Anime: Divergence Eve

Appropriately enough, Divergence Eve exists in two universes. In one, it's a serious, realistic science fiction show, while in another it's a piece of lighthearted fanservice. This might be a promising combination, if the second half weren't so dreadfully implemented.

What makes this all the more tragic is that the story is almost flawless. In many ways, this half of Divergence Eve is Neon Genesis Evangelion done right. The plot is sprawling and convoluted - but it's also tightly woven, with every scene relevant in some way to the whole, and all the threads coming together at the end. (A truly critical viewer could accuse the ending itself of being a slight cop-out, but it resolves all the important plot, and some degree of openness is acceptable given that there is a second series) The pacing is brilliant, slow and brooding but menacing at every turn. It manages to sustain real tension throughout the show, with the help of some very fitting background music; we get a real sense of being trapped on a space station, with nowhere to go, and a monstrous enemy slowly but surely wearing us down.

Of course, the slow pace means the show needs something else to fill the time, and this is where the other half should pick up. But unfortunately, it doesn't. The intent was probably to make this a fanservice show (and certainly it's been marketed as one), but the makers seem to have no idea how to go about that. So we get comically oversized breasts on all the characters, and they spend too much time in their underwear. But it's thoroughly sensible underwear, covering everything, and worn in fairly appropriate situations (the gym, while piloting the mecha and to sleep in), and none of the girls are the slightest bit self-confident about it, so this comes across as a bunch of soldiers being practical rather than anything more interesting. If anything, their full uniforms are more titillating - the short skirts might possibly expose something they were trying to keep hidden - but of course this is entirely undermined by the amount of time they spend without them. The giant breasts, meanwhile, only serve to dehumanize the characters; this could be a brilliant ploy to make the series subtly more disturbing (in which case it works), but is far more likely to be plain incompetence.

The absence of any erotic undertones is not in itself bad, but there's nothing to replace it either. Here the comparison to Evangelion works against the show - Eva had plenty of dramatic character interactions to fill in the downtime between action sequences, but Divergence Eve has... nothing. The four pilots at the centre of the series are virtually interchangeable, and the rest of the cast aren't much better. In part this is a result of trying to do too much in too little time - while there is only one true lead, Misaki, there are at least six characters in the next "tier" down, and a few more who play major roles within particular "mini-arcs". In a longer series, or with a more interesting lead, this might work. But there simply isn't enough time to give the secondary cast any depth, and Misaki is too plain, the clumsy girl who tries hard that we've seen a thousand times before. The series' tightly woven plot now works against it: Misaki's screentime is too often in her role as a plot device rather than a character, so while we learn a lot of her backstory we're left with no real sense of her personality. The same is true for the character interactions; all their conversations are backstory or plot, none gives us any feeling of humanity. While there is conflict between characters, even on the same side, it's always plot and never personal. I can't help feeling this is exacerbated by the lack of even a hint of romance, a consequence of the (almost) all-female cast.

This might not be enough to sink the series, were its presentation up to scratch. It's hard to find fault with the music; the aforementioned excellent background scoring is joined by a very stylish opening theme, which does a lot to set the tone for the show. (It also reminds me quite a lot of Command & Conquer, an impression boosted by the opening visuals, with the briefly-shown profiles of each character). Meanwhile the ending theme really does seem to have come from a different series, being an upbeat dance piece which thoroughly clashes with the unrelentingly grim (and often surprisingly violent) show. But this brutal dissonance has its own charm, and the song itself grew on me over the course of the series. Unfortunately, the voice acting doesn't live up to this, with already indistinct characters being further hampered by very similar voices, and too little sense of emotional involvement from most of the cast.

The worst offender by far, though, is the animation. While there is nothing wrong at first glance (aside from the silly proportions of the character designs), on second glance we see what must be a shockingly low keyframe count. There's simply hardly any motion in most scenes, with long shots of character faces and the like filling much of the episodes. A lot of the time this is appropriate, and it does contribute to the deliberate pace that is one of the show's strong points, but there's not even a single good scene to show that there was any kind of animation budget. Perhaps it was all spent on the pervasive CG sequences, used for all the action scenes, but if so this was a poor bargain; they look far worse than those of Lost Universe, several years before. The mecha are too toylike; even for their small size, their arms and legs move far too fast, and they turn on the head of a pin. Adding to the sense of unreality is that many sequences are done without backgrounds, usually against a pure white backdrop. In the most offensive case, a confrontation between Misaki and several enemy mecha supposedly on a planet takes place on a "flowing brown static" background like something out of Final Fantasy 4, destroying the impact of what should have been quite an emotional scene. Even the better sequences look very videogamey, with the too-smooth motion that was common in late '90s animé but has no place in a series postdating GitS:SAC.

