Vampires are always great fodder for anime, and so is the Church. Vampires elicit all manner of feelings from people ranging from attraction, to horror, to revulsion. Oddly enough, the Church, as depicted in anime, has the same effect for some people. When you combine these two emotionally charged subjects, you get something dangerous, something exciting, sexy, stylish and alluring; something like Hellsing. How much more tasty would a series like that be if there’s added chocolate sprinkles to this mocha (vampires) latte (Church) in the way a of kick-ass far-future theme? That concoction would be Trinity Blood, and would be served up in the most visually appealing manner possible. Now imagine the chocolate sprinkles aren’t chocolate and that the mocha latte came from McDonald’s…
plot summary
Trinity Blood takes place somewhere in the far future. The Catholic Church has been locked in battle with their enemies, the Methuselah, aka, vampires for centuries. Their on again/off again war is fueled by hate and distrust on both sides. The humans believe that the vampires intend to wipe them off the planet and set themselves up as supreme lords of the world. The vampires believe that the humans, under the guise of religion, intend to decimate them in order to cleanse the world of the humans’ perceived sin of the vampires’ existence.
The Vatican is the theological and, for the most part, secular ruler of the time. The Pope is a small, scared, and essentially, useless puppet of feuding twin cardinals, Cardinal Francesco di Medici and his sister, Cardinal Caterina Sforza.
Caterina is a level-headed woman striving for peace and understanding between humans and Methuselah. Her brother, however, is a warmonger who lobbies for all out war on the vampire nation. Caught in the middle is their little brother, Alessandro XVIII. Each cardinal has their own private organization that does their bidding and helps deal with Methuselah “tensionsâ€. Caterina’s band is known as AX.
Abel Nightroad is an integral member of AX. His bumbling and weak exterior hides a much darker and terrifying power that he unleashes in the heat of battle. Abel is able to fight so fiercely due to his incredible powers as a nearly omnipotent being known as a Crusnik.
Crusnik are more fearsome than vampires, for they hunt and feed on vampires, not humans. They’re the top of the food chain and the buck stops with them. However, Abel has taken a vow not to kill when he can help it, even though he could snap his fingers and cities would fall.
After centuries of fighting, the Vatican and the New Human Empire of Byzantium are trying to forge a lasting peace. But dark forces in the way of a rebel group of vampires known as the Order of Rosen Kreuz, are attempting to sabotage any and all attempts on either side.
Abel is dispatched to investigate a suspicious killing by the group and is caught up in the subtleties of a rogue vampire nobleman. In the fray, he meets the acquaintance of Sister Esther Blanchette, who he saves from a nasty fate. Esther joins AX with Abel’s help and the two strike up a friendship.
But just as she’s getting settled in at the Vatican, tensions and attacks by Rosen Kreuz intensify, and AX is sent time and time again to settle these disputes. Much more is at stake than peace, though. The Rosen Kreuz’s ultimate goal isn’t just mere dissent. Their aim is much more sinister, and Abel and his group are forced to fight in an ever growing and increasingly violent conflict.
review
Wow, doesn’t that sound like such an awesome concept? Vampires, the future, the Church, fearsome creatures that eat vampires, beautiful nuns with huge racks, space ships, intrigue, awesome character designs… this series has it all! But does it really? Hell no! There’s absolutely no substantial plot, no character development, no consistency, no pacing, no background, nothing that makes it past the visual aspect of anime.
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!
I’m going to start this lengthy dissemination with the plot: What plot? Trinity Blood was based on a series of novels, Reborn on the Mars (R.O.M.) and Rage Against The Moons (R.A.M.) by the late author, Sunao Yoshida. These two titles alone have more info than all 26 episodes of the anime. Firstly, we’re not told where this tale takes place except towards the end of the series, and even then it takes a leap of logic that’s even then mostly an assumption. I assumed they weren’t on Earth due to the twin moons. I assumed TB took place on Mars because of Mars’ twin moons, Phobos and Deimos. I really prefer not to assume anything about a plot since, assumptions are usually wrong.
The manga is supposedly excellent and forthcoming with the explanations. Why couldn’t that be applied likewise to the anime? Why should I research the manga for answers to the anime? Should I expect to hunt around for meaning to an anime on forums and Wikipedia?
The inconsistencies that abound in this anime are so rampant it made my head hurt. So Able can’t kill a vampire that’s literally murdering thousands of innocents because of a lame vow he made to Caterina but in a later episode it’s okee-dokee to shoot a vampire, who’s threatening an altar boy, in the frick’n spine with a silver bullet? WTF?!
