Trinity Blood

I'm half way through and oh god i'm struggling to finish it off. The first ten eps was to give it a chance before i jumped to conclusions, and the last 4, well... watched a bit here and a bit there but just struggling to finish ONE ep in one go. I think i'll watch the last 10eps sometime next year when i have absolutely nothing to do!!

Started watching 12 Kingdoms and can i just say WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

I did not enjoy this series, in fact, I would go so far as to say I hated it. For full disclosure, I will admit that I did not watch the entire series, and I gave it chance but of the episodes that I did watch, none of them were any good. The main character, Abel Nightroad, is clear rip off of so many better characters, namely Vash the Stampede, and he offers nothing new to the idea of a dual natured character. A few of the characters are appallingly stupid, really.

There are a few good things in this anime. The art and animation are beautiful, but I didn't much care for the CGI. I honestly cannot remember the music, except for the opening song, which, incidently, I really do like.

I also didn't like the portayal of the religion, so if you like religious accuracy in your anime, you should avoid this one. I don't really care about religious accuracy, so I thought I could handle this show. I mean, I liked Chrono Crusade and that wasn't exactly accurate but as soon as one of the characters asked another "Are you the Pope?" I gave up all hope of ever liking this show. This show is not funny, new, original, or anything good. I would avoid it.

haha, the op was completely unexpected for this type of series. the ED is awesome, Engrish, but still awesome, haha.

ep 1 impressions: i came in without really any expectations (forgetting any reviews i've read before), but the humor sucks. it really, really sucks. abel? shut up. what a vash rip off. seriously. i hadn't realize just HOW much like vash he was and i hadn't really believed it until i saw it for myself. ugh, get a different personality. and he's an "expert" in "lost technology" apparently. hah. isn't there copyright or something being infringed here? whatever.

this episode was so cliche. the slow vampire bite therefore giving time for the damsel to be saved. the deaths of the captain and pilot so that the chick pilot-in-training can have a chance to pilot. the zealous advisors and the weak leader. seriously, why didn't he finish the job so the vampire couldn't come back later? can the vampire be any more cliche? everything that came from his mouth was...oi, whatever. and anarchists? really? can your villains be any more vague? and do they really have to say "terran" and "londinium" jesus please be more original or please try not to try so hard. honestly, "terran."

though i must say, the artwork is rather gorgeous. abel is more tolerable when he's in serious crusnik mode and NOT!vash. there's violence and gore plenty. the CGI doesn't impress me too much, being really unnecessary and all, but the designs of the ships are something of interest.

ep 2 impressions: an improvement. more NOT!vash abel, however there is more trigun ripoff (he's from space? really? wow, where have i seen that?). the android? tres (gunslinger) is someone of interest, as is the hologram? chick (iron maiden). i hope we get to see more of them. the humor is still not funny, but the little girl eris is an interesting character with a really twisted history. hope to see more of her as well. haha, abel vs tres. awesome. and awesome logic from tres hehe. really, how does a vampire "eater" not sense vampires? and how is it that vampires can't sense each other? and then how is it later that he coudl sense her? *sigh, whatever. more violence and gore a plenty. wow, i'm starting to be impressed with the way he "transforms" into crusnik, very notably NOT cliche. i LOVE tres. he's awesome. AND he GETS THE JOB DONE, unlike Abel, whose vampires keep coming back. whatever.

anyway, tBC.

Analysis : All R1 Episodes Watched

• Drama : Med
• Comedy : Med
• Action : Med
• SciFi : High
• Ecchi : Low

If you liked Trinity blood :

• You will love Trigun

Everything about this series screams Trigun. Vash er Abel who doesn't want to kill. He came from a Seed Ship err Space to save humanity. He's hunting for Nials er Rosencrantz. He has full possession of technology way beyond the current state. And he loves to eat but is always poor. This is Trigun.

The Funi dub is incredible and just shoots this thing to SUPER RENT+ level. Just not a BUY.

To close it, it has a Gonzo ending. For those of you in the know, you'll understand.