This is made particularly galling by the careful realism of the designs. The mecha are the smallest and most practical I've ever seen in animé, by far, but there's no matching grittiness to the combat; in fact, we hardly see any damage at all. The Terminator-style implacable advance of the bad guys is probably supposed to be menacing, but with their stubby limbs, toylike motion and complete intellectuality it just comes off as silly. Neither side's guns seem to damage the other, leaving us wondering whether the masterplan was to mob the heroes and carry them away. The oversmooth CGI is less of a problem for the spaceships, wonderfully boxy and practical things, a triumph of function over form. And the station itself, with its globular, near-cylindrical design, manages to be both beautiful and thoroughly practical.

This realism is another of the things that makes the story so great; never before have I seen such a carefully reasoned explanation for faster than light travel. It's based on the cutting edge of real physics, which of course may make it laughable in a few more decades, if current theories prove incorrect). The other technological advances are carefully balanced, with nothing that seems beyond near-future capabilities; the laser system that plays a central role in the plot is powerful, but finicky and requires constant maintenance, while the mechas use ordinary bullets. This coherent technology level makes us more forgiving towards the end: the enemy mecha's origin is revealed as something out of a B-movie, but with impeccable justification, and a plot-crucial technology is not mentioned at all until episode eleven - but it's consistent with the technology level of the rest of the show. Even the background technobabble is carefully thought out, with Fourier transforms and normalization being used for exactly the kind of things they apply to in real life.

Which makes the final result all the more tragic. Divergence Eve has a genuinely brilliant story, a dazzlingly twisted saga as mindblowing as anything else out there, yet ultimately coherent and even realistic, and perfectly paced to boot. But that alone is not enough, and the show lacks anything to fill the rest of its time. Remade with better characters and animation, this could be truly great. I can't even say it's a bad series as it stands - the story alone lifts it to being a better than average show for its age, which should give you some idea of how superb it might have been. But watching how such a brilliant starting point turned out is even more depressing than the story itself.

(Writers note: If you read this review, RATE this review. Authors thrive on feedback, whether it be a simple happy face, or an in-depth critique.)

Divergence Eve is an unusual beast. Its flaws are plentiful, from the humongous breasts of the women, to the bland and one-dimensional supporting characters, to the jarringly bad 3-D computer animation. However, these flaws did not detract from my enjoyment of the series. The horror is horrifying, the characters are likable, and the story is engrossing. Any flaw can be forgiven if you’re having a good time, right?

The hand-drawn animation in Eve is very well done. The characters move fluidly, and are attractively drawn. There are quite a few still frames used, but not enough to be bothersome. There is one big flaw in the hand-drawn animation; one which this series is famous for. Yes, I am talking about the breasts. The breasts of the female characters, barring the android, are such that if the characters existed in real life, they would be unable to walk. They are absolutely humongous, and take some getting used to, as do their constant ecchi jiggling whenever they’re on screen. As a man, I found this amusing rather than annoying, and was not distracted by them after the initial shock. Women, however, will probably want to stay away from this series.

The CGI is very badly done, and is one of the few flaws that detracted from the series. It blends poorly with the hand-drawn images, and is a bit of an eyesore until, like the huge breasts, I got used to it. My reaction to the appearance of the Ghoul in the first episode was very different than my reaction to them later in the series. This is partly because in the first episode, the Ghoul engages in melee combat, while in most of the other episodes, it is fought with lasers and containment fields. The melee fighting serves only to showcase how bad the CGI is, with both contestants merely grabbing each other and rolling about on screen. The laser combat and use of the containment field is far less distracting.

The opening song is a real grabber. It’s a kinetic little rock/industrial instrumental mix, which sets the tone rather well. The ending song, on the other hand, is a bit of an enigma. It is the most jarringly out of place ending theme I have ever seen or heard, and yet… it is so much fun that I don’t care. Divergence Eve is mainly a horror/drama, with a bit of CGI action interspersed throughout. The ending theme, however, would fit very comfortably at the end of a comedy harem anime. It is a perky little kiddy song, played to equally kidified images of Misaki, the main character, playing in a park, driving a car, playing on the beach, cooking a stew… things so far removed from her actions in the series as to defy belief. However, it is such a fun little segment that I just don't care how out of place it was, watching it in its entirety in every episode.