END POSSIBLE SPOILERS…
Inconsistencies were the least of Trinity Blood’s worries. Copyright infringement should have been their main concern. This was an impossibly unoriginal anime for one that had some awesome possibilities. I can see it now in my head as to the conception for TB:
Writer One: “Hey, Trigun was a great series.â€
Writer Two: “Yeah, so was Hellsing.â€
Writer Three: “Gee, I wish we could make something that awesome.â€
Writer One: “But we can! And we can even rip off the titles and themes for our mashup’s title: Trinity (Tri- from Trigun) and Blood (from Hellsing’s blood sucking anti-hero)
Writer Two: “Genius!!â€
Writer Three: “Whoo-hoo!! Early work day!!â€
Caterina was Integra from Hellsing down to her glasses, long blonde hair and cool demeanor. Abel was Vash, with his glasses, barely there backstory that alluded to Vash’s, his evil brother and aversion to violence. He also had a bit of the Hellsing influence as well: “Releasing Crusnik power to blah, blah, blah.†Other Hellsing powers made a showing in the series as well. And while I appreciate, expect, and even accept that most series rip a bit from others, this was damn ridiculous. They even ripped a scene straight outta Independence Day for chrissakes!
The plot barely touched on any background for any of the characters, or gave any explanation why there were Crusnik or vampires to begin with, except for a mere hint that, was once again, an assumption. Were they created? By who? Why? I can come up with a few possibilities, but why should I be forced to assume origins? There was so much potential to evolve Abel and to give him a more defined back story. He seemed like he should have been a sympathetic character but instead he came across as pathetic.
Speaking of characters, a more shallow, underdeveloped cast there never was. Abel had potential, like all of the characters, but they were mostly stereotypes. Esther was a moe, whiny, weak woman. Abel was the conflicted Vash clone, Catrina was the strong, determined female leader, and on and on. Everyone was a caricature of themselves and fairly laughable.
The voice acting in English was not good but I doubt that good voice acting would have saved Trinity Blood. The score, actually, was interesting, going from carnival inspired themes in one frame to Danny Elfman-esque riffs the next. The music was all over the place, and resembled a patch-work compilation than an actual attempt at an anime score. By themselves, the themes were excellent and well performed, but when applied to the series they fell flat. This all goes back to inconsistencies.
The animation, by Gonzo, was gorgeous and lush. The shadows, shading and subtleties added a depth to the anime I haven’t seen in a long time. The designs were beautiful, organic and original. The men were all bishounen and the women were all supple and well endowed. Every character oozed sex appeal. The sly looks exchanged and pouty lips, even in battle, suggested they knew it. Hell, even the youngsters had it going on! Such unearthly beauty and magnificent animation was wasted and lost on Trinity Blood. I would say that the saving grace of Trinity Blood was the animation, but nothing, not even divine intervention could have salvaged TB.
The extravagant detail lavished on the episodes were nothing compared to the cover art on the DVDs. The DVDs are stunning and chock full of extras, like tarot cards and detailed liner notes. There’s also added artwork on the inside. These are beautiful and well presented DVDs. Such a pity…
If I hadn’t laughed throughout Trinity Blood, I would have cried at the wasted potential of this money pit of a series. David found it entertaining, and so did I, but this wasn’t the series that it touted itself to be. If Trinity Blood had chosen ONE aspect of the plot to concentrate on, and was consistent throughout, it could have been the next classic must see.
Rating
Trinity Blood: The Complete Series gets 1 outta 4 gummies.
Thanks FUNimation for letting us screen Trinity Blood!
@Rachel
I agree the anime was disappointing. I watched it during its run on Cartoon Network. It looked like it had a lot of promise at the beginning but was never
realized.
One nitpick…I believe the order is Rosenkreuz not Rosencratz. I remember the
pronunciation from the broadcast had the third syllable sounding like “kroytz”
(as in oy veh!). I think the name comes from Christian Rosenkreuz who founded
the Rosicrucian Order in the early 15th cen.
Anime is very dull and uninteresting. Eliminating the BEST from the TB novels: the political intrigue and European sci fi atmosphere.
