Salutations all. Roxas here with my review on an anime that just ended a week or two ago.
Blazblue: Alter Memory is a 12 episode anime adaption of the Blazblue fighting series. I have not played the games in their entirety, so I will not be comparing the anime to the fighting series. This show will have to stand on its own right.
This anime opts for a cleaner, glossier look. It is very clean, and at times the characters remind me of action figures. However, when blood is spilled, the characters take on a different look. Gone is the pristine beauty, opting for a duller, grittier, and darker flair.
These contrasting images serve as a beautiful antithesis, and serve as a visual analogy to the contrast between the ego of the strong and the harsh reality when they realize that there are those greater than them.
Something that this anime succeeds at is meshing different styles and techniques whilst keeping a cohesive look overall. For instance, the animators gave Ragna a rough look, opting for sharp edges to compliment his crass behavior and social status. While some may see this as poor animation, it could be argued that this gives a distinct look to the anime.
Inversely, Jin and Noel have a much smoother look, putting them in an important and heroic light.
Blazblue: Alter Memory is a 12 episode anime adaption of the Blazblue fighting series. I have not played the games in their entirety, so I will not be comparing the anime to the fighting series. This show will have to stand on its own right.
In
the year 2199, humanity eagerly awaits the dawn of a new century
following a series of devastating magic wars. When the world’s most
wanted man—Grim Reaper—makes a move to destroy society, a ragtag group
of powerful fighters make it their mission to stop him. - See more at:
http://www.funimation.com/shows/blazblue/anime#sthash.G8Vd2UzW.dpu
Premise
"In the year 2199, humanity eagerly awaits the dawn of a new century following a series of devastating magic wars. When the world’s most wanted man—Grim Reaper—makes a move to destroy society, a ragtag group of powerful fighters make it their mission to stop him." This is the synopsis that Funimation gives on their website. Humanity has emerged from a great battle with the Black Beast and the civil wars that followed. Although it is said that peace has come, there is great tension in the air. Angry citizens and small caches of resistance are all around. The NOL, this world's government, says that all is well. Enter Ragna the Bloodedge. Ragna is a rebel with a huge bounty on his head. Ragna has taken it upon himself to use the great weapon he has been given, the Azure Grimoire, to destroy the different "branches" of the NOL "libraries." He moves swiftly, leaving destruction in his wake. The NOL, not too happy with the "Grim Reaper" destroying government property, send their agents to deal with this problem. One officer in particular, Jin Kisaragi, otherwise known as the "Hero of Ikaruga," takes it upon to track down Ragna. Keeping surveillance on the situation is Captain Hazama of the Intelligence Division, and Noel Vermillion, a subordinate of Major Kisaragi. This is a much as I can explain without making it any more confusing. This complex beginning is detrimental to the overall show. Their are many other important topics that are not explained until much later, the most important pieces of the premise not being revealed until the second to last episode. Other pieces of the puzzle are never explained, which will frustrate the detail-oriented.Animation
 |
| Bloodless |
 |
| Bloody |
These contrasting images serve as a beautiful antithesis, and serve as a visual analogy to the contrast between the ego of the strong and the harsh reality when they realize that there are those greater than them.
Something that this anime succeeds at is meshing different styles and techniques whilst keeping a cohesive look overall. For instance, the animators gave Ragna a rough look, opting for sharp edges to compliment his crass behavior and social status. While some may see this as poor animation, it could be argued that this gives a distinct look to the anime.
 |
| The rough look. |
.png) |
| Very Smooth |
Music
The music is a mixed bag in this anime. Some tracks get your adrenaline pumping, while others sound amateurish. The tracks tend to lend themselves to electric guitars more than anything, and this serves as a double-edged sword. It sounds strong, but lacks finesse and culture when the scene called for it.
Plot
The plot for the anime significantly improves as time goes on. At first, things are very confusing. While this is normally a good tactic to create intrigue in an anime, it felt sloppily done in this case. The side plots and humor throughout this are also very poor. Jokes are low level and fall flat, and when the show deviates from the main plot, I found myself wanting to do something else that didn't involve watching the show. However, the plot had its high points where I was enraptured, and the last 4-5 episodes were very well done. I loved every minute of the final episodes, though the ending was a cliffhanger, and didn't explain things that should have been explained, even if there is a possibility of a second season.
Characters
There was no character that I really liked throughout this story. Sure, the fight scenes were cool and the plot had its moments, but I didn't like the characters in this. Jin and Noel both had some moments, and Noel was definitely my favorite character in this story, but even she proved to be rather shallow. The comic relief character, Tao, was terrible. I hated every second she was on screen. Her dialogue sounded like it was written by over-tired 13 year-olds, and her story would make most doze off. Litchi did not fare much better. The whole enigmatic more than meets the eye shtick was so forced it hurt. Hazama was terribly done as well. Ragna did not make sense, and Rachel made me want to root against the good guys, and I would have had the villains not been just as poorly done. The writing in this anime was a huge problem. Noel, Makoto, Tsubaki, and Jin were the only reasons I kept watching (Makoto and Tsubaki did not have nearly enough screen time).
Verdict
This anime had a lot of things going for it: An excellent pedigree, an intriguing plot, a rich crop of characters, and a great ending. However, horrible writing, murky side plots, and lack of explanation all but killed this anime.
Score - 5.5/10
Wallpapers:
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| 3.bp.blogspot.com |
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| wallpapo.com |
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| wallpapo.com |
AMVs (Can't find much from the show that's any good, so most of the content in these AMVs are from the video games):
This is the only quality video I could find.
Sorry about that guys.
I n
the year 2199, humanity eagerly awaits the dawn of a new century
following a series of devastating magic wars. When the world’s most
wanted man—Grim Reaper—makes a move to destroy society, a ragtag group
of powerful fighters make it their mission to stop him. - See more at:
http://www.funimation.com/shows/blazblue/anime#sthash.G8Vd2UzW.dpu"
In
the year 2199, humanity eagerly awaits the dawn of a new century
following a series of devastating magic wars. When the world’s most
wanted man—Grim Reaper—makes a move to destroy society, a ragtag group
of powerful fighters make it their mission to stop him. - See more at:
http://www.funimation.com/shows/blazblue/anime#sthash.G8Vd2UzW.dpuf
In
the year 2199, humanity eagerly awaits the dawn of a new century
following a series of devastating magic wars. When the world’s most
wanted man—Grim Reaper—makes a move to destroy society, a ragtag group
of powerful fighters make it their mission to stop him. - See more at:
http://www.funimation.com/shows/blazblue/anime#sthash.G8Vd2UzW.dpuf"
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