Blast of Tempest

Zetsuen no Tempest is an action/supernatural/shonen anime by studio Bones, known for its previous works Eureka Seven, Fullmetal Alchemist, Star Driver, etc. Tempest starts out as a very promising shonen anime with interesting characters and an elaborate setup in a world full of turmoil. Preferring to skip the dramatic buildup, Tempest throws you right into the action and chaos right from the very first episode. Its steady pacing keeps the viewers on the edge of their seat and eager for more of the story. It’s too bad that Tempest doesn’t keep this up for the whole series. Halfway through, the show takes a serious dipin quality in just about every area, aside from maybe animation and sound. And it’s a shame because Zetsuen no Tempest had so much potential, but it falls flat on its face instead. But let’s talk about the good of this show first. The art and animation are top notch. Studio Bones pulled no punches when it came to the gorgeous animation and character designs. The battles are fast, fluid, and intense, going hand in hand with the spectacular and vivid wheel of colors that enhance the magical effects. The character designs are stylish and unique, with no two characters looking too much alike. Another small little detail that was well done was the character’s clothing. Each character’s various clothing looks like something straight out of a teen fashion magazine; very funky and stylish. Small artistic details are also added in the character’s hair and accessories. If I were rating this anime solely based on its art and animation, it would easily score a nine at the very least. Unfortunately, I did not, and I won’t. Now on to the not-so-good of Zetsuen no Tempest, which is basically everything else. Perhaps the weakest aspect of the show is its story. The story starts out with Hakaze Kusaribe, the princess of a clan of mages, contacting Fuwa Mahiro to help her extinguish an uprising instigated by her followers. Left stranded on an island by said followers, they can only communicate through magic. Hakaze promises to help Mahiro find his sister’s killer in exchange for his help. Mahiro’s friend, Takigawa Yoshino comes along for the ride, and together the three aim to prevent the Kusaribe clan from awakening the tree of Exodus, which would subsequently bring destruction to the entire world. The entire story pays homage to Shakespeare’s works, namely The Tempest and Hamlet. For some reason, the story feels it needs to remind you of this quite frequently, as it seems every few minutes someone is throwing out a Shakespeare quote. There’s no subtlety in its delivery, and the quotes have little meaning to the plot or the characters. It seems they simply threw in several quotes in order to make the script seemed more grand and classy. Instead, it ended up making the entire anime sound incredibly pretentious. It could be argued that the two differing plays were being quoted to signal that this anime could either have a happy or tragic ending, leaving the viewer to wonder in anticipation. But not only is that grasping at straws, it gives the writers more credit than they probably deserve. Now to be fair, the first half of the series was pretty good. It was standing on shaky ground but it was still quite good. It may have been standard shonen anime fare “save the world with magical powers, stop the bad guys” but it had an interesting enough twist to keep it afloat. The characters were interesting; they had clear cut motivations that at least made some sense. The plot moved about at a comfortable pace with just enough action and character development shimmied into each episode. The rules of the universe made sense. All that was completely ruined by its mess of a second half. The plot begins to contradict the rules it established in its first half. It makes no effort to even make sense of Hakaze’s ability to time travel for a second and third time. It presents a ridiculous plot twist that makes even less sense and gives a sort of barbaric edge to Aika’s character that the other characters don’t even bat an eye at. And worst of all, romance is shoehorned in for the sake of throwing in some aspects of a corny school love comedy. Hakaze even alludes to this in a hilarious 4th wall breaking internal monologue. Perhaps one of the most disappointing aspects of the show is the degradation of its characters. Yes that’s right, the very characters that made the show go backwards as it drags on. Perhaps the character that does it the most is Hakaze Kusaribe. She is initially presented as a strong heroine, with an arrogant edge that is backed up by her standing as the most powerful mage in the clan. She is cunning and unflinching, yet kind and caring when she needs to be. But of course that is all negated when she falls in love. Yes, LOVE! She becomes clumsy, indecisive, and silly at the first hints of love. Her initial goal was to prevent the destruction of the world and take control of her clan once again. But when she falls in love, she leaves the fate of her clan in the hands of the guy who betrayed her and sent her to an island to die. All so she could travel freely with her love interest. Later, she wants to save the world simply for her love. To say anything else about her silly love driven mindset would mean spoilers, so to be vague, pay attention to what she says when she travels across time a second time. It is so unbelievably silly, bordering on completely idiotic. She goes from a strong heroine to someone whose sole reason for existing and acting is