I don’t think this has much to do with Hellsing, Novel!Caterina is the opposite to Integra Hellsing: a tactician genius (which Integra is not), soft spoken (not Integra, at all), who can’t fight (Integra, as she show in the manga, does and VERY WELL) due to a deadly dicease and weak constitution (she’s got a serious collagen disorder), who wants peace and rather avoid fights (“Search and destroy!”?) and who loses her temper and coolheaded when comes to her deep, unrequited feelings for Abel, jealousy is one of her biggest flaws (Integra doesn’t let a man sway this).
Her looks are based in the historical Caterina Sforza who had curly blonde hair.
If any female character from the novel resembles Integra’s personality that is Esther Blanchett who was a fearsome, racist, violent terrorist leader originally (not this sweet hearted girl bent in a horrible revenge. GAH). Novel Esther bombed her City and set her group to murder the politicians working for Gyula. She was like a extreme Princess Leia. Later on, she becomes a Elizabeth I-like Queen.
A couple of spoilers about setting/characters:
Story takes place on Earth. The second moon you see is a ship called the Arc only the Nanomachines can control (but Dietrich, who doesn’t die in the novels, is able to hack and use it against the Vatican and the Empire).
Seth, Abel, Cain and Lilith (Abel’s lover/soulmate) were all metahumans (perfect genetic code) created test tube babies sent on Mars a whiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiile ago to create a colony due to earth overpopulation. There they discovered the Arc and the sentient and destructive Nanomachines (to turn them into Krsniks. Their blueprint allowed them be the perfect hosts) and the Bacillus (to turn the other colonists into what would be Methuselah).
Abel is more like Kenshin than Vash, originally because he was a murderous psychopath who cared little about life. His “evil” twin is not much evil but a poor bastard controlled by the Nanomachines (there were hints in the Anime of how good Cain used to be. He was a wonderful leader who had faith in the future but he died and Seth injected 01 into him. 01 took over his body, copying Cain’s personality). Abel, as was hinted in the Anime too, used to be the Contra Mundi, hating humans and the world, he got into fights, slaughtered million s of humans or Terrans when they returned to Earth (triggering the war!). He changed when Lilith, disgusted by this, sided the Terrans and won their battles then was killed by 01 (beheading and removing her nanomachines).
The promise to not kill he made was to her, not Caterina. Because in a way, the war he started, ended up causing her death. :/
@Thess, Caterina physically resembles Integra Hellsing. The series didn’t give as much info as you have (^^) on her background.
The novels seem to be very good, as per your comments and others I’ve read online. I don’t understand why the studio crapped all over them when they made this POS anime. You gave more info in three minutes than the entire anime did in 9 hours.
It rawks stfu
the name of the order should be “Rosenkranz”
Rosenkranz = rosery/chaplet
I really don’t understand why people have to be so critical.
I prefer more unbiast and indifferent analysis articles.
I hope that all of your articles will not be so defensive/offensive against any other manga/anime series.
They have tried so hard to make it good!
(If the anime was so bad, you could maybe HINT so.)
(oh, and I actually LIKE this series, thank-you-very-much.)
@Kurotsuki, reviews, by their very nature, are biased since they reflect the opinion of the reviewer.
However, reviewers and critics are people charged with delivering their opinion in a rational and specific manner. If I had typed “trinity blood Blows” a million times and then ended my review with “hellsing rawks”, I would accept your criticism of my inability to critique anime and manga in an unbiased fashion.
If my reviews had no personality, no opinion, and no spark in them, but were indifferent-as you propose- they would be anime overviews instead of reviews. I write anime and manga reviews, and I give specific reasons why I either loathe or love a series, delivered in my own voice.
I was analytical in my review of TB; touching on all aspects of quality, production, sound, animation, acting, plot, and story- approaching each one first as a separate entity, and then as it affects the whole. I apologize if anything was left out of my lengthy analysis of this series.
What the hell are you people babbling about, especially the reviewer.No wonder nobody visit this site anymore. Trinity Blood was no one near Trigun ,however shares similarity to Hellsing,yet its not.First,TB is one of the best looking anime i have seen, it feels like touring in an animated world of Vatican, the sights looks really beautiful, not to mention ,ehem lady chatherina.Ill go straight to the point,although the series is about vampires and the vatican,the story goes deeper by MAKING IT POLITICAL. I think its a trend of today, like Basilisk ,CODE GEASS AND others.Notice THAT WHEN THERE IS A FIGHT SCENE, SUDDENLY YOU FEEL EXCITED OF WHAT’
S GONNA HAPPENED, THEN SUDDENLY..,CUT CUT CUT. THE POINT IS THEY DID NOT INTEND THIS TO BE LIKE HELLSING OR TRIGUN WHICH IS ACTION-BASED, ITS POLITICAL!!!!!
