Review - Daphne in the Brilliant Blue Vol. 1 - Initiation
Reviewed by Richard Brownell on 8.20.2007.
Score: 7/10
I had never heard about Daphne before picking it up. And even at that point, the cover of the box gave seemingly little indication as to what the show would be about. There's a smiling teenage girl on the cover, and that's about it. Volume one is called "Initiation," but initiation into what? Flipping to the back, we get some hints as to what it's about: a much more scantily clad older girl is leaning towards you with boobs hanging low; and the six screen grabs show there may be action within and a whole lot of blue.
The title of the show, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, didn't make much sense to me at first. But it's a description of the setting. Daphne takes place in a futuristic world with flying cars, tall shiny buildings, and water all around us. Some unexplained event seems to have raised the worlds oceans so that water is nearly everywhere. And blue is used a lot throughout the show. It's my favorite color, so I have no complaints.
As Daphne opens, the girl on the cover, Maia, is dutifully taking her exams to get into the Ocean Agency. In this new world, it's a very high honor to get in and very few do. She excels so much in her exams that she seems like a shoe-in. So she turns in her residence to the government in preparation for her new life at the Ocean Agency, a bad move by any measure. And it shows how bad when she ends up not being accepted into the Agency. Now nearly broke, homeless and jobless, she must find a new job and place to live. Her friend criticizes her for not having taken any back-up exams for jobs and it seems that means she must resort to crummy jobs on the less glamorous side of town.
And that's where the show really starts. Through some rather coincidental circumstances, Maia gets in the middle of a shoot-out involving a strange group of nearly naked women called Neiredes. Why these buxum females need to be wearing practically nothing to get the job done is left unexplained. Perhaps the clothes would have provided too much wind resistance? But even that wouldn't explain the extremely tiny, nearly non-existent bikini bottoms. We'll just have to call it blatant fan service, of which there is plenty for the discerning male anime viewer.
Through an unfortunate turn of events, or fortunate depending on your perspective, Maia is brought into the Neiredes organization to take on the same high-danger, high-paying odd jobs that the organization gets. It's not the glamorous life that she hoped to find in the Ocean Agency, but it's got room and board and a small salary to keep her going until she can take the entrance exam again.
The way she was inducted was not glamorous and neither are her initial jobs - everything from getting pets out of trees to collecting rent. She truly gets the odd jobs as she starts her new career. And if they don't sound terribly exciting to do, I can assure you they aren't the most exciting things to watch either. But every show has to start somewhere and even Daphne starts here.
Though the idea of Daphne is partially to get a wide array of hot girls for guys to watch do badass things, there is a certain amount of character development that makes the show interesting to watch. Maia is the most fleshed out having had her dreams crushed, yut the other girls in Neiredes clearly have some history as well. This starts to be revealed particularly when the actual supposed leader of this branch of Neiredes shows up in the fourth episode, attacks the crew, and demands the money she is owed. She's obviously the crazy one of the show.
The blue of Daphne mentioned earlier gives the show an interesting look that differs from most shows I've seen. Futuristic settings with the nice side of town and the bad side of town are prevalent, but Daphne has something unique to it. This is complimented by the music of Kow Otani, who has done the music for such games as Shadow of the Colossus. Though the feel of Daphne and SotC are much different, you can hear her style throughout.
Though Daphne starts off slow, as with many shows, it has potential to lift itself up into some exciting action and carry us along with good character development and plots. The focus on half naked women tells me I may not want to bet on this, but time will tell what direction the creators chose to take with the show.
Special Features
DVD Special Features
· Bilingual Audio (English 2.0/Japanese 2.0)
· English Subtitles (Dialogue & Screen Text)
DVD Extra
· Creditless Opening
