Review of: Blassreiter

Faced with an outbreak of demonic blood, which transforms humans into insane and hideous creatures bent on violence and death, only one man can stand against the tide of destruction. Joseph Jobson, the only man able to control his cursed demonic form, must hunt down the man who cursed him and save the world from apocalypse

Score: 3 out of 5
In a nut shell

Blassreiter is pretty much what the synopsis says. The show details a paramilitary group Xenogenesis Assault Team, referred to as XAT, defending a non descript town/city in what can only be assumed is Germany from Demoniacs. Demoniacs, or also Amalgams, are humans that are re-animated from the dead into monstrous forms that are both agile and strong, an ability that is unique to them is that they can fuse with any type of machinery or metal to their bodies according to their will. The plot begins to evolve when there seems to be a force creating the Demoniacs to wreak havoc. The show takes an uneventful turn when it is revealed that there is some super hi-tech organization, Zwölf, that emerges to combat the Demoniacs and they’re creator.

Original?

Not really. In terms of tech, it is more of the same from Studio Gonzo. An almost seamless blending of cell shaded 3D animation and regular 2D animation, Studio Gonzo keeps up with their regular awesomeness. Well, at least on the visual side. The plot is a little routine. I won’t lie and say that there weren’t big reveals. Nor will I pretend that some of them weren’t a little shocking. But the problem is that after all the dust settles, I can’t say anything about the series was groundbreaking. Now, is that necessary? No. But if you’re looking for a groundbreaking series or to find something you’ve never seen before, Blassreiter isn’t what you are looking for.

Characters

I was really impressed with the character designs of this series. Naoyuki Onda and Niθ did a great job with the character design. The main characters were well designed. Most of them were pretty memorable. What does this mean? Not that I can easily recall what they looked like verbatim, even though I can. More so that they are easy to spot in a line up as a character from the show. Originality comes into play here again. Most of the back stories are a little face palm worthy. Especially Gerd Frentzen. Gerd was the number one motor cross racer until an accident involving a Demoniac renders him paralyzed from the waist down. Then he follows a pretty typical track of gaining the ability to walk and gains super abilities, being a Demoniac that isn’t insane. He eventually goes insane and kills innocent people, confronts the hero, and then begs to be killed before he hurts others. The only characters I fell in love for where minor characters. It may be different for you.

Setting and Mecha Design

This is really quick. I just have to give the art team of Blassreiter a lot of credit here. I really respect the effort put into accurately portraying the German country side, village atmosphere, and city atmosphere. Even before you are told the setting of the series, you positive it isn’t Japan and you’ll probably assume it takes place in Europe. Furthermore, once you receive hints its Germany, you won’t be too surprised. On the mecha design front, I was quite impressed. All of the mecha work is done in classic Studio Gonzo style of cell shaded 3D animation. However, how do I say this…as far as the Demoniacs and the Blassreiters are concerned they feel very EVA-inspired. The mechs themselves are pretty original and pretty cool. Just another notch in the not original column

I am going to have to give Blassreiter a 3 out of 5. While it is really cool and action packed, it just isn’t original enough for me. It is still enjoyable though. However, this is one of those properties where you can see why Studio Gonzo is in the trouble it is now a days.

Blassreiter First Episode



Watch Blassreiter here