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R1 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Tuesday, 28 February 2006 00:00 |
 Daphne in the Brilliant Blue continues with its rather frustrating pattern of essentially standalone episodes and only a slow drip of real information about Maia's past, but at least the comedy's good. Babies, conmen and stolen submarines all keep Maia occupied until her returning memories finally become too prominent for her to ignore...
17 - Five Women with Guns and a Baby
Wanna know how to get the usually unflappable Yu into a frenzy? Leave her to take care of a child, as the Nereids gang find out when a young boy is abandoned on her doorstep. Her first thought is to hand it in to the police, but Gloria's convinced the kid'll just end up in an orphange and won't allow that to happen - so while Shizuka and Maia go in search of his parents, Yu's left looking after the little bundle of joy. Will they be able to track down the baby's parents, or is Yu destined to take extended maternity leave..?
18 - Shizuka's Choice
Gloria's heard about an upcoming Big Eater's competition - it's just the sort of thing Shizuka would excel at, except she hasn't been in work for the past few days. Maia's sent to find out where she's been, but when she gets to Shizuka's apartment, she finds her there with a man she's never seen before. He's Trevor, a member of the Ocean Agency's Special Intelligence Division - a spy, if you prefer. Or at least, that's what he claims. He'd been assigned to infiltrate a criminal organisation, but his cover's been blown and now he's on the run. Shizuka found him in an alleyway, injured and with the bad guys closing in, and just had to help him out - but will her kindness to a stranger only get her into more trouble than she can handle..?
19 - The Hunt for Green Yomogi-1
May and her brothers are back, and they want their submarine. Maia spots them trying to steal Yomogiu-1 and tries to stop them, but only ends up being taken hostage when they make their escape. Shizuka's less than impressed at her new toy being "stolen" from her and along with the rest of the Nereids gang heads off in pursuit, but back aboard the sub May has problems of her own to deal with - Shizuka hasn't exactly been looking after her prize too well, and it's liable to sink without some speedy repair work. Her map to the legendary Elpida, where her and her brothers hope to make their fortune, isn't exactly detailed, either. All of which means that another battle with Nereids is the last thing they need...
20 - Once Upon a Time in Siberia
Maia's been talking in her sleep about her "big brother" - which would normally be fine, except Gloria had been staying at her place at the time and spilled the beans. Add that to her mysterious rescue from her mini-sub last episode, and people (well, Yu) are beginning to think there's something suspicious going on. Maia's as confused as anyone else, and heads to the Ocean Agency to talk to the medical staff there who looked after her after her parents were killed. They give her access to her old medical & family records, but there's nothing in there about a brother - and yet still she remembers him, along with talk of Daphne & Siberia. Only one solution: another trip to Siberia, to try and dig up the past. Meanwhile, her returning memories are beginning to concern some other people...
Where to start. Episode 20 is where all the important stuff is, as Maia's past comes to the fore again, along with another key intervention by the mysterious white-haired man. Conspiracy theorists would have a good case for arguing that he's Maia's long-lost brother, and the way he's been playing the role of guardian angel lately would tend to back that idea up, but there's nothing here that would confirm it one way or the other. Maia's latest trip to Siberia only serves to back up her own thoughts that something's not right, but once again we're left without any real answers.
Episode 18 is the other "serious" episode on the disc, although it has its lighter moments as well - one particularly nice touch if you're paying attention is the serial number on "Kevin"'s Ocean Agency ID card. Pay attention, and you'll see what I mean. :) The story itself is a fairly straighforward con-artist tale, but you have to feel sorry for poor Shizuka being fooled so easily. She's just too nice for her own good.
The remaining two episodes help meet the comedy quota for this volume, first with Daphne's take on the Two Men and a Baby theme (let's just say Gloria has more of an interest in the little nipper than you may first think), and then with the return of May and her brothers, who get funnier and more slapstick every time you see them. Both these episodes provide plenty of laughs, and additional opportunities for Mr Mysterious to fulfil his guardian angel role.
I'm still frustrated by the glacial speed that Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is leaking out Maia's story - all the filler episodes are fun enough in their own right, but this is one series that really could have easily been done in 13 episodes. There's enough here going on to keep you amused and entertained, but the pacing is always going to be a problem.
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