Daphne In The Brilliant Blue: Volume 5

Introduction

So there I am, going happily along in my snobby little way, sticking my nose up at Daphne In The Brilliant Blue, ridiculing it for its puerile fascination with half naked women, ridiculous outfits and pneumatic breasts, lamenting its lack of intelligence and originality, likening it to a cheap exploitative tabloid designed to keep the masses sated, while the intelligentsia pursue more adult and creative endeavours. Then along came volume 4, exposing me for the hypocrite that I am, as I actually enjoyed it. In fact, I enjoyed it more than, shall we say, more cultured anime. I've been rubbing my hands with glee with the anticipation of volume 5; I'm beginning to resemble some drooling lecher in my passion for boobs, bums and creative underwear. If there were an anime offenders' register, I'd be the first name on the list. It's all about the fan service you see, young women in their skimpies performing impossible acrobatic feats in terms of costume integrity, with a story vaguely attached to it. As we all know, sex sells, and this series is aimed at twelve and thirteen year old males who are beginning to get an inkling, but don't yet know what to do with it. This isn't the sort of series to be savoured and cherished. It's time to dive in again…

The oceans have risen, the polar caps have melted, the coasts have been inundated, and habitable land is now at a premium, but humanity is doing just fine thank you very much, and has adapted to its new circumstances with relative ease, now inhabiting the few remaining islands and floating cities. The world government now controls the remaining resources through the Ocean Agency, an elite organisation responsible for Maritime Safety and Resource Management that many aspire to. One of the aspirants is 15-year-old Maia Mizuki, a young orphan who dreams of working for the Agency, but life is never that simple, and failing the entrance exam is just one of a whole host of calamities. Destiny leads her to find a job with the Nereids, a private firm who offer all kind of services to those who are willing to pay, whether it's fighting crime or rescuing cats. Four more episodes are presented on this disc from MVM.


17. Five Women With Guns and a Baby
A baby left on Yu Park's doorstep brings mayhem to the Nereids. The sensible thing would be to hand the baby into the police, so that they can find its parents, but Gloria objects, drawing on personal experience of the draconian social welfare system, and the negligent police who always take the quick and easy way out. Yu's left holding the baby when the boy just won't stop crying with anyone else, and he also reveals the girls' inner natures. Shizuka and Maia go all gooey-eyed, while Rena is mercenary in calculating how much the baby is costing them in lost business, and we learn that Gloria doesn't like being peed on, really doesn't like being peed on at all.

18. Shizuka's Choice
Shizuka isn't at work, which is unusual in itself, but she's called in sick for a few days now, prompting Rena to send Maia to her flat to see what is wrong. Maia winds up seeing something that she never wanted to see, but after that confusion is cleared up, Shizuka tells Maia her secret. A few nights earlier, she found a man named Trevor, injured in the street, and she's been nursing him back to health ever since. Trevor is actually a member of the Ocean Agency's Intelligence Service, deep undercover with a criminal gang. But he's been on the run since his cover was blown, and Shizuka makes Maia promise that she keeps his secret as well. But there are watchful eyes outside Shizuka's apartment, just waiting for the right moment.


19. The Hunt For Green Yomogi-1
The brothers, Wong, Chang and Lee, along with their sister May return to steal back their submarine. As is usual, Maia gets kidnapped into the bargain, although the brothers are getting the idea that holding her hostage is of little use when the Nereids are involved. They head for Elpida, to pick up their treasure hunt from where they were rudely interrupted, but the Nereids are in pursuit, and trigger happy Gloria drops a skyscraper on them. Stressed, panicked and running out of air at the bottom of the ocean, Maia's memories begin to return.

20. Once Upon a Time in Siberia
Maia has a distinct memory of an older brother; indeed she's now being revisited by the same dream every night. She goes back to the hospital where she convalesced from the accident that killed her parents, but they can't help her. There's no record of there ever being an older brother in her family. All that's left to go on is the dream, an image of a time capsule buried under a laurel tree. There is that laurel tree that in Siberia City evoked strong memories in Maia, and she's quickly on a plane. But the first thing that happens when she gets there is that her shovel is stolen.

