BlazBlue: Alter Memory Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		1.5

BlazBlue: Alter Memory Blu-ray Movie Review

What in blazes. . .?

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 27, 2015

On one hand, it’s perfectly understandable why so many anime are culled from the ranks of pre-existing videogames. After all, there’s going to (hopefully) be a built in audience, one that is already well ensconced on couches in front of televisions, just waiting for something "entertaining" to come along and delight their eyes and ears, if not their minds. These folks will already be primed for whatever is in store, having already become familiar with whatever “plot” and “characters” any given videogame has been proffering. And the multimedia cross pollination these efforts tend to foster typically resound with the redolent ka-CHING of increased sales across various platforms, whether that be for the games themselves or indeed for the anime versions. On the other hand, however, the transition from videogame to anime is often a rocky one, one that is fraught with a number of inherent dangers and risks. First of all, will the anime be so “specific” that it will only appeal to gamers already familiar with the franchise? And perhaps even more importantly, how is it possible to translate gameplay into a coherent, cohesive narrative structure that will support an episodic television format? BlazBlue Alter Memory ups its chances of succeeding and/or failing by being based on not one but two videogames in the expanding BlazBlue universe, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger and BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, two fairly rote if dense fighter entries that boil down (after all the mythological hoo-hah has come and gone) to good, old fashioned brawling. If that’s your videogame and/or anime cup o’ tea, there’s probably enough to engage you in BlazBlue Alter Memory, but the anime is something of a slog quite a bit of the time, despite an appealing design aesthetic and some bombastic action sequences.

Now it must be mentioned that I am (seriously) outside of the demographic for typical gamers who are well versed with various BlazBlue releases, and so I can only comment on how the anime presented aspects of backstory, character and forward moving plot mechanics, though some cursory research tends to support the idea that the anime is at least relatively faithful, if incredibly redacted at times, to the videogames’ pre-existing content. Unfortunately, the anime plops the viewer down in media res with little to no information imparted, and then only exacerbates matters further by cartwheeling through ensuing events without much in the way of explanation. Add in the typical anime (and videogame) bugaboo of an unwieldy franchise specific vocabulary, and BlazBlue Alter Memory can be downright confusing for neophytes not already well versed with the franchise’s somewhat convoluted mythology.

The main character in BlazBlue Alter Memory seems to be (with an emphasis on seems — more about that in a moment) Ragna the Bloodedge, a wanted criminal who is a bit of a bounty hunter himself, equipped with a prosthetic combo cannon arm that is referred to as the Azure Grimoire or BlazBlue. Ragna evidently has a history with a kind of angelic automaton named Noel Vermillion, a character whose transformation serves as one of the series’ overall story arcs. The main villain is a kind of Joker knockoff (replete with scraggly green hair) named Hazama, who is supposed to be a kind of omnipotent nemesis. All of this plays out within the confines of a kind of post-Apocalyptic scenario where the world has recovered from so-called “magic wars” but is perhaps on the precipice of a more daunting conflict.

Now about that “seems” alluded to earlier—while Ragna the Bloodedge could arguably be called the main character, one of BlazBlue Alter Memory’s most confounding elements is its outsized cast, a huge gaggle of which is thrown at the viewer from the very first episode, with very little in the way of introduction or context being offered. Later, the series tends to skip from character to character almost willy-nilly, in an approximation of a gamer simply moving on to a new “level” or battle once one has concluded. But a gambit like this seriously undercuts any pretense at a through line or dramatic momentum being built up. It is by nature episodic, and that feeling of ping ponging from vignette to vignette (and character to character) is probably going to confuse a lot of viewers.

Because things are thrown so haphazardly into the mix, what could potentially set BlazBlue Alter Memory apart from its battle based kin—namely, its mythology and the backstories of various characters—is instead frequently either just plopped down into the proceedings or (more frequently) shunted to the sidelines. That leaves the battle sequences themselves as the main structural support for the series. The ironic thing is, my hunch is most gamers are going to want to confine their skirmishes to gameplay, where after all they can participate, rather than simply watching a conflict unfold as part of a cartoon.

BlazBlue: Alter Memory Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

BlazBlue Alter Memory is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a fairly standard looking anime from a design component, with some traditional CGI magical circles often acting as portals to battlegrounds and the like. Character designs are hardly innovative, but are quite striking at times, and elements like Ragna's blood red jacket pop quite vividly. A lot of sequences have been intentionally tweaked, at times looking soft, at times boasting boosted contrast and at other times looking slightly distressed. Line detail is generally very strong and precise, and the overall palette nicely varied, with primaries being especially notable and nicely saturated. Backgrounds are a bit lackluster a lot of the time, providing scant detail or additional information. Slight banding along with some minor clipping of highlights present the only intrusions into an otherwise enjoyable video presentation.

BlazBlue: Alter Memory Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Perhaps surprisingly, especially considering this series' emphasis on battles, the English dub on BlazBlue Alter Memory is a Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mix, exactly the same as the original Japanese language version. A surround mix certainly could have upped the sonic ambience of this frequently fairly noisy series, but the stereo tracks offer excellent fidelity and decent separation, if also a somewhat less than booming lower end. Dialogue, score and effects are all rendered cleanly and clearly, with excellent prioritization and without any issues to warrant concern.

BlazBlue: Alter Memory Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Textless Opening Song "Blue Blaze" (1080p; 1:32)


• Textless Opening Song "Blue Blaze" Version 2 (1080p; 1:32)


• Textless Closing Song "Reincarnation Blue" (1080p; 1:31)


• U.S. Trailer (1080p; 00:58)

BlazBlue: Alter Memory Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

BlazBlue Alter Memory is another recent anime whose target audience is a bit hard to identify. Gamers excited by the various BlazBlue games might seem to be the best bet for this show, but my hunch is they will be frustrated by both an inability to "join in" the fighting as well as the series' kind of haphazard trek through game storylines and characters. As for newcomers to the mix—well, they (like I) will most likely be confused most of the time, wondering who the latest combatant is and why we should even care. Technical merits are generally very strong (even without a surround track) for those considering a purchase.