Daphne in the Brilliant Blue volumes 1 to 3 and Girls Bravo Volume 2 Anime DVD Reviews
Welcome to the sexy and dangerous world of Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, a seven volume DVD release from Geneon. In this racy sci-fi action series, the future is one heavily divided into lower and high class, the rich and the desperate. But as the show slowly reveals, it is questionable which side can truly be trusted for innocent Maia, a girl with high aspirations and a tragic past. She strives to enter the elite Ocean Agency. Upon her rejection, she finds herself homeless, jobless and no where to go. That is, until the deadly ladies of the Nereides Agency take her under their wing. A group of lethal and exceptionally scantily clad ladies, we have Rena, the boss whom you never know if what she does is for the good of others or her own unscrupulous motives. Then there's technologically gifted and kind hearted Shizuma, who is an honest friend but recognizes the practicality of what it takes to get any job done. To round up, there's Gloria, the gun-toting, trigger-happy, money crazed maverick of the group. And last, but certainly not least, we meet Roughneck, a woman who is silent, violent and oh so deadly. What will happen to naive, young Maia with this group of women who will take any job as long as the pay is good? Watch this series to find out!
As much as Daphne is a series filled with action, it is primarily a comedy as far as the first three volumes show. Filled with a very stylized animation tone that is reminiscent of the original Saiyuki, it is lush with color and striking backgrounds. What keeps this from being solely a comedic sci-fi action romp is the underlying plot that you can see unveiling with each volume. It's only at the end of volume three that we learn the truth, at least part of it, around Maia's tragic past. And it's only then that the name "Daphne" is at last uttered. A man's dying words. I was wondering for three volumes why this anime series was called Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, now the name has finally been spoken, yet we're still in the dark as to its meaning. The first two volumes do a great job of setting up both the world and the characters, while volume three begins to show us some real meat underneath the fluff. What is the true goal of the Ocean Agency? Who is the mysterious man manipulating Maia's life from the shadows and why? Questions are beginning to spring up, and it looks like the light hearted days are about to change yet again for Maia and the agents of Nereides. Fun, great action, an amazing amount of eye candy (I still can't get over what these women are passing off as a uniform!), and an intriguing mystery thrown in, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is a great watch. It earns 8/10 kendo swords.
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