Witchblade

In near-future Japan, amnesiac Masane Amaha is an immature young woman trying to get by on the fringes of society with her precocious six-year-old daughter Rihoko. As she soon discovers, she is also the current generation’s wielder of the Witchblade, an ages-old mystic weapon which only allows itself to be wielded by women. Though it normally appears as a fancy bracelet on her wrist, it can transform into an armored gauntlet and accompanying sexy body armor when awakened. When empowered and influenced by the Witchblade, Rihoko becomes a completely different creature, one who lusts (literally) for battle and can defeat even powerful mecha-like opponents. She quickly draws the attention of two rival organizations who both covet the Witchblade, but Masane’s overriding concern is reuniting and living with Rihoko, who gets taken away from her by the Child Welfare Service. Rihoko, meanwhile, escapes from Child Welfare and hooks up with a freelance photographer investigating a series of grisly murders, ones that soon prove to be connected to the organizations pursuing Masane.

Witchblade represents a curious aberration in anime history. It takes its name, concept, and inspiration from an American comic book, but rather than just remake the same basic premise Gonzo advances the timeline 30 years and tells an entirely original story featuring a previously-unknown wielder – and to top it off, the story is considered canon by Top Cow Enterprises, the American producer of said comic book. This is possible because the Witchblade franchise has a long-established reputation for jumping forward and backward in time to show bearers of the Witchblade at various stages throughout history and the future, so fans of the original comic book are unlikely to bat an eye at the prospect of the series featuring a different wielder than long-time heroine Sara Pezzini or recent replacement Danielle Baptiste. Fans of the comic book are more likely to take issue with some of the stylistic changes done to convert the concept into a viable anime form, but at least the changes aren’t as drastic as those seen in the unrelated Witchblade Takeru manga currently being released in the States.-This new incarnation differs from previous comic book and live-action versions in two key ways: the bearer has a child who figures prominently into the story from the very beginning, and the eroticism always implicit in the franchise has been ramped up to such explicit levels that the first volume carries a TV-MA rating. Witchblade has always featured big-breasted, hot-as-hell female action heroes striking sexy poses, but Gonzo’s production goes two big steps further by making an already-skimpy set of Witchblade armor into something eye-poppingly revealing and turning the use of the Witchblade into a lustful, almost orgasmic experience; this goes well beyond just reveling in the power. It also seems as if Masane is more overwhelmed by the Witchblade than its normal comic book wielders, but her characterization to date has not painted her as a woman of great mental fortitude. (Of course, the comic book Witchblade has been established to have greater corrupting influence on those more pure of heart, so a comic book fan might take that as an indication of Masane’s purity. But is Gonzo capable of being that subtle?)

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