Customer Reviews

Glass Fleet, Vol. 1 (Uncut)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This European-styled space opera combines the swashbuckling fun of a good samurai adventure with the melodrama of a political romance. The animation is beautiful, the music is well done, and for once the lead is not some ditzy teenager. Character development is good - the villain is really interesting and fully fleshed out, while the various supporting characters are engaging and lively. The English dub is reasonably good, though the original Japanese is much better - the voice of the Japanese Cleo is Ooh Baby delicious. This is a big story that replays well, with adult themes. Fan service, graphic violence, and sex are minimal, though there is suggested rape and torture as well as some pivotal homosexual and apparently incestuous relationships, so if you are looking for kiddie fare, go elsewhere. If you want lots of screen time devoted to insanely good looking characters in swordfights, gratuitous space battles, love triangles galore, and some tearjerking moments, buy this. I absolutely loved this series.

I had given up anime, bored with the poor writing, episodic plots and gratuitously silly attempts at humor that seem to be the trend these days, and was looking for something to get me back into watching it: this was the series that finally did so.
Here is a deep, dark, and intense work of science fiction in the space opera vein that often feels like it could quite easily have been written by Frank Herbert or Isaac Asimov. The characters are fascinating and unquestionably the main draw of the series, though the show is nearly completely stolen by a deliciously crazed and twisted villain with a kindhearted young lover blinded by his feelings. Watching these two characters of opposing dispositions play off of each other is a delight, though it is also representative of one of the more disagreeable aspects of the series, which is the way in which Emperor Vetti's homosexuality is portrayed as an aspect of his insanity and sexual perversion. It seems unfortunately poisonous on the part of the series' writers that he is portrayed as having incestuous relations and being a pedophile (or pederast? We never are told exactly how old Ralf is...) in addition to being homosexual. However, this is also one of the aspects of the series that makes it appealing in its gender-bending: Vetti's lover Ralf is voiced by a woman and one of the two main heroes is a woman who has taken on the identity of a man, which can admittedly get confusing at first but nevertheless adds a distinctive charm to the voice acting, which is particularly good even in the English dub apart from a bit of overacting that includes (sometimes completely incomprehensible) exaggerated foreign accents.
In addition to gender-bending quite a bit, Glass Fleet explores themes of religious control and impending environmental catastrophe that are all too relevant in our current era. One does, however, get the impression that the series could have gone deeper into some of the sociopolitical themes it deals with: we are, for example, repeatedly hammered with the knowledge that citizens of the empire are suffering under Emperor Vetti's rule, though we are never given a particularly good idea of how.
The series' flaws, however, can be ignored in favor of its vast amounts of eye candy, ranging from elaborate palaces to complex-looking spaceships that are one of the better examples of studio Gonzo's distinctive use of CGI. Many of the characters are clothed in whimsical historically-inspired costumes that rarely become boring to look at.
Though this anime does not feel as complete as it potentially could be, both the art and story are fascinating, beautiful, and gripping. Want something that holds on to your mind, catches your eyes, and never lets go?
This is the series for you.

If you enjoy anime that would be dubbed, space epics, and you don't own Glass Fleet, you are lacking. This anime has an amazing storyline and equally amazing dialogue.