Review - Trinity Blood Chapter III
Reviewed by Richard Brownell on 10.3.2009.
Score: 6/10
My impressions of the first eight episodes of Trinity Blood were varied. On the one hand, it's fairly well animated, has a few interesting characters, and on the surface seems like a good action show. On the other hand, it borrows like crazy from other anime. Because of this, it doesn't feel fresh. The second volume introduced some new characters that livened things up a bit, which was needed because the underlying story of the show is relatively bland. Unfortunately, the third volume brings this bland story to the forefront and has little depth to offer.
The third volume opens with a two episode storyline. This is presumably because the story is just too big to fit in one episode. The only problem is that it drags on a bit. The premise is that the Vatican could be completely destroyed by a bell that has been secretly placed in the city. Abel's associates are searching everywhere to find this bell. Meanwhile, a new character is introduced, a relative of the Pope. He looks evil. He sounds evil. If we had smell-o-vision, he'd probably smell evil. We have to go through the entire two episode story just waiting for him to "surprise" us with the fact that he's evil. Meanwhile, there's a lot of yelling between Vatican staff about what is and isn't appropriate, like searching the bell the evil dude brought for bombs.
This two part story concludes with all the cool characters we were introduced to in the previous episodes showing up for a major fight. As cool as their intros were, it seems they have now been reduced to being the fight squad as we get no more development for any of them. They show up to fight or sneak around for a bit and then are gone. But their fight is at least better than Abel's. He once again references Hellsing and unlocks his powers to a specific level so that he can win a fight against the next most powerful enemy. I wonder if he'll unlock his powers to an even higher level later in the show. Only time will tell.
The remaining two episodes on the disc were a definite improvement. In the third episode, Abel teams up with a high ranking officer of the vampire race to find a vampire murderer on the loose. Abel's help, a female vampire with a punk-like disposition, provides some much-needed new blood and new story to the show. And this episode also has some of the coolest action sequences we've seen so far.
Volume 3 ends with the beginning of another multiple episode story, this one a little more interesting than the last. The vampires are looking to have some peace meetings with the humans, but these things don't always go as planned. Choices become less black and white when Abel has to consider who he wants to help and how. This story arc has me looking forward to the next volume, even if I didn't enjoy this one as much as the first two. Trinity Blood continues to have some good action in it, even if it's missing the level of depth it tries to have.
Special Features
· Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
· Wide Screen 16:9
· Historical Artifacts
· Trailers
· Textless Songs