The sound effects escaped my attention, which is a good thing. The music during each episode, especially during the horror moments, does its part in setting the tone without drawing attention to itself.

The story is interesting enough, while at the same time not being particularly deep or moving. Earth has set up an outpost deep in space, called the Watcher’s Nest, to oversee the entrance to another universe; a universe where time and space are not entirely stable. A ship can pass through one of these entrances and instantly travel multiple light years in an instant, exiting at another hole elsewhere in our own universe. This is explained fairly poorly, but those who have seen their fair share of Star Trek will be able to grasp the sci-fi basics involved rather easily. Out of these holes come Ghouls, giant nasty space monsters that serve the same purpose as the Aliens in the Alien series: To give the characters something to fear.

To deal with this problem are four cadets, only one of who actually matters: Misaki. In the first episode, Misaki turns into a giant Ghoul-like monster in order to fight another Ghoul. The rest of Divergence Eve is basically flashback, like Berserk, documenting the events that lead up to Misaki’s transformation. I found the story interesting, though not particularly suspenseful. Like the animation, even though there are a handful of noticeable plot holes, they did not detract from my enjoyment of the series.

Part of the horror genre relies on the audience having a vague, possibly voyeuristic fascination with death, and the way in which people can die. Divergence Eve contains a death seen I have never seen before, which both shocked and horrified me in a way I’ve come to expect from a good horror movie or anime. One of the characters in Eve is eaten by a Ghoul. This is not a big surprise, considering the genre. However, unlike Elfen Lied, which went with the more classic graphic gore route, Eve goes with the far more horrifying psychological route. We hear the bones crunching, and the victim gasps slowly turn to a kind of gurgling. We see the blood begin to pour out, occasionally splattering as the Ghoul continues to eat. This is still quite typical of the genre. What is new to the scenario is the eyes. We see a close of up the victim’s eyes, terrified and screaming, “I’m being eaten alive!”. Suddenly, blood sprays into the victim’s eye… and it’s over. The sound, the animation, the innuendo, the implication, the sheer terror in the victim’s eyes… all I can say is WOW. Just when I had thought Rotten.com had numbed me to all things death-related, I find something truly horrifying in a single one-minute scene from an animated TV series. There are other, similar moments in Eve, but that is the only one I am still thinking about a day later. I will likely be ruminating on it for weeks to come.

The characters would be yet another problem with Divergence Eve if they mattered in the slightest. The only person that really matters is Misaki. Anything that happens to the supporting cast is thought of, by the audience, only in terms of how it effects Misaki. This actually works for the series, since Misaki is the most interesting character. She is likable and empathetic, and her emotions are easily felt by the audience. When a character Misaki cares for is hurt or killed, the emotional impact does not set in until we see Misaki’s reaction.

The human villains in Eve are a young genius doctor named Prim, and LeBlanc, the Lieutenant Commander who is second in command. Prim is interesting as the guilt-ridden pawn who spends most of her day doubting the logic of the Lt Commander’s orders. LeBlanc is similar to a Shakespearean comedy villain, whose main personality trait is that he smiles malevolently for the entire time he’s on screen, and is basically evil to the core for some unexplained reason. LeBlanc is cliché, but effective as a counterpoint to Misaki’s wholesome personality.

Bad CGI, an out of place ending theme, and a supporting cast of one-dimensional characters. So why did I like it? To tell you the truth, I'm not sure. However, I am greatly anticipating watching the second season right after I finish writing this review, which would be right about… now.

The first thing you'll probably see is that the breasts of the girls are insanely big, which is very disappointing. Still, the story kind of makes up for it.

The animation for the backgrounds is nice, the CG for the surroundings is pretty decent, until you see the ghouls ... that CG is truly hideous, comparable with the graphics from the game 'Killer Instinct', which was good for 1995, but to release something like that at this time is bad enough to trash immediately.
The characters are done nicely, except for the annoying huge boobs, which caused this title to be unofficially nicknamed Boobs in Space by the AR community.
In the end, considering the 2 huge flaws, I cannot give the animation more than a 5, looking at the possibilities they have with CG and animators and still doing such a bad job.

