Blue Seed

Plot synopsis:
Momiji Fujimiya thought she was just an ordinary high school student. One day, she is confronted on her way to school by a cat-eyed man with blue magatama beads embedded in his hands, who then attempts to kill her. Momiji is confused and terrified this strange man's sudden desire to kill her; he also refers to her as Kushinada, confusing her even further. Momiji is saved by the sudden appearance of two government officials, one of whom shoots the man in the arm and sends him fleeing.
Momiji is intrigued as to why she was referred to as "Kushinada". She discovers that "Kushinada" refers to an ancient princess whose blood holds the power to stop the ancient monsters known as Aragami by sending them to an eternal sleep. Momiji dismisses the idea that she could be such a person, despite the fact she lives with her mother and grandmother in a shrine in Izumo. However, she soon changes her mind after vines begin to appear from every crack and opening attempting to capture her as they whisper "Kushinada".
Momiji tries to escape, not knowing that the vines are being employed by a powerful Aragami known as Orochi. Fortunately, she is saved by the man with the magatamas embedded into his hands, who introduces himself as Mamoru Kusanagi. He confronts Orochi using Momiji as bait. The plan fails and the government officials appear again. They reveal themselves to be members of the Terrestrial Administration Center (TAC for short), and manage to subdue Orochi. However, with the last of its strength, it makes a final attempt on Kusanagi.
Momiji saves Kusanagi by taking Orochi's blow. Impaled by the Aragami, instead of dying, she is instead fused with the magatama, more specifically identified as a mitama, which gives Momiji the ability to sense the presence of other Aragami. The TAC agents explain that they are an organization dedicated to defeating the Aragami, who seek to destroy humanity. The current Kushinada, Momiji, must aid them because the other Kushinada, Momiji's twin sister, is now dead. Momiji, wishing to discover more about the twin sister she never knew and also to fulfill her destiny, agrees to join the TAC under the protection of Kusanagi, who wishes to destroy his former masters, the Aragami.
The story becomes increasingly complex with the appearance of Murakumo, a man with eight mitamas who kills any Aragami he comes across for his own personal reasons. Kusanagi repeatedly attempts to kill Murakumo. Kaede Kunikida reappears along with a strange energy field in Tokyo, and Murakumo and Kaede's plans soon become clear – they intend to resurrect the god Susanoo and purify the world of humanity's influences, with Kaede acting as the leader of the movement.
There is also a three episode OVA, Blue Seed Beyond, which takes place two years after the end of the TV series. It concerns what seems to be a resurgence of aragami (actually created via biotechnology), and introduces a new character, Valencia Tachibana. Like Kusanagi, she was implanted with a mitama without turning into a full aragami.

