Daphne in the Brilliant Blue (aka: Ai) Vol. #01

By Matthew Alexander     October 23, 2006
Release Date: October 01, 2006



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Shiki Satoshi
Translated by:Ray Yoshimoto
Adapted by:Barbara Randall Kesel

What They Say
Dahpne in the Brilliant Blue take place in a near future in which the remaining population lives in underwater cities, with waterways as streets. Years ago, while conducting underwater experiments, all contact with the surface was cut off. With the remaining human population now living underwater, The Deep Sea 9 Cities Association represent the last hope of mankind. Ai Mayuzumi is the daughter of the head of the research lab, and is an expert water jet bike driver. When the terrorist group Error, attacks the city, Ai becomes involved with the counter-terrorist group Stelnas, comprised of an all-female team, and led by a girl named Kei, and asks to join them. The group initially resists her efforts to join, but a surprising "gift" that Ai possesses, along with the way she handles herself during a kidnapping attempt, eventually sways the opinion of the members of Stelnas.

The Review
Scantily clad hotties riding futuristic jet skies and kicking ass along the way!

Packaging:
The front cover is an amalgamation of the girls from the Stelna's group and the young phenom Ai, who is straddling a water jet bike. The title text is printed in white and light blue, and placed over a black rectangle that obscures the artwork somewhat. There is also a rather ugly yellow oval with the words 'From the Creator of Kami-Kaze'. The back cover has a black background with a color picture of Ai riding a different jet bike than the front, and there is also a story synopsis. As usual for Tokyopop, the original color pages in the beginning are monotone. The quality of the tone work in the printing is good, however the reason the Packaging grade for this title is so low is due to the dialogue boxes getting cut off. In about half a dozen instances throughout the book the dialogue along the outer edge of the page is cut short just enough to lose letters from those words nearest the edge. It was never enough to make it indecipherable, but I expect more from publishers.

Artwork:
Satoshi's art is very detailed with a wealth of attention being given to the backgrounds. The female characters are buxomly attractive and like the anime version their battle clothing is sufficiently skimpy, but even their every day clothes are sexy even though they might be wearing pants and long-sleeved shirts. I really enjoyed the way the artist depicted Kourei's long straight hair, which is always blowing wildly in wind. This design gives Kourei's character a tough, dark appearance and I find it cool and mysterious. I appreciate the fact that the male characters run the attractiveness gamut, some ugly and rough, come average and a couple of pretty boys gave nice depth to the cast of characters. The panel layout is highly varied and there are a good number of great-looking one page and two page spreads and the shading is quite good.

Text/SFX:
Since Tokyopop also published Kami-Kaze I feel justified in comparing the quality of the text between that title and Daphne. Now I have absolutely no problems with adult situations and language, actually I welcome them, but the translation/adaptation of Kami-Kaze was so unnecessarily vulgar it was difficult for even me to read. Luckily, Daphne received a much more agreeable text. The dialogue for this title reads well and there are only a couple expletives that I can remember and they fit the situations. As par for Tokyopop, none of the SFX are translated and this whole business plan continues to baffle me. I mean come on, I buy the English versions because I can't read Japanese so wouldn't it make sense to translate everything?

Contents: (Oh yes, there may be spoilers)
Ai Mayazumi is a schoolgirl with exceptional motoring skills. Her father heads a research lab that develops various aquatic vehicles, which Ai test drives. These water mobiles and submarines are essential to the citizenry since the entire city is one of nine underwater bastions for the human race. The cities are not only underwater but their streets also consist of waterways, so it's easy to see why underwater transportation technology could be really important and probably one of the biggest industries.

Aside from meaningless arguments between generations, the inhabitants in the world of Daphne seem to be maintaining a high quality of life. However, even in a small self-contained world there are those in this society that are unhappy with what they see as government control and want to break the bonds of what they see as their underwater prison cell. The malcontents belong to a terrorist group known as Error (I know, it's a really dumb name), and they're bent on following this mysterious voice coming from above water, and one that only they can hear. It's unclear why the members of Error are the only people that can hear this voice calling from the surface. Focused on stopping Error is the government and a private group of mortal valkyries known as the Stelna's. These female characters are similar to the heroines of the Daphne anime version; brooding leader, quiet and dark asskicker, loud obnoxious girl that likes her guns, and the quiet nerdy girl in charge of logistics. And Ai wants nothing more in the world than to join the Stelna's.

For some reason Ai and her family had a run in with Error when she was younger. Her mother was killed and Ai's I.D. Limiter in her eye was damaged during the experience. So Ai has a strong hatred for Error and she finally comes into contact with the girls of Stelna when she is kidnapped by Error. Will Ai be rescued by Stelna? What is the real deal with Error and who is their leader known as the Shogun? Will Ai's dream of joining the Stelna's ever come true?

Comments
Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is kind of a mixed bag of fruit. There are the tasty melons and apricots, but then there are also the papayas that are just so-so. The artwork is very good and the characters are sexy, but the beginning of the story was a little awkward and felt forced. If fans of the anime version are hoping for a manga with the same characters as the anime then they will be disappointed. However, if fans of the anime are looking for another adventure with similar characters and artwork set in the world of Daphne then they should be quite satisfied. Personally I loved the art and aside from the stupid name for the terrorist group (Error), I'm really curious to see what Error truly wants and where the story is going.

A small part of this story that I found really interesting is the author's idea that humans will always find someone or some group of people to blame their problems on. Being underwater in a self-contained city means there is no one to war with for resources and there doesn't seem to be any race reasons. So interestingly, many of the people in Ai's world hold a grudge between generations. I thought this was an interesting story point in a book that is otherwise a seinen adventure story.