Blue Reflection Ray is an anime that is a spin-off of the game and is a prelude to the sequel game. It is 24 episodes long and follows Hiori and Ruka. The former is a Reflector, which is basically a magical girl. There are other Reflectors who would use their power to steal the feelings of others. When they do so, they create a temporary bubble, signified by the more fantastical elements, and the feelings are represented as a crystal. Reflectors are then able to transform in these bubbles, complete with weapons. It is like the original game in that the designs have a ballet theme to them.
Hiori is on the good side, and she fights against the other Reflectors as she does not believe that taken even unwanted feelings from someone will help them. Those feelings make up that person. Ruka can become a Reflector, but she is reluctant in the beginning as she doesn’t know what she wants to do with herself. It takes a short period of time before she finally decides.
The anime doesn’t explain the context of the setting very well and you’re left to figure it out yourself. It doesn’t help that the writing and pacing is subpar. It is very slow and there are times where it can be disjointed. Coupled with the poor and simple animation and this anime does not leave a good first, second, third or any sort of lasting impression. Unfortunately, the slow pacing and uninteresting plot continues to pander on for most of the season. You might start getting confused over several of the characters as they do not have much of a difference between them in terms of personality and appearance. Just like the games, the point of this show is to show off how beautiful the characters are, and the plot is second.
The plot supposedly has a big turning point in the middle of the season, but you’ll still find it hard to care. The anime was episodic for most of the first half of the season too. In every episode, there will be a small plot point and then the girl of the week who will have their feelings crystalized and attempted to be taken over by the enemy. Yes, things progress, such as the protagonists increasing in number, or the backstories coming out, but it is all so very dreary and dry.
Once the mid-season conflict is resolved, the second half seemingly goes back to how it was. It removes the episodic nature but it’s still about the protagonists finding a way to beat the antagonists. The antagonists are still in the background plotting away with their goal which hasn’t changed. While the protagonists are more aimless with just the generic “we have to stop them” as their only guiding post. Even big things such as the reveal of the characters you are supposed to know and supposed to feel surprised by, are dull.
While it is not a big revelation as such, the last part of the season is a little bit more focused. By now, it is obvious that the events concern and revolve around Hiori. Things being just that little bit clearer when it comes time to show off why it is so. The pacing remains slow and there are still too many scenes with nothing happening in them, but it’s a little less boring.
The season waits until the very end to reveal the motivation and backstory of the main villain. It is designed to be a tragic backstory so that you can feel sorry for her and empathize with her actions. However, it was left too late and so by that point, it is difficult to take her side considering all the things that she did. It doesn’t matter though since the anime finishes with the expected happy ending and things are quickly forgiven, making most of the season feel redundant.
Overall, Blue Reflection Ray is extremely average. The game it is based off didn’t have an amazing story, so this anime did not have a strong foundation to work off from anyway. However, the storyline did not have enough plot to sustain the full 24 episodes. Half of the episode count would have been sufficient because as it is, the pacing is too slow, and you lose interest in what happens. Having a reset in the middle of the season and then the characters kind of repeating what they were doing to catch up was not great either.