is a Japanese anime television series co-created and produced by Gonzo and Nitro+. The title is pseudo-German and can be translated as "Pale Rider". A manga titled was serialized in Champion Red magazine.
Along with The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk, and later Strike Witches, this series was officially broadcast with English subtitles on the video websites YouTube, Crunchyroll, and BOST TV.Gonzo Works to be Streamed Simultaneously with Airing. Retrieved on September 19, 2008. It has been licensed for a North American release by Funimation Entertainment, currently known as Crunchyroll.
Story The story is set in a fictional Germany and centers on the outbreak of biomechanical creatures called "Demoniacs", who rise from corpses and attack people savagely.BOST TV's Blassreiter Story Page. Retrieved on April 15, 2008. The Demoniacs have the ability to merge with most technology including cars and motorcycles, not only gaining control of them but also enhancing their performance greatly. Against them is a group of people known as XAT, Xenogenesis Assault Team, who police these Demoniacs in an attempt to keep the peace and discover the reasons for the "Demoniac" change. All the while, a number of human-turned-Demoniacs appear. Some use their powers for good, others for evil. One will rise above all other Demoniacs to become known as the "Blassreiter".Introduction, Official Blassreiter Page. Retrieved on October 6, 2008.
Gerd arc The story begins with the introduction of famous motorcycle champion, Gerd Frentzen. After an accident at the circuit, Gerd is rendered a paraplegic, until offered a cure in the way of a drug, which miraculously cures his paraplegia—by transforming him into an Amalgam. Gerd publicly exposes his Amalgam form during an XAT operation and has agents Hermann and his partner Amanda assigned to him by the organization for constant surveillance to study the nature of his metamorphosis, but concluded that the Demoniac responsible for Gerd's accident was also an Amalgam-human hybrid—explaining its ability to elude capture. With the help of his friend Hermann, Gerd escapes to visit his girlfriend Jill, only to discover she had been scheming all along with Gerd's former team manager, Matthew, in exploiting his fame—old and new. Emotionally betrayed, Gerd quickly succumbed to the influence of his recent changes and assaults Jill. Hermann and Amanda arrive, causing Gerd to flee. Pursued by Hermann and the XAT, Gerd encounters the Amalgam from the circuit accident and in the ensuing pursuit, Gerd crashes and is presumed dead. However, Gerd survived, though half of his face was left badly scarred from the crash. Branded a Demoniac by the general public, Gerd garners little moral support (only Hermann and Amanda's brother Malek) and fully succumbs to his metamorphosis, triggering intense hallucinations of Amalgams. In a pivotal encounter, Gerd finally makes peace with "Blue", the other Amalgam-human and asks to be stopped if he loses control again. Gerd is killed in front of Hermann and Malek.
Malek arc Malek, who has been ridiculed and attacked by his school's seniors since he was adopted by Amanda, is distraught by the death of Gerd. He believed that Gerd would punish his attackers, but Gerd ended up being a "coward" by letting himself be killed. When Malek's friend Johann commits suicide after realizing his mistakes in ridiculing, he wonders why no one will stand up for justice. After being offered a pill by Beatrice, Malek transforms into an Amalgam. Malek kills the delinquents and is hunted by the XAT. Joseph, who had met Malek before, attempts to stop Malek from losing control and intervenes while Brad is shooting on the roof top a couple buildings away. Before Brad is about to shoot Malek, Joseph jumps in front to take the shot for him, causing Joseph to be severely injured. Amanda and Al fire at the wounded Joseph, but Malek shouts and Amanda recognizes his voice. Brad shoots Malek's shield and destroys it, aiming for another shot to Malek's head. Amanda realizes that the Amalgam is actually Malek, and before Brad shoots, jumps in front of Malek to block it, causing Brad to miss. Malek then flees, carrying the body of the unconscious Joseph. They hide in an abandoned church, where Malek attempts to heal Joseph. They are then found by Xargin, who Malek sees as an enemy and attacks. Joseph tries to warn Malek not to fight, but Malek does and is beaten by Xargin easily. Eventually, they are found by Amanda and Hermann. Malek falls into a coma and both are captured by XAT. At the same time, XAT is facing a critical crisis. Their commander, Wolf, has slowly begun to degenerate into a Demoniac. He turns on XAT by infecting everyone, except for Hermann and Amanda. Their comrades die to protect the two from becoming Demoniac. The two escape via helicopter, but Hermann is forced to crash the helicopter, killing himself. Using an XAT Paladin, Amanda flees and pursues Joseph.