for her love. Maybe it wouldn’t be that bad it we had some substantial buildup to the relationship, coupled with proof of an established and long-lasting bond that could never be broken. That, and if her feelings were actually reciprocated. Then it would be quite romantic and heroic that Hakaze would do anything for her love. But instead, her actions are based on a silly schoolgirl crush (that quite literally springs out of nowhere) and nothing more, making her actions and motivations seem incredibly idiotic. Fuwa Mahiro and Takigawa Yoshino are perfect foils, making for a very interesting relationship between the two heroes. They get a significant amount of development in the first half of the show through a series of flashbacks, some of which involve Aika. Brash and arrogant Mahiro is the brawn of their duo, while the manipulative and analytical Yoshino is the brains. Their relationship is one of the most interesting ones of the series. How two young men who are so different from each other could end up cooperating so willingly and becoming the best of friends is a real mystery. But their actions in the second half become a bit odd to say the least. Not only that, but they show little emotion when finding out the truth behind Aika’s death, despite the fact that they are the most important people to her. In fact, their lack of emotion is prevalent even in the first half. They are just normal high school boys, not hardened soldiers. Yet their reactions to the destruction of their home certainly don’t give any hints to that. Then there is Fuwa Aika, one of the most confusing characters. She’s already dead by the beginning of the series, yet still plays an important role in the story. She’s the motivation for Yoshino and Mahiro’s actions and appears in numerous flashbacks. Her character is described in the anime as having a “horrible personality.” That’s not even the half of it. Her development at the tail end of the series hints at a facet of her personality that is far more barbaric, border lining on psychotic. The rest of the side characters are mostly just there for decoration. They are lively personalities to either spice things up or be used as a convenient plot device to move the story along. Now don’t get me wrong, Zetsuen no Tempest is not wholly unwatchable. There is plenty of enjoyment to be had watching this series, especially during the first half. It’s just too bad that Bones screwed up the story and characters so hard during the second half that it irredeemably sours the entire series. The character’s motivations during the second half make little to no sense. And trying to piece together why the characters are doing what they’re doing gives way to the realization that these characters are acting like total idiots. The plot twist during the second half was also ridiculous, giving the viewer little justification for WHY things had to be this way. Not to mention the implausibility of the situation based purely on the rules set by the anime. Zetsuen no Tempest is a great watch if you turn off your brain and just enjoy it for what it is: Your “only very slightly above average until the second half of the show” shonen anime. Anybody looking for anything more won’t get much enjoyment out of this anime.

How should I say this... This anime was one of the best that I've seen. Whenever I have nothing to watch, I would turn to Zetsuen no Tempest (Blast of the Tempest/ The Civilization Blaster). The ending was perfect, the story line was amazing, but the best of all were the characters. Let me go into detail... Story: The story was put together in a great yet questionable way. There were many parts of the anime that could be related to the famous works of Shakespeare. With plot twists that would leave you confused, the story was never boring. The twisted tale of love, hate, revenge anda touch of magic was most definitely satisfying especially how the ending wrapped up the entire story. I sincerely wish that they would make a sequel. Art: The art was satisfying, it clearly showed details in the magic shields and barriers. They point that stood out the most for me were the eyes. The characters eyes showed their emotions so clearly that they sent shivers down my spine, how they would dull or brighten depending on the emotions being conveyed. Sound: The music chosen for this anime was.... Fabulous. The violin solos with the varying volumes matched the pace of the show and the suspense in the best fashion. The opening and endings weren't boring and they definitely didn't reveal a lot about the story. The upbeat openings shows the action and the more aggressive emotions in the show whereas the slower themes in the endings portrays the more negative and deeper feelings. Character: Gosh, all of the characters were so perfect. They each played a huge role in the story but I think I should be more specific. Takigawa Yoshino is my favorite character, he is so mysterious and he definitely is a major character. He is referred as Horatio in some parts of the anime. His tale of not being able to grieve for the one he loves is heart breaking, how he shows great deduction skills and how he seems so innocent is so twisted and yet it fits the story perfectly. Fuwa Mahiro is the rich and feared character. His feelings played a large role, I find his motives very amusing throughout the plot. Yoshino and Mahiro are very... different characters compared to the cliches that show up nowadays. When you expect them to do something, they do the complete opposite. But what scares and surprises me the most is the lack of response from the two of them, no matter what they can always appear calm. Overall, I ranked this anime a 9/10. Although I would say that it's closer to a 9.5/10. This is my first review, so I hope I did well

