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This show looks really cool. Just watch the trailer at the link above to see the cool visuals and action for yourself. Plus, the general concept sounds cool too. It's hard to resist a show when the visuals and concept seem so promising. But unfortunately for Trinity Blood, the end results fail to live up to its potential.
Now before I start ripping in to the show I have to say that if there's one part that does not disappoint, it's the visuals. The artwork is crisp and clean, and the character, settings, and mechanical designs are all beautiful. The action scenes for the most part are fluid and just impressive overall.
The story takes place centuries after a worldwide Armageddon that destroyed human civilization. In the aftermath there exists a wavering peace between two races: the humans and vampires. The humans are protected by the Catholic Church which has developed into a strong military power. The Vatican's special unit known as AX is charged with dealing with problems involving rogue vampires. The seemingly simple-minded Abel Nightroad is one such AX agent. But beneath his good-natured exterior lies the power of a Crusnik -- a vampire that feeds on the blood of other vampires. And when Abel calls that power to the surface, he transforms into a scythe wielding vampire slayer. Together with the other AX members he struggles to maintain a peace between the two races.
Obviously, this isn't the most original concept in the world. There have been multiple other that involve vampire, a militaristic Church, weak-willed characters with hidden powers, and post-apocalyptic settings. But it's the combination of all those elements and the addition of a few original twists, the gives the story so much promise.
The problem is that although the concepts are interesting, the show never capitalizes on its strong points. Story arcs are started and dropped with little or no connection between one another. As a result it doesn't seem like the plot is going anywhere. There are also a lot of cool characters in she show that are never fully developed. For instance the unemotional android Tres Iqus is an awesome character, but other than the fact that he's an android, we never learn much about him.
The other major problem is the distinct lack of tension in either the action or the drama, which is especially surprising considering that it's such a dark and action-oriented show. For example, in one scene a vampire called Ion is locked in a cell with the human Esther while Ion is trying to resist the the throes of blood lust. Despite the supposed uncontrollable instinct, he just sits there. I understand that he's resisting the temptation, but all he does is sit there constantly saying, "I can't resist it, I can't resist it, I'm going to do it..." for like 15 minutes. Obviously he can resist it or he would have ripped her throat out a good 10 minutes ago. Another example is Abel's Crusnik powers. First of all, regardless of the fact that he's only at "40%", there's little to no build up to Abel showing his powers. Secondly, even when we do see him at 80% and 100%, he doesn't seem any more powerful because he still gets defeated. If a character kicks but at 40% I expect he'd kick all the more butt at 100%, but he doesn't. So there's no pay-off.
The disappointment culminates in the end. All kinds of stuff happens, but nothing is ever explained. Why is Cain bad? What does he mean about merging with Abel? What is this Mars colonization project? I had no idea what was going on until I went to Wikipedia and found this useful page. I'm guessing that the author got his information from the original novels. Too bad those details weren't used in the anime because then it might have been a lot more worthwhile.
So in the end, the show fails to deliver. Maybe the original novels go more in depth, but if so just go directly to the source and skip the anime. The anime had so much potential, but too little follow through.
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