Tags: paranormal

Review:
If you like this sort of thing, you'll love this.
I must always say, when dealing with anime, that it's an acquired taste.
Not everyone enjoys it; some folks down right despise it.
But if you enjoy it, well, this is a high quality piece of action/sci-fi.
The american dub is pretty horrendous at spots, and it's a touch gory, but if you can haul through 26 episodes (and that doesn't count the movies), you'll have experienced quite a story line.
It'd be a cardinal sin to spoil it here.
;) Oh, and hang on at the end of each tape for the Omake Theatre.
A series what spoofs itself...amazin' stuff!.
Similar to Neon Genesis, but not quite as artistic.
Blue Seed is a revisionist updating of the Susano-Oh/Yamato-no-Orochi tale, and it is in some ways like Neon Genesis Evangelion (for instance, a main character in each is played by the incredible Megumi Hayashibara).
Giant monsters rampage through Japan (in this case, totally isolated to the country of Japan, unlike Neon, where the entire world is in danger), bent on recreating the world in their own plant-like image.
Like Neon, teenagers are at the center of the struggle-Momiji and her older sister Kaede are the secret weapons against the plant-monster Aragami, who will be banished from the earth if either one of them dies while still a virgin (that's why the mother is safe!
LOL).
If the major complaint with major complaints with Neon Genesis could be summed up with the fact that so many animation sequences are re-used over and over (I got so sick of that damned penguin eating that same fish), then Blue Seed's major fault is that it sticks to the monster-appears/introduce-new-characters/new-weapon-is-created/monster-is-defeated formula for at least ten episodes after the initial two-episode introduction.
Not that they're bad episodes, but they really don't add much to the overall story (though the relationship between Momiji and Kusanagi is deepened).
Neon, even when introducing more characters and sticking to the same formula, was constantly evolving every character and revealing more and more of the government conspiracy and the motivations of Shinji's father.
On the other hand, Neon was much more confusing and didn't really answer all the questions it posed, whereas Blue Seed is more straightforward (this could be a bane or a blessing, depending on your tastes).However, the one thing that Blue Seed has that Neon doesn't is the Omake (`Extra') Theater, a set of thirteen 3-minute self-parodies/music videos that were apparently made for the show when it appeared on video.
Seeing Kusanagi sell semi-nude pictures of Kaede and Momiji to TAC leader Kunikida is so freaking hilarious that I almost died laughing, just as Kusanagi does in a different Omake.
The Susano-Oh OH-NO short and the Jong Jong Majong were also crazy!.
A Very Fun Show.
A very good anime.
Older look, cell-shaded animation style gives it a sort of "classic" look.
It does start a little slow, but that's because the first half dozen or so episodes are written out to help introduce each character.
It really picks up after those.
The music and soundtrack is kind of hit or miss, but its there when it needs to be.
But what I liked most about this series.
It was well planned.
It told the whole story, then ended.
So many anime series go on dragging out every fight far too long and have 100+ episodes and surprisingly little content.
This is a nice self contained story that lifts elements from Japanese folk tales and really hits the spot..
I remember going online and trying to find anime that I might be interested in, and coming across reviews of "Blue Seed".
After reading some reviews it seemed like an anime that was up my ally, action, comedy, some romance and many reviews praised it's story.
So, being excited for a new anime to get invested into, I went and bought the box set and started a weekend of anime.I watched 4 episodes and then pulled the DVD out and went back to get a refund.
This anime is GARBAGE.
I just don't understand why people loved it so much.First, let's get into the artwork.
It's crap.
This, somehow, looks WORSE than Dragonball.
(I apologize if you're a fan of Dragonball, but really, it sucks).
The characters don't look good, the animation is not fluid, and I found myself not interested in any of the artwork except the occasional Aragami.
It's bland and, quite frankly, repulsive.Second, let's look at the story.
THERE ISN'T ONE.
Sure there's something about monsters called Aragami and a Government agency that fights them, but seriously every episode is another monster hunt.
No character development, no deep plot, no plot twists, no emotional impact.
I have read that the story comes in at the last quarter of the series, but to get to it you need to watch the series from the beginning.
I have to sit through over 9 hours of crap to get any story out of this?Let's compare this to a GOOD anime like: FullMetal Alchemist or Mai Hime.
They have their episodes that are fillers, but generally the story is paced out across the entire series and the filler episodes let you get to know the characters better.
Even Full Metal Panic Fumoffu, which didn't really have a central storyline, it was just a bunch of small stories while Sousuke was in school with Chidori, had better situations than this crap.
(By the way, Full Metal Panic is another excellent anime series).In this series you don't get anything more out of the characters.
The main girl, Momiji, is a whiny little girl who is clumsy and always complains about her panties being shown off when she falls down, and yet she still wears ridiculously short skirts.
BORING.
Considering that she's supposed to be the main character in which the story hinges on, this is intolerable.There were other characters, but in reality NONE of them were interesting enough to make them memorable, hence I already forgot about them.Honestly I'm baffled by the reviews I've seen for this series.
It's dull, boring, and it doesn't look good.
I only see this as being enjoyable by all those people who love Dragonball, Pokemon, and other worthless anime series of the same like.
If you want to see a GOOD anime series watch FullMetal Alchemist, FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood (which is closer to the Manga, but really just read the Manga), Full Metal Panic, Chrono Crusade, Mai Hime, Scrapped Princess, or Witch Hunter Robin and leave this crap in the garbage where it belongs..
not a bad spoiler just info on what it's like..
I think that with any anime it generally sounds better with the original voice actors (ie the Japanese) and having English subs...
which is how OI watch most of my anime...
It may be good for the non Japanese watchers (or those who don't know a lot about Japanese myths) to look up Blue Seed on Wikipedia (link: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Seed)) and look at the parts about the Kusanagi (link: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susanowo)) It will give you some back ground information before you actually watch it...
beware this is another "Japan/Tokyo is the Centre of the Universe" story...
L.O.L. It's kinda like InuYasha...
Myths, High School Girl, Guy, Weapons of mass destruction, love, "Miko's" (Priestess), monsters.....
Whats not to like...
by the way...
lots of pantie shots...
God, can that girl keep them on while she is getting into a fight/almost being killed.