Mirage of Blaze
Reviewer: Holli [website] [email]Overall Rating: B
Media Reviewed: DVD
Creator: Kiwabara Mizuna
U.S. Licensed: Yes
Released by: Media Blasters
Run time: 13 episodes
BL Content: Very soft (emotional, touching)
Genre: Drama/Historical/Fantasy
Other media:
English OAV DVD: Rebels of the River's Edge [review]
Japanese novels
Japanese manga
During the Warring States period of Japan, lasting for some 100 years from about 1500 to 1600, a young warlord named Uyesugi Kagetora of the Uyesugi Yashashu clan, committed suicide in the wake of his defeat. In the past 400 years, the war has not stopped, and is now fought on a spiritual field, full of the warlords who have reincarnated and also the ghosts of defeated soldiers. These reincarnated lords are called possessors, who force their souls into new bodies at a human's birth, and come to life again with their memories of their past lives intact. Now the battle still continues in present day, as the lords of the Uyesugi Yashashu clan try to put the ghosts to rest and keep the enemy clans at bay.
Thus enters Ohgi Takaya, a normal, seventeen year old high school boy, until he encounters a man named Naoe Nobutsuna (also a reincarnated warlord under order of Kagetora) and several other people who claim he is the reincarnation of the great warlord, Kagetora. Takaya does not want this responsibility as a reincarnated warlord and just wants to protect his best friend, Narita Yuzuru from people attempting to hurt or kidnap him for unknown reasons. However when Takaya meets Naoe, his powers and abilities of being a possessor come to the surface, and he soon finds he can exorcise evil spirits and fight the Feudal Underworld.
But, unlike his previous reincarnations, Takaya does not remember being Uyesugi Kagetora or any of his other past lives this time around . . . maybe an incident between himself and Naoe is to blame in one of their past lives, thirty years earlier.
If there is one word to describe this series, it is this: complicated. And it is made worse by the fact that it is set in historical settings based on real Japanese warlords (who often have multiple names and titles). . . and unless you are well versed in Japanese history (or have a little basic knowledge), this story may be hard to follow. That is the misfortune of watching a series like this when you are not Japanese.
This thirteen episode series is based off a novel series (not in English) that is now in its thirties in number of volumes, by Kuwabara Mizuna (published by Shuueisha). The anime is also based off its own manga by Shouko Hamada, that are also based on those novels (the manga are published by Hakushensha, the company that brought us the magazine Hana to Yume that serializes the Yami no Matsuei and Fruits Basket manga). So, to have a series with only 13 episodes . . . a lot is left out, and it ends far before anywhere near where the novel series is right now. But, with that much material, it is a popular series, and an anime for it was just something to eventually come in existence.
All of this is just little stuff to sweat. Undoubtedly the story of a feudal war still continuing is supposed to be the biggest deal in this series . . . but the intense relationship of hatred and love between Naoe and his reincarnated lord, Takaya/Kagetora, overshadow this all. And the creators did that on purpose; they knew what they were doing. Undoubtedly, people who watched this series did it for the drama of the two main characters, not so much for the Japanese feudal warring. This does cause problems, as the warfare talk can often leave the audience wondering what exactly is going on at times . . . and make them also antsy to forget about the whole warfare deal and get back to Takaya and Naoe's relationship plot.
Naoe and Takaya's complicated past and entanglements is a tense one that will keep any yaoi fan be highly entertained. However, plot twists not expected will also surprise you. Slightly clichéd? Maybe . . . but perhaps not. The twists of the irony and evils of supernatural happenings and reincarnation keeps this show interesting.
The visuals. While not overly amazing, the animation was very clean and lush, but not an overpowering blend of colors. While the color was very vivid, it was not saturated, and tended to be slightly muted colors of browns, grays and even blues and greens.
The shoujo/shounen-ai touch of this company that animated this series comes through very much; apparently they had just finished animating the X tv series not too much earlier. Minus the trademark stylization of eyes and even slightly more skinny proportions from CLAMP, this series very much resembles the X tv series in style. However, the visuals, and even the story itself seems a bit more grown up and even more mature than the styles and drama of X, and that sets it apart.
The CG of this series was a bit off however, usually when it came to the shields the characters put up to protect themselves. The CG almost seemed too real and didn't fit in with the flow of the rest of the animation, making characters look slightly flat, in the way similar to the special effects of Yami no Matsuei.
However, special effects were not extremely bad, but not very impressive, since so much of this series was set on conversational drama, rather than action/fight based drama. Very good, but not extraordinary. I like the special effects myself, but they still are a bit off.
Character design was interesting. While the characters do not really have too much of an extreme stylization difference between each other, the facial structures were varied enough to keep characters separate and identifiable, even to the point of really showing their personalities. This was a very good trait of this series.
Also, unlike so many other shounen-ai/yaoi series, while the men are beautiful, they do not lack masculinity. Takaya can be seen as dominant or not depending on what characters he is surrounded with or if he is able to handle his current problem or not. He is a strong character that doesn't fit the stereotype of male characters in a shounen-ai/yaoi, even if he is a confused young man with many problems. In a way, the Takaya character is very much like Rikki from Ai no Kusabi (this kind of personality really comes through since both are voiced by the same Japanese voice actor).
The men of the series are drawn in a stylization that shows strong and masculine bodies, and are not fey, whispy and anorexic like those of many other series. Even with the supernatural jazz, this series tends to have a pretty realistic note to it.
The music is pretty good. Not too much variety on the tracks, but good nonetheless. "Blaze 2002," the opening theme however, is very wretched. I do like my share of J-pop, in Japanese, English or otherwise, but this song was not good. It's definitely an acquired taste if you like this song. It really sounds like a cheesy 80s song . . . or rather, just plain cheesy. However, the soulful, painful instrumental ending theme is wonderful . . . I love that piece. That alone would make me want to get the soundtrack on CD.
Of course, the voice acting is superb, as I would expect from Toshihiko Seki (Watari in Yami no Matsuei, Rikki in Ai no Kusabi, Legato in Trigun and a long list of other roles) as Takaya and Sho Hayami (Muraki in Yami no Matsuei, Wolfwood in Trigun, Raool in Ai no Kusabi and also many others) as Naoe. Truly their acting is always great and marvelous, and being able to listen to their work is always a treat.
The dub is not perfect, but a lot better than Media Blaster's previous works, like on FAKE or Yami no Matsuei. Takaya's voice actor sounds a bit off, but is okay. Naoe's voice actor is also very good. On a whole, the voice actors sound like they are really acting. And that's pretty rare from a Media Blaster dub.
I really enjoyed this series, even with its lack of action sequences and a good opening music theme. This series is all drama with some nice sexual tension tied in . . . a excellent series for the shounen-ai/yaoi enthusiast, even though the plot is exceedingly complicated.
Even for an anime with slightly historical backing, the show tends to lose its focus on the drama and a bit too much on family feuds and warfare. That makes this series not the best, and it being a tv show also kept the sexual innuendoes to a minimum.
