2011-08-24, 16:31
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Link #42 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: In line to confess his sins.
Age: 36
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Episode eight.
This episode restored my faith in the series a little bit. I'm not sold overall, but this was a really solid episode on its own. Stan was an good character with a compelling backstory, Spoiler for episode 8:
The background music used during the fight was really good, I can't recall it being used before, but maybe it was just the whole scene that made it finally stand out in my mind. Mikage's voice acting was also great; really menacing and dark. Looking forward to the conclusion of the fight in the next episode.
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2011-08-28, 18:28
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Link #44 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2006
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LOL well what do you expect a low post count on the character. When it comes to minority characters in anime, they aren't really popular here in the states. Look at killer bee for example. The dude is like the main side character in Naruto, but there is barely any threads dedicated towards him in anime websites. Some would say that Japan would be more accepting of black characters than americans are.
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2011-09-07, 11:22
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Link #46 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: In line to confess his sins.
Age: 36
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Episode ten.
Another flashback. I'm honestly surprised that we got any backstory on Frost, but I wish it was a little better paced. It seemed like he went from loving father to vengeful psychopath in the blink of an eye. I think having an entire episode devoted to him and his son would have been ideal. It also turns out he just bit Blade's mother because he was thirsty. A little bland, but in a way, that makes it all the more tragic. Other than the essentials of Frost's backstory, which were interesting, this was a pretty mediocre episode. Hope they step it up a notch for the final two.
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2011-09-07, 14:21
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Link #47 | |
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Waiting for more taiyuki!
Join Date: Jan 2004
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Quote:
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2011-09-18, 11:00
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Link #50 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: In line to confess his sins.
Age: 36
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Episode twelve.
Blade's come to an end, and no one cares. I guess I can't blame them too much. The episode played out pretty much according to expectations. It was an alright, if bland, final episode. The scene where they showed him changing places with Makoto, invoking her spirit or something, was incredibly cheesy, though. As was the speech he gave at the end; "As long as there are vampires preying upon the weak I will continue to hunt them!". Give me a break. The actual little clip at the very end was actually pretty bad-ass, which leads me to believe that Blade works better when he communicates in one-liners and lets his sword speak for him. Since the series has come to an end and I've stuck with it, I'll include a make-shift review of it. Out of the Marvel anime I've seen (everything but Wolverine), Blade stands out as the strongest contender. This is a bit of a back-handed compliment, as none of them have proven to be very memorable. Going on a wild goose chase through the better part of Asia, Blade at least offers some variation. It also felt like quite a bit happened in only twelve episodes, compare this with X-Men, where hardly anything happened in the same time-span. Although a lot did happen, I didn't find it consistently entertaining. Only a few of the episodes were good, and a handful of them were a bit of a chore to sit through. The animation didn't stand out to me either way. It didn't seem bad, nor was it impressive. The art, on the other hand, was downright bad. It was bland, lacking in detail, and excluding a few characters, it was not much to look at. Everything was a dull gray shade, and characters and objects did not stand out enough from the backgrounds. Blade looked alright, but I don't think the art-style they went with did him justice. The worst offender by far in this category is the lack of blood when the kills are made. I have no idea what possessed them it was a good idea to make the monsters explode into confetti in a freaking vampire show. The soundtrack was also nothing to write home about. I do remember a single track I could really dig, but the rest was at best forgettable. The voice acting was solid, and probably the best thing the series had going for it. Blade's voice was fairly dark and conveyed his inner strife and depressive mood, Makoto was voiced by Maaya Sakamoto (enough said) and Mikage stood out as the best voiced character in the series to me. Though he had little screentime, his menacing tone and intimidating confidence was a treat to listen to. (Just checked and found out he was voiced by the same guy who does Akagi and Kaiji, that explains a lot!) Overall, Blade seems like a somewhat lazy effort. It wasn't bad exactly, but it lacked the engaging plot or compelling main characters to make me truly interested. It showed signs that it could be very good when it wanted to in a couple of episodes, but in the end, it settled for a mediocre story with a pedestrian resolution.Unimpressive music and a boring art-style did little to help the show either. You could do a lot worse than Blade, but in the end, it's not something I'd ever recommend. Vampires have been done better in anime, many times. Score: 4.5 (Mediocre)
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| Tags |
| blade, madhouse |
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