▪	RELEASED BY:		FUNIMATION ENTERTAINMENT
		▪	ASPECT RATIO:		16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN
		▪	AUDIO:		ENGLISH DD 5.1 AND JAPANESE DD 2.0
		▪	RUNNING TIME:		288 MIN
		▪	RATING:		TV MA
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		10/20/2009
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		11/18/2009
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		DAVEY C. JONES

The first 12 episodes on 2 discs in one slim box set!

REVIEW:
It’s loud, it’s harsh, it’s no prisoners in Blassreiter! It’s mecha anime like you’ve never seen before. In an alternate universe Germany we’ve got all the modern conveniences and one huge consequence – Demoniacs. People infected with the bad blood turn into part-demon part mechanical monsters that will ravage and murder everyone in their path! Only two things stand in their way, the XAT (Xenogenesis Assault Team) and the man they want dead or alive – Joseph Jobson, a man who can use his tainted blood to be perhaps the only dude who can take these creatures down once and for all! That is, unless the XAT take him down first!

Holy carnage! Blassreiter is an anime that does not let up with the grim and the violence and the mature content and I love it! Bang out of the gate the tragedy commences and does not let up. The first half of the box set shows us Gerd. He’s a champion motorcycle racer but a Demoniac attack on the race track sees him in a wheelchair for life and the XAT hunting down the blue rider that took the Demoniac out – Joseph. However a pill slipped to Gerd changes him. At first it looks like it’s for the better. He can transform and destroy the Demoniacs. He’s a freakin’ hero. Then he catches his girl cheating on him and the carnage begins! He has to make Joseph promise to kill him if he ever gets out of control again. Viewers won’t have to wait too long to find out if Joseph has to keep that promise, but man, the extent of the aftermath of it all goes on and on and on longer than the Energizer bunny!

The second half focuses more on Malek. He’s the brother of Amanda, XAT member and then some. He idolized Gerd and can’t believe the guy let himself be taken out the way he did. Plus Malek is getting bullied something fierce. When his buddy kicks the can because of it, Malek goes off the deep end. Another little somthin’ slipped into the water and he’s changing into a Demoniac and slaughtering those punks that did him and his pal wrong. Now his sister has to take him down or take him out – permanently! Joseph lends Malek a helping hand but when the dust clears and the blood dries, he might not be the helping hand Malek needed after all.

The arcs are harsh. But nothing gets grimmer than the finale of this first half. Episode twelve is correctly called Judgment Day and the axe falls and falls hard. XAT HQ gets attacked from outside and big time from within. Seems someone they all trusted wasn’t on the up and up and now it’s slaughterhouse Blassreiter style. The violent show proves just how violent it can get with this episode that puts all the others to shame. The entire XAT team seems to be turning into Demoniacs and only a couple might be able to scrape out alive…maybe. People are turned, others shot, and some eviscerated, mangled, crushed, burned alive, and blown up! It’s crash and burn time and annihilation hour is at hand!

It would be great to say that Joseph (the main guy) and his battle with Beatrice and then Xargin (the big bad) were fantastic, but what stole the show was the gut wrenching scene between XAT members Al and the woman he’s always cared for and whose held a torch for him, Lene, when they are attacked by the betrayer, and then Al and Brad’s last stand against the Demoniac monster that has pretty much wasted the entire XAT team. By the end, the XAT are pretty much obliterated brutally, Joseph is out looking for answers, and the potentially only surviving member of XAT has vowed to hunt him down and destroy him.

The story is an original collaboration between Gonzo (Last Exile, Trinity Blood) and Nitro+ that does visual novels like Demonbane and Phantom INTEGRATION. Nitro+’s influence might be the reason for the more novelized approach to the storytelling. The anime progresses like a novel, full of story, drama, and large cast of characters and all the while playing the story’s secrets super close to the vest. Considering the severe carnage of the anime, it is not for the meek and mild!

The animation by Gonzo holds a lot (and I mean a LOT) of serious 3DCG content. Right in the opening episode you have it up front and centre with the bike race. The severe mecha action is dizzying at times. The Chief Designer and Chief Animation Director was Naoyuki Onda who worked on Mobile Suit Gundam Z the Movie which could explain a lot about the cool combinations involving bike and Demoniac transformations and the aerial battles with them. There is a lot of staff who have handled 3D animation on this particular train and it shows in the 3DCG shining centre stage throughout the series. It’s a zany side note maybe but I dig the uniforms of the XAT members. It’s like a cross between motorcycle riders and futuristic military. The coats on Joseph and Xargin are super wicked looking.

EXTRAS:
Extra goodies include trailers, clean opening and ending animation, original Japanese promotional videos, and riotously funny and often twisted sense of humor in the English audio commentary by Tyler Walker (Line Producer/ADR Director), Jamie Marchi (Amanda), Eric Vale (Al), and Chuck Huber (Brad).

IN SUMMARY:
Liked Tehxnolyze? Then don’t miss out on the serious drama and severe grim carnage of Blassreiter. It is one kick ass mecha series that takes no prisoners!