Line #21 Anime/Blassreiter


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/0e87808cb797ffc95868c1f86effca4e_thumb2.jpg]]
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3	->''"You should just crush them in your other form."''
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5	Look TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. When a violent, monstrous cyborg runs loose on a German motorcycle racing track, hero champion Gerd Frentzen is crippled, seemingly for life. But he gets better with the help of a mysterious woman, reviving as a super-powered cyborg himself. After the paparazzi catch him turning Demoniacs (the afore-mentioned monstrous cyborgs) into properly pwned ashes, the media hails him as [[MessianicArchetype the Messiah]]. However, there is more to his miraculous comeback than meets the eye, and he's not the only super-cyborg on the block...hell, he's not even one of the strongest, [[DecoyProtagonist because this show is not about him]]...
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7	Feels like a ''Franchise/KamenRider'' series animated by the same guys as ''Anime/{{Vandread}}'' or ''Anime/StrainStrategicArmoredInfantry'', with an intriguing and heartrending story spiced with eye-catching battle scenes. There is a powerful social message folded into this vividly animated seinen action series, made even more shocking by its reality. There's the main conflict of humanity trying to earn its right to survive against the rise of its "evolution," the profanely powerful Amalgams, which is impressive enough in its execution to stand alone. Then, entwined within the personal stories of the characters is a dramatic exploration of the kind of elitist, anti-immigrant, xenophobic oppression [[TruthInTelevision you KNOW happens in real life]], which adds an entirely new depth and impact to the work.
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9	Produced by {{Creator/GONZO}} in 2008, and like most of their other works, highly underrated.
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11	----
12	!!''Blassreiter'' contains examples of:
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14	%%* ActionGirl: Amanda and Beatrice
15	%%* AffablyEvil: Xargin
16	* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The BigBad completely overruns the XAT base.
17	* AllYourPowersCombined: Deceased [[spoiler:Gerd and Hermann]] take over Joseph's body in the FinalBattle while he hovers between life and death.
18	%%* AncientConspiracy: Not too ancient, but still counts.
19	* AnyoneCanDie: This is a work written by "[[Creator/GenUrobuchi Gen (The Butcher) Urobuchi]]". Of course there is a high body count.
20	* ApocalypseWow:
21	** It's even ''called'' so. What with ''Pale Rider'' and all.
22	** HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: Sword Rider (War), Scale Rider (Famine), Bow Rider (Conquest) and Pale Rider (Death) (in the meaning "Pale Rider {{nano\|Machines}}bots" it would be Pestilence, but then there's ''The Pale Rider'', or "[[TitleDrop Blassreiter]]").
23	*** Interestingly, this trope could thematically apply to 4 central characters: Gerd (White-Conquest), Joseph (Blue/Black-Famine), [[spoiler: Hermann]] (Red-War), and Xargin (Pale-Death). The first 3 even have {{Cool Bike}}s as their mounts, while Xargin rides an actual horse.
24	* AscendedFanboy: [[spoiler:Malek]]
25	* AssholeVictim: Malek and Johann's upperclassmen become this when they get subjected to Malek's Amalgam powers.
26	* AsTheGoodBookSays: Xargin has a habit of spontaneously quoting Scripture. Joseph does some quoting himself in the last episode.
27	* AteHisGun: [[spoiler: Al, post-resurrection,]] as well as one of the XAT RedShirts when he starts to transform.
28	* AuthorAppeal: Someone clearly likes motorcycles. And big breasts, but that's a {{Creator/GONZO}} thing.
29	* BackFromTheDead:
30	** [[spoiler:Hermann, Al, Sasha]]; though they eventually end up being KilledOffForReal.
31	** Also [[spoiler:absolutely everyone]] in the last scene, but that one is justified since [[spoiler:they're clearly holograms, and there's no reason to assume it was anything other than a way to make Amanda feel better]].
32	* BadassBiker: Joseph, Gerd, and Hermann.
33	* BadassLongcoat: Hermann and Xargin.
34	* BatmanCanBreatheInSpace: Amalgams or at least Beatrice can survive in space unassisted by anything other than their powers.
35	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Malek is a genuinely nice guy, but you seriously do ''not'' want him after you, as his upperclassmen found that out the hard way.
36	* BigBad: Magwald Xargin, most powerful of all the Amalgams, aims to KillAllHumans and replace them with Amalgams as revenge for the discrimination he and the immigrant population suffered.
37	* BlessedWithSuck: Becoming an Amalgam will make you unbelievably strong, but will also very likely make you a genocidal psychopath.
38	* BreakTheCutie: Poor, poor [[spoiler:Malek]].
39	* BringMyBrownPants: When Malek unleashes his new powers to the three upperclassmen who drove [[spoiler:Johann]] to commit suicide, one of them understandably wets himself in terror.
40	* CharacterDevelopment: Malek is the only character that changes much over the series, with everyone else more getting character reveals through flashbacks. Still, he goes from an angsty wimp agonizing over why God won't solve his problems for him to a decidedly heroic [[spoiler:AscendedFanboy who succeeds Joseph]].
