Review Statistics

Times Read

460

Comments

3

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Plot Synopsis

No plot synopsis or other information available for Daphne in the Brilliant Blue

Story & Characters

Overview
In the distant future, the polar icecaps have melted, rendering much of the earth's surface below sea level. The handful of cities remaining now float above the waves as mankind's last haven on the planet. To manage the sea's growing resources, an organization known as the Ocean Agency is formed, and it becomes held in the highest regards with matters relating to the safety of the residents that make the floating cities their home. Enter Maia Mizuki, a young, headstrong girl, who after the death of her grandfather tries her hand at joining the ranks of the Ocean Agency. She subsequently fails, and as a result is left with no income, which in turn leaves her homeless...that is, until she finds both a new home and reluctant family with the Nereids, a private security and investigation agency in the city of Kamchatka. Exciting stuff, huh? What appears to be a semi-dull premise belies an extremely awesome show, and my aim with this review is to tell you what makes it so great.

While the show takes its time to reveal the plot, it's intriguing stuff, and towards the end all of the loose ends get tied up in such a way that's satisfying and touching, without being overblown, needlessly complex or not making any sense at all - like so many other anime out there (Evangelion, I'm looking at you). Important moments in the story are genuinely well-written and integrated into what's happening, so that viewers mostly deduct the story from what's unfolding in front of them, rather than being directly told, which is a welcome touch to any show.

Characters
The fact that they look like prostitutes aside, the Nereids are a genuinely likeable bunch of people, and while you won't find yourself becoming hugely attached to them, you will find yourself liking them, as they emanate a certain charm that escalates them a slice above the standard scantily-clad anime women. Given their futuristic world, the characters are believeable enough without trying too hard to fit in, with most of their reactions in certain situations being nice and realistic. All of the usual character design is here; the female protagonists, some shy, some hypoactive, some stubborn and harsh, so people looking for huge innovation in the way of characterisation are going to be a tad let down. That said, however, the cast of Daphne is handled a hell of a lot better than most others on offer, and they're that damn enjoyable to watch, you'll soon forget about the stereotypes.

Following is a brief synopsis of the main characters...

Maia Mizuki

The central character of Daphne, Maia is a shy, fairly naive young girl who finds herself depressed and broke at the start of the series.
After the death of her grandfather, who was also her last living relative, Maia tries her hand at joining the Ocean Agency; the most prestigious and important...err, agency in the floating world of Daphne.
To her dismay, she fails her entrance test, and is left jobless and homeless...
Over the course of the first episode, she meets Renna and Shizuka as they hunt down one of the Wong Chang Lee brothers - the main antagonists of the series - who in turn ends up taking Maia hostage in a desperate bid for escape. Renna and Shizuka come to her aid, and after she's free she tracks them down and begs them for a job. They accept - reluctantly - and Maia's leaves Renna's office as a member of the Nereids Kamchatka Branch.
Because she's the main character of the show, Maia's the focus of many episodes, whether it be digging up her forgotten past or carrying out assignments. The later episodes are especially revolved around her as they explain her well-written back story. Additionally, Maia has an incantation which she chants in times of peril:
"A tree planted near the water bears fruit, but only when the time is right."
Thankfully, she doesn't chant it every ten minutes, so when she does, it never really feels as though its outstayed its welcome.

Renna Honjo
The fiery redheaded leader of the Nereids Kamchatka Branch, Renna took over from Gloria after she was "tragically lost" on a mission. Staying true to her fiery demeanor, she can be harsh on her colleagues - especially when work needs doing.

Yuu Park
The blue-haired martial artist and close-quarters combat specialist of the gang, Yuu is calm and collected, seeming to only come alive when she's fighting. Her cool personality clashes with that of Gloria, who's pretty much her polar opposite in all aspects. While there's a few episodes where Yuu is the central character, the awesomely named Five Women with Guns and a Baby is a true standout for her, as she's charged with becoming a lost infant's mother. It's one of the funniest episodes

Gloria
A hypoactive, tall, tanned blonde, Gloria is the group's weapon specialist, proficient in using anything from semi-automatic pistols to earth-shaking bazookas. She's wild and unpredictable, frequently pissing off Yuu and Renna, and is also intimidating towards Maia - just for the hell of it. She's also got an obsession with money, and an addiction to gambling.
Gloria makes her debut in the fourth episode - titled Chaka Chaka Bang Bang - where her back story is humourously explained from both her own and Renna's viewpoints.

Shizuka Hayama
The purple-haired, busty, glasses-wearing tech-head of the group, Shizuka is a little on the nerdy side, but she's a dedicated worker, capable of fixing almost anything that's broken. She and Maia become close friends throughout the series.

