New Anime Series: Black Bullet episode 1

I was thinking about blaming my lack of anime posting on time abilities on the fact that I have been watching too many movies lately. Like well home all day, what is on OH LOOK A MOVIE. Then another movie comes on. Before I know it BAM almost all the day is gone. I try to watch and blog at the same time but sometimes the awfulness of the movie drags me in. For the record Big Ass Spider is actually better than Sharknado and no one ever should watch I Spit on Your Grave. Never. Ever.

The future is either very bleak or beyond technological. There is no in between. X___X

In between movies I have been watching anime I promise. Even if downloading lately has been a PAIN. Please don't die laptop. :( What is up now though? A new anime series Black Bullet. Episode one contains spoilers for zombie spiders. Well sorta anyway.

Very direct.....yay for no hope!

Episode Summary: People are huddled in make-shift tents looking tired and hungry. No one even bats an eye when a young boy walks alone with only a blanket and one shoe for protection. In this messed up looking metropolitan area two military planes take off in the distance, towards some mist. All the humans look and watch in horror as one plane is destroyed by some massive bug looking monster. The other plane and a gunner on the ground try to take the thing down but it crashes on a bunch of people, stopping short of hitting the boy. The boy gets a super determined look on his face and...into the present. Rentarou is now a high school student traveling the speed of pretty fast on his bike. He stops at an apartment building where he is greeted by some head honcho of the police force. He seems unimpressed by Rentarou's age but still accepts that he is a Promoter and without a civil servant no one on the police force can investigate a case involving a Gastrea. The police man explains how there is blood coming from the building and what not. When they reach said apartment the lower police officers are upset to see Rentarou, as he and his absent partner (a girl who fell off the traveling bike) are going to steal their glory. Two officers have already entered the building which causes Rentarou alarm. He enters in after them and finds them quite dead on the wall. Inside stands a man whom Rentarou declares not a Gastrea but a Promoter like him. The mask wearing man says he is like Rentarou except for the fact that he KILLED these men. Rentarou springs into action, even break the man's neck. The man casually takes it all in stride, beating Rentarou almost instantly and even having a phone call. When the other cops come in all but the main captain cop are killed. The man leaves, saying that nothing can stop him and he can destroy the world. Instead of focusing on the masked man Rentarou focuses on the fact that the Gastrea and reported victims are not present. So clearly the victims have crawled out the bloody window and the original source is gone. Meanwhile Rentarou's partner, the Initiator, is running down the street all pissed off that Rentarou left her. Enju is stopped by a man totally covered in blood asking for help. Enju is like...you do know you were attacked by a Gastrea and there is nothing that can be done right? The man enters a state of horror as his body changes into another insect like monster. Before Enju can really spring into action she is thrown into a fence. Rentarou and nondead police man encounter the spider. The police man tries firing but Rentarou tells him only the special bullets of Promoters made out of Varanium can harm the Gastrea. Rentarou does some damage but it's not enough to subdue the spider. Enju and her magic glowing eyes comes and basically kicks the spider into pieces. She then asks Enju about missing the special sale, something about sprouts and off the pair run, leaving the policeman and his underling to talk about the situation, how the future depends on the cursed kids like Enju and Promoters that keep them in check.

Giant bugs can't jump? Clearly this must be magic!

