Forum - View topicREVIEW: Blue Reflection Ray Episodes 1-24
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chrisb
 Subscriber Posts: 617 Location: USA |
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This show would have been a million times better had it been half the length. I stuck around because the characters are very likable and the final episode did make me tear up. It handles trauma pretty well for the most part. They really could have tackled all the major plot points in 12 episodes and the budget may not have been so tight. I do highly recommend the latest game Blue Reflection Tie. It beats the first game and anime in every way with its gorgeous visuals and touching story.
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Rogueywon
Posts: 251 |
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It felt strange that the anime should be so ugly when both of the games have been exercises in producing attractive, memorable visuals out of dated technology.
The anime's hard going. As per chrisb's post above, it would have worked better as a single-cour show. But the games are both worth a look, as they tackle themes you rarely see come up in gaming and have a very distinctive style. |
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nobahn
 Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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It seems like that whenever J.C. Staff is handling animation production that the end product can be very much a hit or miss affair. Apparently, this time it is a miss.
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MagicPolly
 Posts: 1577 |
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I always thought it was weird that this show got 24 episodes instead of 12. Blue Reflection came out in 2017 and seemed to be one-and-done, and then all of a sudden in February 2021 they announced a sequel, mobile game (which I assume already shut down), and a 2 cour anime to begin airing only 2 months later.
I only watched the first 4 episodes of the anime before I decided to play the game first at a friend's recommendation (and then completely forgot to finish it, lol. Gotta fix that). The anime had very lackluster animation and art style (you could barely tell it was Mel Kishida's work), but the plot seemed ok. Maybe I'll like it better once I play the game. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3652 |
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I doubt it. Aside from a few proper nouns, I'm not sure there's really much to connect the anime to the first game. I haven't played the second, so I couldn't say if there's a closer connection there.
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Matcha.8
Posts: 130 |
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The anime seemed to have performed poorly commercially, which isn't surprising, but also a shame. Hopefully it doesn't affect the future of the franchise.
I've been intrigued by the games for a while now. Most of all its aesthetic. I just don't quite have the time to delve into more JRPGs at the moment, what with so many sequels from big franchises coming out in the next few months. This I will say though, even though I have not played the games, the trailers convinced me to seek out their soundtracks, and the soundtracks for both games are absolutely stellar. |
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blahmoomoo
Posts: 463 |
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From what I recall, (minor first cour spoilers) spoiler[the anime uses concepts from the first game and the characters who reside in the Common are present, but due to the world being destroyed and reset, the rules of the world and how the Common interacts with it have changed]. The anime has a closer connection to the second game because several of the characters in the anime are playable characters in that game. But considering the state of the world in the game is completely different from the anime, I'd assume that watching the anime is optional. Though perhaps some details of the character backstories covered in the anime are not covered in the game (I have not played either game). |
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zrdb
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Everything I read about this series said it was total shit and don't watch it-but much to my surprise I DID enjoy the series and it entertained me so what else can I say about it?
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Yuvelir
 Posts: 1565 |
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I almost dropped it at the beginning because it was just so damn ugly, but there was something compelling all along.
Then I played the first gane hoping to get some context...and it was the opposite rather lol The rules were completely different and the cast was mostly made of Miyakos. But it did help with understanding the themes and what the anime was going for. It's fortunately also a pretty small and short RPG... unless you want to max everyone's relationships and fragments, in which case it becomes pretty grueling. |
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Todd_Harry08
Posts: 182 |
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it was produced during the pandemic with many outsourced episodes so that affected the quality in the long run. |
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Yuvelir
Posts: 1565 |
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I'm quite sure that the PVs were produced before the pandemic and they already looked pretty bad. EDIT: nevermind I forgot we had two full years of covid. Still, in that case the production started well into the pandemic so they knew what the problems were going to be and what they would be lacking. Other productions could cope with it, this one didn't. |
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Todd_Harry08
Posts: 182 |
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yep it didn't cope with that but doesn't change much since it probably lowered the options for them than before the pandemic. |
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nobahn
Subscriber Posts: 5120 |
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I would be greatly intrigued if anyone could figure out the factors that come into play that have a detrimental effect on those J.C. Staff productions that are subpar..... |
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Stelman257
Posts: 272 |
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Aha that’s a shame, I had thought more modern day dubs picked actresses who could more naturally portray the kind of vocal styles shows like these needed without sounding unnatural. The two leads are Kayli Mills and Brianna Knickerbocker who play a lot of cute girl anime characters without ever really sounding like they’re putting on an “anime girl” voice. |
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Taiyz
 Posts: 202 Location: Canada |
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I agree with what everybody's saying regarding the length and visuals, definitely didn't need 24 episodes to accomplish what it was going for. One of the show's few redeeming qualities I felt was the introduction of Uta, not necessarily within the anime itself because she was intentionally quite a detestable character, but for how her character is handled in the sequel, it's one of that game's highlights that wouldn't have landed as well without the anime.
To be specific, spoiler[Mio suffers a lot of guilt thinking that she was the cause of the world changing after letting her and Momo be defeated by Netzach, but it turns out that the new world was actually a result of Hinako triumphing over Daath which caused the Common to close and eventually the Ash to start falling.] So as a result it comes off as the people writing the anime not communicating with the game's writers, just doing their own thing which left a really bad impression when watching it and honestly really confusing for fans of the original wanting a bridge to the sequel. Something that's really never explained is the representation of Fragments in the anime versus the games, appearing as flowers instead of cubes, but I suppose that could be explained by spoiler[Oasis] in the sequel spoiler[being made by Lime where-as the "Reflector world" in the anime could just be a result of the World System compensating in the Sephira's absence and lack of connection to the Common, like maybe they only manifest as cubes within the Common but as flowers outside]. Even more important that nobody seems to be talking about is that the soundtrack of the anime was incredibly bland, generic gothic orchestral stuff instead of the glorious synth/piano/violin courtesy of Hayato Asano and whoever may have worked on Blue Reflection: Second List's OST (not credited.) The soundtrack is honestly one of Blue Reflection's most defining features, and the anime felt anemic without it.
Based on dialogue in Second Light, I assume that it was supposed to feature Shiho and Kirara because they reference their Reflector team several times and mention a particular "leader" that they respect which sounds an awful lot like who the player would have represented in a mobile game; they specify that the leader wasn't even a Reflector which is likely so that players could have a male avatar. So yeah, I still heartily recommend Blue Reflection: Second Light to anybody who wants a surprisingly progressive JRPG with some pleasant surprises, it's actually one of my favourite games. Definitely give the first game's soundtrack a listen and while it's definitely rough around the edges compared to its sequel, it's still worth a look! |
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