Blue Gender the Movie: The Warrior

By Bryan Morton     June 24, 2005
Release Date: June 13, 2005



What They Say
It is unknown how long they have existed. Some sightings date back to 2017. But in the year 2031 Humankind was replaced as the dominant species on Earth.

They are known only as The Blue. Many believed that the Blue were created by a rogue nation as a weapon of mass destruction. But it soon became all too evident that this was not the case. These monstrous insect-like creatures now exert their terrible will upon the planet. As a result, the remains of the human race have fled into outer space to escape the infestation of the Blue.

Suddenly awakened after 22 years in suspended animation, Yuji Kaido finds himself thrust into a nightmarish reality. Yuji soon learns that the very survival of the entire human race rests in his hands.

The Review!
Take one 26-episode series, chop it down into one 95-minute movie, and you end up with either a great way of testing a series before you buy it, or an incomprehensible collection of short scenes. I wonder which one this will turn out to be.

Audio:
I listened primarily to the Japanese 2.0 track, which makes reasonable use of the available channels for background effects and gives some depth to the sound, but not much Dialog seems mostly rooted to the centre. Dipping into the English 5.1 track revealed some extra depth to the effects courtesy of the rear channels. Voices in both tracks were easy to make out against the background effects, and there were no obvious problems.

Video:
Video is presented in its original 1.33:1 full-frame format. The picture is clean, clear and detailed, with good bright colours and no obvious problems.

Packaging:
No packaging was provided with our review copy.

Menu:
The menus on this release are very simple - a static image, with Play, Chapter Select, Setup and Trailers options, set to an ominous piece of background music. With nothing fancy going on, they're as responsive and easy to use as you're likely to get.

Extras:
None.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review will contain spoilers)
The Blue have replaced humans as the dominant species on Earth, and by 2031 - the year this movie takes place in - they pretty much have the run of the planet. These are the darkest days of the war on Earth, when the best & brightest of the human race have abandoned the planet and only those deemed unworthy of saving are left on the surface. Yuji Kaido, a 'Sleeper' who's been in cryogenic freeze for 22 years, awakens when the Blue attack the salvage team that has been sent to recover his cryotube. It's Yuji's first meeting with Earth's new masters, and definitely not the best way for him to come back to the real world. The Sleepers are now being evacuated to Second Earth, a space station being used as a base for Earth's evacuation, but it seems the Blue aren't prepared to let them leave. While the Sleepers are being loaded onto a shuttle at Tokyo spaceport, an attack by the Blue leaves Yuji & the salvage team that picked him up as the only survivors. Now having seen what this new world has to offer, Yuji asks his rescuers to train him in the use of their combat mechs so that at least he has a chance of surviving - but the nearest alternate spaceport is at Baikonur in Russia. The journey's not easy, and before long only Yuji and Marlene are left alive. When they arrive at Baikonur, they're able to meet up with the survivors of other salvage teams, but the Blue have infested the base and the automated defence systems are having trouble telling friend from foe. The battle through the Blue to reach a shuttlecraft is Yuji's biggest battle yet.

Away from Baikonur and into space, Yuji and Marlene arrive at Second Earth, where they're quickly separated. While Marlene is kept under close supervision and out of combat, it soons becomes clear that those in command of the base have plans for Yuji and the other Sleepers that they've managed to recover. Professor Miyagi, a scientist based on Second Earth, believes the Sleepers have an inherent power that will be the key to finally defeating the Blue, and is creating a Sleeper Brigade to prove his theory. When an assault on Earth is launched, the Sleeper Brigade is part of the battle force and proves more than capable of turning the tide, but while Yuji's new-found fighting skills are second-to-none, when Marlene meets him on the battlefield the effect it seems to be having on his sanity soon leads to her being concerned for his safety.

I have to admit to being surprised by how much I enjoyed this. I've always been a bit sceptical about this sort of re-edit, but while Blue Gender does feel a bit rushed, it hangs together quite well. That said, I have the advantage of not having seen the TV series, so I wasn't spending my time looking for scenes and storylines which had been cut out or re-animated, and I suspect it would have spoiled my enjoyment if I had.

There are some things that are hinted at but left unexplained - the significance of Prophecy syndrome and how it links with the Sleepers' combat skills, for a start - but there's enough left here to make this feel like a proper movie that's telling a coherent story.

There is a bit of a problem with how the relationship between Yuji and Marlene is handled, though. It's no big surprise when the bad-ass Marlene begins to melt under exposure to Yuji's far more human personality, but with the main focus of the story being the various battles with the Blue there's not enough time left to give their relationship enough development to make it feel plausible - it all happens so quickly that it just doesn't feel right. It's quite a small part of the overall story, though, so it's not a huge complaint.

In summary:
While there are huge chunks of the TV series that don't even get a look-in here, what's left does manage to make up a coherent and interesting story. If you've seen the TV series, it's probably not worth the effort, but if you're curious about the Blue Gender story and want a quick way to try-before-you-buy, this could be for you. As for me, I've got a lot more interest in checking out the full story now than I had beforehand.

Features
Japanese 2.0 Language,English 5.1 Language,English Subtitles

Review Equipment
Panasonic TX-W28R30P 28" widescreen TV; Pioneer DV-626D player; Acoustic Solutions DS-222 5.1 speaker system.