Vampires are always great fodder for anime, and so is the Church. Vampires elicit all manner of feelings from people ranging from attraction, to horror, to revulsion. Oddly enough, the Church, as depicted in anime, has the same effect for some people. When you combine these two emotionally charged subjects, you get something dangerous, something exciting, sexy, stylish and alluring; something like Hellsing. How much more tasty would a series like that be if there’s added chocolate sprinkles to this mocha (vampires) latte (Church) in the way a of kick-ass far-future theme? That concoction would be Trinity Blood, and would be served up in the most visually appealing manner possible. Now imagine the chocolate sprinkles aren’t chocolate and that the mocha latte came from McDonald’s…
plot summary
Trinity Blood takes place somewhere in the far future. The Catholic Church has been locked in battle with their enemies, the Methuselah, aka, vampires for centuries. Their on again/off again war is fueled by hate and distrust on both sides. The humans believe that the vampires intend to wipe them off the planet and set themselves up as supreme lords of the world. The vampires believe that the humans, under the guise of religion, intend to decimate them in order to cleanse the world of the humans’ perceived sin of the vampires’ existence.
The Vatican is the theological and, for the most part, secular ruler of the time. The Pope is a small, scared, and essentially, useless puppet of feuding twin cardinals, Cardinal Francesco di Medici and his sister, Cardinal Caterina Sforza.
Caterina is a level-headed woman striving for peace and understanding between humans and Methuselah. Her brother, however, is a warmonger who lobbies for all out war on the vampire nation. Caught in the middle is their little brother, Alessandro XVIII. Each cardinal has their own private organization that does their bidding and helps deal with Methuselah “tensionsâ€. Caterina’s band is known as AX.
Abel Nightroad is an integral member of AX. His bumbling and weak exterior hides a much darker and terrifying power that he unleashes in the heat of battle. Abel is able to fight so fiercely due to his incredible powers as a nearly omnipotent being known as a Crusnik.
Crusnik are more fearsome than vampires, for they hunt and feed on vampires, not humans. They’re the top of the food chain and the buck stops with them. However, Abel has taken a vow not to kill when he can help it, even though he could snap his fingers and cities would fall.
After centuries of fighting, the Vatican and the New Human Empire of Byzantium are trying to forge a lasting peace. But dark forces in the way of a rebel group of vampires known as the Order of Rosen Kreuz, are attempting to sabotage any and all attempts on either side.
Abel is dispatched to investigate a suspicious killing by the group and is caught up in the subtleties of a rogue vampire nobleman. In the fray, he meets the acquaintance of Sister Esther Blanchette, who he saves from a nasty fate. Esther joins AX with Abel’s help and the two strike up a friendship.
But just as she’s getting settled in at the Vatican, tensions and attacks by Rosen Kreuz intensify, and AX is sent time and time again to settle these disputes. Much more is at stake than peace, though. The Rosen Kreuz’s ultimate goal isn’t just mere dissent. Their aim is much more sinister, and Abel and his group are forced to fight in an ever growing and increasingly violent conflict.
review
Wow, doesn’t that sound like such an awesome concept? Vampires, the future, the Church, fearsome creatures that eat vampires, beautiful nuns with huge racks, space ships, intrigue, awesome character designs… this series has it all! But does it really? Hell no! There’s absolutely no substantial plot, no character development, no consistency, no pacing, no background, nothing that makes it past the visual aspect of anime.
WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!!
I’m going to start this lengthy dissemination with the plot: What plot? Trinity Blood was based on a series of novels, Reborn on the Mars (R.O.M.) and Rage Against The Moons (R.A.M.) by the late author, Sunao Yoshida. These two titles alone have more info than all 26 episodes of the anime. Firstly, we’re not told where this tale takes place except towards the end of the series, and even then it takes a leap of logic that’s even then mostly an assumption. I assumed they weren’t on Earth due to the twin moons. I assumed TB took place on Mars because of Mars’ twin moons, Phobos and Deimos. I really prefer not to assume anything about a plot since, assumptions are usually wrong.
