Mirage of Blaze (OVA) Hot

The ‘Mirage of Blaze’ ova nearly had me bored to tears, its incredibly slow start made it nearly imposable to sit through. The whole first ova crawled along at the pace of a new born and still blind kitten and lacked any real slashable material. It was depressing how bad it was after so many people told me it was so great and how much I would love it, I have to assume that there is something in the story that grabs your attention sooner or later but to be perfectly honest I choked on the first part and could never really recover enough to pay attention to the rest.

Saying that it starts of with such flare! Lots of fire, huge explosions and fights all take place within the first moments then it slowly drags off into nothingness, loads of talking about nothing and some very boring back stories and plots that slow it down even more then I thought possible.

If you know me you know that I am a very light reviewer, I am pretty easy to please and almost always end on a high note no matter how bad the manga or anime may be however this time I fail to find something I liked at all so I cant end with my usual sugar sweet ‘worth a watch anyway’ style ending. I really didn’t like it at all and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone…

I love this series.



Mirage of Blaze: Rebels by the River's Edge is a very short continuation after the first season. And dispite what the site says, technically, this OVA has four epsodes, not three. I've seen it over and over enough times to know.



Story goes, a few months (possibly a year; not clearly stated) since the first OVA, Naoe Nabutsuna and Takaya Ohgi have parted ways completely. But Naoe's new employer owns a mysterious mandala that he was told to protect with his life. After he was attacked, Naoe starts to investigate the strange occurance. Takaya was informed about a new rising clan called the Ikko Sect that uses sacrifices for their evil doings. One of their more recent sacrificees, Murashige Araki, had fled. Takaya, and his subordinate Haruie try to track him down while Araki himself is searching relentlessly for the mandala. But circumstances and fate cause Naoe and Takaya to cross paths once more. Haruie, who believes that Murashige is actually a reencarnate of a long lost lover, tracks him down alone. Naoe and Takaya have one hell of a confrontation, but all was interupted with a phone call (literally) and feelings were put aside. Unfortunatly, while Takaya and Naoe are in the process of trying to purify the cursed mandala, which contains the souls of the long dead Araki Clan, are attacked by one of the Ikko Sect members and wounded. Afterward, they quickly recover and confront the Ikko Sect in an all out mahou battle over the mandala and Murashige's life.



Personally, it was this series that really kicked off my facination with yaoi/shounen-ai in general. Exspecially since the ending of the first OVA, with Naoe's confession of love for Takaya. The animation is clean, detailed, and just as astounding as the first OVA. The dubbing is impecible in both english and japanese. But, the sexual tension between Naoe and Takaya is portrayed so passionately, you can practically feel what's happening (which might not be a good thing). Even though nothing really happens, Naoe's soulful speech to Takaya about his personal feelings and his outlook on the who situation will tung at your heart. It's truly a cry of pain. Takaya is still hot headed, but you finally get to see that there's a whole reason behind it all. Haruie was a bit more loose and cheesy than she (he) was in the first OVA. And you finally get insight into her (his, if you wanna get technical) background. I'm upset that; A.Nagahide was only shown once and his voice over was changed for the english version. B.The end leaves much to be desired. C.The series is too damn short!!! There's so much about the entire series that they never got around to explaining, like why Yuzuru is so important? And going along with B, they leave off with the notion that there's going to be more eps when there isn't. and finally D.The fact that Haruie is actually in fact a man in spirit, but chose to be born as a woman is a little unerving when kept in mind. On terms of the A.F (affection factor), very passionate and extremely intense in the most brilliant ways. You'll find yourself twitching with anticipation and somewhat disturbed (you must watch to understand what I mean by this). Nothing goes past the licking (and tender kiss) of a neck and hands being forced down pants. Takaya never even fully gets out of his dress shirt. But you wont find yourself caring too much. You'll be too busy enchanted by the sensual voice talents of James Lyon (Naoe). A definate must see.



this has been a Yuki-san review, thank you.

I have to say that I completely agree with the previous reviewer. While the art isn't anything that grabs your attention immediately the plot certainly does. The characters are all very real feeling and go through emotions. Admittedly Takaya does go through mood swings a bit but he has a lot to deal with. The series leaves a bit unanswered however the OVA's take this job over leaving a very satisfied feeling overall. And Takaya's response to Naoe is basically amazing. Definitely worth the watch.

Well, after watching the TV series, the OVAs really were like a dream come true. Some of it kind of drags, but it isn't as merciless as the series in terms of names, dates and past lives. The story in the OVA instead focuses on a smaller cast of characters which definately makes things seem less chaotic and mentally straining. =3

Not that I ddin't like the series, oh no! the whole Mirage of Blaze is my favorite yaoi of all time! it's just that most of the stuff they said consisted of "bla bla bla happened 400 years ago in the battle of so and so." the OVAs toned it downa bit. The ending still had me wanting more though grrr stupid Naoe and Takaya! >:(