Search - Mirage of Blaze: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1-4 on DVD

Fascinating, Engrossing, Romance at its best!!

M. J. Barrientos | Houston, TX | 04/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mirage of Blaze is a boy/boy relationship centered anime. I had already experienced and loved a similar story titled Gravitation, but where Gravitation leans towards the comedic, Mirage of Blaze is pure action romance drama with its inherent extra dosage of angst. This is one anime that will satisfy those looking for more complex serious adult oriented plots/stories and the fact that the romance centers on two gorgeous male characters makes it all the better.

This is the type of story that requires full attention. No fluffy plot. You need to think in order to fully appreciate it. There are dozens of names/characters and a myriad of information that helps you piece the plot together and that may confuse those with a weak attention span. If you are the type that only wants the romantic couple to get down to business with not much back-story, then this may not be for you. Like I said, there are several characters integral to Mirage of Blaze, however, I will only comment on the two that are the nucleus of the story.

A battle of feudal Japan is still going in contemporary times with the main characters as spiritual beings that reincarnate over and over. Our heroes are Kagetora and his second in command/protector, Naoe. Kagetora does not remember his past, however, the sexual tension between him and Naoe is palpable from the very beginning, something that totally confuses Kagetora...I am hooked. What follows is a slow progression towards a confrontation between the two that gives us a glimpse of the true nature of their relationship and the depths of their feelings. Who would have thought that Naoe who is usually calm and in control of his emotions could become such a violent bursting volcano of resentment and jealousy or that Takkaya (Kagetora) so loving and concerned with his friend Yuzuru could be capable of great cruelty? Especially toward someone that he so obviously loves, even though he may not realize it yet or better said, refuses to acknowledge. When I say romance, I do not refer to the bring me flowers and candy romantic element, this is about love and hate, the need to protect and hurt simultaneously. This is about us the viewer cheering for our two heroes, wanting desperately for the misunderstandings to end so that they may finally open up to each other. This is soap opera at its best and I can't wait for more. I already bought Mirage of Blaze: Rebels of the River Edge OVA, and incredibly it is better than the series, if that is possible. In Rebels of the River Edge we are rewarded with some type of culmination between Kagetora and Naoe and we get a glimpse of the reason Kagetora fights so strongly against his love and desire for Naoe and the reason why Naoe hates and loves him. It is fascinating and engrossing to watch their conflicting emotions and inner battles. It is very seldom that I come across something this intricate, romantic and complex. Like I previously wrote, I am hooked for life.

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A masterpiece of beautiful sensibility and character develop

L. R. Pierce | Bethesda, Maryland, USA | 01/31/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I just finished viewing this anime series and was totally blown away by the masterful character development, complex relationships, and emotional intensity of the very attractive characters. It has a compelling and complex plot that held my interest so well that I was quickly hooked and anxious to see what would transpire in each of the next episodes (there are 3 episodes on each of the 4 CDs). The music and graphics are also top rate. After viewing this series, I went out and bought Japanese language instructional CDs and will now review the series in the original Japanese with English subtitles to help me start learning Japanese. The English dubbed version on the DVD is also quite good. I also highly recommend the sequel DVD, "Mirage of Blaze - the River Edge," and am passionately hoping that the wonderful production team that put this series together will delight us with additional volumes."

I love this anime!

Lacey M. Matteo | USA | 10/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Mirage of Blaze has an involving story line and exciting character interactions, characters you could just fall in love with and characters that inspire sympathy."

Good but not great.

D. Kyles | Alabama, USA | 04/17/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Yoai(boy-boy love)...if you dont like it then dont watch this anime. There is not a lot but enough. This series was good, the animation very well done and the characters were pretty well developed. However, the story was very very slow moving. It seemed like hardly anything ever happened. And the romantic conflict between the 2 main characters never came to a close...nothing got resolved. And if your like me, you will love the hair. I am a sucker for great hair in an anime...so much that ill hardly watch one that doesnt have awesome hair somewhere. Hope this helped."