Blassreiter

 The latest boys only weekend and evening "me and the boy time" anime, I opted for the 24 episode long Blassreiter series this time.

 

 

A series from 2008, this also makes use of CGI heavily for it's high chase combat sequences, and I must say, I have seen faaaaar worse in anime.  Because for some reason, animation and CGI doesn`t really seem to blend well so far.

 

Modern day Germany is plagued by Demoniacs, lifeforms that can fuse with technology and run havoc.  XAT is a special team created to counter the threat, but they are also aided by some mysterious Amalgam, a species that fused and has total control of it's conscience and abilities, like Joseph Jobson. When Gerd, a professional motorracer, gets in an accident, he becomes paralyzed.  But a mysterious woman offers him a way out, to also become an Amalgam and fight the demoniacs.  But soon it turns out that he doesn`t have complete control after all...

 

Malek, the adopted brother of XAT agent Amanda, is being bullied in the meantime, going even that far that his friend Johann commits suicide over it.  This leaves him with a strong hatred towards people.

While it briefly seems under control, he only wishes to race his best friend one last time.  When he goes berserk again though, it comes down to Joseph to stop him once and for all, as Gerd had requested him himself when he threatens Malek.  Malek is offered the choice to become an Amalgem himself, the moment it is found out that XAT leader Wolf Goring has been infected by the nanovirus himself, and learns that amongst all the chosen, one will become the ultimate amalgem, the Blassreiter.

Malek kills the students bullying him, and Joseph flees with him.  An amalgem called Xargin appears, severly wounding the two before XAT arrives.  Malek passes away in the arms of Amanda as Joseph is taken in custody.  When Hermann and Amanda are incarcerated for digging to deep, a mass of amalgam's is raised and attacks the base.  Making use of the newest bike turns mecha Paladins, they take the battle to the enemy.  But after their base gets infected, nearly everyone of their unit falls except for Amanda.

 

 

Joseph and the XAT survivors team up, as he tells Amanda the tragic tale of his youth and how he and Xagin became  aquintances.  They meet and team up with the Apocalypse Knights, a secret force created for the endgame against the amalgams.  When Hermann, her partner and presumed dead, shows up again as an amalgam that retained his humanity, they pair up once more to help out the Knights and bring down Wolf and Xargin... and get help defeating Wolf from a very, very unexpected source.

Amanda finds Malek again, who like others survived after all due to being an Amalgam, as Xargin meets his long lost and presumed dead sister.  The pieces fall in place slowly and surely, as loyalties and ideologies waver...

On a story level, this truly was a good anime series, but unfortunatly the still rather crude CGI for those days detract a bit of the quality of the series after more then a decade.  But, don`t let that stop you from giving this series a go!