|
There was a bit of a burst of 'girls with guns' series a year or two ago which saw the schedules packed with series like Noir, Burst Angel, Gunslinger Girl and Madlax. However, these series seem to have gone out of fashion to an extent...until now! Daphne in the Brilliant Blue eschews
the more dramatic trappings of the series mentioned above in favour of a more
fun and comedic air. The story follows the 15 year-old Maia Mizuku, an
inhabitant of a future Earth where Global Warming has melted the ice caps and
left the majority of the planet under water. Humanity now lives on the few
remaining islands and floating cities, and an elite organisation called the
Ocean Agency manages the Earth's resources and climate. The series starts
with Maia acing her final exam in her bid to join the Ocean Agency, and just in
time too. Her grandfather has passed away and her age means that she can't
keep the house she shared with him, so the fact her new role comes with
accommodation is perfect. Except she doesn't get the job, and her life is
instead thrown into turmoil. Homeless and jobless, Maia is forced to look
for work and lodgings in the less salubrious Old City, where her day goes from
bad to worse when her remaining money is stolen by a pickpocket. With
nowhere to go things are looking bleak even before she is caught in the middle
of a firefight between some thieves and a duo of scantily-clad women. In
the aftermath the duo take her in, revealing themselves to be a members of a
security group called Nereids. The leader of the duo - Rena - offers Maia
an opportunity, she can work for them and get lodging (paid for from her wages
of course), the catch? She'll have to deal with all the annoying jobs they
don't want to do and face being shot at! Her options aren't exactly great
so she takes the offer, whilst feverishly working to apply again to the Ocean
Agency... |
|
I never really got into the whole girls with guns fad, although I did like Burst Angel before it got a bit bogged down with crap monsters. However, at first glance Daphne in the Brilliant Blue looks to be a bit different to those other series. To start with there's the gleaming future city Maia lives in, a sparkling metropolis dominated by the beautiful Ocean Agency tower. It's hardly the dank, crime-ridden dystopia you're used to from these kinds of series! The setting is brilliantly designed and realised, with a real feel of a bright new future. The detail is excellent, with everything from the clothing (although Maia's costumes are a little bit Cardcaptor Sakura |
|
|
style) to the transport getting a futuristic makeover. Every facet of life appears to have been taken into consideration, even down to tiny devices used to allow breathing under the waves of the beautiful oceans and automatic restaurant machines. It's superbly done, establishing a believable and surprisingly well-rounded world for the story to take place in. Unfortunately however, the story doesn't all take place here. Instead it frequently shifts to the Old City, which is a bog-standard, grimy, crime-ridden and disappointingly 20th Century-style urban sprawl.
From here on things are a bit more familiar. You have the buxom
and unnecessarily underdressed gun-toting women, the dumb criminals, the
fish-out-of-water lead character and plenty of gunfights and random
explosions. If you're male and in your teens you're probably
thinking this sounds brilliant, and to be honest it's plenty of fun with
lots of action and eye candy to enjoy. However, it's also pretty
by-the-numbers in the action stakes, and the stories are pretty much as
you'd expect from a series like this. The characters aren't bad,
but the ditzy Shizuka is the highlight until the short-tempered,
gun-toting Gloria turns up towards the end of the volume. She
injects a bit of attitude and impulsiveness to proceedings, and provides
a bit more of an interesting dynamic with the calculating Rena than
Shizuka or Maia do. In fact it's good that she turns up, as her
presence makes things a lot more fun. |
|
|
I said at the start that Daphne in the Brilliant Blue goes for a more comedic than dramatic bent, but despite some good slapstick it's not really laugh-out-loud funny. It's got some funny situations and good setups, Maia's rubbish attempts at doing her jobs are probably the best, but only Gloria really gets things going in the humour stakes. Her no-nonsense attitude to her work makes a brilliant contrast to the timid Maia, down-to-earth Shizuka and and mercenary Rena, and makes the volume more entertaining than it would otherwise have been. However, there's one thing that was a bit awkward, and that was the skimpy outfits. Considering how well the |
|
setting and futuristic elements are thought out, the titillating costumes seem out of place and more than a bit daft. There's also the fact that they remove more clothes whenever they go into action, but the bit that's most dodgy is the fact that the 15-year old Maia also ends up in a revealing outfit. Couldn't they have just made her older? It makes what would otherwise be a decent, fun series feel just a bit more seedy than it should. It's another aspect that disappointed me with Daphne in the Brilliant Blue vol 1. The series has a brilliant futuristic setting, which it doesn't get enough out of by choosing to add a grimy downtown area for much of the action to take place in. The action is pretty standard and the comedy is there, but it's not as funny as it could have been if it had gone for all-out farce. It's a bit frustrating to be honest, it's enjoyable enough, but it shows signs that it could and should be better than it is. Despite the future setting there's a retro feel to the character design and the series itself is reminiscent of older shows like Bubblegum Crisis. However, it doesn't quite live up to its predecessors and at the end of the day Daphne in the Brilliant Blue vol 1 shows signs of greatness, but is mired in familiarity and comes out as pretty average in most areas. Not bad, but not as good as it could be. Extras: None. Language and episode select screens are not extras. Ratings Feature:
|
