Ahhh, so this is where Gonzo’s other funds have been directed. Yet another stylish-looking gothic series dealing with vampires, but this time around it looks to be more angst and less ass-kicking (compared to Hellsing, at any rate). We open with a short exposition on the future of Earth, where nuclear war has devastated the planet. However, the war is interrupted by the arrival of spacefaring vampires, who decided to take a rest stop here because they were really, really thirsty. Soon enough, it’s us versus them, and the vampires establish a permanent presence on Earth.
Onboard the ship Tristan, a penniless priest named Abel Nightroad chats up the flight attendant Jessica, who aspires to be a pilot someday. Jessica accidentally spills his sugar-laden order of milk tea, and promises to give him a sandwich in return when the bridge orders some coffee. On the bridge, Jessica manages to correct some of the navigator’s mistakes while she is serving him coffee, and the crew shares a few laughs, when a vampire bursts in. Helpless against his superior speed and power, the entire bridge is slaughtered save for Jessica, whom the vampire is saving for a nice snack. After he reprograms the ship to head to the Vatican, he prepares to suck Jessica’s blood. Unfortunately, the clumsy Abel has horrible timing and bursts in exactly when the vampire is in the classic “fangs about to puncture helpless maiden’s neck” pose, which naturally irritates the vampire to no end. As he zips towards Abel to exact his revenge, Abel “slips” and splashes some holy water across the room, paralyzing the vampire. Abel and Jessica escape to the backup bridge, where Abel performs some programming magic to change the ship’s path. Jessica is then given the opportunity to put her piloting skills to work, apprehensive as she may be.
Meanwhile at the Vatican, we learn that the vampire has demanded that his imprisoned comrades be released lest he crash the ship into the Vatican. The current Pope is a total wuss (”Nee-san…what should I do?”), and he’s being bullied into blasting the ship with a missile by one of his warmongering aides. The rather evil-looking aide argues that the Vatican can never negotiate with terrorist vampires, and the people on the ship would gladly die in the name of the Pope and God. His even-handed sister warns that such an action would have political repercussions since the ship belongs to another nation, but her plea falls on deaf ears. However, behind the scenes, she learns from one of her holy-sister cohorts that there’s a Kresnik on board the ship (kind of like Wesley Snipes in Blade I/II/III), and thus she sends “Gunslinger” to support him.
Meanwhile on the ship, the vampire catches up to Abel and Jessica (after first sucking the blood of all the other passengers) and faces off with Abel on the top of the ship. Here, it is revealed that Abel is a Kresnik, and he proceeds to mangle the vampire with his blood scythe in order to find out who’s behind the attack. He then uses some sort of power to compel the vampire to pull its own beating heart out and crush it with his own hands. Ouch. The problem of the incoming missile remains unsolved though, so Abel rushes back and advises Jessica to cut the engines so that the missile can’t track their heat signature. Fortunately, Gunslinger’s ship arrives just in time to blast the missile, and the day is saved.
Quite an awesome first episode all around! Abel is a likable main character, heavily reminiscent of Vash the Stampede from Trigun. The character designs are simply superb, especially the Pope’s sister Katerina, who simply oozes gothic. If you’ve seen the spectacular character art for the recent Castlevania games, it’s in a similar style. I can’t wait to see how this series turns out!
Trinity Blood 1
Ahhh, so this is where Gonzo’s other funds have been directed. Yet another stylish-looking gothic series dealing with vampires, but this time around it looks to be more angst and less ass-kicking (compared to Hellsing, at any rate). We open with a short exposition on the future of Earth, where nuclear war has devastated the planet. However, the war is interrupted by the arrival of spacefaring vampires, who decided to take a rest stop here because they were really, really thirsty. Soon enough, it’s us versus them, and the vampires establish a permanent presence on Earth.
Onboard the ship Tristan, a penniless priest named Abel Nightroad chats up the flight attendant Jessica, who aspires to be a pilot someday. Jessica accidentally spills his sugar-laden order of milk tea, and promises to give him a sandwich in return when the bridge orders some coffee. On the bridge, Jessica manages to correct some of the navigator’s mistakes while she is serving him coffee, and the crew shares a few laughs, when a vampire bursts in. Helpless against his superior speed and power, the entire bridge is slaughtered save for Jessica, whom the vampire is saving for a nice snack. After he reprograms the ship to head to the Vatican, he prepares to suck Jessica’s blood. Unfortunately, the clumsy Abel has horrible timing and bursts in exactly when the vampire is in the classic “fangs about to puncture helpless maiden’s neck” pose, which naturally irritates the vampire to no end. As he zips towards Abel to exact his revenge, Abel “slips” and splashes some holy water across the room, paralyzing the vampire. Abel and Jessica escape to the backup bridge, where Abel performs some programming magic to change the ship’s path. Jessica is then given the opportunity to put her piloting skills to work, apprehensive as she may be.
Meanwhile at the Vatican, we learn that the vampire has demanded that his imprisoned comrades be released lest he crash the ship into the Vatican. The current Pope is a total wuss (”Nee-san…what should I do?”), and he’s being bullied into blasting the ship with a missile by one of his warmongering aides. The rather evil-looking aide argues that the Vatican can never negotiate with terrorist vampires, and the people on the ship would gladly die in the name of the Pope and God. His even-handed sister warns that such an action would have political repercussions since the ship belongs to another nation, but her plea falls on deaf ears. However, behind the scenes, she learns from one of her holy-sister cohorts that there’s a Kresnik on board the ship (kind of like Wesley Snipes in Blade I/II/III), and thus she sends “Gunslinger” to support him.
Meanwhile on the ship, the vampire catches up to Abel and Jessica (after first sucking the blood of all the other passengers) and faces off with Abel on the top of the ship. Here, it is revealed that Abel is a Kresnik, and he proceeds to mangle the vampire with his blood scythe in order to find out who’s behind the attack. He then uses some sort of power to compel the vampire to pull its own beating heart out and crush it with his own hands. Ouch. The problem of the incoming missile remains unsolved though, so Abel rushes back and advises Jessica to cut the engines so that the missile can’t track their heat signature. Fortunately, Gunslinger’s ship arrives just in time to blast the missile, and the day is saved.
Quite an awesome first episode all around! Abel is a likable main character, heavily reminiscent of Vash the Stampede from Trigun. The character designs are simply superb, especially the Pope’s sister Katerina, who simply oozes gothic. If you’ve seen the spectacular character art for the recent Castlevania games, it’s in a similar style. I can’t wait to see how this series turns out!
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