On the point where Abel refuses to kill,YOU PEOPLE DONT GET IT EITHER, HOW SAD.VERY WELL, ABEL IS USING THE POWER OF CRUSNIK TO SAVE HUMANS, YET THAT POWER IS EVIL.HE KNOWS IN CRUSNIK FORM HE HAS NO CONTROL OVER HIMSELF AND IT CHOOSES TO KILL ANY PERSON(REFFERING BOTH TO VAMPIRE AND HUMANS)NO MATTER WHAT IS THE REASON, THE END DOES NOT JUSTIFY THE MEANS, RIGHT PEOPLE?!(THAT IS ONE OF THE IMPORTANT ROLE OF ESTHER, HE MADE ABEL BE CONCIOUS WHILE HE WAS IN CRUSNIK FORM) . DONT FORGET THAT IN THIS TIME METHUSELAH HAS AN ‘EMPIRE’ALREADY, THE CHURCH IS TRYING TO AVOID ANY POLITICAL RIFTS BETWEEN THE 2 KINDS YET THERE ARE EXTREMISTS(kREUZ) MANIPULATING THE POLITICAL SCENE TO AVOID SUCH AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE EMPIRE AND THE VATICAN, IT POLITICAL POEPLEeee!!!!!
aND WHAT ALTAR BOY ARE U TALKING ABOUT, DONT REMEMBER THAT ONE,NEVERTHELESS ITS INSIGNIFANCT ONE BECAUSE THIS IS POLITICAL PEOPLE!!!
yES, THE FLOW IS REALLY SLOW BECAUSE IT TAKE ITS TIME INTRODUCING THE CHARACTERS.BUT THAT IS NOT THE CRUX OF THE MATTER,ISNT IT SAD THAT EVRYTIME WE HEAR ABOUT ANIMES ABOUT VAMPIRES AND HUMANS,VAMPIRES WILL LIKELY BE CONCEIVED AS THE BAD GUYS. THE ANIME WANTS US TO UNDERSTAND THAT NO MATTER HOW DIFFERENT PEOPLE ARE, IT CANNOT BE A REASON TO NOT TAKE STEPS TO GAIN PEACE.
‘ITS SAD THAT PEOPLE LOOK THIS ANIME LIKE HELLSING WHICH IS NOT THE WAY THIS ANIME IS GOING.CODE GEASS EVEN ADAPTED A POLITICAL KIND OF STORY BUT DOWNPLAY IT BY USING THE CONCEPT OF MECH WAR TO NOT LOOSE THEIR AUDIENCE. TB IS NO DIFFERENT FROM THE NEWER ANIMES TOUCHING ABOUT POLITICS. i HOPE PEOPLE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE THEIR MISCONCEPTION AND STUPIDITY IN NOT SEEING WHAT THE ANIME IS ABOUT.
iF U WANT ACTION OR LOVE STORY, U CANT FIND IT HERE SO WHAT U PEOPLE BABBLING ABOUT IS SELF-INFLICTED BECAUSE IT WAS NOT MEANT TO BE THAT(MEANING ACTION TYPE ANIME). YOU PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE UP PHILOSOPHY REALLY SOON, ESPECIALLY MIDDLE AGES AND ABOUT POLITICS!!!!
@Tres Iquis, First,TB is one of the best looking anime i have seen…
No one is arguing that Trinity Blood looks good.
…the story goes deeper by MAKING IT POLITICAL.
I must disagree that Trinity Blood (the anime, not the manga) was an in depth look at politics.
It was a lackluster tale that was much more action oriented than it was plot oriented. If politics was indeed the main thrust, there would have been more character development included in order for viewers to sympathize with either side.
As it stood, I wasn’t drawn into this “political” backdrop you’re describing. All I saw was crappy pacing and a superficial veneer of a plot.
yES, THE FLOW IS REALLY SLOW BECAUSE IT TAKE ITS TIME INTRODUCING THE CHARACTERS.
The flow was slow because the studio spent more time making this thing look good rather than investing in the story.
aND WHAT ALTAR BOY ARE U TALKING ABOUT, DONT REMEMBER THAT ONE,NEVERTHELESS ITS INSIGNIFANCT ONE BECAUSE THIS IS POLITICAL PEOPLE!!!