41	* ChekhovsGun:
42	** The bullet that Brad carries around his neck [[spoiler: is later used to MercyKill his old partner, Lena]].
43	** After [[spoiler: the fall of the XAT]], Amanda paints Al, Brad and Lena's names onto the top of her TransformingMecha, and soon after the kanji for the word 'Bond' gets added. [[spoiler: This later serves to snap Al out of his amalgam-induced FaceHeelTurn.]]
44	* CoolBike: {{Shapeshifting}} ''jet'' bike with smart and talkative [[subscript:and [[FairySexy cute]]]]... err... "auto-pilot".
45	* DarkActionGirl: Beatrice
46	* DarkIsNotEvil: Joseph looks pretty shady for a hero, and the way his partner keeps talking... And even Snow looks quite demonic when transformed.
47	* DarkMessiah: Xargin. For crying out loud, his {{Leitmotif}} sounds like goddamned ''angels singing''.
48	* DeadlyUpgrade: Joseph has two, one where they inject something into him to increase his rage and power , and another one in the final battle, where he takes a pill said to kill any amalgam.
49	* DeathByOriginStory: Sasha. [[spoiler: She gets better.]]
50	* TheDogBitesBack: After attaining his Amalgam powers, Malek ends up killing the upperclassmen who insulted him and Johann for being immigrants to the point of driving the latter to commit suicide.
51	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Johann, Malek's]] only friend, which finally manages to BreakTheCutie.
52	* DyingAsYourself: [[spoiler:All the Amalgamized XAT members;]] one RedShirt even kills himself after he starts Amalgamizing in a combination of this trope and HeroicSacrifice.
53	* EmergencyTransformation: Done to Joseph, by the very guy who made it ''necessary'', Xargin.
54	* ExtraOreDinary: One of main [[BlessedWithSuck advantages]] the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Pale Rider]] [[TheVirus series]] of [[NanoMachines low-level]] body [[SuperSoldier augmentation]] gives its [[ZombieInfectee users]] is ability to [[BodyHorror harmoniously meld]] with equipment such as vehicles and weapons, [[ViralTransformation automatically building]] intuitively learnable interface that feels natural, instead of all those unwieldy mechanical controls.
55	* FairySexy: Elea has a rather ''interesting'' looking [[ProjectedMan avatar]].
56	* FinalBattle: An appropriately epic one, at that.
57	* FinalGirl: Practically {{invoked\|Trope}} with [[spoiler:Amanda]].
58	* FriendOrFoe:
59	** XAT doggedly diverts their resources to the big hunt for Joseph. Even when he prefers to be fired at than to hurl a XAT operative or two over yonder house or something. They don't think it's a good idea to stop after he [[spoiler:[[TakingTheBullet took a bullet]] protecting an InnocentBystander when ''XAT's own sniper'' failed to check what's around his target]].
60	** In XAT's defense, Amanda was the only one to come to this revelation, and seeing as they'd just seen Joseph surrounded by sliced and diced cops, she was the only one who was still ready to accept the possibility he might be different from ALL the other Amalgams so far encountered.
61	* GratuitousEnglish: The opening, "amalgam" is an old English word.
62	* GratuitousGerman: "Amalgam" is a modern (if technical) German word, too. "Blassreiter" does translate to "Pale Rider" ("Blasser Reiter" would've been actually correct, but still stilted German), more or less, but completely lacks the badass connotations of the latter. Justified, as the setting is actually Germany.
63	* HarmfulHealing: Gerd accepts a "secret experimental wonder pill" from a stranger, reasonably guessing that whatever it is, things aren't going to be any worse for a half-paralyzed racing champion ditched by his girlfriend. Turns out that it was not quite a correct assumption, even though he got to ride a bike again.
64	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Al, Brad, Lena, the Apocalypse Knights in grand fashion.]]
65	-->"That's the way it is. Some people live, and some people get [[LampshadeHanging eternal bragging rights]] [[DyingMomentOfAwesome for escorting them to safety]]."
66	* HeroKiller: Xargin, most evident when he [[spoiler: marches on Zwolf Castle with an army of 30,000 demoniacs, only to walk into the castle himself and effortlessly crush everything in his way, including a recently powered-up Joseph that said army paralyzed with fear]].
67	* HeroWithBadPublicity: Joseph
68	* HeterosexualLifePartners: Al and Brad
69	* HotBlooded: Hermann...just...''Hermann''
70	* JapaneseDelinquents: The series features a group of delinquents who antagonize everyone in their path from fellow schoolmates to [[AdultsAreUseless Useless Adults]] with no fear of reprisal (their ability to manipulate characters and to escape karmic retribution is rage-inducing, but largely for how obvious a rage plant they are). Physical and verbal [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] abound, in addition to [[spoiler: [[DrivenToSuicide forcing Malek's friend Johann to commit suicide]]]]. These three school seniors seem to run their neighborhood, and for all we know Japan, with an iron fist [[spoiler: until their reign eventually comes to an end as Malek fittingly murders them during the second arc of the series, but]] the sour taste of their deeds doesn't wash out right away, as much a result of the implausibility of their overblown [[KickTheDog dog-kicking]] as the heinousness of it.
