Search - Daphne in the Brilliant Blue (Complete Boxed Set) on DVD

A touching tale of 5 lovely women...and their big a$$ guns

V. Green | Fremont, CA | 08/26/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is the story of protagonist Maia Mizuki. A young girl who's dream of working for the Ocean Academy (a prestigious neo-coast guard-esque company) was shattered when she realized that even with passing the entrance exam with flying colors, she had not been accepted. On top of that, since she based all her future plans around the Ocean Academy, she had no place to live, and no one to lean on since her best friend had been accepted. Feeling lonely and dejected she searches job to job looking for an income when she haphazardly stumbles upon Rena and Shizuka, from Nereids--a seemingly all girl "vigilante" group.

Ok, lets skip any further formalities. This anime is one of my all time favorites. It has comedy, action, drama, and best of all: lots of surprises and things you won't expect. You will follow the tale of Maia Mizuki as she falls into the "new girl" role at Nereids, learns new things about life as well as herself, and meets new people including a few more Nereids girls. Every character contributes something to the storyline, and has a distinct role.
For instance:

Shizuka: The kind hearted mechanic with a bottomless iron stomach and an inability to abandon anything. She often serves as a crutch, but not only for the main character.

and (my personal favorite) Gloria: The loose cannon blond with an affinity for guns and mayhem. Her inability to think before she acts constantly throws a curve at her coworkers, and if they're lucky won't result in someone getting hurt, and something being broken.

If you're like me, you will find yourself picking out your favorite Nereids girl.

The soundtrack is very nice and matches its water theme seamlessly. The animation is unique wonderful and I particularly liked all the character designs (especially the eyes--it may sound silly but while many anime series seem to have the same type of eyes, this one changed it up quite a bit). The dub was done quite well, all characters have voices that fit their personalities and the voice acting (and I've heard voice acting awful enough to ruin an entire series) was very well done.

There is of course, some fan service as you can see just by looking at any cover of any volume in this series, but not so much that you aren't able to take the series seriously. There is a perfect blend of comedy and action, and you might even have a tear find its way to your cheek every now and then.

All in all, this anime is brilliantly done, and while there are a few bonus episodes towards the end that don't seem to meld to the main storyline, there aren't what I call "fillers", the kind of episodes that seem to only fill the purpose of killing time. I highly, highly recommend this."

Great writing, great char developement

Dizzy Dean | Altadena, CA USSA | 07/27/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This has become one of my all time favorites. Great story that takes its time to develop without getting slow or boring. Great depiction of a future earth (hover vehicles etc.). All the main characters have a distinct look and personality, even the voices are well done.

Its so poignant at times its almost sickly, yet rarely crosses over.
Its also VERY FUNNY.

Ex: the heroine is sleeping on a park bench after another disaster and says "wow the stars are beautiful, even more so when they're blurred by my tears" then she gets kidnapped...

Box set has some nice extras as well. This may not be your cup of soy tea if you like giant robots or alchemy."

Sci-Fi Charlie's Angels With Lots of Fan Service

Rich | CA | 04/15/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I got this at Suncoast when it was on sale for a more reasonable price the series is not bad and neither or the voice actors or animation. That being said I do have to say I found it a bit humorous when these woman would do one of their jobs in their outfits which looked more suited for strippers than hard-core fem fighters. I understand that most animes have some fan-service but again what they drew to have these females wear was ridiculous especially for the young newbie Maia. The series itself felt a mix of both Water World and Charlie's Angels that being is a lot of the action dealt with them mostly in ocean scenes. The series has a very dramatic morale in the storyline but for most of the series it was mostly light-hearted and comedic. I say to those who like light drama,comedy,and with a tough of light romance this set is one to get but I do say wait until it is a more reasonable price or see if there is a sale going on at a store near you.."