BLASSREITER

Forget the bad reviews about this anime, some guy down below said this anime was just about an infection that turns people into machines and that people riding motorcycles fight them. WRONG!! These guys have obviously only seen about the first 2-3 episodes, quit watching it, and made a stupid review about it. Here's my Review.
I'd said the first few episodes were thrilling and made you want to know what happens next. (not gonna spoil anything). After a the first 3 or so episodes, the plot really takes an advance. It might confuse you about who the main character is because at first you'd think this one guy is the main character but then it turns out he isn't. Some of the scenes in this anime are true to the real world and deal with real problems like bullying an suicide. yes, i agree with xargin, this world is truly cruel. The first season was just a series of events that lead into the climax, aka, the 2nd season. the action scenes in this anime were done in CGI and looked great. The only thing i didn't like about blassreiter some of the questionable stuff that happened such as malik, when he woke up and instantly knew everything about what was happening after being asleep for several days. LOL it made no sense. Anyways, i'd say this was one of the best and better animes i've watched. it's interesting, compelling, and keeps you hooked until the end.

I think this anime is pretty awesome. The plot is very detailed; it makes you stop and think about society as it. Themes that this anime touch on are prejudice, salvation, and whether or not mankind can truly be redeemed. It pulls greatly from religion.

I can say that I'm known to ball my eyes out when a character dies (and there are a lot of character deaths) but this is the first time I didn't cry. Instead, I felt a sort of empathy for the characters that died, a feeling that I shouldn't cry for them because they wouldn't want it. So yeah, I did connect with the characters but it was a subtle connection, one that kind of sneaked up on me.

When I first saw this anime, I decided it wasn't worth watching after a few episodes but with my anime list getting shorter and shorter, I decided to watch thing in its entirety. I know quite a few people that the first couple of episodes sucked (I did too) but it's kind of like you have to pay close attention to enjoy it. Those episodes were really setting the stage - it was like letting you know about the world, giving you a preview into the themes it was going to be dealing with (loss, salvation, redemption).

The anime did have one character in there that I thought was pretty darn useless. I mean, she wasn't a damsel in distress type character but at the same time, she didn't do anything all that spectacular. If you're familiar with the "somebody gotta live to tell the story" saying - then I guess that's kinda where she fits in.

The villain of the story was nicely done btw. Yes, he was a ruthless murderer but he was so compassionate at the same time. I couldn't help but feel for the guy and actually agree with him from time to time.

I thought the music was good. It wasn't anything special but it was definitely fitting.

Overall, I think this anime was about salvation as much as it was about runaway technology. To me, the stolen technology that the war centered around was kind of like the subplot. The main focus of this anime is: does mankind deserve salvation in spite of the horrible sins we've committed against each other?

This anime is definitely worth watching. Just bear with the first few episodes and you'll be in for a real treat.

Decent animation does not excuse a vague and inconsistent story. Constantly we're pulled between the fight to save the innocent from undead-mecha zombies; a bikers depressing dealing with the loss of his legs and the falling apart of his life as a consequence; along with some kid who's being picked on by some other kids. I honestly never understood what was going on, nothing ever felt related in any meaningful way. Every episode felt like it was going no where...slowly. The action isn't even that great to pull this one from the fire in my opinion. Lackluster CGI with some rather stiff looking gun-play; I simply don't recommend this.

This series was THE most confusing anime I have watched.Everytime I thought I had it figured out,they flipped it on me.Main characters dying left and right,characters showing up with little or no introduction,I barely kept up with the storyline.Then the heavy focus on religion-that creeped me out a lot,along with how they showed most,if not all,of real society's faults and prejudices.Complicated series and definately one you have to watch with all your attention.

With the first few episodes pulling you in, you are quickly disappointing with the absence of what you thought would be the main character of the anime. You are also greeted with a pointless very attractive girl who does basically nothing. She also has an adopted brother who is also pretty annoying. But the fighting sequences where pretty chill, interesting weapons and fighting styles. Not Bad. As a whole i was totally disappointing.

It's been a while since I've seen a story with such a good premise that failed so badly to capitalize on it.

It didn't help that the story seems to be advertised everywhere as being some kind of paranormal mystery bordering on vampires when it's pure technology. That seems to be something that some of the writers in Japan think is cute: the religious or magical or paranormal that turns out to be pure technology. Though that trend makes no sense, not even in Japan (the most technological country on the planet). If you wanted to make something more surprising, go the other way. Perhaps it's the age demographic of the viewers there (or the writers).

