Blue Gender, Vols. 1-4 (1999)
Review by Doc Ezra
Film:
DVD:

Translated by Steven J. Simmons
Directed by Takahashi Ryousuke
ADR Director: Christopher R. Sabat

Special Features:

• Rough sketch collection
  
• Textless songs
  
• Image gallery
  
• Cast bios
  
• Original trailer
  
• Character profiles
  
• Audio commentary on select episodes
  

Doc’s Anime Warnings

• Don’t get attached
  
• Casual sex among the soldiers
  
• Gratuitous death of puppies and children
  

Rating: 15+

Anamorphic: N/A

My advice: Own it.

Yuji Kaido’s having a rotten time. In the year 2017, he was placed in stasis in anticipation of the revival of medical treatment advanced enough to treat his condition. Then he woke up. And it was 2031. And the world had gone to hell. An alien species of unknown origin (referred to simply as “the Blue”) has run rampant across the face of the Earth. Millions are dead. A group of humans retreated to life on a space station, and began plotting desperately to save their home planet from this alien threat. It was to this end that a squad of troops was sent to recover “sleepers,” for purposes unclear, and return with these “samples” to Second Earth.

As with most military operations, the first casualty of battle was the plan. Yuji finds himself in the midst of an unexpected bloodbath, as the Blue appear and begin making mincemeat of the recovery team. In short order, he finds himself accompanied only by the oddly distant Marlene, the rest of her unit killed in action against the Blue. Thus cut off from their extraction, they must make the trek to Baikonur Space Base and launch themselves back to Second Earth.

Along the way, they encounter: civilians scraping a subsistence out of the ruins of the old cities; rogue mercenaries, squads of regular military gone the way of Col. Kurtz, and more of the Blue. Lots more. The duo proceed across the countryside, making friends and losing them just as quickly, all the while growing more and more attached to each other. Yuji starts to suspect the people of Second Earth might not be the most altruistic bunch, as well.

Blue Gender paints a grim future for the human race, and manages to keep the action fast-paced and regular without sacrificing its overriding story or serious character development. In fact, there are ways in which the characters are so well-developed that it makes the show hard to watch. The body count is very high, and even characters that seem sure-fire candidates for “too innocent/cute/cool to die” treatment--the show’s creators have no qualms knocking them off, sometimes without even the satisfaction of a glorious death for the sake of others or dramatic tension. Some of them just die. Simply, quickly, and most of all, brutally. Like it says up top: don’t get attached.

The character and mecha design is excellent, and all the futuristic tech is kept within some degree of plausibility (no “form blazing sword” uber-weapons, plasma cannons, or transforming robots). The mecha design nicely reinforces the military slant of the series. The characters are also well-done, each distinct in appearance and mannerisms.

The voice-acting is excellent (in both versions, though this may be a great sample case for a show with a better English cast than the original Japanese). Marlene’s distant and detached professional soldier personality is pulled off with such subtlety that it’s easy to see why she both frustrates and fascinates Yuji. Yuji’s wide-eyed idealism and naivete about the Blue (and his own kind) makes him stand out starkly from all those he encounters, who had to live through the hell of the Blue invasion while Yuji rested in stasis, blissfully unaware.

The discs are stacked with bonus material, from character files to select episode commentary tracks. Lots of image galleries, bios of the voice talent, profiles of the various monsters and characters that appear on each disc, and extended versions of the theme songs combine to make this one of the better-supported shows released on DVD. Most titles only sport one or two of these features, or put one of each kind across several discs. Blue Gender stacks nearly every feature on each and every disc in the series.

Fans of gritty anime will definitely want to add this one to their collection. Its future militaristic bent will appeal to a number of other general science fiction fans, and the clash with the Blue has as much to do with the survival horror genre as it does spaceships and rayguns. The show has a broad appeal, but is not for the faint of heart. Lead flies and people die with frightening regularity, so any more tender-hearted viewers might find it difficult to endure many of the episodes.