Sea Slugs! Anime Blog

Whenever Kabitzin and I have a conversation about phenomenally bad character designs, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is most assuredly in the runnings (though we unanimously agree that Gilgamesh takes the cake in this department). The abnormally large upper heads, reminiscent of the aliens from Mars Attacks!, aren’t going to win any art awards (save for the rather dubious ones). Likewise, the terribly conceptualized hair, resembling scrambled flat pan-noodles and worn feather dusters, makes me feel like I’m watching a bunch of wig-donning cosplayers.

However, I gave it a chance (I guess it must have been a dry period for anime), and came away pleasantly surprised, as seen in my old Daphne entries. Somewhere down the road, I began to enjoy its mix of goofy antics and fast-paced stories. Not to mention that watching gads of Gundam Seed Destiny has made me appreciate the fact that Daphne has plenty of actual animation and no stock footage, coupled with energetic seiyuus and a relaxed directing style. It doesn’t aim to be “deep” like Lain or Evangelion, nor does it attempt to become a 151-episode cash cow with merchandise and Happy-meal tie-ins (*cough* you know who you are). It’s a fun series to watch, which is something of a rarity.

Episode 8 is actually one of the more lackluster ones, so I won’t delve into it too much. Basically, some hover car companies are competing for a contract with the Ocean Agency, and Shizuka is friends with one of the drivers, Milly. However, Milly is injured in a crash, so the Nereids team sends in Maia (the only one of them with a Class A license) to substitute for her. Unbeknownst to them, there is a mole within the car team working against them. The episode is noteworthy in that Milly looks like she could be Rena’s little sister, and that Maia’s talent is starting to show. The previous episodes only had her bumbling about, so it’s easy to forget that she was top-notch in her training school. Maia’s determination and discipline in learning to race a high-speed hovercraft reminds me of Sora Naegino from Kaleido Star, albeit less confident and quite meek in demeanor. Which makes sense, because if I had a head that big, I’d be trying to hide from the world too!

A few notes might clarify the show’s rather unique setting, which isn’t explained till much later:

1. The show takes place far in the future. Apparently, at one point a global catastrophe flooded the world, and the remanants of humanity retreated to 9 giant undersea colonies. Generations later they resurfaced and became sprawling sea metropolises, which sort of explains the prevalance of water channels everywhere, and why hybrid land/seafaring craft are the vehicle of choice. I suppose this is the (rather flimsy) rationale behind the ridiculous “suits” that the Nereids members wear, since in just about every other episode they’re chasing villians through the deep sea or skimming the surface in hot pursuit.

2. The Ocean Agency is the premier organization that deals in world security and dangerous business, and has the best equipment , the most qualified personnel, the most luxuriously appointed buildings, great perks, etc. Everyone and their second cousin wants to work there. Maia gets rejected for some mysterious reason even though she passed their entrance test with flying colors. Her best friend, who has rather mediocre grades, does get in though. Fishy, ne? Perhaps there is something more to this than she thinks….

3. Nereids is like the bastard half-brother of Ocean Agency, and indirectly competes for many of the same types of jobs. The slummy Kamchatka branch is rather unorthodox in its methods, and its odd team members form the focus of the show. Later on, you’ll see that the Siberia branch of Nereids is much more posh

Next episode is more amusing, and features plenty of the kooky hijinks that embody the show’s style.