Blue Gender

I'm not really a big anime guy; in fact, the genre as a whole sort of repulses me. Blue Gender really only piqued my interest because it was on Adult Swim's lineup around two, three years ago (back when AS was worth watching) and I caught a couple episodes. I'm a total sucker for post-apocalyptic scenarios, and giant, mutilating bugs never hurt anything, so I recently got hold of the series in complete. 36 hours later, I'd watched the series from beginning to end; not so much because it was gripping (that's only partially true), but more because I'm a maniac.

Blue Gender is driven not by the prototypical giant robot action Japan is (in)famous for, nor the horrendous monsters, nor even, for that matter, the dialog. The viewer is compelled through Blue Gender by the characters and their subsequent emotional arrangements, more specifically the leads, Yugi and Marlene. It's basically an epic, sci-fi soap opera with heavy metal and big bugs.

Marlene is the ideal woman. (Yeah yeah, she's a cartoon, "ew gross", get over it: that's not the point. The point is the idea being conveyed by whatever layered ink it travels through:) Marlene portrays the aesthetic of an ideal woman: strong, self-sufficient, but irrevocably feminine. I'd argue that she's more of a focal point for the viewer than Yugi, but Yugi is also a necessary component.

Yugi is a bumbling, sometimes whiny character that often accomplishes incredible things. This the viewer can appreciate and identify with; his relationship with Marlene, because of the viewer's identification with him, is the key in the ignition for this work. The audience is propelled through the series hoping intensely he'll get himself together and snag this pristine idol of a woman.

The interactions that follow the setup between these two are worth the 500-whatever minutes of moderate quality animation and dialog.

The other characters, for the most part, are semi-interesting. Some, however, are notable (eg, Dice). The atmosphere and setting are kind of cool; the creators do a pretty good job of portraying an insect infested planet Earth, but again, this is mostly beside the point.

In this ultimately lonely life, people often underwhelm us. I'm constantly disappointed by the trite selection of people placed before me. Fiction provides a remedy to this, allowing us to construct a composite ideal of characters we'd like to know within the stage of our minds. After all, the only difference between memory and reality is the level of detail.

Anyways, philosophic drooling out of the way, I'm glad to say that this series instilled in me memories of a character I appreciate, and I'd endure double the length of these episodes, spotty details and all, just to glean what I have.

On an end, this series has softened my harsh glare towards cartoons. While I doubt I'll be browsing the Anime section anytime soon, I'm a bit more open to taking animation for the ideas it's portraying as opposed to the raw, intrinsic value of the animation itself.

Oh, also, keep a keen eye out for the hilarious Engrish used in the animated computer interfaces... "Meesuement Impossibility!".

The good:

* Hardcore SciFi.

* The excellent plot.

* Script takes no prisoners, literally.

* Cinematography, especially for the many non-action parts, is sometimes average, but often brilliant.

* Drama and romance.

* Whether it concerns sex or violence, this is adult content, and not ashamed about it. The sexual aspects though, are in good taste, for the sake of the plot.

* No silly humour or fan-service.

* No fillers - a smooth ride from start to finish.

* Many of the non-moving visuals are incredible.

* Great and appropriate use of colours.

* The soundtrack is absolutely amazing, and matches the plot and visuals quite well.

The bad: * The action sequence are alright, but many parts fall short of the standards of today. Even in the 1990s, there was better (see: Neon Genesis Evangelion).

* Some typical cliches of the Sci-Fi post-apocalyptic genre.

* The animated is dated, sadly.

* Too many Japanese cultural mannerisms for an anime of this type.

* Becomes a bit environmentalist-preachy towards the end.

* A tad overuse of the soundtrack sometimes.

* Main character (Yuji) who could have been less annoying.

Overall, an enjoyable show. Should absolutely receive a remake, a live-action version (series and not a film!), and a video game. Truly excellent material that can be worked with further.

With superior animation, slightly better-orchestrated action-scenes, and less cliche, this could have easily been a 9/10. But as it is, a 7/10. I would still recommend it to SciFi lovers who also like anime.

This anime was rather good, it really pulled you in the first few episodes, however at a point it loses some of its steam and is just not the series I was expecting it to be. Basically, the story starts off great as this dude with some mysterious illness is put into cold storage so that one day he can perhaps be revived when a cure is found. He is awakened, but not to a bunch of doctors saying "We did it!". No, instead he is awakened in a nightmare as the earth has been overrun with giant insect creatures, his only chance of survival a mysterious girl using some type of robot vehicle to fight off the many different creatures now seemingly intent on killing people. This part of the story is great, seems they have some plans on using the dude to stop the creatures, his illness being the key. A lot of people are now living in space and this is where the girl must get the boy so they can begin setting a plan of attack against the bugs in motion. It is a really good series up to the point you sort of find out what the people with this illness are needed for and you ask yourself "what"? I just never got what was so special about them, seems like they really had no special ability to me. The series once it reaches the go back to earth phase kind of loses its luster that it built up in the very exciting escorting kid back to the spaceship part of the show. I also never saw the last episode of this series so while I saw all the others I still feel incomplete when discussing this start with a bang series. Just needed work on the second half of the show.

Yuji Kaido is an average guy with a problem: he's sick, and there's no cure. Doctors simply don't know enough to fix the problem, but they can offer Yuji an amazing opportunity. After reluctantly agreeing, Yuji is cryogenically frozen until a cure for his condition is discovered. But things are very different when he wakes. Tokyo (the entire Earth, for that matter) is in ruins, consumed by merciless, insect-like predators known as the Blue. Pursued by the massive arthropods, Yuji is rescued by icy professional soldier Marlene Angel, a member of a military team assigned to recover "sleepers" like Yuji and transport them back to the orbital space station where humanity has taken refuge. As the Blue hunt them at every turn and team members start to die, Yuji and Marlene will have to rely on each other to survive and to escape from the planet.

This is an exceedingly well-made show. The Blue are interestingly designed and frighteningly portrayed, the characters are likable (well, the good guys are), and the storyline never bores the viewer. The general film "rules" about who can and cannot die (children are safe, noncombatants are safe, etc.) are not rigidly followed here, and the series is all the more suspenseful for it.

There are a few issues, like a small amount of nudity that can jar you if you're not expecting it, and an environmental plot element that can feel somewhat preachy at times. However, these aren't enough to justify taking away any more than one star.

Blue Gender has a dark tone and its fair share of violence, and is not for everyone. However, if you enjoy the genre, this is a visually and, I kid you not, emotionally appealing series that can be horrifying, exciting, and even touching.

This series despite being less than perfect has it's share of moments. The premise of the series is much like Robotech perhaps in the Invid storyline where a bunch of mysterious bug monsters have seized control of earth. The monsters are truly disturbing and there are some heart wrenching moments in the series. The truly spectacular part of this series is the emotional journey of the main character as he awakens in the future to find the world he knew destroyed and his desperate fight for survival. Where this series is very different from Robotech is that it treats it's subject matter in as gruesome and horrifying a way as it rightfully deserves to be.