What originally drew me to this DVD is the amazingly gorgeous artwork. The animation is simply breathtaking. . . but the joy that is Trinity Blood does not end with being merely eyecandy. The story is engaging and the characters are deep and endearing. Sorry, some spoilers may follow . . .

Father Abel Nightroad, who nearly has a double personality between the affable and klutzy face he shows most people and the powerful "cruznik" that hunts and feeds on vampires, works for the Vatican. Doing his best to keep the peace between the vampires (or Methuselah as they call themselves) and humans (or Terrans), he travels from place to place upon the Vatican's whim. He preaches the idea of harmony between the peoples because they are all God's children, but most people don't agree. . . thus the current age of turmoil. But when his policies for peace fall short of his audience, he - and his sometimes partner, the android Tres - deal God's justice with bullets, fangs and blood. Add in the sweetness and sincerity of Sister Esther (who is the perfect opposite of Tres) and the disruption of a Vatican hierarchy that is more interested in vying for power than working together, and you have one of the best animes of the year! I can't recommend this series enough!!!

Trinity Blood is originally a novel series by Sunao Yoshida, with illustrations by Thores Shibamoto. The series became so popular that it eventually was made into manga, drawn by Kiyo Kyujou. All that leads to Trinity Blood being made into an anime by Gonzo.

First of all, the art is superb in Trinity Blood. The European scenery, the churches and all the details are breathtaking. It was so beautiful that I couldn't keep up with actually watching the anime itself and paying attention to what the characters are talking about. Character design are also beautiful, the artwork was redone by the ever popular Nakajima Atsuko, who has done the artwork for the Rurouni Kenshin, Getbackers and You're Under Arrest anime, to name a few.

The music and soundtrack for this series isn't that bad either. I especially favour the ending theme by Tane Tomoko, called Broken Wings. The other instrumental tracks are also very pleasant to the ears.

Story-wise, I have not read the novels or the manga so I cannot say how far it has deviated from the original story or how close it is following them. However, the gist of the plot is, after the Armageddon, there are 3 major world forces: The humans, headed by the Vatican, the Methuselah, headed by the Empire (under the reign of the empress Seth Nightlord) and the Rosen Kreuz, who calls themselves the enemy of the world (under the reign of Cain Nightlord). The entire 24 episodes focused mainly on the wars between these 3 forces, most of the story unfolds in the Empire, and there are not really a lot of explanations on why or how things actually happen. Most at the moment are still politics between the three forces. Depth is still shallow because of the very rushed plot.

As for character designs, not much is known about the main character itself, Abel Nightlord, other than the fact that he is actually a Krusnik, that is to say, a vampire that feeds on the blood of other vampires. He has sworn not to kill and to take revenge on the older Nightlord because of some unknown tragedy that has occured 900 years ago. The character of Esther Blanchett is not solid, very smudgy, because she did not exactly make the story progresses or contribute to the Vatican in any way, other than just 'being there' or 'born important'. Many of the characters have some sort of special powers and skills, but these are not really exploited to the maximum. I am especially left disappointed because I feel that Abel is not shown to be powerful enough. The only character that stood on the cliff of coolness is undeniably Tres Iqus, or III-X the Android. With a codename like Gunslinger and with shooting skills that are amazingly cool to the boot, he is the life to an otherwise boring anime.

All 24 episodes watched, the ending has a very apparent weak conclusion, which leaves the audience wondering if there is going to be a second season. But with the sudden demise of the creator of the novel, Sunao Yoshida, there are doubts about the continuation of a more elaborate anime.

Nevetheless, this is an anime with wonderful art and animation. If you can be satisfied with that, this is for you.

(first posted May 2005)

Very interesting series .. high quality and detailed animation, interesting dark and violent story line. The humor is very low key and sardonic (which I like). The first episode is out as a fan sub, and I want to see more….

(Update August 23, 2005)

Episode 15 has been release as a fansub
Episode 18 has aired on Japanese Broadcast TV
Just announced that this series has been licensed by Funimation (but no release details have been posted)

Posted some pictures in the episode details if you want to see the animation flavor this series.