Witchblade (anime)/YMMV

The anime

Come for the X, Stay for the Y: The series is clearly marketed as nothing but a fanservice-and-action sandwich ("Death By Hotness"©), but stick with it and it turns out to be far more emotionally charged and character-driven than the average "serious" anime.
- The action side is surprisingly lame, in fact. Possibly because most of the mech-monsters are horribly designed for actual combat. To the point where you might wonder how they're actually useful in warfare. It's only when the neo-gens start showing up does the action get intense.
Complete Monster: Tatsuoki Furimizu a.k.a. "Father". In his quest to be reborn from the loins of a Witchblade bearer, he has countless genetically-enhanced women engineered from his own genetic material and subsequently equipped with manufactured copies of the Witchblade called Cloneblades. With full knowledge of the parasitic nature of these devices, he callously condemns countless numbers of his "children" to an early grave for the sake of his selfish ambitions. Moreover, his efforts to forcefully deprive Masane of the Witchblade ultimately work to expedite her inevitable death by forcing her to call upon its power in several unnecessary battles.
- Actually, it seems he was never interested in the Witchblade at all. His goal was to be reborn without the genes he inherited from his MOTHER, who he hates with a fiery passion for barely touched-upon reasons. But since no corporation would actually PAY for him to do that... the focus on the Witchblade emerges.
Crowning Moment of Awesome: The standards are set pretty high, considering the nature of the series, but the scene where Takayama outdrinks Wadou in episode 10 most certainly qualifies.
Crowning Moment of Funny: "Nah, my mom's are bigger."
- As mentioned about, Masane gets invited to a fancy party for Wadou. Thanks to her, it takes less than half an episode for the party to turn into Reiji and Wadou trying to drink each other under the table.
Crowning Moment of Heartwarming: "You're not afraid of me?" "'Course not. You're still my mom."
Ensemble Darkhorse: Rihoko. A viewer could justify watching the series just for her and her sparkling interactions with virtually anyone else.

Review: Her screen presence is all the more remarkable because the series does not go out of its way to aggrandize her.

Everybody Remembers the Stripper: Don't even try to tell anyone that the series is crammed with Character Development and Tear Jerkers; they'll take one look at the box and dismiss it as soft-core porn.
- It ADVERTISES fan-service and action. Seems like it becomes a Soap Opera around episodes 10 through 16.
Squick: Father's entire plan is rather squicky, as is his death.
Tear Jerker: So, so many.

The Comic

Cargo Ship: Sara/Witchblade? Considering the 'Blade is both sentient and male, this may be canonical.
- It has bonded with men in the past before. So maybe the Witchblade is bi?
Testosterone Brigade: A good chunk of the fandom.
- It's doubtful the series was ever marketed at girls.
Les Yay: Back in the day, Top Cow published an ongoing Tomb Raider comic that was actually in continuity with Witchblade, and Lara would occasionally show up to hang out with Sara. During those appearances, they did everything short of make out with one another. When subtext is being screamed into your face at point-blank range, is it still subtext?
- Not to mention her relationship with Danielle.
  - Daniel is also a confirmed bisexual.
My Real Daddy: To a large extent, the current book can be said to have started around the time Ron Marz took over as writer. He jettisoned many of the book's '90s "bad girl" trappings and turned it into a much more satisfying urban fantasy/conspiracy comic.
Unfortunate Implications: The Witchblade is said to have bonded to others before, such as Cleopatra and Joan de Arc, famous women. However, this implies that the only reason they were able to become famous was because the Witchblade was helping them, instead of saying that they did everything without help.

TV series

Foe Yay: Sara and Kenneth Irons, Sara and Ian Nottingham.
Jumping the Shark: After the Reset Button Ending of Season One, Season Two just covers the same ground with less suspense. All the character development and discovery went out the window, and Sara laboriously relearned stuff that the audience had found out a year before.
Moral Event Horizon: Ken Irons crosses this irrevocably when he burns alive one man's wife and family and drowns another's wife and child just before killing them both for betraying him.
Tear Jerker: In the first season, Anyone Can Die. Many of the deaths qualify. Special mentions go to the deaths of Conchobar and Joe Cirus.

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