Blade and Soul Episode 1: THERE IS PLOT!!!!! [First Impression]

Eva’s First Impression:
DAMN THAT WAS BETTER THAN EXPECTED. Not single ounce of fanservice! THERE’S ACTUALLY PLOT! I really hope they will keep it this way because there is definitely great potential in this show! Not to mention great action (a bit too bloody for my taste, but covering my eyes will do).
It was clear as night and day that the village’s blissfully peaceful lives was quickly going to come to an end. It was sad to see people get killed like Koda, Mosa who picked Alka up during their journey to recruit her as a soldier for their village, along with Nagi who seemed plenty nice, as well as it getting burned down to the ground. I think because there was never once any ounce of fanservice that I sincerely appreciated the fact the men weren’t ogling her of any sort. Sure we had the peeking-tom Mosa, but he didn’t say anything dirty and learned his lesson real quick.
Alka is a quiet woman, as one should somewhat expect from an assassin. I particularly liked how we didn’t learn about her all in one scene, but it in little pieces as the episode went on. It was a refreshing approach as oppose to those dramatic introductions that we see a little too often in these types of action shows. By the end of the episode we learned that Alka used to serve the Palam Empire (which did catch me by surprise), supposedly guilty for killing her master (hence she has a bounty on her head) and wants to seek revenge. What is interesting however is the the Palam Empire seems to be threatened by the “Code of the Sword Clan”. They were talking about how they must not underestimate it where as you have Alka at the end of the episode says she will follow the Code. As of right now, we don’t know the details surrounding the Code of the Sword Clan, I can’t help but assume revenge is probably one of them, especially since Alka had pointed out it was the Palam Empire to blame for her master’s death.
The Palam Empire is without a doubt powerful and simply never takes no for an answer. They have been going around to villages to either “buy them out” (if they actually do, I can’t help but be skeptical) or raid their village and kill everyone on the spot. Had Alka not been there when the representatives arrived to get a hold of the village, surely since Morii was going to say no anyways, their deaths would have occurred only a couple hours earlier and Morrii probably would have most likely been killed along with the others. The reason why the Palam Empire have been targeting fertile villages (or at least this one in particular) is because they want to grow and prosper with a flower called Heaven’s Spirit Flower, to cultivate Heaven’s Spirits, which is what is making them so powerful in the first place since it provides them supernatural powers. Considering they come super scary and powerful, Alka somehow manages to fend both herself and Morii and managed to defeat Ganza, either way they are not easy opponents!
Overall I am quite pleased with how the premiere turned out. It will definitely be a fun series to watch action-wise, especially if they don’t prioritize fanservice over plot (that is, if they ever use fanservice, I am crossing my fingers that they won’t but the chances of that happening is quite slim… hahaha!). I am however not entirely sure whether I want to blog this show, but it definitely has caught my interest. I will give this three episodes, especially since this will be a Thursday shows from here on out as oppose to Friday (which is better for me if I do cover it because Saturday is going to be jammed packed depending on how many shows I do end up wanting to blog).
Possibility of Blogging: Moderate
Possiblitiy of Watching: High
Sidekick’s First Impression
This was boring too. Unlike WIXOSS that had good animation, this one looks kinda bad considering how Gainax has been selling it as a sakuga anime. The main girl Aruka has the personality of a doormat. The only thing we’re supposed to remember about her is that she’s hot. The story is cliche too. Evil empire wants to take over the world, and destroy the girl from the extremely powerful clan that seeks to stop their plans. I’ve seen this done way too many times for it to be interesting. In fact, I got really bored and fast-forwarded the episode 10 minutes in.
The animation was alright, nothing brilliant. The music was kinda meh, but I do think it mostly fit the atmosphere of the show. Mixed feelings about the voice-acting too. It just felt a little too fake for me, and lacks a certain grittiness these type of stories need. I can’t remember Aruka’s voice mostly because she had like 5 lines in the entire episode. Which makes her even more boring.
This series has one redeeming factor I guess. It’s that the fanservice isn’t too ‘in your face’. But to say it ISN’T there would be wrong. I mean, doormat girl fought naked against the guy who later pissed his pants from fear (HA HA! HE PISSED HIS PANTS! How funny, we’re breaking new ground with comedy here aren’t we Gonzo?), her ass shows from that cape she’s wearing, there were plenty of boobs in the OP…not that I minded that much though. I was kinda zoned out by the end of the episode.
And geez, piss boy was annoying as shit.
Possibility of Blogging: None whatsoever.
Possiblitiy of Watching: It wasn’t horrible but I doubt it’ll actually be good either. Dropped. 
 Stay Tuned for Oki’s First Impression!