Sometime later Rentarou tells his boss same age friend Kisara that he forgot to ask the police for compensation and now they won't pay up. Kisara is upset on that issue and the fact that Rentarou didn't tell her about the sprout sale. Rentarou has several stupid ideas for Kisara protection business, all of which are shot down. Rentarou then reports he didn't find the other victim nor the source of the infection. Kisara has a hard time finding thing online as nothing has been reported. Rentarou promises to find both with Enju. Kisara smiles, saying that in this short year Rentarou and Enju have become good partners. Yet Kisara and Rentarou are far from their goals and must keep going. Rentarou and his blushy face offers to take Kisara home but she has to stop by the hospital for some procedure. Rentarou ends up stomping away, upset at the mention of his parents. At one point he vowed to find them but now he thinks they are dead from the war ten years ago. On his way to a lab/hospital he thinks how he needs to calm down. He ends up visiting some....scientist of some sort. Specializes in Gastrea, purple food, and teasing Rentarou. Ms. Sumire seems to be familiar with Rentarou as she scares him with a corpse and complains he needs to take care of Gastrea a little better as he makes a mess everywhere. She calls him worthless and unworthy of Kisara which he doesn't deny. He has always tried to be her equal or at least able to protect her. Ignoring her purple food Rentarou tells her a Gastrea got away as did an infected. Sumire finds no reports on other channels and explains to the audience how the Gastrea virus works. It attacks the host's DNA and changes it into some sort of giant insect that can still function despite it being physically impossible. Since the Gastrea virus can mutate fast perhaps the entities that Rentarou is looking for has changed into something else. After hearing all this Rentarou returns home to Enju and her naked self some dinner with the sprouts. She happily eats and keeps talking about how she is Rentarou's woman and they should do things together. Since Enju is 10 this is disturbing. Rentarou gives Enju her daily shot and tries to go to bed since hello age difference. Enju still spends the night with him yay friendship. Over breakfast Enju is annoying while the news plays in the background about their city's pretty leader. Rentarou ignores this and takes Enju to school, telling her to keep who she is a secret. She meets up with a friend and they talk happily about a TV show. Rentarou bikes on to the edge of a broken bridge, to the old part of Tokyo. Giant Varanium poles protect the city now as the Gastrea war thing is still going on. Sumire then does a voice over, explaining how the Gastrea virus works, how once it takes over a person 50 percent instant bugness. That is transmitted by fluids. But in rare cases pregnant woman can pass the virus on to their children (only girls) and basically turn into Alice from Resident Evil, bonding with the T-virus/Gastrea. They can keep the virus from spreading under control but the kids are still amazingly strong. Promoters are used to keep these kids in check as they can be dangerous and the general public is scared of them. Still these kids are the only hope for the future. THE END!

Also this.

Well then. I thought this show was going to be a little more...serious. I guess at least 6 people died on screen and that is series. Still there were a lot of fun/down times I wasn't expecting. Plus the story could have been explained in a more natural way. Like okay we are going to have characters explain the past 10 years to other characters who already know in an effort to tell the audience. Came across very choppy and not natural. Like okay all the explaining is out of the way in the fastest way possible. Hopefully all of this information can be retained by the audience because we are going full speed away.

Rentarou survived by some miracle...and grew up to be an ass kicker!

This show is basically Resident Evil after I thought about it for a while. Only instead of turning into zombies everyone turns into giant bugs. The people with super powers are girls. Because girls rock. The baddie is a boy and supporters of the saviors of the world are boys. Because bad ass girls need a little bit of supervision. Everyone who was left alive after the main war looked a mess and confused on what to do. And like the T-Virus the Gastrea virus effects people in different ways. Different levels of infection and how fast people turn. But it is all the same, that normal nonimportant people infected will die after fluid contact. Unlike Resident Evil it looks like some level of control has been maintained. Whatever the Gastrea virus is it cannot function around some magical metal Varanium. Neither Gastrea and Varanuim have their origins explain. I am just going to assume the Umbrella corporation did this. All that is explained is this happened at once, out of nowhere. People were not equipped to deal with it and young Rentarou experienced a lot of trauma due these awful events.

Well sometimes it is not so awesome...

Fast forward 10 years and EVERYTHING IS AWESOME. Seriously go see the Lego Movie. Or buy it when it comes out as it has been a while...Anyway in 10 short years life SEEMS peaceful. Of course by the end of the episode Rentarou explains how this peace was hard fought and now the saviors of this battle are hated but used by society. That things are probably only peaceful because a lot of people DIED in the process. The Gastrea still exists, outside the Varanium walls. What scale is the destruction? It is unknown. Obviously this is taking place in Japan so it is Japancentric and we don't see the rest of the world. But it looks like parts of Tokyo are still infected. And I am sure the Varanium isn't being used to protect previously low populated areas. So maybe only major parts of Japan are protected and the rest is infected. So yeah despite the okay looking conditions in the city things are far from okay. Sorta like with Guilty Crown. Like lala life is good...expect it's not.

