Daphne in the Brilliant Blue

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Daphne in the Brilliant Blue
光と水のダフネ -DAPHNE IN THE BRILLIANT BLUE- (Hikari to Mizu no Daphne -)
Genre
Manga
Authored by	Satoshi Shiki
Publisher
Serialized in	Young King OURs
Original run	–
No. of volumes
TV anime
Directed by	Ryuuji Ikebata
Studio	J.C.STAFF—
Network	TV Kanagawa
Original run	15 January 2004 – 3 July 2004
No. of episodes	24 + 2

Daphne in the Brilliant Blue (光と水のダフネ Hikari to Mizu no Daphne) is a 2004 anime series animated by the studio J.C.STAFF and produced by GENCO. Its North American distribution rights are held by Geneon Entertainment, which has since translated and released the series on DVD. A manga version was drawn by mangaka Satoshi Shiki (士貴智志 Shiki Satoshi) titled "I - Daphne in the Brilliant Blue" (アイ～光と水のダフネ～, Ai ~Hikari to Mizu no Daphne~), featured in Young King OURs magazine.

1 Story
2 Characters
- 2.1 Voice roles
3 Pop culture references
4 External links

[edit] Story

In the future, water has covered much of the Earth due to the effects of global warming. The orphened Maia Mizuki (水樹マイア Mizuki Maia), 15, just graduated from middle school and has already applied for employment in the elite paramilitary Ocean Agency, part of the futuristic world government. Only the best, most intelligent, and physically fit students are eligible for admission. Maia, the series' protagonist, is set to become one of the few.

But her ideal life quickly falls apart. To her disappointment, Maia unexpectedly fails her entrance exams. Making matters worse, she promptly get evicted from her house, mugged, taken hostage, then shot. She is "saved" by two women that are part of an unorthodox help-for-hire organization called Neres, a possible derivation of the Greek mythological Nereids. With nowhere to go, Maia joins up with Neres, taking jobs from capturing wanted criminals to delivering ice cream, often with unexpected results.

"Daphne" in the title refers to a subplot that starts midway into the series and eventually become important to Maia. "Brilliant Blue" refers to the fact that this is a world covered by water with almost no land. The world consists of vast oceans, a few islands, and floating cities.

[edit] Characters

Mizuki Maia (水樹マイア), 15: The protagonist of the series, Maia was orphened and left without relatives.

Honjo Rena (本城レナ), 25: Leader of the Neres Kamchatka (カムチャツカ) branch. Rena is seductive, if cold at times.

Hayama Shizuka (葉山静香), 17: Busty and bispectacled, Shizuka is a brilliant mechanic and known for her poor aim.

Gloria (グロリア), 25: Loud, spontaneous, and somewhat reckless, Gloria is a gun touting champion marksman with a weakness for money.

Park Yu (朴ゆう), 20: Silent and ridiclously strong, Yu is a fighter and hand-to-hand combat specialist.

[edit] Voice roles

Character	Voice actor (Japanese)	Voice actor (English)
Maia Mizuki	Mai Nakahara	Carrie Savage
Rena Honjo	Sayaka Ohara	Wendee Lee
Shizuka Hayama	Kana Ueda	Michelle Ruff
Gloria	Masumi Asano	Megan Hollingshead
Yu Park	Yuko Kaida	Erika Weinstein
Tsukasa Takagi	Sakura Nogawa	Hunter MacKenzie Austin
Tsutomu Hanaoka	Mitsuo Iwata	Doug Stone
Kosuke Yagi	Hidetoshi Nakamura	Stephen Martello
Wong	Kenji Nomura	Patrick Seitz
Chang	Shinji Kawada	Sam Regal

[edit] Pop culture references

A "Picard Motor Co. DS-9 NC-1701D" motor is observed in episode 3 of the TV series.
- "Picard" referring to Star Trek's Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
- "DS-9" referring to Star Trek's Deep Space Nine space station.
- "NC-1701D" referring to Star Trek's USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) starship.
All of the episode titles are puns or tributes to the names of films. For instance, episode 3, titled "ネレイスほど素敵な商売はない?" ("There's No Business Like Neres?") is a tribute to the 1954 film There's No Business Like Show Business.