In spite of that, the basic premise is very strong. Runaway technology.

Add the fact that the general storyline is very realistic (assuming such a piece of runaway technology did occur). First, hide it, then confuse everybody over it, and end up with genocide and annihilation. Sounds familiar, huh? (And I'm not talking fiction). Pretty much normal (moronic) government thinking.

So, where did it go wrong?

Characters. Throughout the entire series you keep asking yourself, whose story is this anyway? For three episodes, this guy. Then he disappears. OK. The other guy. Nope. He disappears too. In the end, the last man standing, so to speak, wasn't even a significant character in the first half of the series. In addition, none of the characters have any depth. Some we find out next to nothing about; we never have any idea why they do what they do. We cannot feel with or for them. The three catalyst characters -- I cannot call them the principal characters even after watching the entire series -- do get nauseatingly detailed coverage of their background, but that part of the story completely fell apart. Aside from the portrayal of Germans as uniformly prejudiced and hateful, we heap so much crap on these three characters that it goes way beyond believability into farce.

Overall, the story plays like an encyclopedia entry as an example under "Runaway Technology: Example #2" because we never get close enough to anyone to want to feel for them.

And back to the technological premise. How, after rubbing our noses in the fact all of this is technology, do we start seeing people in their afterlife? Huh?

The music was boring. The animation was pretty good, but how many of the same fight do we really need to see when we know perfectly well who is going to win/lose each fight. The best scenes in the series were those that interrupted the repetitious fight scenes.

One last point on the interaction between the storyline and the character definitions: The "bad guy" wasn't. That's not criticism; that's a complement. The best bad guys are always the ones who could be good guys if the story was told from a different perspective. That was the strongest element in this story and, frankly, the reason I kept watching. I kept hoping for a Gilgamesh ending.

I watched Blassreiter quite a long time ago and just decided to write a review on a whim. I rewatched a few episodes just now so that I have good feel for the anime again. Now on to my review.

||Storyline|| - 3.5/5
Blassreiters storyline is very convoluted and detail oriented. To put it simply, if I tell anything of it I'm ruining plot, so I'll stick to very general points.
For one, this anime's storyline would have been a 4.5/5, maybe even 5/5, if not for the fact that the first 5 or so episodes are a waste of space.
The first 5 episodes are easily the worst in the series, and I have known many who have been turned off this anime by them. They could have easily taken all the plot for the first 5 episodes and shoved them into one, because it's all "staging". The first 5 set up a basis from which to build the rest of the anime on. A character barely related to the plot at all is focused on for most of it, and for the reason of explaining the current world and the issues of a new disease and how people are reacting to it. If this was done in 1 or 2 episodes, it would have been fine, but 5 episodes for staging is too long.
Now, if you can sit through the staging, come episode 6 and forward are some nice surprises. The anime takes whole new turn after turn, developing at a much more steady and enjoyable pace, all the way until the end. The story is mostly explained with only a few wholes left open by the end.

||Music|| - 4/5
Right off the bat, let me say this. The music for Blassreiter is not bad, not bad at all. The placing is fine, and it fits the situations pretty well. So why 4/5? Because although it's not bad, it's nothing special. The music throughout this anime is quite literally background music. It fits the term perfectly. And because of that, because the music isn't catchy at all (scratch a few themes, and even they are not too great), the rating is not 5/5.

||Characters|| - 4.5/5
Character development was good. Quite good. I can't describe it real well, but it's good enough to where most of the questions you find yourself asking about characters are answered, and to where you begin to feel for the characters as the anime progresses. And in the end, it means character development did what it was meant to do.

||Animation|| - 5/5
What this anime lacks in music, it makes up for in animation quality.
Quite simply amazing. It's as good an animation style as I've seen to date. The downtimes, the combat, the...everything. Oh, and did I mention combat animation? All of it, damn good. Smooth, yet not too smooth. A sort of....realism in this show's animation (Ya know, besides the glowing mutants.) Up there with Tegami Bachi: Letter Bee in my top 5 favorite animation styles.
Oh, and in case I didn't mention it, the combat. Seriously though, the combat animation on this anime was GODLY. Excellently done.

||Overall|| - 4/5
All in all, Blassreiter was a good watch. Sure, the first 5 episodes make you want to throw your monitor out the nearest window, but after that it's all visual and auditory appeal of great standards. Not one of my favorite animes, but that's only because the storyline and music weren't really my cup of tea, even if they were well made. If you're into heavily emotional combat, and characters persevering through the toughest of times, this anime is definitely one you should chance. However, as always, mileage will vary.