Sentai also announced licenses for Polyphonica, Special A, Tears to Tiara, and the second season to You’re Under Arrest.

Blue Drop is a 13 episode yuri/sci-fi series which aired between October and December 2007 (see my episode reviews).  Polyphonica is a 12 episode adventure/comedy series that aired between April and June 2007.  Special A is a 24 episode romance/comedy series that aired between April and August 2008 (see my episode reviews).  Tears of Tiara is a 26 episode fantasy/adventure series which started airing this past April and is still in progress.  Finally, You’re Under Arrest Season 2 continues the action/comedy series for an additional 26 episodes, which aired between April and August 2001.

You’re Under Arrest Season 2 Collection 1 has a street date of November 3rd, and includes the first 13 episodes.

Special A Collection 1 has a street date of November 10th, and includes the first 12 episodes.

The Blue Drop and Polyphonica box sets have a street date of November 17th, and contain the entire series.

Tears to Tiara Collection 1 has a street date of November 24th, and includes the first 13 episodes, a mere 5 to 7 months after they aired in Japan.

As is the case with all the new licenses from Sentai, these are all sub-only releases.

Name: Blue Drop: Tenshi-tachi no Gikyoku
Genre: Sci-fi, Romance
Episodes: 13
Released: October 2, 2007 – December 25, 2007
Based On: Blue Drop manga by Akihito Yoshitomi
Director: Masahiko Ohkura
Produced By: Asahi Production, BeSTACK
US Distribution By: N/A

Major Japanese Cast

Mari Wakatake: Akiko Yajima
Hagino Senkoji: Miyuki Sawashiro
Michiko Kozuki: Satsuki Yukino
Tsubael: Yuko Goto
Azanael: Ai Orikasa
Yuko Sugawara: Miho Yamada
Akane Kawashima: Akeno Watanabe
Hiroko Funatsumaru: Kimiko Saito
Shivariel: Youko Asagami

Major English Cast

N/A

Scores

Animation: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Story: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Music: 9/10 (x 4 = 36 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 10/10 (x 2 = 20 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 9/10 (x 5 = 45 pts)

Total: 165/190 (86.8%)

Review

Blue Drop is about girl, Mari, who lost both of her parents in a mysterious island disaster when she was younger – an incident where Mari was the only survivor. She now lives with her grandmother, who decides that she should attend an actual school when Mari enters high school of being home schooled like she had been up to that point. However, Mari sees this as her grandmother dumping her off because she’s tired of taking care of her (which isn’t the case).

On her way to the school, Mari sees a mysterious girl standing out in the harbor. Mari soon finds out that the girl is her roommate in the dorm. However, when the girl, whose name is Hagino, touches Mari, she goes temporarily crazy, trying to strangle Mari. This obviously doesn’t start their relationship off on a good foot, and it doesn’t get any better when Mari finds out that Hagino is actually an alien who is on the Earth to do observation.

As Hagino tries to improve her relationship with Mari, Mari eventually learns about the truth of the disaster which killed her parents, how Hagino is involved, and why Hagino is on Earth observing in the first place.

I found Blue Drop a rather slow-paced but still excellently written anime series about the relationship between Hagino and Mari. While this is technically a yuri series, it’s more about the buildup of the two’s relationship than about the relationship itself, which really only lasts very briefly at the end of the series due to certain events.

Even though Mari is the lead character in the series, Blue Drop is about Hagino and her past and regrets as much as it is about Mari. Hagino also has to deal with the commander of the fleet in which Hagino’s ship, the Blue, is included, as well as the commander’s sidekick, who has a grudge against Hagino as well.

In the end, all of these dramatic elements wrap together to make a pretty good put together show.

On the technical aspects, the animation is probably the show’s weakest point, though it isn’t too bad, and is marked more by a “softer” sort of coloring in contrast to the sharper animation one might see in other series. However, the music is excellent I thought.

I you’re open to a good sci-fi drama series, and don’t mind the yuri aspect, I’d suggest checking out Blue Drop.

