Language - Japenese
Genre - Anime, comic, bad girl, action
Witchblade started life as a comic from image/Top cow comics
and follows the story of the current warer of the 'witchblade' which is an
ancient artifact that has existed since the beginning of time. The Witchblade can only be worn by women and
then only by ones who are compatible with it and it is a weapon.
Since the release of the comic Witchblade has had a few incarnation
and this is about the anime.
Before I had seen the series I had read a couple reviews
which had been complaining that the series was mainly just a show full of fan
service which, if you have ever read any of the original comics would not come
as any surprise as it is full as t&a and any type of fan service that done
in an American comic can be done better via anime.
Comic book witchblade
Anime Witchblade
The anime is set 6 years after a large earth quake has
devastated Tokyo and we are introduced to Masane Amaha and her 6 year old
Daughter Rihoko. Masane was found at
ground zero of the great quake and can’t remember anything of her life before
it.
Almost as soon as they arrive in Tokyo Masane is approached
by the NSWF’s child welfare department who feel that Masane is not a suitable
mother, they take Rhioko and Masane is arrested for attempting to stop them. Whilst in prison another prisoner, who has
been arrested for a number of bizarre murders suddenly transforms into a
robotic killing machine and goes after Masane.
As she is attacked, the bracelet that Masane wares glows and the witchblade
is activated enabling her to stop the killing machine. After defeating the killer Masane escapes the prison with the intention of going to the NSWF and getting
Rihoko back but the strain of using the witchblade leaves her exhausted and she
collapses, this is seen by two people, an employee of a company called ‘Douji
Group Industries’ who are looking for the witchblade and a photographer called
Yusuke Tozawa. Masane is picked up by
the Douji employee and taken back to
their head quarters where they tell her the killer was a weapon designed by
Douji known as an ex-con. A number of
the Ex-con’s escaped during the great quake and Douji have been trying to find
them ever since. Douji tell Masane that
the Ex-cons are attracted to the witchblade and, if Masane helps them find and
destroy the last remain units they help her get Rihoko.
The first few episodes of the series are basically a ‘monster of the week’ style show
as Masane takes on different Ex-cons and the occasional clone blade whilst
looking for Rihoko and this is full of fan service especially after the
introduction of the ‘clone blades’, who are women from the NSWF who are
equipped with artificial witchblades.
I can only assume that the previous reviews that I have read
had only seen these first few episodes as the series soon takes a change of
pace and becomes more of a soap opera as Masane and Rihoko move into a guest
house and Masane tries to keep her job a secret from Rhioko.
From this point on witchblade starts to concentrate on the
relationships of its characters and the
internal politics of Douji and the NSWF and asks questions about the nature of
family and whether some new stories should be kept secret. This is not to say that the fan service
stops, there are still battles between the witchblade and the clone blades and
Masane is nicknamed Masamune as a reference to the chest size (Masa-mune means
Undefeatable Breasts in Japanese). There
is also the staple trop of fan service that is the beach episode but, insted of
coming up with a way to get all the main [attractive] female cast together they
bring in 3 new characters who have never even been mentions before and who are
never seen after that episode, a strange move as they already have a cast of
large breasted women in skimpy armor that they could use.
Witchblade had a surprisingly deep story and a good cast of
characters so if you like your anime with action and story and a not to
distracting amount of fan service then i recommend that you give it watch
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