Blue Gender Vol. #1

By Dani Moure     January 24, 2004
Release Date: June 17, 2002



What They Say
One Day In The Western Year 2031…

It's unknown how long the Blue have actually existed. The first confirmed sighting came in 2017. That was fourteen years ago. At first we thought they were a biological weapon that some rogue nation had developed, but we soon learned they were very different.

One Day: It is the year 2031. Humankind has been replaced as the dominant species by a race of monstrous insect-like creatures known as Blue. Sleeper Yuji Kaido finds himself thrust into this nightmarish world after being awakened from 22 years of suspended animation. Alone and surrounded by the Blue, Yuji's only hope for survival comes from an elite Sleeper Recovery Team, and a steely Mech pilot named Marlene.

Cry: Yuji learns the horrible truth about the Blue. Their infestation of planet Earth has forced the human race to seek refuge in outer space. Marlene and the Sleeper Recovery Team have been given orders to bring Sleeper Yuji to space station Second Earth alive. But with the Blue lurking at every turn, things go not always go according to plan.

Trial: Tired of feeling helpless in this hostile new world, Yuji pleads to be trained as part of the team. Marlene gives Yuki a crash course in weapons. Joey teaches him the basics of piloting an Armored Shrike. Armed with his new skills and his newfound confidence in his ability to survive, Yuji is ready for action. But against an enemy like the Blue, overconfidence can be deadly...


The Review!
Following on from its TV run, Blue Gender hits the streets with a less than stellar DVD release, yet the quality of the show still shines through.

Audio:
The only language present on this DVD is English 2.0 stereo mix. It's a good stereo track that sounds quite immersive, especially in the first episode which has little dialogue. There were no audio dropouts during regular playback.

Unfortunately, Blue Gender was one of the three MVM licenses from FUNimation (along with Yu Yu Hakusho and Lupin the 3rd) that was released before the upsurge in the UK anime DVD market, and, as such, is presented dub-only. The dub itself is very good; with Eric Johnson in particular portraying Yuji's various feelings well, but the lack of Japanese track (in particular, the criminally good opening song "Break Free") is unfortunate.

Video:
It's not terrible by any means, but it's not as good as I'd hope for, having seen (as much as I'd rather not compare them) the US release. Comparatively, it is a little below standard. The opening and ending particularly suffer, as they did on the TV run on Sci Fi. The on screen credits rainbow and shimmer like nobody's business, and overall, the picture has a bit of a dull tone. One notable point though is that aliasing is a lot less prevalent than it was on the US release. The quality is a shame because with a little more effort from FUNimation (who authored the disc), the disc's other technical and presentation flaws wouldn't have seemed quite so pronounced.

Packaging:
The front cover has a nice shot of Marlene in an action posture with her gun, presided over by an image of Yuji looking on in the background. The background is nice and faded, with a bar of screenshots also present along with the logo. The back cover lists all the episodes with a synopsis of each, and also some brief production credits. The disappointing thing about this cover is that it looks a little fuzzy compared to the usual sharp quality you'd expect.

Menu:
The menu is nice and functional, but given the restrictions in language, we are limited to just the "Run All" and "Factors" options, the latter of which just allows chapter selection.

Extras:
None.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Blue Gender is an interesting series, that takes the premise of following a person outside their known world and really runs with it to the extreme.

The first episode, "Oneday", introduces us to Yuji Kaido, a boy in his late teens who was put in stasis in 2009 until a cure could be found for his illness. He had always expected to be woken up in a few years, when a cure was found, and be able to see his family and best friend again. But it is now the year 2031, and the Earth has been invaded by a race of insect-like aliens known as "Blue", who have devastated it beyond belief. Awakened by a Sleeper Recovery Team, Yuji finds himself being taken away by humans in huge machines. They're attacked, and Yuji's chamber is busted open, leaving him face to face with a Blue. Petrified, Yuji is rescued by another human, who turns out to be a girl called Marlene, but before he finds out, he just runs.

Yuji's horror and devastation are excellently portrayed in this series opener. It's clear from the outset that he is out of place in this time, and that he just can't comprehend what is going on around him. He has flashbacks to a time when he is with his friends, he shakes, he screams, and he even wets himself the first time he sees a Blue. His reaction is so totally human and real, that we get deep inside his mind and know exactly how he feels. The music and minimal amount of dialogue in this episode really exemplify the atmosphere, so it all feels creepy and unnerving, and it works extremely well. By the end of the episode Yuji still hasn't even begun to accept the changes to his world, and is just totally confused. I found myself totally sympathetic to the way he felt, because the reactions just seemed so real.