First Watched: October – December 2007
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: Yes

Go Straight to the Screenshots | Go Straight to the Review

The highlights of this episode:

• Michiko makes some late-night final revisions to the play’s script when Hagino and Mari return from their pool fun time. Michiko sees that the two are holding hands and remarks that she’s happy that they’ve reconciled.
• Sugawara-sensei tries to contact her superiors, but the phones cut out. Meanwhile, all the TVs in the world go blank, showing a “this station is being readjusted” message. All earth radio communications and radars also black out. Meanwhile, the Master Commander increases her fleet’s attack on earth, and it’s sufficient to say that the earth is faring poorly against the alien attack. However, the Blue, being controlled by Tsubael, conducts quick “hit and run” teleportation attacks to quickly take out the 3 smaller ships of the invading fleet. However, the Blue is quickly running out of energy. The Master Commander decides to draw out the Blue by attacking Mari’s school.
• Back at the school, the school festival starts and Michiko’s play gets underway. However, mid-way through the play, the attack approaches the school and Sugawara runs into the theater telling everyone to evacuate. In the harbor, the Blue appears to defend the position. Also, with the other ships in the fleet destroyed, earth television stations regain control of their air and start broadcasting news of the alien invasion fleet.
• Over most of the world’s major cities, giant flying saucers appear, and alien girls start floating down. All the girls then start exploding, devastating the cities. At school, most everyone has fled, leaving Michiko’s play incomplete. Hagino reveals herself to everyone as an alien and leaves to join the fight. The others who didn’t know already all seem shocked and betrayed, but Mari gets mad at them, saying that Hagino will defend the earth for sure.
• Mari runs out after Hagino, but Hagino tearfully leaves in the Blue to attack the Novaal. The Blue is then subjected to kamikaze attacks by alien fighters sent out by the Novaal, but Azanael, who escaped the Novaal in her fighter is able to take control of the fighters and send them back against the Novaal. This prompts the Master Commander to order that the Novaal be put into “Genocide mode,” wiping out all the fighters but Azanael’s in one fell swoop. Meanwhile, Hagino suddenly ejects Tsubael out of the Blue in an escape pod and teleports away.
• The Novaal is about to fire on Azanael’s ship when the Blue suddenly teleports right in front of the Novaal and rams, it destroying both ships, along with the Master Commander and Hagino.
• Hagino’s sacrifice gave humans the hope to be able to win their war against remnants of the invading alien fleet, and after 30 years of fighting, they finally did. After winning, a diplomatic team, headed by the now middle-aged Mari Michiko and including both Tsubael and Azanael, head towards the main alien ship orbiting the earth.

If School Days was the Greek Tragedy of the summer anime season, then Blue Drop is definitely the Greek Tragedy of the fall season. While I thought the possibility was open for a bad ending, I didn’t really think it was the odds-on likely ending. Unfortunately we get the bad ending, and Mari and Hagino’s relationship ended up as a doomed one, which ended before it could really begin.

Of course, Hagino’s sacrifice gave humanity a hope which allowed it to overcome the remaining alien forces after a 30 year struggle, leading to the peace delegation being sent from earth that we first saw at the start of the first episode. And guess who is the main diplomat – Mari Michiko, who believes that there is hope to negotiate with the aliens.

Those looking for heavy Yuri action in this series may be disappointed, but I see much things as merely an added bonus to a series and not something that necessarily makes a series, and I’m not unhappy with the level of Yuriness in this series. Of course, I dig shows with aliens and big fights, so this last episode especially I was rocking during (well, until Hagino blew up).

I think this was an overall pretty good series. It’s better than most I think, though could have been better in some respects. Overall I’d still consider it pretty solid.

By my count, this totals to 23 anime series for me, and I’ve narrowed it down to a list of 10 (actually, narrowing it down to about 8 was the easy part. Tacking on 2 more shows was the hard part). So, without further ado, here is the Top Anime of 2007 (warning – spoilers may lie ahead):

#10 Genshiken 2

This is a series that I watched most of (I think I got through episode 10 before it got licensed) and was a pretty solid 2nd-tier show I thought. It’s pretty funny from start to finish (heck, even the opening is) and I think would be enjoyable for most people who saw the first series.