Rating

9 (very good)

Art

The artwork of Daphne does a good job of creating the feel of a futuristic waterworld, with whirring hover cars, scooters, submarines and planes being the main means of transportation. Thankfully, this means that the artwork, while not attempting to do anything new, is both relevant to the show's concept of the future and aesthetically pleasing - nice to look at. Also in the bag are good lighting effects, funky explosions and weapon designs.
On a side note, the cities visited throughout the show do have a lot in common in terms of architecture, but this is inadvertently explained later on in the series.
In terms of character design, the artwork can sometimes be a mixed bag; while the casual clothes worn by the characters aren't too far removed from what sane people would wear, the "combat" costumes of the Nereids themselves are...impractical, to say the least.
So much so that the Nereids initially strike you as girls who should be working the street corners, as they're usually dressed up in costumes that could've been made from string and shredded paper - Yuu's costume is especially strange.
(Mind you, this seemingly needless partial nudity isn't anything new; pretty much every anime of recent memory has had girls with disproportionately large chests running about the place, wearing clothes that'd barely cover a ten-year-old/bikinis/birthday suits. See Ikki Tousen, Burst Angel, Negima, Elfen Lied - hell, even Faye Valentine's clothes in Cowboy Bebop, to name a few.)
Given the series' ability to poke fun at itself, however, you'll soon forgive their skanky attires and go back to watching the show...in all honesty it didn't really bother me much, anyway :P
There was one gripe I had with the art - the clothes worn by certain members of the male cast, while not necessarily looking out of place, do make them look pretty damn feminine, especially given the characters they're supposed to be. Hardened criminals wearing short shirts and hot pants, for example, does look a little bit...well, gay. Maia's mysterious guardian in particular looks as though he's just stumbled off the set of Queer Eye. Other than that, the animation and character design fits in nicely with the setting and concept.

Rating

9 (very good)

Sound

Daphne's soundtrack collaborates well with the artwork to create the aforementioned feel of a futuristic waterworld. Weapons, for the most part sound nice n' meaty; the usual techno score kicks in whenever there's a firefight or someone's in danger; and pianos when someone's feeling a bit depressed. The little jingle that plays during the halfway-through-the-episode break is pretty calming, too.
People looking for a Yoko Kanno-style masterpiece of an OST, though, be forewarned - Daphne's OST probably isn't something you'll find yourself adding to your totally legitimate collection of MP3's anytime soon, as although it fits in with the setting, making gunfights and whatnot feel a little bit more complete, that's pretty much the extent of what it does.
The voice acting of the English dub is great, with the actors genuinely sounding like they're enjoying themselves, and as such they do a nice job of making the characters sound unique. (I should point out that I only watched the dub, so I can't make any comparisons between that and the subbed version.)

Rating

8 (good)

Presentation

Daphne's presentation is, in a word, nice. It's easy to keep up with the story, but not in a way that it feels like it's slow, or nothing's happening; the pacing is great, with things getting especially cool when the Nereids get their hands on a submarine; Characters, as I've mentioned are great, if a bit stereotyped, and fit the setting like a glove; the humour is a more than a few notches above the usual fan service jokes found in various other titles - although it does contain its fair share of run-of-the-mill fan service gags; and the soundtrack, while nothing remarkable, does its job. The humour is great, with the interplay between Gloria and Yuu being especially funny whilst managing to not go over the edge - whenever Yuu smacks Gloria, that is, it's always for a good reason.
In terms of originality, Daphne isn't huuuuugely original - but then again, it's not trying to be.
Daphne isn't completely gripe-free, however. As I've mentioned, the sound track is functional, but unremarkable; some of the male cast look like they've fallen off the Mardi Gras float; and there's a sense of...well, deja vu in some of the show's action sequences.
To elaborate, Maia is kidnapped every now and then by the Wong Chang Lee brothers, who in turn are a band of small-time crooks and the Nereids' main enemies, with each new brother who gets introduced into the series being slightly more dim-witted than the last. The Brothers themselves are in search of the lost city of Elpida, which is rumoured to be lying on the ocean's floor somewhere, hiding a treasure trove of gold within its sunken walls. Being thieves, they seem to kidnap Maia for profit to help fund their expedition to Elpida - that is until her co-workers catch up with them and blast them to bits.
Whenever Maia is kidnapped, though, there's always a sense of knowing that she'll escape eventually or get rescued, but when you think about it, this is the case with a lot of shows in general where the lead characters are kidnapped/in grave danger. You know nothing's gonna happen to them because, well, they're the lead characters.
Either way, in each and every confrontation between the Nereids and the Chang brothers, the Nereids deploy so much firepower in rescuing their colleague that they're portrayed as the bad guys, which make these rescue sequences feel fresh and funny.

As a whole, Daphne is a memorable show, with an intriguing, well-written story and a certain charm, along with great humour, characters and fan service that keeps viewers hooked until the climax. However, if you've got some kind of prejudices against cartoon flesh, Daphne might just repel you from the outset - the sheer design of the Nereids' costumes ensure that there's quite a few moments of heavy fan service. (I should also point out that despite their revealing costumes, none of the Nereids are actually seen completely in the nude.)
While the main story is cleverly written, in my opinion, it's the stand alone episodes in the series that really make it shine. The bonus episodes are especially humourous, with Everything You Wanted To Know About Nereids (But Were Afraid To Ask) injecting some Excel Saga-flavoured humour into the series as the Nereids attempt to make a promotional movie about themselves, but fail miserably. It's entertaining stuff.

Anyway, to sum up: Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is a great effort from JC Staff (who also brought us Azumanga Daioh and Ikki Tousen). It's funny, addictive, charming, and while the ever-present fan service may put some off, its still tremendously entertaining, and deserves far more attention than the little it's received. Its also got possibly the best name for an episode in recent years - Five Women with Guns and a Baby. Go see this series.

EDIT
Despite the score of 8.83 Minitokyo says I gave this series, I'm gonna have to say that I liked it better than that.

My personal score for this series is 9.50/10 -so yeah, highly reccomended ^^

Rating

9 (very good)

Final Verdict

8.83 (very good)

Reviewed by GhostGuy1221, 1y 4wk ago