Blast of Tempest wastes no time throwing you into its mad world of magic, love, loss and revenge. We are introduced to the powerful mage Hakaze Kusaribe, who has been left for dead on a deserted island, her only form of communication is through a magical device which lets her talk to the rather aggressive Fuwa Mahiro. Mahiro learns that the world is in danger thanks to Hakaze’s old tribe, who are now attempting to resurrect the tree of Genesis. Mahiro and his only friend Takigawa Yoshino suddenly have the fate of the entire world hanging on their actions. However, saving the world is a secondary task to Mahiro who is more interested in using his new mage partner to find out who killed his sister, Aika.
Blast of Tempest hits the ground running and never really stops, it throws the two leads into a number of situations and the story is constantly twisting and turning. The magical world Tempest creates is a good one, with some really interesting ideas and rules. Sometimes the information dumps can be a bit too much, but overall it works nicely as does the way it mixes into Mahiro and Yoshino’s lives. The series pays homage to Shakespeare’s works The Tempest and Hamlet, with lots of quotes and references scattered across the series, which is both a nice element and one that makes it seem rather pretentious. Sometimes you get the feeling that the writer is trying a little too hard to make the show appear smarter than it actually is, the show is definitely at it’s best when it turns the pretentiousness down.
The characters have emotional depth, everyone has secrets and you never know truly who is in the right, which makes for exciting viewing. The animation is beautiful, with fight scenes being clear, fast-paced and epic, combining fistfights with the use of magic, which results in them being both stunning and memorable. Watching Mahiro teleporting around the place and appearing next to someone to deliver a punch definitely doesn’t make for a boring watch.
There is no English dub which will be a disappointment to some viewers, however, the Japanese cast is phenomenal, with Mizuki Nana as the mysterious Evangeline, Hanazawa Kana as Mahiro’s sister Aika and Sawashiro Miyuki as the mage, Hakaze. The soundtrack is also great, the way it uses classical pieces works well with the show’s many serious moments and action scenes. The only extras on the disc are a textless opening and closing video and some trailers.
