Blue Gender...
A while ago, I picked up Blue Gender...
There is some blood and gore, some action and a lot of big bugs. Blue Gender is a fairly long and rather involved series with some interesting twists and turns, but, it managed to not hold my interest for very long. I did, however, manage to sneak a peek at volumes 2 through 4 courtesy of Cartoon Network. The battle on the space station when the Blue invade was quite remarkable, but, again, I wasn't really impressed with the series as a whole and gave Blue Gender a 1 out of 5.
Yuji, a high school teenager, discovers that he has an new incurable virus. With life looking very bleak, he's left only one option - hope that the future may hold a cure. With his decision made, he opts to undergo artificial hibernation... When Yuji awakes, the world he knew is gone. The year is 2013 - an era of war, despair and death. While he's been sleeping, the Earth has been taken over by BLUE, a mysterious creature that eats anything for food including human beings. Hunted and on the verge of extinction, Mankind has fled. Now, their only chance for survival is to destroy BLUE! Now, Yuji must fight not only for his own survival, but for that of the entire Human race!
Volume 1
Oneday
A young man named Yuji awakes disoriented inside a sleeping pod under heavy military escort. During a surprise attack by the alien creatures called Blue, he witnesses the deaths of his protectors. As he attempts to make an escape, flashback memories fill his mind. A startling discovery causes him to scream in horror, and he soon finds himself surrounded. What terrifying truth has Yuji learned and how will he ever escape Blue?
Cry
Yuji learns the horrible truth about the Blue. They have infested the planet and forced earth's remaining population into space. His own chance to visit the space station called Second Earth is thwarted when the Blue suddenly attack again. Does he have the strength to conquer his fears and face this terrifying enemy?
Trial
Tired of being a burden to his rescuers, Yuji pleads to be trained as part of the team. He gets a crash course in weapons and how to handle the controls of a mecha-suit. Yuji learns waht to do in a battle against the Blue but can he find the courage to fight them?
Volume 2
Agony
When Yuji disobeys Marlene's orders and saves a little girl's life, he vows that he'll protect her from the Blue. But can he manage to keep his promise when he discovers the shocking truth about his rescuers from Second Earth?
Priority
The surviving members of the Sleeper Recovery Team have decided that they must make an attempt to contact Second Earth. Their only chance resides in an abandoned communications tower that has become a Blue Nesting ground. With the Blue now converging on their position, their going to need bait to draw the Blue away. Live Bait...
Relation
The tensions between Marlene and Yuji come to a head, as Yuji confronts the demons that now haunt him in this nightmarish new world. As she witnesses Yuji's struggle, Marlene's own horrifying memories of the past begin to resurface. But can even Yuji's fiery emotions help to melt away Marlene's icy exterior?
Volume 3
Empath
Still en route to Baikonur, Marlene and Yuji cross paths with a rough-mannered stranger named Dice. With the Blue lurking dangerously close, he offers them shelter for the night, and Yuji is given a glimpse into his seemingly carefree life. But as Yuji soon discovers, no one left on Earth is without their demons... Not even Dice.
Oasis
Yuji is separated from Marlene and Dice amidst the confusion of a sandstorm. He is rescued from the desert by a band of nomads, and is befriended by Elena, a young nomad girl. As Yuji begins to believe that a peaceful life might still be possible, a raid by a group of bandits serves him a harsh reminder that there is more than one kind of danger in the world - and it is never far away.
Confirm
Marlene and Dice are reunited with Yuji outside the nomad camp. Marlene presses Yuji to continue the journey to Second Earth, but Yuji refuses. He decides to remain with Elena and her people, and to live out the rest of his life in peace. But when Marlene and Dice are attacked by the Blue, Yuji is forced to choose between his life with Elena and saving the lives of his friends.
Volume 4
Tactics
Marlene and Yuji arrive at Baikonur, only to find the space base in a state of chaos. The facility is crawling with Blue, and the computer defense systems have turned on their human counterparts. Now, with supplies and personnel dwindling, the assembled recovery teams must launch a desperate bid to regain control of the base.
Go Mad
The lives of the remaining recovery squad members are thrown into jeopardy when a renegade officer attempts to hijack the shuttle and escape on his own. The attempt is thwarted, but the cost is the diversion of valuable resources from the battlefield, where Marlene and a small team of armor shrike pilots are fighting to stay alive.
Progress
Yuji is rushed to intensive care after being attacked by a Blue aboard the shuttle to Second Earth. Now, Marlene must face an inquiry before the High Council and defend her recent actions on the planet's surface. But Marlene has questions of her own, and soon begins to suspect a dark design behind the Council's plans for the recovered Sleeper, Yuji Kaido.
