Blue Gender

I remembered watching the first episode of this show way back in the early 2000's on adult swim. I didn't care for it at the time, but due to the current pandemic I have been watching numerous anime series that feature a bleak, hopeless earth on the verge of collapse. Blue Gender fits this profile nicely and the story is dark, brooding, and besides the two main characters, there is little to no plot armor for anyone. There are numerous tired tropes that you will likely groan at during the show, however it has a strong enough plot and main characters to drive the story along.

Very good. Nothing amazing, but very good.

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.

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.

I've seen a lot of anime, this is by far the darkest, most disturbing anime I have ever seen. It's great!! When I first saw the trailer for Blue Gender I got goosebumps. It's really a fantastic series that has twists and turns around every corner that leaves you wondering what's going to happen next. The voices are dark and haunting, the music is dark and scary. FUNimation did a fantastic job with this. With the voices of Eric Vale (DBZ's Future Trunks) and Laura Bailey (Kid Trunks, Keiko Ukimura). Word to the wise: Don't get too attached to any character, because there aren't any Dragonballs to bring them back. I got attached to a few characters that were killed off pretty quick. I wasn't happy. Also, the voice actors speak very low, so you might need to turn the volume up, but that captures the darkness about it. All in all Blue Gender is a very unique and dark series that any anime fan would love.

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.