I’m dismayed that as a huge fan of the anime you don’t remember this scene from episode 11, “From the Empire”. It’s when Asta and Abel corner Enderle Koutza in the church and Ebderle uses the altar boy as a human shield.
I’m also very disturbed that you confused this anime with actual social commentary. Anime which includes war (many do) are not necessarily commenting on society as a whole nor are they imparting any wisdom from above.
Those anime which do those things are highly character and plot driven and spend much time building up the viewers sympathy or empathy. Most of the thought-provoking anime weave a complex web of connections between characters, motives, and the history/ future of the anime. Trinity Blood failed in that regard.
TB IS NO DIFFERENT FROM THE NEWER ANIMES TOUCHING ABOUT POLITICS. i HOPE PEOPLE WILL BE ABLE TO SEE THEIR MISCONCEPTION AND STUPIDITY IN NOT SEEING WHAT THE ANIME IS ABOUT.
I hope you don’t confuse anime with real world politics if you’re old enough to vote. Lord help us all if you base your political thinking on what you think the politic sphere is. Gathering from your post, you believe TB is about politics…
YOU PEOPLE SHOULD TAKE UP PHILOSOPHY REALLY SOON, ESPECIALLY MIDDLE AGES AND ABOUT POLITICS!!!!
Hmmm, I think not. But if I may, I’d like to suggest you take up learning proper netiquette, grammar, spelling and punctuation before posting a long-winded and poorly composed rant.
YOU AND I WE LOVE SERIES TRINITY BLOOD. THE SERRIE IS VERY WONDERFUL
Trintiy blood is the coolest anime show and it should have more episode like a 25 26 27 and ect. Trinity blood is the most coolest and best dame show I ever watched ever. Good job for the creative members who thought of that show well done!!!!!! :>
@Blanca Yaneth, I’m glad you enjoyed TB.
@Jessica, I don’t think they’re making anymore TB.
I completely agree with this review. I was sorely disappointed with the series. SPOILER: Even without the development of plot, characters, etc. I would have been happy if the ending was intense. Seriously… what they showed the sun for like a minute instead of showing more of the battle? Ridiculous. Totally anti-climactic. I wish iTunes would refund me…
@Disappointment, was it the story that was your biggest letdown with this series? Or was it the bad dialog? I’m so sorry you had to experience this series in its entirety, and yes, iTunes should refund you.
I bought this series on the advice of the guy who owned the anime store. I fell asleep during the first or second episode, woke up sometime in episode six, and was soon dead to the world again… such a disappointment… Maybe one day if I’m bored enough I will try to watch it again. Or maybe one day when I’m desperately plagued with insomnia…
@Amy, my condolences on buying Trinity Blood. Ouch. TB actually kept me awake, what with all the laughing at the plot, dialog and story.
I agree with this review. I must say that my disappointment level hit critical mass when I saw complete rip-offs from Alucard’s seal-release lines. While the artwork was indeed great, it only looked conceited and pompous, since no other element of the series would support its attempted majesty. In many episodes a single ray of hope was ready to appear, but in the next, all suspense was cut short and that made me stop watching at least one third of the episodes because I couldn’t take the bishonen overdose anymore. Something made me continue on to watch the whole series, but I wasn’t rewarded for doing so anyway.
I loved the first two Kenshin OVA, I loved many other “pompous” anime, but I still don’t see the point of making -everyone- sexy, -every- male bishonen and every villain look as if he’s constantly on some aphrodisiac slow-mo’ drug. The fact that the characters were either uber-cool, sleek bad guy, a brilliantly smart and powerful child demigo, a good guy who was in jail for life and is then shown to be the kindest person alive, or a hero pretending to be shy and naive. I would understand it if it -helped- him. But of course, most of the times, it was pointless, the evil guys of course knew it was all a ruse. Unfortunately, we knew it even better. No suspension of disbelief could make up for all this shallowness.
I’ve seen a respectable number of (mostly younger than me, I’m 24) people who appear to adore TB. After checking up the cases I could, I found out they hadn’t seen more mature (I wouldn’t imagine I’d call Hellsing mature, but compared to TB, it’s hugely so) anime of that style.
Moral: When you really have to copy others, remember to copy them with your own style and discretion. And some more actual battle and conflict aside from vague Nano-energies colliding with each other during the battle scenes would help too.