It's the second episode, "Cry", that paints the true picture of what things are like now, and how harsh the world has become. On their way to a spaceport, Yuji is trying to come to terms with his surroundings. The other members of the team they're travelling don't help matters, but do reveal the truth about the Blue. They feed on both organic and non-organic matter, turning it into energy, and thus are destroying the Earth. The Blue also evolve to protect themselves, adapting to all that humans throw at them. Yuji is feeling isolated and alone, and can't comprehend why the team weren't actually coming to rescue everyone. Indeed, the entire situation itself is beyond his understanding. Humans now live on a space station called Second Earth, and the team were simply ordered to transport as many sleepers as they could recover there.

The focus here is again on Yuji and how he must come to terms with the world, but this episode shows what Blue Gender is truly capable of. It takes risks, and doesn't play it safe. It's not afraid to build up characters until they're likeable and you become accustomed to their presence, and then yank them away. At the spaceport, when the Blue arrive, "Cry" features a brutal and devastating massacre, seeing half the team killed off in a flurry of blood. But it doesn't feel gratuitous at all; it just exemplifies the horrific nature of the aliens and the realities of the world as it is now. It helps get the series off to a flying start as it really doesn't hold back at all.

The disc closes with "Trial", an episode which sees Yuji trying to get over his fears and give himself a purpose. He wants to help fight the Blue, and expresses his thoughts to Marlene, who gives him three days to learn. They go through all the motions, including how to co-pilot a fighter with Joey. The episode's strength lies in it's portrayal of Yuji wanting to try his absolute best to give himself a reason to stay alive. He works together and tries to make friends with the surviving team members. Despite his passing out during his first proper fight against the Blue, he does well, and there's a definite sense of camaraderie coming through, particularly with his interaction with Joey. Joey seems to appreciate that he is really trying under these extremely distressing circumstances. The episode does a great job of building the characters that remain; indeed, there are only four humans in this episode.

And it is the characters that are Blue Gender's biggest strength. The writers have given them very definitive and unique personalities, each with believable, and in most cases understandable, reasons for doing what they do. Marlene comes off as quite cold and harsh to Yuji, yet it's easy to understand where she's coming from – this world is all she's known for a long time. Likewise, the rest of the team each have different interactions with Yuji, which only adds to the believability of the world itself – everyone has their different personalities just as you would expect.

As I've already mentioned, this show is also extremely brutal. It's filled with violence and gore that, for a change, actually serves a purpose – to show the reality of the current world. While the graphic nature often made me feel a little bit uncomfortable, I actually loved that aspect since it also really rammed home the differences between our world and this portrayal of the world in the future.

While the show starts off extremely well, there are a few problems with this DVD release. Since it's from FUNimation, and is English-only, it means that we don't get the alternate angle treatment on the opening and ending (as it was on the US release), but rather just get the English translations of the credits, and also the English language versions of the openings and endings. I really do like that FUNimation are pretty much the only company still dubbing songs, and doing them very well (I'd certainly be unhappy if they decided one day to stop dubbing songs), but the lack of the original opening is unfortunate, as it's a real belter, and it is also great to be able to compare the two versions.

It's also worth noting that there are no subtitles on this disc (despite there being an empty subtitle track present). One other note is that, while I don't like the lack of a Japanese track, the grades above (in particular for audio) reflect the options available on the disc, and not a knock down for missing tracks. MVM have moved on since the time this was originally released (to follow up on the show's airing on UK TV), and they have since changed their policies to attempt to end the days of dub-only releases. It's a shame that Blue Gender is a show that suffered, but it can't be changed now.

In Summary:
Blue Gender gets off to a cracking start with the first disc. Full of atmosphere, the show offers something a little different to a lot of what is being released, with some great characters and an excellent story and premise. It's extremely brutal and not afraid to take risks, and that's exactly how I like it. I highly recommend this show, and recommend the disc for those who are not interested in the Japanese track.

Features
English Language

Review Equipment
Philips 28" Pure Flat Widescreen TV, Pioneer DV-464 code free DVD player, JVC gold-plated RGB SCART cable, standard stereo sound.