34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best I have ever seen!, June 29, 2004
This review is from: Blue Gender Box Set (DVD)
When Blue Gender first aired on Adult Swim, I really got into it but I never saw the whole thing. Just from what I did see I felt justified in buying the box set and I knew I wouldn't regret it. After viewing all 26 episodes, I can go far as to say this is the best anime series I have ever seen with the exception of Cowboy Bebop. Trust me though, Blue Gender is a very close second.
Yuji Kaido, the main character, is diagnosed with an incurable disease so he becomes a "sleeper", and the plan is to wake him when mankind finds a cure. After he has been asleep for much longer than he was told, he is awakened to find out the world he once knew has become his worst nightmare. The Earth has been invaded by giant insects known as the "Blue". The blue have wiped out most of the Earth's population and those who remained left to a space station called Second Earth. It is a recovery team from Second Earth that awakens Yuji, and the team is there with the mission of bringing back as many sleepers from Earth as possible. In fact it is Marlene Angel that wakes Yuji, and the two soon have to work together if they are going to make it out alive.
This is a series filled with emotion, strong violence, and nudity. Some may opt to pass on this series due to these themes, but I can't recommend seeing this enough. Seeing Yuji's nightmare as he awakens on Earth is incredible, as is his transformation into the fighter he becomes. There are twists in the storyline at every turn, and the action is nonstop. I never felt like the plot was dragging, as every episode left me wanting to see more. It is just that incredible. The animation is pretty good and works for this series. I especially like the design of the different kinds of Blue, which add so much to the effect of the action. And the best bug comes in the end, but youll have to see what I mean. Another thing that makes this a great series are the characters, who have so much personality. They are realistic people in a war against a species that has invaded their Earth. So by now you have the basic idea behind Blue Gender, and there are too many great plot twists for me to say anymore about that.
There is a certain reviewer about 3 down from me who claims this anime has a weak story, bad animation and was a total waste of money. I have to ask: what Blue Gender did you watch? I mean I can understand that this might not be a title for everyone, but to say it was a complete waste of 536 minutes with absolutely no good? I have to disagree about the main character Yuji, who is annoying when he first wakes up, but as he realixes what he must do to take back his Earth his personality becomes more complex. But anybody who hasnt seen this, at least rent it first before you buy reviews that tell you that this series is total crap.
Packaging for this set is superb, with a great looking art box to hold all 8 volumes of the series. It is a high price for the whole set, although you can buy the volumes individually for about $20 each. It is definaely cheaper in the long run to buy the box set, and if you look in the right places you can find it for way less than the $120 retail price ( I bought mine for $70 new). As for extras, each volume contains some art galleries, character bios, and trailers for other anime releases. Nothing groundbreaking, but good. All volumes contain the Japanese (for the purists that like the original dialogue) and English tracks with Dts, so if you have a nice system crank it up when you are watching this. If you dont like too much violence you may want to pass this one up. Otherwise, I hope I have persuaded you to at least see this series for yourself and hopefully you will be amazed like I am with what you see.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It's an addiction, October 16, 2003
This review is from: Blue Gender Box Set (DVD)
Yugi is a teenager who has contracted a lethal virus with no hope of a cure. The only option for his survival is to be put into suspended animation in hopes that the future will somehow find a cure for his illness. Fourteen years later, he is awoken with several other people like him. They are now known as "sleepers" and must fight "the blue", or monsters that have taken over the earth.
Sounds formulaic, right? Think again. Blue Gender is a psychological and action trip that will have you like an addiction by the first episode. Many people have been turned off by the title alone, but to those of you not sure what you are getting yourselves into, don't worry. You'll love it. The art is detailed, the music is haunting, and the story is solid in every episode. If you can take political intrigue, loads of mechs, and a ton of blood, you're in for a real treat. This series is undeserving in its constantly overlooked state. Fans of the Macross series, Cowboy Bebop, the Big O, and Gundam: this is for you.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Scifi-anime with big bugs, August 28, 2003
This review is from: Blue Gender Box Set (DVD)
In the future, civilization has collapsed, because the earth is infested by big, big bugs.
It sounds like the stuff of utter mind blowing disaster, but thankfully "Blue Gender" succeeds in being a fairly intelligent, intricate sci-fi anime. Lots of horror, giant bugs and a fish-out-of-water hero who manages to be fairly interesting as he becomes a seasoned warrior, but the characters develop by leaps and bounds -- and the ending is completely out of left field, apparently in an attempt to be bleak and "deep."
Yuji Kaido was an ordinary teenager in the not-too-distant future, until he came down with a strange disease. The only hope for a cure is to be put into cryogenic sleep.
A few decades later, he awakes to a whole new Earth -- sparsely populated, civilization overturned, and with every continent overrun by hideous enormous insects called the Blue. Then two enormous mecha piloted by humans appear, and after many dangers Yuji is taken by a chilly soldier named Marlene to Second Earth, a space station where humanity is organizing a fight against the Blue.
But Yuji soon learns that life is dangerous -- not just because of the Blue, but because of the militarized humans on Second Earth, who see him just as a sample to be used. After Yuji vanishes, Marlene begins a desperate quest to find him, even if it gets her in hot water. And when she does find him, they both discover the secret of Yuji and the Sleepers, and why they may be the key to destroying the Blue once and for all. Except of course things aren't that simple.
"Blue Gender" has a pretty generic sci-fi concept behind it, the sort of thing you'd probably see on a Sci Fi original movie. Fortunately the actual series is much better than you'd think -- a vivid cocktail of action, conspiracy-laden suspense and science fiction in equal measure, but with the occasional pauses injected between the action and suspense sequences, where the writers can focus on the characters and what they feel.
Along the way, there's lots of grotesque, vaguely Freudian megabugs that have swarmed all over the globe, and whose origins are explored even as they eat people and overturn large machines. Lots of splattered gore, enormous insects that almost look real, and big industrial-looking mecha. But as the series winds on, there's an increasing emphasis on what the humans are doing as well, and their desperation to defeat the Blue -- and there are some surprising plot twists thrown into the mix.
The biggest weak point? The ending is a disaster that throws out most of what comes before it, in the name of a bizarre pseudo-environmental message that just explodes out of the, ahem, Blue. It feels like the writers couldn't come up with a suitably epic ending, so they went for the most bleak and "deep" finale they could.
Yuji is a bit of a pain at first, since he does nothing but scream and panic over the first few episodes. But after a little while, he decides to become master of his own fate, and his story arc shows him turn from a nice ordinary guy to a hardened soldier. On the flipside, Marlene starts as an ice princess, but we see her gradually
thawing under Yuji's influence until she has become more like he once was, and vice versa. Most of the secondary characters die off or vanish pretty quickly, but they're well-drawn as well.
"Blue Gender Box Set" is a solid sci-fi/action anime with plenty of giant bugs and military attacks, but the ending entirely spins out of control.
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