In the future, water has covered much of the Earth due to the effects of global warming, leaving the human raceto live on neighboring floating cities. The orphaned Maia Mizuki, fifteen years of age, just graduated from middle school and has already applied for employment in the elite 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 despite her high grades. Making matters worse, she promptly gets evicted from her house, pick pocketed, taken hostage, then shot. She is "saved" by two females that are part of an unorthodox help-for-hire organization called Nereids. With nowhere to go, Maia joins up with Nereids, taking jobs from capturing wanted criminals to chasing stray cats, often with unexpected results. Gloria and Yu later join up with Nereids. "Daphne", Greek for "Laurel tree", in the title refers to the last words said by Maia's grandfather. "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. This subplot that starts midway into the series concerns Maia's journey to retrieve a time capsule of her past buried under a laurel tree in Elpida, an undersea city lost over a century ago. In almost every episode, there is a recitation of a verse that Maia's grandfather taught her. She and others say it whenever her life is difficult or in danger - "A tree that is planted by water will produce fruit in due season, its leaves will never whither...". It is never identified as Psalm 1:3, "He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers." The manga of the series is a prequel that takes place a century ago when humans were forced to live undersea when the cities were Greek named. Elpida means "hope." Now they're Russian inspired, like Kamchatka. Ai Mayuzumi, Millie's great grandmother is the protagonist of the story.
Characters
; Maia Mizuki ; Rena Honjō ; Shizuka Hayama ; Gloria ; Yū Park ; Tsukasa Takagi ; Tsutomu Hanaoka ; Yukari Hanaoka ; Kōsuke Yagi ; Millie ; Wong ; Chang ; Lee ; May ; Tony Long ; Shou Mizuki ; Yōichi Mizuki ; Meiko Mizuki
Media
Manga
The manga version "I - Daphne in the Brilliant Blue" was drawn by manga artist and character designer Satoshi Shiki titled, featured in Young King OURs magazine. The manga story is a prequel to the television series. Shonengahosha published the first volume in 2004. Kodansha published both volumes together in 2008. Tokyopop licensed the manga series for distribution in North America and published an English language 208-page graphic novel "Daphne in the Brilliant Blue" in 2006.
Anime
The Daphne in the Brilliant Blue 24-episode anime television series was animated by the studio J.C.Staff and produced by GENCO and broadcast in on TV Kanagawa Japan in 2004. Two additional OVA episodes were also produced but not included with the original Japanese broadcast.
Several of the individual DVD releases as well as the collections have received generally positive reviews. Carl Kimlinger reviewed Collection 1 awarding grades from "C" to "B" giving a "+: for its good sense of humor and a sympathetic lead and "−" for "not-so-good everything else", noting that "a high fan-service tolerance is necessary". Theron Martin reviewed Collection 2 awarding grades from "C" to "B" giving a "+ as it "can be quite entertaining" and "−" for "stale ideas and distractingly outrageous costume designs".