Fear me for I protect you.

It seems despite these Varanium poles.....it looks like Gastrea still is making its way into the city. Since it is a changing virus maybe it has found a new way to infect people. The water source? People living on the outskirts and trace particles are in the air? Or you know the creepy mask guy is smuggling them in. The last 10 years have made Japan rather...lax I guess about the situation. Or maybe people really are scared of these magical Initiator Girls. Because you know...if these 10 and under girls are the only thing that are keeping the world as we know it from falling apart I think a better system using their powers would be in play. Maybe partner them up with adults and not kids themselves. I know the Initiators have to be under 10 girls but their partners could be older yes? Yes I know society fears these girls but one would think the government would have a handle on this situation. Like okay we are in control. So the police would respect them a bit more. Since they are SAVING LIVES! Nope. It looks like these girls are controlled by whoever and it is a free for all.

Someone might be regretting not waiting for their partner....

Rentarou is a boy which means he has to go headlong into danger. Even though he is not the super one. He is the Promoter but instead of waiting for his partner, the one who can actually handle things effectively, he went in after getting pissed off other people went in without knowing the situation. Yay mean! Turns out the cops were dead (most of them died) and the suspect was not a giant insect person. Whoever the insect person killed or infect they done crawled away before the man in the mask could get a hold of them. So maybe Mr. Mask isn't infecting people with the virus if he is still there...after the fact. One would think he would have made his getaway if that was his intent. More like he was looking for the Gastrea himself. It is never really stated what Mr. Mask is. I assume that he is a Promoter like Rentarou. Just a little more awesome since Rentarou broke his neck....and he lived. Something must make them special but whatever Mr. Mask is he is way more special. Super special. No word on why Rentarou didn't get finished off but Mr. Mask has things to do. Rentarou also didn't go after Mr. Mask because he had things to do. Like not find most of the virus and get sprouts.

Sorry dude, you gonna die.

Enju is Rentarou's Initiator. You know, the cursed child. With the red eyes and what not. Yet she doesn't run very fast. WAIT FOR ME!!! But apparently when you are cursed with the Gastrea virus you can walk/run super fast as one of the victims found her. Yay for process. Good thing Enju fell off the bike. Enju didn't sugar coat it did she? Um you are infected and you are going to die. Sorry victim but soon you will try and kill me. Any last words? RAWWWW surprise you are a bug? That works too. Enju got her butt kicked pretty fast as a red herring. Enough time for Rentarou to around and explain Varanium bullets. So now instead of Resident Evil and shooting them in the head they are werewolves with magical silver bullets. Or you know Enju was just waiting for Rentarou so she could dramatically and quickly save the day. Now...one would think that disposing of the Gastrea virus would be rather important. Maybe it is transmittable to animals and birds can carry it over the lines? But yeah Rentarou doesn't stick around long enough to clean up the mess. Off he and Enju go for some bean sprout sale while the surviving cop and his underling talk more about the plot. Cursed children and magical bullets you know.

Go get our money now!

Since the Initiator/Promoter/Terminator/Motivator situation is not mandated by the government...well I guess the locals got to pay up? Like the Ghostbusters? Only Rentarou waited too long to ask for his payment and quite frankly I don't think he did a good job since he didn't clean up after himself. So his boss Kisara was none too happy with him. Could have at least given the girl some sprouts. I guess it is a good thing business has been slow lately, meaning less virus yes? Kisara and Rentarou talk some more about the plot, how there are more groups out there like them and maybe they can track down the missing source and victim. Also there is some brief talk about how Kisara has to go to the hospital. Me thinks she is infected with the Gastrea but not like the Initiators as she is too old for that. There also seems to be some romance with these two (good as they are the right age....) but Kisara mis-stepped this episode by mentioning the parents. I guess Rentarou is working hard to find them. Or was and now thinks that is the dream of a child and he needs to accept reality. Still Rentarou likes Kisara and Kisara likes Rentarou and the parents are probably long gone.