The manga is supposedly excellent and forthcoming with the explanations. Why couldn’t that be applied likewise to the anime? Why should I research the manga for answers to the anime? Should I expect to hunt around for meaning to an anime on forums and Wikipedia?
The inconsistencies that abound in this anime are so rampant it made my head hurt. So Able can’t kill a vampire that’s literally murdering thousands of innocents because of a lame vow he made to Caterina but in a later episode it’s okee-dokee to shoot a vampire, who’s threatening an altar boy, in the frick’n spine with a silver bullet? WTF?!
END POSSIBLE SPOILERS…
Inconsistencies were the least of Trinity Blood’s worries. Copyright infringement should have been their main concern. This was an impossibly unoriginal anime for one that had some awesome possibilities. I can see it now in my head as to the conception for TB:
Writer One: “Hey, Trigun was a great series.â€
Writer Two: “Yeah, so was Hellsing.â€
Writer Three: “Gee, I wish we could make something that awesome.â€
Writer One: “But we can! And we can even rip off the titles and themes for our mashup’s title: Trinity (Tri- from Trigun) and Blood (from Hellsing’s blood sucking anti-hero)
Writer Two: “Genius!!â€
Writer Three: “Whoo-hoo!! Early work day!!â€
Caterina was Integra from Hellsing down to her glasses, long blonde hair and cool demeanor. Abel was Vash, with his glasses, barely there backstory that alluded to Vash’s, his evil brother and aversion to violence. He also had a bit of the Hellsing influence as well: “Releasing Crusnik power to blah, blah, blah.†Other Hellsing powers made a showing in the series as well. And while I appreciate, expect, and even accept that most series rip a bit from others, this was damn ridiculous. They even ripped a scene straight outta Independence Day for chrissakes!
The plot barely touched on any background for any of the characters, or gave any explanation why there were Crusnik or vampires to begin with, except for a mere hint that, was once again, an assumption. Were they created? By who? Why? I can come up with a few possibilities, but why should I be forced to assume origins? There was so much potential to evolve Abel and to give him a more defined back story. He seemed like he should have been a sympathetic character but instead he came across as pathetic.
Speaking of characters, a more shallow, underdeveloped cast there never was. Abel had potential, like all of the characters, but they were mostly stereotypes. Esther was a moe, whiny, weak woman. Abel was the conflicted Vash clone, Catrina was the strong, determined female leader, and on and on. Everyone was a caricature of themselves and fairly laughable.
The voice acting in English was not good but I doubt that good voice acting would have saved Trinity Blood. The score, actually, was interesting, going from carnival inspired themes in one frame to Danny Elfman-esque riffs the next. The music was all over the place, and resembled a patch-work compilation than an actual attempt at an anime score. By themselves, the themes were excellent and well performed, but when applied to the series they fell flat. This all goes back to inconsistencies.
The animation, by Gonzo, was gorgeous and lush. The shadows, shading and subtleties added a depth to the anime I haven’t seen in a long time. The designs were beautiful, organic and original. The men were all bishounen and the women were all supple and well endowed. Every character oozed sex appeal. The sly looks exchanged and pouty lips, even in battle, suggested they knew it. Hell, even the youngsters had it going on! Such unearthly beauty and magnificent animation was wasted and lost on Trinity Blood. I would say that the saving grace of Trinity Blood was the animation, but nothing, not even divine intervention could have salvaged TB.
The extravagant detail lavished on the episodes were nothing compared to the cover art on the DVDs. The DVDs are stunning and chock full of extras, like tarot cards and detailed liner notes. There’s also added artwork on the inside. These are beautiful and well presented DVDs. Such a pity…
If I hadn’t laughed throughout Trinity Blood, I would have cried at the wasted potential of this money pit of a series. David found it entertaining, and so did I, but this wasn’t the series that it touted itself to be. If Trinity Blood had chosen ONE aspect of the plot to concentrate on, and was consistent throughout, it could have been the next classic must see.
Rating
Trinity Blood: The Complete Series gets 1 outta 4 gummies.
Thanks FUNimation for letting us screen Trinity Blood!
