; plus, she may not even be of this world.
Blue Drop attempts to combine school-life drama with sci-fi action, and for the most part it does a decent job of this. Those looking for heavy action might be disappointed, as the primary focus is on is on the school-life aspect; but really, that is where the heart of the story lies. The drama works very well here, in no small part to the show's colorful and sympathetic cast; most important of which are Mari, Hagino, and their classmate, Michiko. On face value Mari is kind of a jerk, pushing away her classmates, but as the show continues and she begins to build relationships, it becomes clear she's actually a very caring person who acts abrasively because of the traumas in her life. Hagino's perfect girl exterior is actually a facade hiding a deep remorse over her past; Michiko is friendly and has a love for stories, but is very unsure of herself. It is very compelling and rewarding to watch these three distinct personalities grow; Mari and Hagino's friendship (later on romantic relationship), and Michiko's struggle to write the school play (which in of itself is an interesting story) are definitely the highlights of the show. Other notable characters are tough girl and wannabe cook Akane, dorm-manager Hiroko, and chemistry teacher Yuuko Sagawara; all of whom have there issues and turns in the spotlight.
With the school-life aspect being dominant, you would expect the sci-fi portion to be a huge mess that doesn't work. Surprisingly, it actually works quite well. Hagino's dual life, and her species purpose on Earth (the presence of heavily armed spaceships should be a dead giveaway...), fit nicely into the frame of the story. There is even a good amount of compelling drama regarding the show's sci-fi segment; the spaceship battles are exciting satisfying. There is a lot left for speculation and some gaping holes in logic, so the sci-fi aspects are far from perfect, but admirable considering its considerably limited time.
On the technical-side, Blue Drop works, but doesn't excel. The character designs are, for lack of a better word, 'normal'. They certainly are not hard on the eyes, but they aren't particularly striking, and honestly, the outfits for the (all women) alien race are pretty silly. The backgrounds are decent enough, but again mostly the interior of a school, the grounds around the school, occasionally a city or small town, without any particularly distinctive characteristics; so nothing eye-popping. More interesting are the interiors of the spaceships, which are quite striking and practical in design, which is nice and shows effort was put into their look. As would be expected from an anime from Gonzo, there is CG art used present, it is primarily used for the spaceships and done well there. However, it is also used for birds, or cars, for which the rendering could have been done better. The music is pretty standard, it can be effective and is used well, but ultimately not a memorable soundtrack.
The problem here is, because of uneven amount of time spent on each part, Blue Drop ends up falling short of being rewarding as a whole. Sure, the school-life drama is done very well, and the sci-fi is competent... but they just don't mesh well enough together to work cohesively as a whole. The fact of the matter is that the trials of school life are trivial when faced with an alien invasion, and the possible enslavement/genocide of the human race, and that is what takes up majority of the shows running time. It is hard to care about a school play, no matter how well written, when there is world-wide destruction taking place. On top of that, there is no clear resolution to the monumental events that take place late in the series; with only a very vague idea of what happened that just screams "Haha... read the manga", which makes sense because this is a precursor to the manga, but it ultimately feels like a slap to the face to the viewer.
Blue Drop is a show that ends up feeling like less than the sum of its parts. All the aspects of the show are good enough on their own, but fail to come together in a completely satisfying way. Perhaps if the show was given more than 12 episodes, they could have. That aside, it is recommendable for how well each individual part works. The drama is compelling, the characters are sympathetic, and the action is exciting. For those reasons, Blue Drop is certainly worth a watch.
