Blue Drop

rish11 May 12, 2012

8.5

Story:  5 years ago, a horrible event occurred where all but one of the residents of Kamioki Island died.  The sole survivor was Mari Wakatake.  A girl who lost her memories of the disaster’s events, even how she survived.  This unfortunate circumstance puts Mari as the focal point of the main arc, the mystery surrounding the events on Kamioki Island.   Mari is sent by her grandmother to attend school, something she has never done before.  The school and it’s cast of characters serve as the backdrop for the story. Unbeknownst to most of the characters, the simple activities of life (e.g. shopping, schoolwork) slowly unravel the mystery.  Animation:  Clean and tasteful.  There are tactful uses of washed out colors, though the colors are bright when this technique is not used.  The characters are well drawn and backgrounds have decent detail to them. Sound:  Above-average.  The OP and ED are pretty and suited to the animation.    Characters:  This is where Blue Drop shines.  All of the characters are well rounded, each having strengths and flaws.  The relationships between them are deep and provide an emotional attachment to the series. The leading roles of Mari and Hagino have the most depth.  Each has their inner demons to deal with, and you can really relate to them.  As the mystery unfolds, so does their relationship and your feelings towards them. The supporting cast is wonderful.  Time is spent developing each and exploring their personalities.  One is brash and athletic but wants to be a chef. One is artistic/creative but emotionally unsure.  One plays the airhead but is strong and confident.  You get the idea! Time spent developing the supporting cast doesn't detract from the story.  It just enhances it!  This is done via developing the characters relationships with the lead protagonists. Overall:  The ship fighting scenes are not realistic.  In typical uber-fantasy fashion, the good guy is indestructible while the bad guys are incapacitated with a single shot.   The science fiction element is not very imaginative either.  “Radio” communication is magically etherial in one moment, and technologically based the next.  Ships fire “big guns” and can warp around.  So, this isn’t a reason to watch. The story is well paced.  The relationships and mystery are developed evenly, and not in fits and starts.  The real joy in Blue Drop is the characters and their relationships. This draws you in to the series and will be the reason you cannot stop watching.

Efinate Jun 24, 2021

8

This was a very good anime the story was very good and i would really like a remake of this anime this was worth my time.

JJR1971 Jun 18, 2011

8.4

I watched the Sentai Filmworks English dub of this show via Netflix streaming.  Visually, this show is absolutely gorgeous.  The artwork is breathtaking, the ships in particular are very eye catching, especially the ocean scenes. The voice acting is good; It's so nice to hear Hilary Haag (Mari) playing a lead role in an anime again.  Hilary plays opposite Monica Rial (Hagino), who is my favorite English language voice actress of all.  Tiffany Grant is good in a supporting role as one of the upperclassmen (and daughter of the Director) at the girls school.  I love it when Tiffany voices characters that have that brassy New York accent and matching attitude... This show is all about the characters and their inter-relationships. It's not something to watch for the military/sci-fi aspects of it; The military/sci-fi aspects of this show are incredibly disappointing.  As a ship commander, Hagino is pretty incompetent.  Lucky for her the other commanders in her fleet are even less skilled than she is. Ship#5 runs just fine on a skeleton crew (captain/first mate), having seemingly no deficits for lacking a full crew compliment, the way they SHOULD (taking much longer to effect repairs, for starters) if the shows creators actually cared about getting the military side of the story correct or at least believable.  Hagino shows incredible lack of judgement, letting a rogue officer who blames Hagino for her lover's death have free reign of the ship.  You want to do a *head-desk* when...gosh, sabotage?...who DIDN'T see THAT one coming, a few nautical miles away?? This reminds me a little of the show Starship Operators, which I did love, but was maddening for the same reason...the characters would do these incredibly stupid/naive things and then being surprised by the obvious results and I would be left doing a facepalm going "what the HELL did you THINK would happen???" The story is interesting, and draws you in, but it does leave several mysteries open and unexplained at the close.  I won't reveal any spoilers directly, but just know that the casting of Hagino as Joan of Arc in the school play isn't coincidence but foreshadowing; Art imitates Life, etc.