71	* KarmicDeath: The upperclassmen are killed by Malek, the very same person they ridiculed for being an immigrant.
72	* KickTheDog: The upperclassmen often insult Malek and Johann for being immigrants [[spoiler:which drove Johann to commit suicide]]. [[TheDogBitesBack This one turns out to be a bad idea.]]
73	* KilledOffForReal: Pretty much [[spoiler:the entire cast outside of Amanda and Malek]].
74	** However, [[spoiler:[[BackFromTheDead their mind come back]], first on the protagonist's body, and then as holograms.]]
75	* MeaningfulName: ''Joseph Job''son - two men in the Old Testament best known for the suffering they endured. Joseph is also the name of Jesus' adoptive father, fitting as [[spoiler: he acts as a sort of father figure to Malek, who helps usher in an age of peace between humans and Amalgams by the show's end.]]
76	** [[Literature/TheDivineComedy Beatrice]], for darkly ironic purposes.
77	* MessianicArchetype: Gerd, according to the general populace; [[spoiler:Joseph]], according to the ones that know what the hell is going on.
78	* TheMenInBlack: XAT
79	* MidSeasonUpgrade: Joseph gets one shortly before the FinalBattle.
80	* MonsterOfTheWeek: the Demoniacs, kind of...
81	* MoreThanMindControl: Wolf's StartOfDarkness involved Beatrice seducing him, taking advantage of the confusion and paranoia resulting from the changes going on in his body and mind, and stroking his... ego.
82	* MoralityPet: Malek
83	* MuggingTheMonster: The upperclassmen really shouldn't have insulted Malek and Johann for being immigrants.
84	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot:
85	** A living human who catches TheVirus becomes a Ninja Robot, and when the dead are reanimated with that same virus they become everything except the pirate part.
86	* OhCrap: Malek's upperclassmen are utterly shocked when Malek demonstrates his Amalgam powers and is about to kill them.
87	* TheOnlyOne: As one of the strongest living Amalgams, Joseph seems to be the only one capable of maintaining his sanity and compassion to defend humanity, since [[spoiler: the only other Amalgams on his side eventually either have to be put down or don't survive TheDragon]].
88	* OrphansPlotTrinket
89	* OurMonstersAreDifferent: The Demoniac {{Mooks}} are basically nanotech [[TheUndead Zombies]].
90	* PayEvilUntoEvil: After Malek gains his powers, he kills off the upperclassmen to [[spoiler:exact revenge on what they did to him and Johann]].
91	* PetTheDog: Xargin spares [[spoiler: Shido]] because he knows that [[spoiler: Shido gave up his own body to save his children's lives.]]
92	* TheQuietOne: Joseph doesn't talk much, but when he gets going he's sure to either teach you something or break your friggin' heart.
93	* RedOniBlueOni:
94	** Hermann's red to Amanda's blue.
95	** Hermann and Joseph also fit this description, [[spoiler: particularly after the former gets Amalgamized.]]
96	* ScreamDiscretionShot: One of the upperclassmen who ridiculed Malek screams just before the latter kills them.
97	* SpoilerOpening: Oh, were you wondering if that guy with the strange blue scar and the heroic blue Amalgam were somehow connected? Guess what? They're the same! Though, seriously, you should have picked up on that pretty quickly...
98	* StartOfDarkness: Xargin seemed to be such a nice, [[AllLovingHero selflessly benevolent]] guy at first. Gerd tried to remain a good guy too, and maybe could make it, if [[BitchInSheepsClothing some of his good friends]] had not helped him to fall.
99	* {{Stripperiffic}}: Beatrice loves to play up her sex appeal for all its worth, and Amanda takes every opportunity she can to unzip her XAT jumpsuit enough to let her assets breathe. And that's not even counting what Amanda wears when she's OFF duty.
100	%%* ThisWasHisTrueForm: Snow, for extra KickTheMoralityPet - MyGodWhatHaveIDone value.
101	* TooDumbToLive: The upperclassmen get killed by Malek's newly awakened powers after mocking him and Johann for being immigrants. Seriously, what were they thinking?
102	* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Malek]] is implied to have taken a few to replace [[spoiler:Joseph]] in the epilogue.
103	* TranshumanTreachery: Anyone who becomes an amalgam eventually either [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity goes insane]], [[BrainwashedAndCrazy turns on his friends]], or is an AllLovingHero.
104	* TheUnchosenOne: There's going to be an [[spoiler:''Apocalypse'']]. Only, you see, it's not quite behind the next corner and we're a bit impatient. So, let's make it up right now if we can, eh? Because we're sure it's ''our'' sacred duty to be The Hand Of Destiny and all that. Who if not our righteous selves?
105	* TheVirus: BrainwashedAndCrazy: Pale Rider ''will'' cause nasty hallucinations, as well as bouts of UnstoppableRage, paranoia, power-drunkinnes and whatever, given half a chance.
106	%%* WarriorPoet: Joseph and Xargin, on both sides of the issue
107	%%* WhatMeasureIsANonhuman: one of the main issues of the series
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Context Anime / Blassreiter