Therefore, I should love Blade Anime. And yet, even going in with no expectations to do just that, I don't. Worse, I didn't even like it.
Collecting all 12 episodes — each about 20 minutes — the Japanese series offers strong visuals throughout, as it uses Blade’s origin as a diving board to tell an alternate tale, but it suffers from anime’s usual problem: dearth of plot. Loud and flashy only get you so far, and for me, that was just a few minutes.
Yet I kept watching, episode after episode, waiting for it take hold with me. It never did, and that’s a shame, especially since Madhouse is the animation studio behind it, producer of great works in the past, both for adults (Redline) and kids (Summer Wars).
Serious anime fans may not care; the flash and design alone may be all they require. If that’s the case, they’ll be delighted that Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Marvel Animation have released a simultaneous set for Wolverine. As a 2009 manga starring that X-Men leader proved, these characters can be translated to the unique Japanese treatment, but these DVDs are not it. —Rod Lott
Hey! Read This:
• Redline DVD review
• Summer Wars film review
• X-Men: First Class Blu-ray review