Picture

Daphne gets a 4:3 regular transfer that offers no apparent flaws or glitches. Everything is clear and sharp, colours are strong, and the image comes across without any major sign of artefacting or significant aliasing. It's your bog standard anime disc. The animation itself is pretty unspectacular. It's a mid-budget show that gets an adequate investment, and it all looks pretty average. The world design is nice and futuristic, if a little bland, and lacking in detail. The underwater sequences are the most impressive aspect of the show. Actually the brevity of the costumes makes the biggest impact, but against a very angular and birdlike aesthetic to the character designs, it's more of a clash than an enhancement.

Sound

You have a choice of DD 2.0 Stereo English and Japanese, alongside optional translated English subtitles or signs. The dialogue is clear, the music suits the show's tone, and there is a bit of separation to the sound design during the more action packed moments. The English dub is something that I don't want to hear again, with cartoonish voices playing up the comedy aspects of the show.

Extras

We have extras, which is a first for this series in the UK. It's just an art gallery with 12 images though, before you get too excited.

Conclusion

I can't figure out what they were thinking with Daphne In The Brilliant Blue. We started off with three volumes of uninspiring, derivative, dull nonsense, admittedly occasionally funny and wrapped up in a pleasant veneer of T&A, but hardly an example of what anime can achieve. Then along came volume 4 and it all stepped up a gear, the comedy got sharper, the stories more interesting, if still unoriginal, and the characters began to grow beyond their stereotypes, even if only a little. It's a hell of an ask, expecting your audience to put up with mediocre nonsense for half a series before getting to the juicy stuff. Volume 5 of Daphne In The Brilliant Blue actually improves on volume 4, offering the same mix of entertainment and character comedy, but also getting back to the overall plot into the bargain.


If I did have issues with the previous volume, it was the relative sidelining of my favourite pair, the trigger-happy Gloria, and the pile-driver-fisted Yu Park. That's remedied in the first episode on this disc, as the mismatched pair takes centre stage. It's another anime staple, the sudden baby syndrome, which sees the protagonists suddenly out of their depth when they have to baby-sit. This one has a funny twist in the tail though, while seeing the usually brutal Yu left holding the baby makes for wry character observation. Shizuka usually gets left in the background, she's a more understated and quiet character that pretty much only makes an impact when food is mentioned. She gets a decent story in Shizuka's Choice though, and a nice little romance develops between her and the guy she rescues. All isn't as it seems though, certainly not for Maia, who shows up at a rather delicate moment, and experiences a visual gag that certainly isn't for younger audiences, although it gets away with a 12 rating like the other discs.


My favourite villains show up again, the bungling siblings whose every attempt at making a quick buck is routinely thwarted by the Nereids, leaving them humiliated and needing revenge at the end of each crackpot plan. I'm almost disappointed that another brother or sister wasn't introduced, although the four that we do get are a handful, and given that Maia has enough difficulty remembering Wong's name, perhaps she shouldn't be taxed any more. It's as entertaining an episode as before, but this time around it's really a set up for Maia's sudden recall of her older brother, which leads us into slightly more serious territory as we head into, what I assume is the final arc. Maia's search for her newly remembered sibling commences in the final episode on this disc, leading her back to Siberia City, and into danger. But once again, her guardian angel makes an appearance. Since the first episode, we've seen a mysterious man with grey hair and shades popping up with regularity, keeping an eye on Maia, and at this point it's an easy inference to make with regards to his identity. Actually, looking back on the series, it becomes apparent that little seeds of story, Maia's memory gaps and her familiarity with Siberia City have been gradually building up to this point. It doesn't stop those early episodes from being any less run of the mill though.


Volume 5 of Daphne In The Brilliant Blue offers another nice selection of episodes, and starts moving towards the season climax. The series may not have started off on the best footing, but in the latter half has really become compulsive viewing. I'm hoping that the conclusion is worthwhile.