PS. Moral2: Quantity (and size) does not equate quality. I’m talking about both the series’ visual aspect as well as Abel’s ridiculously convoluted scythe-like weapon (a huge, single-bladed crimson scythe would have been so much more frightening than that bony-joke).
@George T., wasn’t it the absolute worst when Able was doing his Alucard imitation? No surprise there, though; the whole series was a massive rip off of epic proportions. It sure did look pretty.
“I’ve seen a respectable number of (mostly younger than me, I’m 24) people who appear to adore TB. I have no idea why they do, but I like your idea about the maturity of the series they watch. But still, the huge amount of people who are rabid about this series is still confusing….
wow. and here I was thinking of watching this (admit it, the cover art is luring you into it). in actuality, I read the manga but got bored after 4 chapters (the art didn’t click with me), and I was actually thinking that the anime might be better. If this is really that bad then I guess I won’t.
@hypertoast, far be it from me to ever dictate to anyone what they should and shouldn’t watch, so I would say if you’re intrigued, rent it, but only rent it. Yes, the art is hella alluring, but it’s superficial drivel glossing over even more superficial “story”.
I love the anime but… the novel is way better than the anime, i been reading it and it is WOW I can’t believe that was taken out. Like for heaven sakes there was this awsome battle between Issac & Tres that never appeared.
I got tons of info and i figure out the timeline. I notice the anime is near towards the end of the Trinity blood series.
Begining of story novel begins anime & manga begins v v V
I——————————————————————————————-I
begining ^ end
end of manga & anime
I found out that Tres’s combat is acutally a real type of fighting styles (but with guns) you see that kind of combat style in a moive called Equilibrium.
If you guys every seen the moive Equilibruim, there is a same exact scene like in episode 2 of Trinity blood like Tres. (except Tres fell from the ceiling instead of smashing through a door, which was cooler)
I think Preston & Tres are so common, always follows orders, no emotion, same combat style & same kick butt action.
Besides the Trinity blood (mostly the novel) has so much reference from the bible here, even the novel has quotes from the biblical stories
Even thier names are from the bible. Seth, Lilith, Esther, Issac, Leon, etc etc.
And especial the one story in the bible of the twins, Caine & Abel.
Possible Spoilers!!! The story gose that Caine killed his twin brother Abel. See what i mean?
Spoiler ends
@Sparky, That’s a really interesting comparison you drew up. I really dug Equilibrium but never connected it with Trinity Blood.
And the biblical thing was pretty much up front in the anime, if one is familiar with Christianity. It would have been interesting if there were more subtle connections on that end, don’t you think?
ahh man my timeline thing didn’t work out drats,
Yeah also the Jewish bible also, Esther came from the Jewish bible i believe.
@Rachel:
Yeah I reconized his Attack patterns immeditaly as soon as i saw the movement of Preston.
also i heard one other thing from the Trinity Blood Novel that will happen in the future.I can’t believe that out of all things happen. I started to cry after that,
I figure out the entire backround for trinity blood so far, up to when they first meet esther, (history of Red Mars project, Crusnik siblings, Methusula, Armegedon, etc etc)
I agree, but disagree…
While I will agree with you that the anime is a let down, I still found it
to be quite enjoyable. There is without a doubt a feeling I get after
watching the whole series, that they could have done a whole lot better of a
job. And that in fact they did spend way too much time making it look good,
rather than being good.
But would I go about saying buying the complete series was a waste of my
money? No. It is still a very enjoyable anime to watch.
The characters may not ever go in too much depth, but they are quite various
and unique.
The pace, while thrown together, wasn’t too much of a hassle.
The background information was vague, but with some intuitive investigating
you can peace it together yourself. I found that to be quite fun. Yes I did
have to look up some information, but for the most part I was able to figure
out what they left out.
You get a feeling that yeah there is a whole lot of information you miss out
on, but in reality all the authors really wanted to do was show you a
snippet, a small portion, of the story. After all, some of the characters in
the show do live to some outrageous life spans.
Over all I feel like you might have judged this anime too harshly. Mostly
due to the fact that it indeed had GREAT potential, and failed miserably to
reach that potential.
Just my two cents,
Ryan.
I’ll start this off with saying I personally enjoyed the series greatly. Just finished watching it through the first time(seen random episodes on adult swim, compelled me to watch more). I’ve seen hellsing and vampire D and I enjoyed this series more.
