Daphne In The Brilliant Blue: Volume 6

Introduction

It's a dream to get your anime in big chunks, the boxset is really how the world should operate, but if you have to have your anime in single volumes, then Daphne In The Brilliant Blue has found the perfect release schedule in the UK. We've zipped through the series at a volume a month over the last five months, and not once have I been impatient for the following volume. We've been averaging an episode a week at that rate, and that's practically civilised, it's like watching a television broadcast. For once, it's been a series that has improved with each subsequent volume, and I have looked forward to this final volume with as much intensity as I dreaded the second. 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. Once more unto the cleavage…


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. The final episodes are presented on this disc from MVM.


21. Whatever Happened To Baby Maia?
The flashes of memory and the mystery of her past are causing Maia to lose perspective. It's funny enough when she flunks the Ocean Agency Trial Exam by accidentally deleting her answers instead of submitting them, but it's far more serious when Shizuka is injured on a mission because of her inattention. Rena has no choice but to sack her. It also turns out that there are some among the Ocean Agency who do not want Maia to regain her memory.

22. Terms of Endangerment
Rescued by Millie and the mysterious grey haired man, Maia's memory begins to return in force, and the story it reveals is fantastic to say the least. Before she can even come to terms with her past, Millie's house is attacked, and Maia is kidnapped.


23. Escape From Kamchatka
There's a secret inside Maia's head that the Ocean Agency wants to remain hidden, and they are willing to erase her barely recovered memory in order to do so. It's time for the Nereids to organise a prison break.

24. Daphne In The Brilliant Blue
The answers lie in the sunken depths of Elpida City, as do Maia's missing memories, but even if the Nereids have the Green Yomogi-1 to take them there, the Ocean Agency have many more modern and powerful subs to stop them. If Maia recovers her memories, it will change the world forever.

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

It took us six volumes, but we finally have extras, and decent ones at that. In the US, Daphne In The Brilliant Blue was a seven-volume release. The final two volumes had two series episodes, and one bonus episode apiece, which when you think about it, is a daft way of doing things. We're coming to the conclusion of the series, the story takes centre stage, and you're doled out a measly two episodes to keep you interested. The MVM release avoids this by turning two volumes into one, with the final four episodes complemented by two bonus episodes, all on one disc. The bonus episodes are…

1. Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nereids (But Were Afraid to Ask)
Maia is making a PR video for the firm, an advertisement for all the services that the Nereids supply, so she takes a video camera and follows the members as they carry out their missions, to comedic effect. This is normally the recap episode, the hastily put together clip show that catches people up with what has happened in the story so far, and maybe put a comedic spin on it. Not this time, as this first bonus episode has completely new animation, although it does serve as a quick introduction to the show's characters if you have missed the first ten or so episodes of the series.


2. Heaven Can Wait For Maia Mizuki
Gloria and Maia are moonlighting on a little mission against a mafia don, hiding out on garbage barge. But when the girls happen to come into contact with a strange vending machine, there is an almighty flash of light and an electric shock, followed by an explosion. Suddenly Gloria and Maia have switched bodies. They'll have to rely on Shizuka to repair the machine, but while they wait, they'll have to keep the body swap secret. For a day, Maia has to be crude, violent, gun-loving, avaricious Gloria, and Gloria, will have to be meek, subservient, and sweet Maia. Mayhem ensues.

Both bonus episodes run to 24 minutes each.

Conclusion

Not every anime series is consistent during its run. In fact more often than not they turn out to be shows of two halves. If I have to watch such a show, then I wish more of them were like Daphne In The Brilliant Blue. I started off loathing this show, with its ephemeral storylines buried deep beneath a thick skin of fan service and ridiculous costumes. Yet with the past three volumes, as it has focused more on the main story and developed towards a finale, I've found myself falling more and more for its quirky style and good-natured entertainment. Along comes volume six, and I have to say now that I love this show, fan service, ridiculous costumes and all.


These final four episodes are solely devoted to Maia's lost memory and resolving her character arc. The story was seeded earlier on, and gradually more and more of the episodes were turning towards it, so at no point does it feel like a cobbled together or rushed ending. It flows quite naturally, and holds the attention. We find out the truth about Maia's missing memories, her lost past, and what truly happened to her family. It also has the best possible conclusion in my view, but as I'm a sucker for the bittersweet ending, then I appreciated that little bit of moisture welling up in my eye.


What I liked most was that as these four episodes progressed, it became apparent that all those grumbles I had earlier on about throwaway plot points and seemingly unimportant developments were unjustified. In fact a lot of how this conclusion pans out is hinted at and contributed to by events in those earlier episodes, prompting a lot of "Ah! Now I see…" from me as a viewer. It doesn't take away from my opinion that a lot of the first half of the season was clichéd, poorly structured and uninteresting, but it does make those episodes a little more tolerable when I realise that they do actually contribute something to the whole.


This volume also offers a little more value for money in the bonus episodes, and these supply the slapstick and goofing around that I've come to expect from Daphne In The Brilliant Blue, while the story conclusion turns more serious. Thankfully they've avoided the temptation for a recap episode, and at least offer something we haven't seen before, and while the first episode is a little too routine in the character reintroduction storyline, there are plenty of laughs to be had from the second body-swap episode, after all, who doesn't enjoy a good body-swap episode?


Daphne In The Brilliant Blue certainly isn't the pinnacle of anime entertainment. In fact it's all pretty run of the mill and familiar. But given the strength of its characters and the eventual ability to get the audience to invest in them, you'll wind up not caring about its average nature. When push comes to shove, it's a lot more entertaining than several more 'cerebral and deep' anime shows, and you can't really ask for more than that. I never expected to be doing a full one-eighty with this show, but there you have it. Daphne In The Brilliant Blue is warmly recommended.