Some secrets are better left dead. Yet, in some ways, they always seem to come back from the past and continue to be part of your lives. It's like when you go through a photo album and you see that one picture which strikes you the most. You take out that picture and examines it carefully and take a trip down memory lane. However, in this series, that memory lane isn't a happy memory. No, in fact, it's one ride you wish you'd never had taken because from that event, things are never the same again. Zetsuen no Tempest (also known as Blast of Tempest) is ananime series adapted from the manga of the same name handled by Bones. The studio is already known for some of their other works with the supernatural/super power themes such as Full Metal Alchemist, Darker than Black, and Star Driver. Their latest title in their line of evolution of works is this little gem. Written by Kyou Shirodaira, the series follows the aftermath involving lives of two best friends after the events of a tragic past. To uncover the mysteries of the past, they seek the help of a powerful magician and with their help might find the answer they are looking for. At the same time, it's up to the duo to stop a mysterious clan on the horizon to prevent the end of the world. Sounds all intriguing and mind bobbling right? Well, that's what it seems at first especially with the rather confusing pilot episode... On the surface, there are many questions that seems to need answers not only revolving for the main protagonists but for ourselves as well. It's no surprise there is so much mystery involved either considering the author of the series is also involved in another mystery title, Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning. The pilot episode suggests this with introduction of the main characters and a small glimpse of their mysterious past. Curiously enough, we also see the “mage in the barrel” (as the pilot episode suggests) that may make us scratch our heads a bit more. In fact, we can even see blood and tragedy already from the backgrounds. Furthermore, there seems to be a barrage of butterflies roaming in the air as well as the monotonic speeches from the main protagonists. To add to the package, we have some action including a dark haired beauty, shounen-style action gags, and a seemingly civilization that is in ruins for God-knows-what reasons with a touch of magic. All sound mind bobbling, doesn't it? For some reason, it's how the series begin and towards the ends it shows the dark revelation of a tragedy. In order to embrace on what's to come, it's imperative to watch the series with some insight and with your brains focused on more than just the pretty visuals. Oh but visuals itself doesn't just represent Zetusen no Tempest. It's a bit more than that. For fans of Shakespeare, this could be a delight of those into his literature. As a matter of fact, a few of the dialogues and characters may represent his works themselves. For example, the term “Tempest” could be a homage of Shakespeare's work of “The Tempest”, which was assumed to be one of his last creations. The themes from that play such as an island setting, magic, and those bits of romance suggests this and be converted into modern times. It's quite appealing to watch though as most of us who attends those boring English classes at high school and sleeping through discussions (you know who you are) might get a pleasant surprise at this series. If not, well then, tough break. The plot of the series seems to be quite attractive not only with the mysterious backgrounds but also the way it is presented. The Tree of Exodus seems to play a prominent role to determine the fate of the world by the way everyone tries to learn and awaken its power. It can also be implied that the Tree of Exodus may be a key to unlock the main protagonists' past tragedies and the truth they are looking for. Nevertheless, it is definitely important since everyone wishes to get to it before the others. The mysteries surrounding the plot seems also revolve around the purpose and true origins of that tree. Why was it there? What is its power? And how did it came to be are just a few of many questions that the viewers may ask themselves when progressing through this series. There also seems cases of government conspiracies and conflicts between clans with its fellow mages. All of this spells out the word confusion (it sure did for me!) in the first half of the series. There are also various flashbacks played throughout the series from the viewpoint of Mahiro related to the case of a main character. She is in fact already dead prior to the series but maintains a strong after-presence with her backgrounds and the mysteries that resulted her death. Plus, there is peach haired princess Hakaze who is crafty, resourceful, and often likes to play mini mind games with the antagonist, and at times with Mahiro and Yoshino. Bored much? Well, probably from being stranded on that island for an extended period of time. In fact, she has her own little secret that gets revealed soon and that itself is a mystery. Nonetheless, the plot twists and various sequences are crafted carefully in order to not go off track and often makes viewers question themselves on what's next. That's where the thriller part comes in. It is thrilling with