#9 Mokke

Another pretty solid 2nd-tier show, Mokke is a pretty, shall we say relaxing, watch. It’s not quite as jello-inducing as sketchbook, but it has much more of a laid back feeling than most shows do. Toss on top of this a nice story about a pair of sisters who have to deal with supernatural spirits and solid storytelling and you’ve got yourself a good show.

#8 Myself; Yourself

The first of two “out of nowhere” series, Myself; Yourself is a series I almost didn’t watch, but ended up doing so since the fine people over at m33w were subbing it. This ended up being a surprisingly good show filled with twists that keept you on your toes. There may be some loose ends in this series, but it is overall pretty good.

#7 Idolmaster Xenoglossia

Idolmaster tops off a rather lackluster Spring season for me, and is the only show from that season that cracked the top 10 (granted, I only watched 4). I’m not one for mecha anime, so to see one which actually held my interest through 26 episodes is a pretty good feat. I think one reason is because this show seemed rather unique, at least to me. Yes, it’s similar to Evangelion in the sense that the machines have some sort of soul, but it’s more softer in Idolmaster than harsh like in Evangelion. Also, I think that the characters, and not the mecha, also helped drive this series forward and up.

#6 Minami-ke

The second “out of nowhere” series, the first top-tier series, and another series which I very nearly didn’t watch, Minami-ke ended up being a good random-hilarity series. There aren’t many series that can utterly lack a plot line and be successful. Azumanga Daioh tried and succeeded. Lucky Star tried and, for the most part, failed. Now, don’t get me wrong, Minami-ke is quite a different animal from Azumanga, but it’s still a good laugh from pretty much start to finish.

#5 Blue Drop

The top 5 in the list get into the heart of the top-tier shows of the year, and Blue Drop was certainly a treat to watch. One of two Greek Tragedies on the top 10 list, Blue Drop was great to watch, seeing how the main characters, Mari and Hagino, expand their relationship (both romantic and otherwise) under the backdrop of an eminent alien invasion. Probably the big thing that separates this from the top 4 is that I think the animation is kind of lacking from Blue Drop, but the storytelling makes up for it.

#4 CLANNAD

The only show on the list which may grace the 2008 list, CLANNAD has thus far been great to watch, as we’ve gotten through the story arc of 1 girl and are well into the story arc of a 2nd girl as we continue to unwind the mystery in this series. Add on top of the great storytelling by Key the fantastic animation of KyoAni, and you have one of the best shows of the year.

#3 ef – a tale of memories

Ef was clearly the prize of the just-concluded Fall season shows as it presented a story which is somewhat unusual for anime based on visual novels: multiple stories involving multiple males. In fact, three separate couples come out of this show, which each girl having her own unique and compelling story. A mysterious and well told (and well animated!) story gives ef the third spot on the list.

#2 Kanon

Like it’s fellow Key-KyoAni show, Kanon is a cross-year show. This one started in 2006 and finished up in 2007. Kanon quite possibly embodies the perfect visual novel-turned-anime show, with nearly perfect animation and a compelling story from start to finish. This would easily be the #1 show of the year, but only if one other show hadn’t aired, and that’s…

#1 School Days

Could any other show finish in the #1 spot but School Days? This show made waves in so many ways. First off, you had the male lead in the running for lamest male lead in an anime ever. Second, it’s rare that you actually get a harem show where the guy actually scores, much less which no fewer than 8 girls. Third, they creators of the show actually went through with the bloody ending, and we didn’t just get one, but two bloody endings, and memorable ones at that (“there’s no one inside” anyone?). Finally, this show will forever be remembered with the Nice Boat incident.

Yes, School Days must be the clear top show of 2007.

Also, did anyone else notice that all the top 4 shows are all visual novel-turned anime series?