Daphne In The Brilliant Blue - Initiation (Animé TV)

 

Picture: C+     Sound: C+     Extras: C-     Episodes: C+

 

 

How about an exciting show about a sexy young woman who wants to go into action as an elite all-woman Ocean Agency fighting team?  They are all military, sexy and kick ass.  Daphne In The Brilliant Blue is a series that claims to offer this kind of action, but once again, it is more interested in melodrama and comedy to deliver.  Not that the DVD artwork suggests much action, so at least it is being honest in that way.

 

The lady in question is Maia, who is ready to be initiated into the organization, but mayhem ensures.  The initial episodes are:

 

1 & 2) Maia’s Longest Day (in two parts)

3) There’s No Business Like Nereids Business?

4) Chaka Chaka Bang Bang

 

 

Yes, the show is as silly as the titles of those shows suggest, so you know what you are getting into.  That is the kind of show it is, so it has appeal to someone and is for the 16+ age group.  It was never obscene or vulgar, but the nudity or suggestion thereof is all over the place.  It is a matter of taste, but it could have still had a convincing action subplot at least.  Animé can be sometimes thought of in this country as the most commercial successful cult in the DVD industry, but some shows lend themselves to cult status beyond that and Daphne In The Brilliant Blue could be one of those.

 

The full frame 1.33 x 1 image is not bad for a recent production and if it had had more action, a 16 X 9 anamorphic production would have been more called for.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo in either Japanese or English is limited in any kind of surround information, again because this is not the action show it could have or should have been.  Extras are even weaker, with three previews for other Geneon DVDs and the opening credits without text.  Now that Maia’s initiated, more or less, will the action kick in?

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo