BlazBlue: Alter Memory

This anime is based on the video games BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift. Although I haven't played any of this games I'll still write this review about the anime. So if you have played the games you may have a different perspective about it. Story 3/10: Well to begin with the review i should tell you about the story. The first episode started with a fight. In this episode i couldn't found an explanation about whats was going on or why. And even after the first episode the only information i could found was about the main character and it was very short. Onlyafter 6 or 7 episodes there was an explanation about the world in which the story was taking place. But even after the last episode the story leaved many plot holes. I don't know if playing the game could have give you some context about the characters or the world, but if you haven't play them you will end up with a lot of questions after the anime ends. Art 5/10: I didn't like the art so much. The character's designs where very plain. They didn't leave any kinda of impression in me. Not even the main character. Also the backgrounds looked really dull. Even the fights were not as intense as they could be. Sound 6/10: (btw i watched it in JP wiht EN subs) Well the sound wasn't bad but wasn't good either. I liked the opening, it was very cool. But the ending was very dull, and the art didn't help at all. About the characters voices, they were good enough, although i found some of them annoying, like Hazama's voice. And the background music didn't match the environment. Not even the fights sound were loud or intense enough so it make them kinda dull. Character 3/10: The main problem i could find in every character is the lack of context and background information. From the main characters to the last of the supporting characters, they just keep appearing with out any kind of explanation about their role in the story. Also i couldn't see any grow in any of the character, nor in their personalities or in their powers. Only in the last 2 episodes you can see some changes. And i found one of the character very annoying, although i guess it was intended to be like that since he is the bad guy. Enjoyment 3/10: I didn't enjoy watching this anime. I got pissed with every episode because i couldn't understand what was going on in the story. Not even the fights were good enough to watch a full episode. But since i wanted an explanation about the full story i kept watching it. The overall score for the anime should be a 4/10. I wouldn't stop you from watching it if you have played any of the games, because you may have a different experience with the anime, but I would't recommend it to anyone.

Blazblue Alter Memory has amassed quite the negative reputation within the Blazblue community, which is to be expected for a game anime adaptation. There's a reason that Rewrite fans are bitter to this day and Tsukihime fans never got to see their beloved VN get adapted. Not every game can get an adaptation as…accepted (tolerated?) as Persona 4 or the Grisaia VNs. Plus, a lot of these adaptations are basically just tie-in promos for a new game first, and adaptation second. Given that the 3rd BB game, Chronophantasma was out around the time Alter Memory began airing, it's safe to say this Studio Hoods andteamKG adaptation was no different. Perhaps the most telling sign that things would go wrong is the 12-episode count. Most visual novels and RPGs run for dozens of hours, so cutting them down to 12-25 episode or 4.5-9 hour packages requires a deft hand and a deep understanding of the source material. The first two Blazblue games shouldn't have this issue. Assuming you use a guide to help get all the endings needed for the true ending, Blazblue Calamity Trigger can take about 10-11 hours at a decent pace, with the sequel, Continuum Shift, taking around as long. However, the final update release of CS, Continuum Shift Extend, comes with a tweaked and condensed retelling of most of the relevant information of CT's story, cutting everything down to around 4 hours. As such, adapting a 14-ish hour package into 2-cours wouldn't be too bad. Hell, even 12-14 episodes wouldn't be too astronomically terrible, assuming you're willing to fuck over certain characters' screen time and delete a few subplots entirely like the show did. Unfortunately, that's the least of this anime's woes when compared to its abysmal time management and character handling. For some reason, Hitomi Mieno's series composition and the scripts that she and other writers drafted up allotted for 2 & ½ episodes for Calamity Trigger, almost as if they were given completed copies of the game and told only to adapt Ragna's story and like one other story before turning to the true ending. You'd think that would mean the other 9 & ½ episodes would be spent on Continuum Shift, a game that needs its own cour if you're being frugal with time. Unfortunately, as if the 12 episode mandate the producers probably agreed to and slapped the team down with wasn't bad enough, apparently we needed episode 5 to be a fucking onsen episode and episode 8 to be an anime-original episode focusing on exactly one relationship. Sure, there are some relationships in these games that could benefit from some expansion, but why in the name of all that is holy is the filler content as long as the first game's screen time and why did they cut the 9 & ½ episodes of actual CS content down to 7 & ½?! Hell, given all the changes they made to characters like Noel and Makoto which mandated several new scenes, we actually have even less content from both games being adapted. Episode 1 alone gives you an idea of just how catastrophically awful the pacing is in practice, as you’re inundated with cobbled together scenes that constantly have no connective tissue or flow together in the most arbitrary way possible in ways that make it feel like a mediocre trailer. A series with a cast and lore as convoluted and stuffed as Blazblue really needs all the time it can get to present all its information in a digestible manner for newcomers, and the anime winds up doing the exact fucking opposite! It's not like they had a good grasp of the characters until arguably the final ⅓, either! It feels like they wanted to amplify how much of an abrasive ass Ragna was in the original Calamity Trigger and the early part of Continuum Shift while introducing weird tsundere-like elements, removing much of the chemistry and life that made him fun, and removing what little bits of positivity he had. As such, he comes across as far more of an edgelord for ⅔ of the show’s runtime. They do in fact embellish one particular relationship and scene with him quite well in the latter half of the show, but it’s not enough. The balance between his more caring side and all of his more grumpy and volatile and unpleasant sides was thrown too far out of whack, making him go from an insanely fun protagonist to someone far less likable. It’s not like they don’t try to preserve at least the straight-man qualities he has when interacting with the weirdos around him, but the pacing and presentation only make that feel as flaccid as his gruff edgelord moments. Other characters tend to feel like shells of their former selves as well, at least when they even have actual screen time cuz naturally some characters who had their own marginally relevant arcs like Litchi and Carl had to be gutted. Oddly enough, it feels like Mieno also wanted to make Makoto Nanaya more relevant without having to adapt her (optional) story given that as a newcomer in CS, the character basically disappeared in the 2nd half of the game. Unfortunately, the results feel rather tasteless, and other major characters like Jin “serial slasher smiler” Kisaragi and Noel Vermillion hardly get to show off some of their more memorable qualities in favor of flanderized gimmicks and questionable decision-making, respectively. Speaking of Noel, she probably has it about as bad as Ragna early on with how much of a fucking dipshit she is regarding Ragna in a bunch of anime-only scenes. Yeah, of the 2 & ½ episodes spent on Calamity Trigger, a not insignificant chunk of time was spent on pointless rewrites that only serve to make the viewer ask why she keeps persisting on trying to get to know the gruff SSS-class wanted criminal dickhead protagonist on slight. Then you remember that they probably wanted to expand on the relationship the two barely had in Continuum Shift so that when Ragna has to help her after kicking her to the curb, it can be that extra bit more compelling. Honestly, even aside from how many times the writers tried to awkwardly embellish character relationships instead of letting anything breathe, the presentation of the cast feels so wooden and everyone’s quirks had to be removed. Barring the main antagonist, Terumi, the cast has been sanded down to a bunch of nothingburgers with none of the chemistry, style, or charm that elevated them beyond that in the games. Naturally, some of these cuts, including the removal of much of what made the first game’s antagonist Nu-13 so compelling, make sense given they had to adapt 2 games into 12 episodes. However, it doesn’t feel like they had a remotely good grasp on how to really preserve the identity of the series and its cast until arguably the last ⅓ of the series. Too bad the production values stayed dire throughout, and only got worse as time went on. The anime preserves none of the style of flair that each character's moveset provides them in the 2D anime fighters, instead reducing fights down to generic shounen explosion crash-fests that sometimes contain terrible CG and characters being reduced to lines being slapped together. Even the artwork is notoriously inconsistent, with melted or jagged facial expressions being quite common for this already overly glossed anime art style. Perhaps it’s a minor blessing that most fights are unreasonably short given how poor the animation is for most of them. Hell, this is one of the few anime where the lip-synching can feel more noticeably off than usual from time to time. Admittedly, there are some neat backgrounds for the underexplored setting of Kagutsuchi, and there are a couple of decent cuts to count on one hand. However, it's obvious that neither Studio Hoods nor director Hideki Tachibana are exactly action powerhouses. Neither is teamKG for the record when you consider how that studio only did 4 projects in its lifetime if you include the BBAM Specials, and 2 of them were short VN OVAs. It honestly feels like this project was probably only given to these teams and this director due to some of the promo material and artwork having boobs. Fuckin producers, man. The only real highlight of Alter Memory is the music composed by Arte Refact. Each character’s theme from the games gets its own remix, including more jazzy piano versions for characters like Hazama. Plus, characters such as Lambda who didn’t even have a unique battle theme get a track to call their own. It certainly would have been neat for the games’ OSTs to have been incorporated alongside these new tracks, but it’s still cool that the team went the extra mile. The OP, “BLUE BLAZE” by Faylan is a straightforward fun rock song and the ED, “REINCARNATION BLUE” by Aira Yuuki, is a pleasant, calm pop bop to serve as a palate cleanser after each excruciating episode. The episode 12 ED, “synonym” by Faylan is a solid ballad piece to conclude the series as well, and at this point it’s become readily apparent that there isn’t a whole lot to say about BBAM’s music. It’s just solid, straightforward music. If only the show itself could afford to be more straightforward. It can’t be understated just how many strange decisions were made that borked this adaptation beyond repair. If the show was double its length, that would automatically solve most of the show’s pacing and priority issues, though who knows if the characters would have still been adapted terribly or not. As things stand, Alter Memory’s a rushed, bloated nightmare that’s maddening for fans and almost indigestible for newcomers. The show’s mostly abysmal presentation only worsens matters, as you can’t even turn your brain off and enjoy it as an action romp with how poorly animated it is. Blazblue Alter Memory needed a lot more time and forethought in order to capture any of what made the games so compelling. Even as supplemental material, this show’s not worth the watch. Just listen to the OST and dub clips, and play the games instead if you were ever interested in giving this utter waste a shot.

Story First off BB: Alter Memory is based off the popular fighting game series BlazBlue. The series adapts the first two games in the series Calamity Trigger and Continuum Shift and crams it in a 12 episode anime! The story starts off with our main hero Ragna the Bloodegde fighting some creepy robot girl named Nu. Ragna gets stabbed by Nu and we're introduced to a gothic princess girl and her butler taking about the event that just took place and the outcome of the situtation. We then see more character that are introduced and we don't know anything about them only we can inferwho they are. And those are the assumptions people can piece together. But long story short the story is a convoluted mess that newbies who never played the games would be confused as hell and the fans will be very disappointed. Characters The characters retain their personalities from the original source but their are convoluted in the relationship area and are just thrown out there just to make an appearance but disappears for the rest of the series. You will be asking questions like why are Noel and Ragna comrades?, how are Rachel and Ragna connected to each other? How Jin knows Tsubaki? Why is Litchi worried about Arakune? and many more. The characters in the series are unique and very interesting but the show throws away the opportunity to develop them and make the audience relate more to them. Art & Animation Before I get to the art I have to get the animation out of the way. Like Fairy Tail the series has some cheap animation but unlike FT it drag the series down some more. Every time there's a sword fight there's a lightning like light too cover up the lacking animation. Also who can forget the infamous ice brick Jin shot out in episode 1. But the only piece of high quality of animation is in episode 2 when Noel summons Bolverk. The art on the other hand isn't special but comes off as generic. There's nothing really distinctiful about the character designs. Sound The background music is mediocre and forgettable. Some of the tracks are reused from the games. Except when there fight scenes the music is fairly good but still forgettable. The opening shows more of how the series is on a cheap budget since it's all rehashed scenes from the episodes and the song is okay but not a remarkable one. Same goes for the ending. The voice acting is average but I'm not those people who treats the Japanese language like its a Holy language. Kanako Kando sounds a bit annoying as Noel and it did bother me at times in the series and I felt Kana Ueda didn't sound aristocratic and condescending as Rachel and sounded a bit bland. But the only stand out is Tetsuya Kakihara as Jin who retains his ability to voice the sociopathic Jin. Enjoyment The series can be enjoyable if you turned your brain off and watch only for the action which is decent. But from a critical point of view you would be irritated. Conclusion In the end Blazblue Alter Memory is just a huge disappointment and and confusing mess to fans and newcomers. Advice to newcomers just go buy the games and enjoy a more coherent and understandable story. The show is just mediocre at best. I only time I'll be rewatching this is if the original English voice cast comes back to voice the characters. If you want a better anime adaptation of a video game watch Persona 4 The Animation. It has better character development, animation, and story that even newcomers can understand.

I would like to provide some of my insights on this show, as a viewer who had not played any of the BlazBlue games. At the very least, I had watched a few gameplay videos of them on YouTube. STORY: 3/10 Poor In my opinion, this series is created with the sole assumption of: the viewers had already played the games before, and are very knowledgable about the plot. And if you happen to be like me who did not meet this requirement, then there’s a very high chance that even after finishing this series, you don’t even know what BlazBlue is. That is how bad thestory is. Tons of terminology were thrown around, yet there is hardly any explanations to them, not until the very end. But what’s the point of dumping info so late, when the viewer had already been so confused all along? Perhaps some sort of narration would solve this issue, but there’s no such thing here. If you haven’t played BlazBlue before, and for some reason have a sudden urge to confuse yourself, watch Alter Memory. ART: 5/10 Mediocre For an adaptation of an action-heavy fighting game, this series really undermined all the badassery of the original games. This could be due to the lack of budget from the animation studio, which is painfully obvious as you watch this series. How so? Well… for starters, the OP of the show did not even have its own animation in the first 3 episodes, instead taking a few scenes from the first episode and putting them together. The ED is just a rotating wheel of static characters. Fighting scenes are watered down that action fans will find them really unsatisfying. Early on, these scenes were so short that there were like, less than 3 clashes between both sides before the battle had ended. Battles lasted a bit longer in the end, but still pretty dull-looking when what supposed to be a super-awesome mega showdown between the world’s strongest had become some half-assed brawl at your local tavern. You are better off playing the games or watching some gameplay videos of YouTube if you want a more entertaining battle. Characters wise, they look okay (without comparing them to their game counterparts), as their designs are indeed rather unique, only that I often feel that Ragna is too thin. Sceneries are nothing spectacular, but fits the setting well. The entire show at least looks balanced with no awkward or out-of-place objects. Okay characters, okay sceneries and very bad action scenes sum up the art section. SOUND: 7/10 Good This could well be Alter Memory’s best section. We have an all-star cast of seiyuus, in which I believe did their job well enough to keep me going. Yuuichi Nakamura’s my personal favorite here as he made Hazama the most vibrant character in the series. The background music is pretty good, especially the ones used during the fight scenes, which are composed of blood-pumping rock music. The same cannot be said to the sound effects, which often times, doesn’t sound right, most notably explosions, which doesn’t really sound like explosions. CHARACTERS: 4/10 Bad We have a bunch of potentially likable characters in Alter Memory, but the story did not do them justice, leaving them as empty husks until the very end, where we hardly get to know any of their personalities. It’s hard to get attached to these characters solely by watching this show. The only character that left me some impression is Hazama, as annoying as his laugh is, at least he’s distinctive. ENJOYMENT: 4/10 Bad Funny as it seems, I always find myself returning to every Wednesday to watch this show. I can’t really say it’s enjoyable with all the confusion going along, but at the same time, perhaps curiosity had gotten the best of me back then. But then, was I satisfied? Hell no. OVERALL: 4/10 Bad The only reason I chose to watch this is because I at least knew what BlazBlue is, and is curious on how an anime adaptation will turn out. Unfortunately the low quality adaptation really undermined this popular fighting series, that perhaps it would be wise to skip past this one, and watch something else.

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