If GUNDAM and STARSHIP TROOPERS had a baby, that child's name would be BLUE GENDER. And what a creepy and dangerous infant it would be.

From its opening scenes, the grim worldview and stark action of BLUE GENDER is quickly established. Kaido Yuji entered a state of suspended animation years ago hoping that medical science would find a cure for his terminal disease. He awakens to find himself being rushed down a corridor by masked individuals as the humans are chased by a screeching, hulking beast with more claws and teeth than you'd normally except to see in nature. Only after being rescued by a woman piloting a ferocious mech does Yuji discover that enormous insect-like creatures known as the Blue have nearly wiped out all of humanity, and his rescuers have some ulterior motive in releasing him from his hibernation.

BLUE GENDER offers harrowing scenes of the Blue-infested Earth, as these creatures can eat anything but they prefer human snacks after crushing corpses together in big green balls of goo. Humanity is clearly losing this battle, and even giant robots can't seem to turn the tide. I am for one am intrigued to see where this plotline is going, as I haven't seen an anime as grim and depressed as this one since, well, GASARAKI (which was a previous project many of GENDER's staff also worked on.)

Unlike a previous review here at EX, I was fairly impressed with GENDER's animation and sense of pace. This was a television production, so you shouldn't expect cinema quality animation, but the scenes were still highly detailed and powerfully detailed. The directors' exquisite use of colors and shadows also deserves mention, particularly the scenes with greenish or bluish light that marvelously increased the gloomy and doomed atmosphere of certain dramatic moments.

This North American DVD presentation gets high marks as well, with excellent video and audio quality. The English dub work was above average, and one feature this DVD offers, which I for one have never seen before, was an audio commentary track by some of the American actors. It was interesting to hear Yuji's actor discuss how much of his role involved simply screaming his fool head off in the first episode. However, much of this commentary really amounted to the actors contrasting these roles with their previous work on DRAGONBALL Z (which only makes any sense if you follow DRAGONBALL, which I do not.)

All in all though, with a grisly high body count, a morose cast of characters and plenty of intense action, I recommend BLUE GENDER to anyone who's looking for some anime science fiction that doesn't involve cute high school girls or nigh indestructible mechs. (Not that there's anything wrong with those qualities—I love them as much as anyone—but BLUE GENDER is a nightmarishly evocative change of pace.)