Blue Gender V05 (2002)

"...consistently fun and exciting...a thrilling and fascinating series.  Keith Allen, MovieRapture
"...an addiction, one that is candy-coated with excellent character development and brushed with the venomous tang of suspense.  Play Magazine

Editor's Note Yuji had been lifeless in intensive care, about to receive an evil brainwashing surgery. In these three episodes of the compelling outer space anime series, Yuji escapes from the medical station and Marlene embarks on a solo search for the missing patient. Her quest leads her to Second Earth and a laboratory where Yuji is being held for experimentation. Marlene takes her plight to the High Council again where she is told of the truth behind the recovery of the Sleepers, a combat mission to reclaim Second Earth. In this combat training program, Yuji is desired by a fellow Sleeper whose touch could be deadly. "Calm," "Set," and "Heresy" are the episodes.

	Dameon Clarke - Voice Of
	Eric Vale - Voice Of
	Hidetoshi Kaneko - Art Director
	Katsumi Hasegawa - Writer
	Koichi Ohata - Writer
	Koichi Ohata - Producer
	Kuniaka Kabashima - Original Music By
	Kyle Hebert - Voice Of
	Laura Bailey - Voice Of
	Ryosuke Takahashi, et. al. - Director

MovieRapture 9 of 10
Abe Masashi's twenty-six part animated television series Blue Gender is, despite its flaws, consistently fun and exciting...Much of the program's narrative is fairly amorphous. The entire first half of Blue Gender is given over to Yuji and Marlene's race from Japan to Baikonur, whence they plan to escape to Second Earth, and consists of little more than a succession of largely unrelated encounters with different persons and varying breeds of Blue. Fortunately, the protagonists' confrontations with the horrific insects are always thrilling, and their interactions with the human survivors they meet are often genuinely affecting...Sadly, the visual quality of the program is extremely inconsistent and does sometimes detract from the appeal of the elements noted above. The designs used for the enormous insects are so fascinating and revolting that they are likely to keep the viewer's interest. Those of the human characters, however, are far less appealing. What is more, the quality of the draughtsmanship, while generally competent, does at times decrease dramatically. There are, consequently, moments at which characters' features will be rendered extremely crudely or their bodies will not be correctly proportioned...Although it is inconsistent visually and its story is often shapeless, Blue Gender is, nevertheless, a thrilling and fascinating series. - Keith Allen