BlazBlue: Alter Memory - 03

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Hazama shows his true colors as Terumi Yuuki in the latest episode of BlazBlue: Alter Memory.

(As a note, I’m going to continue these reviews from now on as though I’m not familiar with the plot of the games.  I think that’s going to make these reviews more accessible to people who haven’t played them.)

It’s going to be interesting to see exactly what Hazama/Terumi is up to.  What are his plans for Noel?  Why does he want to turn her into a Murakumo Unit?  What exactly does he have against Ragna?  What did he do to Jin in the past?  There are so many questions surrounding him that I really hope get answered by the end of the anime.

The pacing of BlazBlue: Alter Memory is a bit worrisome.  I’m not convinced that there will be enough time to give sufficient explanation to all the characters they plan to introduce.  Obviously, the main characters are getting some characterization, which is important.  Little by little, we’re getting backstory for Ragna, Noel, and Jin, although there’s definitely a long way to go until we can completely understand their situations.

And there are plenty of other characters who really need explaining.  For example, why is Rachel involved in everything going on?  (Have they even said her name yet in the anime?)  What does she gain from it?  Who exactly is she?  There’s also Kokonoe, who apparently knows both Rachel and Hakumen.  What’s her goal?  What does she have against Terumi?  How about the kid that randomly showed up with his “sister”?  (His name is Carl Clover, by the way, since this anime doesn’t seem to like giving names to half of their characters.)  What’s his story?  And what can we expect to see from Relius (the researcher with whom Hazama chatted about Noel)?

As should be pretty obvious from this particular review, BlazBlue: Alter Memory is continuing a trend of introducing a lot of information and new characters without much explanation.  I get the feeling the expectation is that you’ve played the games before watching the anime, which makes me worried that there won’t be much in the way of explanation throughout the anime.

BlazBlue: Alter Memory Episode 4 Preview

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