some of the surprises but at other times, just cliched or even predictable. However, it should be no surprise that Mahiro clearly wants revenge expressed by the look of his face each time his past is reminded. He wants vengeance for his tragic past and he'll stop at nothing to achieve it. Mahiro desire for revenge spells out his determination and what he wants. Yet, there's a point to be said here. Even if he achieves his goal of revenge, the past won't change. The dead don't just get back and walk again. The series maintains a small cast of characters rather than a whole all-star ensemble. The two main male protagonists, Mahiro and Yoshino seems to resemble a reflection of William Shakespeare's famous works, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet respectively. If we look at it carefully, Mahiro seeks revenge for his tragic past similar to Prince Halmet from the play. Mahiro struggles to avenge the death of his family while at times becomes irrational in the way of him doing things. On the other hand, there's Yoshino who seems to allude the character Romeo. In Shakespeare's famous play, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo loses someone they hold dear to their heart. The result of that loss becomes a tragedy in what seems to be a forbidden love story from his work. Behind the scenes of all this drama is the girl Aika who despite her lack of a physical presence in the series seems to influence it more than anything. Although she doesn't technically make a physical appearance in the show in its present storyline, viewers can clearly see that she is a special individual to both the main protagonists. As a matter of fact, even Hakaze is curious about her (despite not seemingly know who she is) after being acquainted with the main protagonists. From my viewpoint, Aika seems to represent a girl with a mysterious personality with a manipulative state of mind. The antagonist of the series, Samon also has a mysterious way of doing his things. In particular, he seeks out the Tree of Exodus with his clan but at the same time seems to want to prevent the destruction of the world with his own ideologies. Behind that suit also seems to lie an insecure individual even with the protection of one of the most elite of those mages from the series. As being action, fantasy, and shounen all at once, expect some action throughout the series. The way is presented is in a magical way that although lacks strategy focuses more on morality even doing the occasional dialogues between the fight scenes. However, this doesn't last too long. The fight scenes are significantly toned down later on and hell, even eradicated later on from the show. It goes from action packed to lengthy dialogue that almost seems like reading a textbook. The certain shift of sequences from saving the world to speeches toned me off a bit especially when one moment, there seems to be cool action with an apocalyptic presentation. Then, the next moment it shifts to long dragged out speeches about morality, identity, and more mysteries. The speeches themselves seems to be a bit confusing and not surprisingly enough has Mahiro voice his desire to take revenge AGAIN. The way the characters speak in some of the later dialogues also seems repetitive and digs a bigger hole to the mystery itself with more and more bizarre revelations. In terms of artwork, Zetsuen no Tempest has a well crafted image of portraying its various scenes. The art directors makes most of the visuals appealing that gets to the point with the themes of the series. In fact, most of the palates and crafted visuals represents the civilization, the tragic scenes, flashbacks, paradise, etc. The characters' designs are also visually represented well especially Aika who has a sense of beauty in her manipulative ways. The series even attempts some jokes with its visuals such as the snickers bar. There some bits of fan service mainly involving around Hakaze by the way she dresses on the island during wet days. But it's really not too much in my opinion. The soundtrack of the series has many Shakespearean like rhythm to them. It should not be a surprise though given the themes of the series. Kazuhiro Wakabayashi (Soul Eater, Wolf's Rain, xxxHolic) orchestrates many of the music scores well and develop that sense of mysterious atmosphere in many episodes. In fact, the eerie soundtrack and factors with the dialogues matches well with the rhythms. The opening song, "Spirit Inspiration" by Nothing's Carved In Stone from the first half has a strong representation in the sense of what the series may be potential be about. All the main characters as well as some of the supporting characters are presented along with potential conflicts. The first ED song, “happy endings" is presented by Kana Hanazawa who does quite a nice job with her voice. The song shows many of the more metamorphic images involving the main characters as well as the butterflies as seen throughout many times in the series. She also happens to voice one of the main characters in the series, Aika. All in all, Zetsuen no Tempest represents a modern style mystery with some ancestry blood of William Shakespearean work bought to life. The life of one of the main characters no longer exists and that set off many of the conflicts. The conflicts from this series are quite a twist with the various plot holes and surprises. It can be thrilling even with the dialogues but at times, it can also be a bit bothersome. It's a mysterious series to me and should be considered a watch.