I’m a little confused as to how you couldn’t figure out where it was taking place, maybe I just have a prior understanding of slightly more…I’ll use the word obscure, things, because I was able to tell where it takes place within the first 4 episodes.
I can see where you get the whole evil “brother” thing from Trigun, but I don’t really see it going that far, a more prominent theme in my mind would be the biblical one, Cain and Abel. I’d have to agree with the previous statement about him paralleling kenshin more than vash.
I’m not a musician by any means, but I thought the music went pretty well for majority of the show. A lot of it had gothic underlying themes. Need to watch it through a second time and pay more attention to how it is incorporated, now that I know what happens, though, then I’ll get back.
IMO, the story wasn’t *great* but, I enjoyed it a lot more than most, apparently. The concept of the Church(:humans) and vampires was fairly appealing, along with the general theme of the series. My biggest issue with the story was how the beginning/middle had its own kind of slow pace, then suddenly the last 4 episodes shifted into a completely different gear and tore through it. I was on episode 20 and thought to myself “there is no way in hell there are only 4 episodes left, I must be missing something” then once I got to 22-23 I realized they just kind of ripped right through it. I wish they had gone into some more detail about the Crusniks, and the project, initially I was under the impression that the Crusniks had just been there, then I found out about the project. There could have been so much more developed about Cain and Seth alone, let alone how its all related, I really enjoyed the concept of a being that would naturally be the vampire’s predator. I completely missed the Lilith part, I’m guessing that’s in the manga or it just went straight over my head when I was watching the show.
I liked how when the show started out, all the Methuselah had the attire of what I’d consider “upper class”, like nobles, was somewhat disappointed when they had gone to the empire to see that there were so many in not, but that helped the story of how Terrans and Methuselah were not so different.
The theme of “I did atrocious acts in my past and I must repent by never killing” is starting to become overplayed. Its a really noble ideology, but in practice, it just starts to wear on you. Watching an abnormally talented(powerful, skilled, etc) character just get beaten on time after time after time becomes frustrating sooner and sooner.
In summation: chalk me up with the ‘immature’ crowd who enjoyed this series, I rented it, but plan on buying the box-set along with the manga, and I have the ost. I am somewhat curious as to what a few of you would suggest as series for me to check out that are similar to TB but are more “mature”(:better?)
Edit to my previous comment-disregard the Lilith comment, rewatched the last episode and yeah I just completely missed it the first time.
@Zuchu
Yeah, i wish they had more info on the Crusnik, i found about that later when i was reading some info on the manga, its was really suprising how the vampire and everything
and for anime i suggest:
Hellsing, Blood+, & Chrno Crusades
I’ve seen a few episodes of blood+(adult swim, sadly) a couple at the beginning a couple later on, it just kind of seemed like this show about this girl who has these really weird powers with the contact of blood, and mostly her doing her thing, not really any story beyond that, it seemed to parallel bleach/yu yu hakusho moreso than trinity blood, nothing that was too attention grabbing; given I have only seen a few episodes, does it change drastically once you see more episodes?
I’ll check out chrono though, thanks
@Zuchu
Chrno Crusades (Chrono Crusades in english) is the closet to Trinity Blood. Chrno Crusades is a church vrs demon/devils animes. Both dub & Sub are both good. (24 eps long)
also Black Blood Brothers is also somewhat simmilar, its also humans vrs vampires, its like a modern day version of Trnity Blood without, the church and religion. both dub & sub are also good on this. (ep 12 long)
D.Gray Man also a church verse demon. (on-going)
its ORDEN OF ROSENKREUTZ! ORDEN!!! damnit
Haha, while apparently angry about it, Kira is right. A lot of people seem to miss that for some reason, its not Rosencrantz’ order, its the Order of the Red Cross(Rosenkreutz Orden)
I caught the first eight episodes on youtube and I noticed that they seemed to be concentrating on the presentation more than the storytelling, but I figured there was more enjoyment to be had from this series and kept looking into it. Now I have the first two books and the first four manga.
I and several other Toribura fans have referred to the series as the illigitimate child of Hellsing and Trigun, but the Abel/Kenshin comparison made earlier actually makes more sense
Maybe if the book/manga fans complain enough we’ll get an OVA a la Hellsing Ultimate or Naruto Shippuden. Expanding on some whisful thinking, they could even split it up into R.A.M and R.O.M seasons. The manga only concentrates on R.O.M, the book series isn’t finished with R.O.M., and the anime tried and failed to mix the two together (in the novels Noelle dies LONG before Abel meets Esther, but they meet in the anime)
ja, two cents and all that…
I love this anime.