So you can be born with special powers or turn into a giant spider. I see.

After things ended rather sour like with Kisara Rentarou decided to visit another pro on the Gastrea situation. Hello strange scientist Sumire. She is looking at dead people and making purple food. Because she is weird and we need to make that as obvious as possible. She existed this episode so we could find out more about the Gastrea virus. And put no pep in Rentarou's step to find the possible to other sources out there. Since you know no other group has found them yet. I am glad that Sumire cleared all that up about giant bugs. I was thinking to myself oh yeah bugs can't support their own weight if they were that big or they wouldn't be able to jump. Thanks for explaining something I wasn't even thinking about. But basically the T-virus/Gastrea is a virus that changes the host's DNA very rapidly until in completely changes into something else. Instead of everyone looking like a messed up ax man/huge dude carrying the world's biggest gun EVERYONE is changed into a bug. It's zombies without the zombie. Passed through fluids still and no sign that cutting off a limb would be helpful. Also no explanation where said virus came from. Man made or space? Because this is some messed up virus. Once you are infected it is game over for you and the process continues on. So yeah after 10 years I would not be happily be walking freely in the streets. It would be giant DOMES made of this magical metal, not just....poles. Of course the metal hasn't been explained either. Wonder where that came from.

After 50 percent KA-BOOM bug time!

Anyway Rentarou seems to rely on Sumire quite a bit, despite the fact that she picks on him. She seems out there but has a lot of knowledge on the Gastrea. Enju is the fighter, Rentarou is...the revenge, and Sumire is the brains. Might be the only adult figure we see that isn't a baddie. Since the government isn't interested in protect it's own people. Because that would make sense weeeee! Since it has been 10 years since this attack happened I would expect Sumire to know more, like how these cases can appear inside the confides of the city but this is only episode 1. I guess I can forgive them.

Sorry, can't hear that over all the nonsense!

What might be less forgiving is the BARF factor that comes from Enju and Rentarou's relationship. Or what Enju wants it to be. Reminds me of a certain machine Doll minus the fact that those two were closer in “age”. Yeah the oldest Enju can be is 10. and Rentarou is in high school. Enju jokes that Rentarou should just fail or wait 6 grades so I am guessing that makes him 16. Do you see my face? No folks. No. I could maybe accept a little crush on Rentarou as he is an older boy who is rather handsome but she seems WAY to knowledgeable about sex and other matters. Just gave me the super creepy feelings all over. Almost overshadowed the fact that Enju HAS to get a shot or else the Gastrea virus will take over or the fact that Tokyo is being run by some pop Princess who can't be more than 18. Yeah I see you important details, almost being forgotten because Enju is being inappropriate over sprouts al la everything.

By curse you mean.....here have an easy way to defeat us? If you know...humanity took advantage of it.

The episode ends with things turning back on a serious note. It looks like Enju is a well adjusted girl at school but she is really hiding her true self. That of a Cursed Child. Rentarou has to have a think while biking around. This is where things get a little special. The Gastrea virus can affect pregnant women in different ways. Unlike Dawn of the Dead and hello zombie baby. This only happens to girls, that they bond somewhat with the Gastrea virus. That they can....use the virus to their advantage. Not turning into a giant moth automatically. Thus the drugs. One would think that these kids would make for an excellent weapon against the Gastrea. But yeah.....it seems that these kids are super outcast. Living at the edge of the city with their red eyes. I am going to assume that when Kisara and Rentarou started up their agency they went to this crappy part of town and picked out Enju, one of these cursed kids living on the street. I can understand being AFRAID of these kids but I don't see how leaving them all alone/dramatic like helps the situation. Wouldn't it make more sense if they were all taken care of, raised with love so they would feel obligated to help humanity? At least keep track of them? No? Okay then. So that means Enju has to fear the Gastrea AND humans. Rentarou clearly has picked sides. Where will this lead and how is Mr. Mask involved? Guess we will find out next time.