There's this common expression: "all bark and no bite." Blast of Tempest is a dog that barks Shakespeare quotes aimlessly, holding little weight and consequence out of the context of its wholesome product. It's like how there's so much Zelda paraphernalia that gradually obfuscates from the point of what the iconic series was in the first place - a large game franchise with a grand mythos of diverse interconnecting core stories and subplots. Blast of Tempest puts up a facade of intelligence and substance by spouting Shakespeare when there's hardly any actual story content to speak of it. Well then, I'll move on to thecore of the review that I have something to talk about, unlike this very series itself. Story: Okay, let's start this on a positive note before I start slamming this series for its lack-of-"Story"; the initial episodes have promise at least. We have the Romeo expy Yoshino standing at his girlfriend's grave when a mysterious woman by the name of Evangeline appears asking about the whereabouts of his old friend Mahiro, the Hamlet expy. Mahiro encounters Evangeline and things get hectic. It turns out Mahiro has connections to this missing woman named Hakaze who is a mage trapped on some far off island and she wants to stop her brother Samon from reviving a magical tree that threatens the planet. Mahiro fends off Evangeline with the various magical talismans Hakaze left across the area. Meanwhile giant seeds of the Tree of Exodus Samon is trying to revive are sprouting over the city and petrifying anyone who isn't protected by a talisman. Evangeline suspects it's Hakaze's doing because Mahiro is seen actively using Hakaze's magic himself. Mahiro communicates with Hakaze via this magic idol, and Mahiro is assisting Hakaze on the condition that she finds his sister's murderer, and unbeknownst to Mahiro, his dead sister was Yoshino's girlfriend in secret. Some of Samon's assistants are thrown into the conflict to ensure things go smoothly with Exodus' resurrection, and Yoshino teams up with Mahiro to get him out of the bind and to also find out who killed his lover Aika. The first 3 episodes have lots of action and intrigue, with various sides clashing, a catastrophic plan unfolding and a decent dose of angst...but then it doesn't know where to go from there, almost literally I might add. Mahiro and Yoshino travel around every 2 episodes or so, but since nothing's going on in the present, they just settle in one spot shortly after and show flashbacks of Yoshino, Mahiro and Aika and then one boring fight scene in an aquarium and Yoshino being captured for a short period thrown to mix it up a bit. Once episode 8 comes, things get even thinner; we have not one, not two, but FOUR episodes of a long winded sophistry battle between Yoshino, Mahiro and Samon trying to prove Hakaze still being alive (which was earlier suspected to be all a weird contradiction) involving duplicates, time rifts and other stuff, and the arguments go back and forth with neither party having much evidence or going to much length to argue their stance while the government tries to attack the Tree of Exodus. When the half point hits, the world is stricken by calamity, but there's no driving conflict or urgency in the second cour, so the characters--which, mind you, all villains reconcile with the allies at this point--just meander around and occasionally blow up a tree or two every now and then, because again, nothing is going on. After blowing up enough trees (yeah, take that environment!), the plot starts to head towards some semblance of a conclusion, but not before we find out who Aika's killer is, which happens to be one of the most ludicrous and groan-worthy twists I've ever seen, and it's all uncovered thanks to the magic of a crappy time travel element to put the crap icing on the garbage cake. The remaining events unfold without many bumps in the road, wrapping up in a totally run of the mill happy ending just to nip it in the bud. That's pretty much it. The story is about as thin as a nickel and is littered with many problems, but it has the occasional saving grace like the first 3 episodes, the conflict with society and the media on blowing up the trees fearing worse than the already poor conditions, and a delightfully liberating and refreshing scene where the one sane and logical side character beats the crap out of our far gone angst-ridden protagonists. That's all more than enough to save it from being one of the worst things ever, but it is still a big waste of time. I love Shirodaira's most prolific work, Spiral, so I had some expectations going in, and suffice to say I was massively disappointed, such a shame. 