@Kira, there’s no need to get flamey over a typo.
@Zuchu, thanks!
@Onaji, it seems a lot of good manga/ light novels are being butchered for the sake of a buck. I’m figuring they think style will always trump substance. Oh how some studios underestimate their audiences!
I found this blog looking for more information, as there is a terrible lack of information in the anime, but to hell with it, I have to agree completely with the review and it’s not worth of the time. Hellsing+Trigun. It’s a pity such beutiful animation was wasted like this.
@Danath, The animation was indeed too good for this POS.
I disagree with the review that the anime was a POS. Yes, the anime was lacking in some points but it was an interesting watch and the beautiful imagery did keep my attention. Yes, I thought Abel was so similar to Vash with the goofiness, pledge not to kill, not human, but a kick butt power but he was special in his own way. Lets not forget that the the writer of the novels, Sunao Yoshida died so this is technically an incomplete series. Its definitely not in the top 50 of anime but I think it could get some non-anime lovers interested in anime. Of course, I always recommend Trigun because thats my favorite.
I have to agree with the above blog. Though Trinity blood had the beginnings of being one of my favorites I ended up being vastly disappointed and confused at the end. At the very end they added even more of a “plot” twist with Abel being an angry little boy hating humans um…. where is the follow up on that. I was ready to enjoy the characters and their story but alas it was another failed attempt at a potentially interesting story line and character ideas.
@Sunny, The anime writers could have changed the anime into anything they saw fit. They’re the ones who could have made the anime better- made the pacing, plot and dialog better- happens all the time in adaptations- but they didn’t. My bet is the original writer had nothing to do with TB blowing. Perhaps he’d be POed at what they did to his novel- unless the novels are as craptacular as the anime, then never mind.
@Laura, I know! And yet, I see a ton of fans cosplaying as a homage to this thing. Go figure, bad anime gets rabid fan base.
Those people could simply be fans of Trinity blood as a whole not just the anime.
The Manga is nice, the art was hard to swallow at times, but mostly on Esther and Ion (There huge eyes) But the manga is a Shoujo aka aimed at girls 12-18 years old… Those eyes are a typical sign of that, I’m glad that later in the series the art get better so I don’t have this issue anymore.
I remember reading the mangaka had a hard time when it came to dealing with Abels character, there’s so many sides of him afterb all.
Now regarding the Novels, to make it simple It’s my favorite sci fi
How they go into details about why silver and sunlight are weaknesses to the methuselas, how original the weapons are such as the Silent Noise, how humanity pretty much wiped themselves of the planet, how machines can destroy there creators etc etc etc
There so many thing in this series that the anime hardly dealt with
And regarding the anime good visuals and sound, was entertaining while it lasted but felt empty with how fast they went over the explanations.
Also the anime team made changes to i suppose aim for a wider audience, though personally i find it to bad.
Changes such as Trez wasnt taller than an average teenager, how the witch went from being around teenage age to i guess 6-7 years old
or what about Seth how she went from originally having an apperance matching a 14 year old to suddenly look like a 6 year old… I know not many were allowed to see her, but how anyone couldn’t realize there was a substitude on the throne in the anime is strange.
I mean a grown up woman as a standin for a 14 year old I could see happening, but for a 6 year old Nope.
There’s so much more to Trinity Blood than what this anime delivered, and I have my doubts to the athor ever looking at the anime with his death being before the anime aired
Personally If going by a 1-4 star scale I’d say this anime would be a 2/4 but we can all have our opinions, was good to see you made a long review.
Adorei esse anime. KISSES FOR YOU! YUKI, KUROTSUKI, KIRA E SPAKY.
Hi Rachel-chan! how are you?
I liked the series overall, even though anime writers spent way too much time on the developing relationship between Esther and the Earl of Memphis, which was boring to say the least. It’s really kind of hard to cram all of the Light Novels into 24 episodes, because there were a lot of answers questions surrounding Abel, Leon, and Hughe.
aight. yes. this is a slow anime.. but honestly.. i dont understand the assumptions you create in this “review” what your doing is completely retarded.. dont be doin this. and i see why no one visits this site. im just wondering if their going to FINISH this anime. because the ending.. is leaving it at a big cliff hanger in my mind.
anyways.. i give this anime 5/5 stars =]]
and this review.. a small. 1/5 stars.