Blast of Tempest is a masterly written piece of work that challenges the watcher to reflect on their ideas of death, love, and logic and though, I started this anime with low expectations as I am a rather optimistic person, and the premise of a dystopic world did not attract much enthusiasm from me. This anime, however, was not just a story of some parallel dystopian world, but rather a personal story involving love and tragedy which I really enjoyed!
Story
The story was put together in a great yet questionable way. There were a lot of plot twists that would leave you confused, But still the story never got boring. The twisted tale of love, hate, revenge and a touch of magic was most definitely satisfying and especially how the ending wrapped up the entire story. So Yes, there were numerous action scenes to gratify our blood-thirsty anime watching peers but those are not the most impressive features of the anime. The splendidity was really established in the plot and dialogues. Now for the actual story-line, The Kusaribe family is a family of sorcerers under the protection of the "Tree of Origins". Their princess, Hakaze Kusaribe, was the greatest sorceress of their family. But Samon Kusaribe, a member of their family seeking to resurrect the "Tree of World's End", a tree that opposes the "Tree of Origins" and controls the power of destruction, stuffs her into a barrel, and banishes her to a deserted island. From the deserted island, she sends a message out to sea, which is picked up by Mahiro Fuwa, a young boy who's sworn vengeance upon the criminal who killed his little sister, Aika. Mahiro agrees to help Hakaze under the condition that she find Aika's killer with her magic. But once Mahiro's best friend and Aika's lover, Yoshino Takigawa is rescued from danger, he too gets dragged into this tale of revenge.
Characters
Gosh, all of the characters were just perfect! They all played a huge role in the story and I think I should be more specific. Fuwa Mahiro & Takigawa Yoshino were the perfect foils and thus made for an interesting relationship between them. Mahiro, was my favorite character of the series. His intellect could not be denied, his will power was impeccable, and his vengeance was nothing to play with. I felt bad for him throughout the anime since it seemed like he was the one in most pain, and I couldn't see a good ending for him emotionally. Yoshino, I have mixed feelings about this character. I mostly liked him but I felt like we didn't really get to delve into who Yoshino really was. Though, I know he prides himself in not showing his emotion to anyone, but you would think that we would at least get a glimpse, as us watchers, to his inner attitude towards other characters. But besides that, they both got a significant amount of development in the show through a series of flashbacks, some of which involved Aika. And, THE brash and arrogant Mahiro was the brawn of their duo while THE manipulative and analytic Yoshino was the brains. Their relationship was one of the most interesting ones of the series and it showed how two young men who are totally different from each other could end up cooperating pretty willingly and become the best of friends!
Next Up is Kusaribe Hakaze, Who I did not like her at first, but eventually she grew on me over time. She was smart, but had an annoying attitude and she was raised as a princess, and was also the strongest person of the Kusaribe tribe. Though She grew on me later because of the different sides we got to see of her, as it made her more human to me. Finally we have, Fuwa Aika, who was one of the most confusing characters. She was already dead by the beginning of the series, yet played an important role in the story. Also, She was the motivation for Yoshino and Mahiro’s actions and appeared in numerous flashbacks. Her character was described in the anime as having a “horrible personality.” But that was not even the half of it. Her development at the tail end of the series hinted at a facet of her personality that was far more barbaric, border lining on psychotic! The rest of the side characters were mostly lively personalities to either spice things up or to be used as a convenient plot device to move the story along.
Animation and Sound
The art and animation was amazing. It was animated by Bones, The very same company known for works such as Fullmetal Alchemist adaptations, Wolf's Rain, and many more nice looking series, and Blast of Tempest also upholds some degree of that quality in its appearance. The characters were almost never off model, everything was smoothly rendered, and they alos pulled off some dynamic action sequences, but those scenes were rather few and far between, and there was still much better out there, so it isn't THAT remarkable. But, The artwork looked nice and they captured the look of the manga well, the designs were very sharp and precise which totally satisfied me.
For the sound, The soundtracks chosen for this anime were fabulous. The violin solos with the varying volumes matched the pace of the show and the suspense in the best fashion. The opening and endings weren't boring and they definitely didn't reveal a lot about the story. The upbeat openings showed the action and more aggressive emotions in the show while the slower themes in the endings portrayed the more negative and deeper feelings.
Enjoyment
This anime was a heck of a ride and the enjoyment level was out of the roof for me. The first half shined as bright as one of the best anime's I have seen, and the second half was spectacular in their transition. The theme of the anime about wanting to change the world for someone you love was reiterated but explained throughout the anime. There were also numerous quotes from Hamlet and Tempest, and I would not be surprised if one is tempted to get into Shakespeare after completing this anime.
Overall, Blast of Tempest represented a brilliant modern style mystery with some ancestry blood of William Shakespearean work bought to life. And in the end, the anime handled itself well and had an ending which tied up the ends. Therefore, the series as a whole, balanced all the components, and had an excellent cast of characters. So, it was a great watch and I would recommend it to anybody who can turn of his head and enjoy an anime for what it is!
4 STAR ANIME.
eughh i really didnt like the second half. I feel that it bit off more than it could chew.
ReplyDeleteThey should have kept it small and kept it a love story or a story between the 4 main characters at least. All the others characters just made the second half unnecessarily messy.
oh but the first half was like one of the best anime ive seen!
DeleteYeah, I can't agree with you more! :D The first half was nice and amazing balanced all the components of the anime and actually surpassed my expectations. But, The second half was pretty predictable and that really brought my enjoyment of the anime down.
Deletei don't know if you've read the watchman graphic novel, or seen the movie, but I feel that that movie got it right, they striped one whole subplot which was essential to the graphic novel which had like 20 something characters and made it part of the story preserving the emotional thread and plotline with fewer characters.
DeleteI've not read the manga but sometimes i feel thats what goes wrong with japanese manga-anime conversions, they just kinda dont understand the story thats being told. Not as in the plot but as in the message and emotional lines pervading through the medium.
I still dont know what the second half of the anime was trying to say. Maybe something about Aika? Maybe being omniscient makes you a masochistic asshole that lets you selfishly dick over the lives of the ones you love? Maybe something about how we shouldn't plant too many trees coz they're secretly evil aliens? who knows
Nope. I haven't read the watchman graphic novel or seen the movie. But, for the second arc of the anime, I think that in it all the major characters were on the same team and though there were hints at dissension among the ranks, those were just red herrings that mostly got nowhere. Also, Hakaze became a much more typical female lead who wasted time fretting over her feelings, and was far less interesting than she was at the beginning. The Mage of Exodus, Hakaze's magical counterpart who was totally necessary for saving the world, basically fell into the group's lap with little explanation. Characters that seemed to have promise at the beginning kind of faded into the background, relegated to menial tasks. AND, I'm still not sure who the catsuit-wearing Evangeline Yamamoto was, even though she was critically important to the plot!
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