Anime: Project Blue Chikyuu SOS

6 episodes of battling a potential alien invasion.

Visuals
The quality of the visuals in Project Blue is rather high. The most apparent aspect is the lighting and cgi effects on the explosions that occur throughout the anime. Everything that involves high paced action or spaceship combat is quite spectacular, both in animation and lighting.

The whole anime has a 1960s or 1950s feel to it - from the way the characters are presented to the design of the spacecrafts and especially the alien lazer "ray" weapons. It's all been implemented in a more conservative way too - I never felt as though it was contrived or trying to be emphasised. It wasn't necessarily an odd choice, but definitely different considering the anime takes place in the year 2000, and regularly focuses on futuristic technology.

Some of the character models were a bit to cliched for their roles in my opinion - the "clever" kid has glasses, the old military captain is haggered, the "helpless" daughter of the chief scientist is very dainty in appearance, but these flaws don't detract enough away from the generally great visuals.

Sound
I wasn't particularly fond of the opening and closing themes of the anime, but the musical score in-episode did its job okay. The character voice acting was decent, and the sound effects were very good.

Story
The story concerns a mysterious incident involving the first test-flight of a new aeroplane using new "G-Reactive" technology, a technology that can allow travel beyond the current speed capabilities. Upon the test flight, a strange alien force interferes, and we see the initial step of the invasion of earth by aliens known as the Inferbals. Exactly why the Inferbals wish to invade earth, as well as their strategy for doing so, is slowly uncovered from episode to episode.

For the first one or two episodes, I was very engrossed with the plot of Project Blue. There was a good mysterious element to the story, as well as a somewhat creepy atmosphere. Enough was shown to the viewer to display that there was some sort of definite threat, but a good balance was hidden to entice some intrigue. Somewhere after this point however, I became a bit more vacant to the story as it progressed, finding it touch on a few too many cliches to keep it as fresh as it started.

I mentioned before about how some of the combat was spectacular, but that's only really in visual technical quality. The actual scripted action sequences were not all that impressive.

I was hoping the action would become more intricate, and the plot more textured with innovation, but it just didn't quite happen. Overall it seemed to bore me a little more with each episode, even as we reached the climax. I would say that the setting of the anime may have been a cause for that - it started off with more intimate environments which the characters would interact in, but as the series continued the scope became a bit too broad to provide any sort of atmosphere. The climax of the plot itself left something to be desired also, both in the reveal of the mystery, and the state in which it left it the characters.

Characters
The characters in Project Blue were built to be labelled. They were almost pidgeon-holed with their roles and characteristics right from the start. There is limited development, with most cases just showing the interaction between 2 different types of characters without too much to change them. And then there are areas where a proper degree of establishment is not given to they way one or more characters 'develop'. For instance, Penny and Billy, the two male leads of the anime, have very distinct and obvious characteristics from the outset, who's personalities clash considerably. But almost as if someone wrote "they get along and work together", they appear to do just that, with only the most minimal amount of reasoning to convince the viewer.

There are also times when too blatantly a character has expressed his/her stride in development. In the example of Penny and Billy, Billy almost says something along the lines of "We are rivals who don't get along, but we will be best pals from now on." This sort of declaration is laughable in what I assumed was a mature series. It feels out of place in this particular series to see youngsters take on vital roles where really, it should be the adults who take charge and save the day.

The secondary characters all play their one-tracked roles, leaving no particular lasting impression or attachment.

Value
I realistically wouldn't watch this series again, but might show interest in it in the future for a second look at its visuals.

Enjoyment
I really did start off the series quite excited by it, but my enthusiasm waned as it went on due to the somewhat irritating nature of the lead characters and the pretty average story. It was nice to see the pretty colours on the screen but unfortunately that was about it for this anime I'm afraid.