Jonathan Bird

Imagine having a fever dream about an old samurai or kung fu movie. That's the most accurate short description of The Blade I can give. It's set in an expansive desert with small settlements where most of the violence takes place, the time is historically ambiguous but there is a (sans guns) post apocalyptic kind of vibe akin to Steel Dawn (1978). This is evidenced by the many bear traps that are used throughout the movie and some characters appearing to wield weapons made from old machinery, some with hidden gadgets. The artstyle is extremely ambitious, seeming comic book or anime-like, it looks almost psychedelic at points with really extreme lighting or special effects that are trippy for lack of a better word. The kinds of things you'll want to rewind for. A very violent and negative movie for sure, with scenes countless scenes of death, mutilation, rape, and torture. It has very cynical overtones about human nature and cycles of violence. As far as things I didn't like I thought some of the fight scenes especially the ending fight, while furious and feral, could've been cut down a bit because they tended to be a bit overchoreographed. The ending was somewhat abrupt. Some of the main characters should've had a bit more screen time outside of fighting. Apparently the film's perspective was changed to the girl lead halfway through filming so it can kind of be a jarring switch from violence to a monologue pondering life. 8.5/10

I cried multiple times. That's never happened to me before while watching a TV show. This anime portrays characters with more emotional depth, realism, and accurate relationships than any live action show I've seen. None of the characters are cardboard cutouts where a character should be like in so many other anime, even the ones that seem like they have no depth at first are fully realized by the end. Many criticize the latter episodes as being poorly executed and taking the story in a different direction, I found them to be decent and tie things up nicely. The anime is a self contained story with a beginning middle and end, and while I wish the latter episodes had been made into a full season to flesh out the plot and allow time to digest the twists that happen, I have no serious criticisms other than certain latter plot points being rushed, and a few things that happen throughout the show being vague or slightly redundant. The action is pretty good, above average but serves as more of a backdrop to allow further development of the characters, don't expect the best mecha fight scenes of all time. I can't recommend this enough, it's one of those anime that transcends romance and mecha anime, and anime as a genre itself. Easily one of my favorites and I'm very picky about anime. 9/10