Volume 5
Heresy
When Yuji disappears from the Medical Station, Marlene defies orders and decides to find him on her own. Now, with Amick Hendar's security forces on high alert, Marlene must descend into the lower reaches of the Military Station to find the one man who may know Yuji's whereabouts - Science Director, Seno Miyagi.
Set
Marlene's attempts to free Yuji from the laboratory in which he is being held are thwarted. Now she must once again stand before the High Council to defend her actions, this time with Yuji at her side. When Chairman Victor reveals the Council's true reasons for recovering the Sleepers, Marlene is stunned to learn that Yuji may be humankind's one hope of taking back the Earth.
Calm
After beginning an intensive combat training program with the newly formed Sleeper Brigade, Yuji finds himself the object of another young Sleeper's attention. Even the sterile military environment of Second Earth cannot subdue all human urges, but as Yuji soon discovers, a little human contact could cost him everything.
Volume 6
A Sign
A large attack force is sent to Earth, the first wave in a new campaign to reclaim the planet from the Blue. Yuji is awed when a fellow Sleeper, Tony, wipes out an entire Blue nest on his own. Yuji determines to be the best, at any cost. But is this unhealthy obsession with beating Tony really a symptom of a much greater problem?
Eclosion
Marlene notices that Yuji's behavior is getting stranger and stranger. On the battlefield he is a force to be reckoned with, but he has an unhealthy obsession with destroying the Blue. Has Yuji turned into something that he once despised - a cold-blooded killer?
Chaos
Director Miyagi reveals to Marlene the true cause of Yuji's accelerated rate of achievement - an infestation of "B cells" that have begun to eat away at his mind. And unless she can do something to stop it, Yuji's sanity will soon slip away completely.
Volume 7
Collapse
The Sleeper Brigades launch yet another offensive against the Blue, and Yuji's lust for battle grows out of control as his B cells begin to take hold of his sanity. Meanwhile, a mutiny has begun on Second Earth, and Marlene finds herself with an integral part to play in the plan to overthrow the High Council. But Marlene has her own reasons for aiding Seno Miyagi...
Versus
The second airborne operation meets with disaster when the Blue counterattack outnumbers Second Earth forces five-to-one. But even as the combat units are desperately falling back, Marlene pushes further into the battlefield. Knowing the horrible truth about Yuji's slipping sanity, she's determined to confront him on her own terms... and bring him back from the brink of self-destruction.
Joker
While Marlene flies a distraught Yuji back to Second Earth, Tony uses his Sleeper skills to infiltrate the High Council. The sky above earth is turned into the newest battleground for survival. Only this time, the Blue have mutated into something unthinkable...
Dogma
Yuji and Marlene infiltrate the Blue infested Medical Station and are soon reunited with Rick and Soo. While Soo attempts a daring rescue of the station's hibernating civilian population, Marlene, Yuji, and Rick attack the heart of the problem - Tony. But before they can reach their objective, they encounter an unexpected obstacle standing in their way.
Volume 8
Soliste
With Rick injured too severely to continue, Marlene and Yuji continue through the Medical Station alone. They arrive at the main computer room to find Tony waiting for them. Now Yuji must confront his one-time friend and rival, and the only way to stop him is to kill.
Compass
The remaining survivors aboard Second Earth begin to rebuild after Tony's devastating attack. As Yuji contemplates his own place in this rapidly changing world, Director Miyagi lays out his plan to make Second Earth the permanent home of the human race. But there are dissidents hiding in the dark corners... and some of them carry guns.
Adagio
Satellite images of the Earth reveal a mass Blue migration in South America, and Yuji volunteers to investigate. Once on the surface, he and his team discover that the Blue have mysteriously vanished without a trace. Now, the only hope Yuji has of finding answers lies deep underground, in the dark tunnels below a massive Blue nest.
Let Me
A monstrous Blue has emerged in the heart of the South American nest, the only thing standing between Yuji and the answers he so desperately seeks. Unless Yuji wins this battle, all hope for the future is lost - for him, for Marlene, and for the entire human race.
There is some blood and gore, some action and a lot of big bugs. Blue Gender is a fairly long and rather involved series with some interesting twists and turns, but, it managed to not hold my interest for very long. I did, however, manage to sneak a peek at volumes 2 through 4 courtesy of Cartoon Network. The battle on the space station when the Blue invade was quite remarkable, but, again, I wasn't really impressed with the series as a whole and gave Blue Gender a 1 out of 5.