The sound is good. Although the OP-song is instrumental only, it is pacey, strong and immediately sets a certain atmosphere of sci-fi which is a good thing for this series. The ED-song on the other hand was remarkable wrong ... and probably the character designer insisted on having an ecchi-fanservice ending. He might not have known it was a S-F series... ;)
The voiceactors are okay. Every now and then the screams and the grunts are a bit over the top, but that's hardly worth mentioning.
I have to admit that the voiceactors are chosen exceptionally well. The main characters actually have varying voices, where Luxandra has a bit of a whisky-voice and the Major has a very harsh tone.

The story has two things: plot and atmosphere. The atmosphere is tense, you can easily feel the excitement when the story evolves and together they make up for quite some nice watch. The only thing this anime lacks is a decent finish; the ending is a bit ... unfinished, or perhaps just too creative. I myself believe that there will be a second season, based on the ending, although there are no rumors about that yet.
The characters in the anime are most of the time pretty okay, except for a few characters (Jean-Luc Leblanc was really flat, even for a character
which showed up so often).

Character development is okay. Nothing outstanding and some characters leave the same way as they got introduced, but they do the job. The worst thing was the character design though. Looking at their breasts, which were easily mistaken for spaceshuttles itself, the design of them was just ugly for a serious anime like this. They would've fit better when used in a fanservice/ecchi-anime or even in hentai, but definitely not in this anime. This is mainly the reason why this anime didn't get any decent mark.
The character development on the other side was pretty okay. Even though there were a few characters which were given way too much time without any useful addition (LeBlanc for instance, or Kim), others like Luxandra and Suzanna had quite some nice parts in the series. Just too bad that the characters never evolved that much that they could be considered good.

Rewatching this series will only focus more and more on seeing the boobs, or perhaps less when you get used to them (yes, you do get used to them). The story shows too much to keep you hooked for a second sitting though, so the only rewatch value would be the music/tensity combination which is really good for this show. So I doubt this is an anime you should keep around for a long time.

Did I enjoy this anime? In a way, yes and no ... I had serious doubts to continue this series after watching 1 or 2 episodes, since the boobs were seriously disturbing and diverted my attention from the story to the boobs. After watching a few more episodes, the story became better and better, with some interesting twists and that got me hooked after all. Of course it's nothing like cliffhangers, but it was interesting enough to finish it. But with a rating I have to weigh the annoyance of the boobs against the plot/story, and the same goes for the music against the hideous CG, so I suppose I got more annoyed than entertained. But that doesn't mean this anime is bad - on the contrary. The story is good enough to get a decent status in sci-fi, although it's more likely to go into historybooks as 'Boobs in Space'.

Enjoy this spoiler free review.

Animation: Well, the CG is horrible. It looks like something a high school student badly in need of funds would do. Put another way it looks like first gen PSX cgi on a bad day. The anime animation on the other hand is quite good, well drawn well coloured, well detailed, much like Amazing Nurse Nanako was.

Sound: Excellent. The music always sounds professional and refelects the mood, the voice actors all do a good job, no "phoned in I'm not getting paid enough so I don't care" half-assed voicejobs here. And the characters sound like they SHOULD sound... the captain is a gruff army sounding 40s-ish guy for example. It really helps the suspension of disbelief.

Story: Fantastic. This is a suspenseful horror sci-fi series. Lots of well done twists and turns, particularly since you start just before the last episode. ;)

Character: VERY well done. The characters are multi-faceted and over the course of the series you get to see the different layers of all of them, seeing them at their best AND at their worst, an important part of quality character development. Yes the ladies are insanely stacked but it doesn't detract from the series. And if you expand what you learn during the events of the series it actually does make sense (no I'm not gonna tell you what I mean, watch the damn series yourself) ;)

Value: I'd say it has a lot of rewatch value. Yes the CG is horribly campy, but the show itself is very well done/rpoduced. Hell, I recommend re-watching ep 1 just before ep 13 to see how many things click into place the 2nd time.

Enjoyment: Definitely an enjoyable series. Great storyline, characters you care about... giant boobs (if you happen to be a pervert) ;), etc etc etc. Get this series, you'll never regret it.

Side note: the only thing that didn't really... click was the ending song/animation. The opening song/animation fits PERFECTLY but the ending song/animation is... sooooo beyond genki that it just doesn't fit. Ah well.