Joseph arc The arc follows Joseph's past. It turns out that Joseph was an Outsider that had been adopted by a church after his parents froze to death, using their remaining body heat to keep him alive in front of the church. He spent his childhood in a tightly knit community, helping the priest look after the other orphans' needs, tend to their home and helping people in need. After the nearby Jever river overflowed, the church became crowded with homeless citizens and wounded seeking refuge—the agitation eventually driving the old priest (who also was Joseph's paternal figure) to death by exhaustion. It was shortly thereafter that he met Magwald Xargin—then an enthusiastic researcher hoping to distribute medication to the impoverished population. It was through Xargin (and his hospitalization after the church was burned by xenophobic citizens) that Joseph met his elder sister, Alexandra 'Sasha' Jobson. For the next few weeks, Joseph developed a close friendship with Xargin, with whom he shared a deep desire to help those in need. However, the medication they provided to the bereaved population and Outsiders (even going as far as trying to smuggle them out of Xargin and Sasha's university—then led by Victor Statchus) proved ineffective and one night, Sasha was beaten to death by Outsider-hating citizens. It was then, through the letter that she had left behind, that Joseph learned that Sasha's research was primarily focusing on military-oriented cybernetics. Feeling all hope was lost, Xargin conveys his bereavement to Victor, who decides that he is worthy of receiving the nanotechnology that Sasha had been working on. After Xargin rebels against Victor, Joseph tries to stop his erstwhile friend but is mortally wounded. In a last plea, Joseph tries to convince Xargin that life was still worth living. In response, the former scientist infects the teen with nanomachine-infested blood, turning him into an Amalgam. The next day, Victor Statchus gives him the GARM motorcycle and entrusts him with tracking down the now renegade Magwald Xargin.
Hermann arc Amanda and Joseph are brought to the castle of the organization Zwolf, an organisation that is working to defeat Xargin. Amanda is forced to join as they are holding Malek captive. As Amanda falls into depression about Malek, who is in a coma, Hermann appears before her. Whilst she is happy that her colleague is still alive, he appears to have lost parts of his memory. When his memory starts coming back to him, he realises that Beatrice had turned him into an Amalgam. He loses control and goes on a killing spree. Amanda chases him and tells him that by giving up on himself now, it would be the same as giving up on Gerd Frentzen. This, combined with the fact that he feels he has to live to avenge his XAT colleagues, causes Hermann to regain control of himself. He heads to take on Wolf. Joseph also appears on the scene—but due to a device Zwolf has installed, he has lost control of himself. Wolf escapes, knowing that Hermann would stay to avenge Gerd. Hermann eventually follows Wolf, when he realises his presence is getting Amanda into trouble with Zwolf. Amanda follows Hermann, but runs into Snow, a friend of Joseph. After a brief conversation, Amanda heads to the XAT HQ to help Hermann, and Snow decides to help Joseph regain control. Amanda and Hermann kill Wolf, with the help of Al, another XAT colleague returned from the dead. Al ends his own life, as he feels being brought back to life is "disgusting". Hermann and Amanda invade the Zwolf HQ in order to get Malek back. The two escape to an orphanage run by Amanda's aunt. Beatrice comes to the orphanage, in order to claim data that Amanda has been trusted with by Zwolf. She explains that she is the one responsible for causing Gerd, Malek and Wolf to lose control of themselves. Hermann is enraged and takes on Beatrice. He starts to struggle and, in order to protect Amanda, realizes he needs Malek's help. Malek awakens from his coma and helps Hermann defeat Beatrice. However, Hermann protects Malek from Beatrice's final attack and dies in Amanda's arms trying to tell his feelings for her. It is also implied when he asks Malek if he could have been a good big brother to him.
Amanda arc Malek chases after Xargin using Hermann's Triple six motorcycle. Joseph realises and tells Amanda to wait at the orphanage, as he will bring back Malek. Malek loses to Xargin, but Joseph intervenes in time. Joseph and Xargin begin their fight, but Joseph is defeated. Meanwhile, Gerd and Hermann see Joseph appear in purgatory with them. Gerd decides to help Joseph, explaining to Hermann that he does not have a grudge against Joseph and admires his strong will. After being given the keys to Triple Six by Hermann, he enters Joseph's body. He loses and then Hermann does the same, but the result is the same. Joseph finally awakens and fights with his own power this time. His power surpasses Xargin's though is still unable to completely subdue him, but using the anti-nanomachine "Isis" (which was created using the data stored in Sasha's memory) he is able to sacrifice his life to end Xargin's. Years later, we see that XAT has been reformed with Amanda as its field commander; Malek has also enrolled as a member of the newly formed guerilla unit. Gerd, Hermann, Joseph and the others have been brought back as AI. Amalgamized humans are now a part of society despite being discriminated against. It is hinted that XAT's new primary objective is not only to protect the human populace from Amalgam threats but to also protect Amalgamized humans from discrimination and help integrate Amalgamized humans into society.
Characters
Main characters