Darkside Blues (1994)

This is yet another one of those films where if I say I didn't like it, people will say, I didn't get it. But I didn't get it, and it wasn't an entertaining enough film to compel me to watch the DVD repeatedly trying to unravel this mess of hokey symbolism.We never get more than stock characters, a mysterious stranger who might be the key to changing everything, and a band of young rebels who want to tear down the evil corporation that has taken over the world. And even more clichéd the villainess had a pet falcon. Just once I want to a see a bad guy with a pet bunny rabbit or chipmunk. In any event I never got to the point where I cared about any of the heroes. When Darkside Blue tries to add something to this overused formula the result is confusing.

Being a huge fan of an anime and always desperate to watch as much of it as possible, I must say that this one was lame. I didn't like animation, didn't like the plot and didn't like the characters either.The plot is a one enormous hole: you can figure that something is definitely happening, but you cannot say what and for what reason. The characters are one-dimensional and have absolutely no development along the movie. The initial conflict is somewhat interesting and even intriguing (a huge corporation controlling 90 percent of the Earth and a bunch of free-thinking teenagers opposed to it - plus some mysterious Darkside planning some 'renewal'), but it leads to nowhere: the protagonists talk a lot, but in the end you get none explanation.So, I was left utterly confused and therefore irritated. They could at least have made some cool blues soundtrack (for which you could hope having read the title), but in fact the soundtrack was colourless and boring as well.I don't think that this one deserves to be called an anime. A really frustrating disappointment. If you want to watch something really exciting about some Utopian city and its dwellers made in an anime style, go for Necropolis.

*Semi-spoilers*Darkside Blues starts off with a fairly good plot, a cast of rebels wage a rebellion with a corporation so vast, that it owns 90% of the world and has governmental control. An original concept, what with corporations playing a titanic role in today's world. You are given the impression a true struggle as the corporation battles the only area of the world they do not own, and it all occurs within the first ten minutes.However, this is when the movie falls flat on it's face. The movie has too many "main characters" and all of them never resolve anything throughout the story, as the movie delves into awkward fighting scenes that are sometimes enjoying, and at other times just weird - especially when one of the "main characters", Darkside, battles huge villains with psychological attacks that sometimes defeat the enemy and at other times do not. This darkside character, who seems to have come from some other planet or something (they really don't explain or even hint and all other possibilities are non-existent) is viewed as an all powerful... errr... psychic fighter or sorts who rarely does anything in the movie. Why does he never fight the evil corporation despite having the power to actually compete with them? Why hasn't he ever done anything before? Where did he gain his powers from? These questions are never answered.One of the other characters, a girl who is considered the leader of the free territory, is the main fighter against the corporation, along with a secret member of a rebel alliance. But even these characters do very little and more or less talk about their "darkside" and being "renewed" - these two topics make no sense to the viewer, as they are never explained and you never actually see them happen - despite being heavily talked about throughout the movie. How will a "renewal" save the planet from domination? We never know. Even worse the villains in the movie do little as much, we see some scenes indicating their evil ways, but that is it. They are never confronted or encountered by the heroes until the end of the movie, where still nothing occurs or is settled. The last qualm I had with the movie was that despite the word "Blues" being in the title, the soundtrack was pretty bland, and only at the beginning was there really any blues music. A major flaw, but only because the movie suggests that quality blues music would be played from the title.You'll be left scratching your head, unless you, like many others, decide that the movie was never finished, for whatever reason (possibly a sequel?), but that doesn't appear to be the case since one was never released (as far as I have checked). Non-sensual action scenes, a plot that goes nowhere, and a lame soundtrack... if it wasn't for the style of animation, it would hardly be called an anime.1/10

you guys are kinda harsh for voting so low. this title at least deserves a 7. this anime is very difficult to understand, but i figured it out the best i could. it contains a deep grasp of psychological and philosophical elements put into what they call "dream renewal." the animation isn't too bad, the characters are decent, but one character i didn't understand was the girl by the piano in the beginning. who the hell was she? if anyone knows, e-mail me. overall, darkside blues is a decent anime.