3/10 Characters: Oh goody, the characters. I'll be fair and say that for the most part they started off tolerable in the first cour before the even more dreadful second, but there's still nothing exemplary from most of them, and the second cour does some hefty damage to them. Yoshino is the lovelorn Romeo character who goes from being more proactive and level headed to whiney and self-loathing, Mahiro is the cynical and sharp-tongued Hamlet who goes from a driven avenger to an egotistical bully and Aika is the sadistic princess who played around with both of them. Hakaze turns from a confident and spunky lass to a nagging waifu trying to pine for Yoshino. Evangeline is something of an aggressive Misato-esque warrior woman who stays fairly consistent but is less prominent in the latter half while her assistant Takumi is pretty much just along for the ride. Hakaze's big bro Samon gets some of the worst of it, turning from a stern and headstrong antagonist to...comic relief with a straight face. His right hand brawn, Natsumura, is a ruthless stoic, but he doesn't have much of a hand in the second half, but Tetsuma the brains and voice for Samon has it worse, becoming nothing more than a cab driver for everyone else. Now, the one who is straight up the worst character of the lot the entire time...Junichiro. The lawful neutral who fulfills only that much, just wandering around being neutral; if he ever gets involved, he beats up members of both parties, of which, the fights are omitted to be left to the imagination, making it more dreadful than it already is. He is an absolutely pointless character, and the only time he ever did something with some effect to it is when he tried to share certain plot details which obfuscate details and make things more mysterious. Thankfully though, I'll close things off with the one character who DOES stand out as a good character - better than the series does justice to, which is Hanemura. He starts out as a bit of a spineless but sincere and rational guy who learns to fight under Mahiro's tutelage and gradually becoming more outspoken and vigorous after going through all the physical duress of Mahiro's training and emotional turmoil of all the other characters angsting and complaining around him, leading to the powerful scene of him kicking Mahiro and Yoshino's asses when things get out of hand. He's a stand up guy and he sets things straight when the plot is wrought with too much self-indulgence, anguish and melodrama, making him a refreshing change, ironically he is introduced in the second cour when all else goes to crap, so that in itself is a plus. At the end of the day, Hanemura breaks the series out of its conceited shell, but when leveled with the general character decay and initial merely decent characterization plus Junichirou, I can't give the roster a pass. 4/10 Art/Animation: Blast of Tempest being animated by Bones is a good sign. The very same company known for works such as both Fullmetal Alchemist adaptations, Wolf's Rain, RahXephon and many more nice looking series, and Blast of Tempest upholds some degree of that quality in its appearance. The characters are almost never off model, everything is smoothly rendered, clean and sharp looking and can pull off some more dynamic action scenes well, but those scenes are rather few and far between, and there's still much better out there, so it isn't THAT remarkable. The artwork looks really nice too thankfully, capturing the look of the manga well, with the designs being very sharp to begin with so the series looks cool at the very least. 7/10 Sound: The score is a rather enticing collection of melancholic orchestral pieces with bits of whimsy, mystery, grandiose and tragedy to them. There also happens to be select Beethoven pieces bundled in, so you know there's quality classical pieces to be had in this series, so that music happens to be the strongest department for this anime. The voice work on the other hand, is about average; characters come off as one note a lot of the time and lack a bit of enthusiasm at times, but the voices fit the characters well and performances are still consistent and serviceable. 8/10 Enjoyment: For me, enjoyment tends to run concurrent with story, and even if an anime may come off as "boring" in terms of tone and atmosphere to some, if there is some weighty metatheming or elaborate writing and intrigue permeating over the course of things, I won't get bored personally. However, as my story section dictates, there was hardly anything worthwhile for me to chew on. If Blast of Tempest were a steak, it would be a bland, dry and tough to chew on one. I was bored watching it most of the time because things always meandered and there wasn't much intellectual meat to it, and a lot of it was far below average. Blast of Tempest was just a really stale journey. 3/10 In closing, Blast of Tempest is one of those series that falls into-nay, EPITOMIZES the cliche of a lot of anime out there: interesting concept, poor execution (in this case, hardly any). It's one of the most sloggish and inflated series I've ever seen that clings to its premise like a pure catholic teen clings to his/her chastity. The series had a cool idea that was rather intriguing, but it didn't know how to expand on it, so they just run around haphazardly with it and start randomly expounding Shakespeare references to try and uphold the air of assured direction when they haven't a clue what they are doing. "Okay, so I've hooked them with the premise and I gotta make a series with this, but I have no idea what to do next...GOT IT! I'll have the characters quote Shakespeare because HE'S intelligent, so that will make them think THIS SERIES is still intelligent! Perfect!" Blast of Tempest is a stretched out, pretentious (I try to use this word sparingly) and unexciting odyssey (if you can even call it that) and it is not worth your time. Don't be fooled by the Shakespeare references, this series is hardly smart at all, don't waste your time on it. Do yourself a favour and just read Spiral by the same author, it's a mystery that's worth it, Shirodaira just dropped the ball here.