Witchblade, Vol. 5 anime review
Given the progressive increase in quality and intensity of story and action across the four previous volumes of Witchblade anime, you would think Volume 5 would be nothing short of mindblowing (If you haven’t already, please check out my previous reviews of the witchblade volumes 1, 2, 3, and 4).The last disc alone saw the death of Lady, the reuniting of Masane and Rihoko, and the emergence of the first real threat to Masane’s safety in the form of a very very scary clone-blade, Maria. And given all the pent up rage and aggression within Maria, it would seem that the next logical step would be to deliver the most knock-down drag-out action the series has seen yet.
Sadly, this is not the case.
In terms of pacing and execution, Withblade vol. 5 is an amazing backward slide, letting out all steam built up in the previous eight episodes to make room for uninspired, forced romantic interludes, continued exploration of Rihoko and Masane’s domstic relations (really, this has ceased being “character development”), and more of Masane’s frustrating doltishness and going off half-cocked. Well, that last part is a bit of an oversimplification, perhaps. This set of episodes sees her working under a new boss following Douji’s firing of Takayama, itself due to a leaked video depicting messes made by his loose X-Cons. Much of the romantic “tension” revolves around Masane’s worrying about Takayama, and Rihoko and co.’s pressuring her to go visit (how junior high-school. Plus, doesn’t Tozawa make more sense?). This all culminates in an extended, tepid “date” sequence following an apartment meet-up seemingly ripped from run of the mill doramas. The episodes also make an attempt at hyping a new threat in the form of the Ultimate Blade, a witchblade that can be wielded by a man, and result of a rival Douji engineering project. While interesting on paper, the ultimate blade proves surprisingly lame, providing at its best moments another simple conflict that is over in the blink of an eye.
But there is a bit of silver lining to this dull and uninteresting cloud. Volume 5 sees the introduction of Masane’s evolved Witchblade form (the red and white lady up above). Naturally, this form is far more powerful than the initial witchblade form, but also serves to sap Masane’s mental and physical resources. Each battle results in a slightly fractured witchblade, and a slightly more distant, borderline zombified Masane. In terms of the evil Maria, the girl’s cleaned up her act. Gone are the rainbow raver-hair in favor of sleek black locks. Her cutesy clothes in turn are abandoned in favor of crisp business duds. Her tantrums traded for cold, harsh acts of decisive violence. Despite my boredom, I feel these two threads hold a lot of potential in future episodes.
I think everything else about the series has been sufficiently covered in previous reviews, so I’ll cut it off here. Volume 5 is disappointing, but I think it’s more a case of Lost-style filler than any sort of derailing of story. The series has two discs left to go. Here’s hoping the next one is better.
The DVD.
Again, all previous criticisms of other volumes apply. With regards to the DVD artwork, The outer DVD slipcover, by famous Hulk illustrator Dale Keown, is completely awesome, even though the scene depicted never occurs within the animation. The inner amray art, on the other hand, is simply perverse. It depicts Maria in cloneblade form, suggestively licking her index finger. Maria being 15 within the context of the story, this cover is nothing short of reprehensible.
In terms of extras, this disc includes another informative interview/artwork insert, The Witchblade Forged Part III , interviews with Japanese voice actors Shinji Ogawa and Kenichi Suzumura (voices of Tatsuoki Furumizu(aka: “Father”) and Horiki Segawa, respectively), textless songs, and a colletion of funimation trailers. I actually didn’t think there was much more they could talk about after the last two Witchblade Forged extras, but this third one still proves pretty interesting.
All in all, a nice disc for a disappointing installment. Still, if you’ve been following Witchblade this far, you’ll want to pick it up. If not, you’ll want to start with one of the better discs instead.
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