The fan service continues in the next volume of Daphne in the Brilliant Blue. The series begins to move in a forward direction as the Nereids take on more and more complex missions. The second volume of Daphne is no less filled with clichéd hijinks and fan service, but the series finally seems to have gotten its feet under it with the introduction of a new member, and missions that actually begin to flesh out some of the typically "background" characters. Initial impressions aside, the second volume of Daphne moves the series in a better direction.

The fifth episode introduces the final member of the Nereides group: a martial artist named Yu Park. Yu's introduction is a typical over the top affair, detailing her capabilities as a warrior in particular, and the brutal way she deals with her missions. Yu's addition rounds out and fleshes out the otherwise bland and ordinary Nereids by offering a rivalry with Glora and a chance for Maia to mature by speaking with her after she botches a tailing assignment. Like the other girls, Yu is scantily clad, though she's not quite as busty as the others.

An amusing point through this episode is the interaction of the Nereids with the local police, something that's been downplayed in the introductory episodes. It seems that each of the girls has a unique way of dealing with the cops, predominantly Rena's blatant sexual appeals to the investigators and the ever present threat of violence from Glora and Yu: both seem to inspire considerable fear within the local cops as well as frustrating their attempts at actual police work.

Among the more interesting things in this volume is the development of their manager, a previously unknown character who simply served to mete out their missions. The manager's home life seems to revolve around the lies that he's spun for his wife and children -- typical man in a desk job, playing it up. Where the episode really shines is the comedic hilarity that ensues once he drafts the Nereids into the farce: he points out and expands upon each of the flaws in the women, which his daughter gleefully repeats, and even inducts them into a mock criminal event with the promise of more pay and vacations. Maia's character develops more fully in the last episode of the volume through her devotion to her mission. She is seen consistently practicing to become better at the hover racing that the mission requires, showing a dedication that is previously not present within her character. Whether this is indicative of the rest of the series is yet to be seen, but it is a good start.

The pacing and speed of these later episodes more than makes up for Daphne's lackluster beginnings. As always, the animation is bright and crisp, but the character designs leave something to be desired. The series maintains its massive amount of fan service, especially when Rena begins to seduce the inspector during episode five (she might as well have been naked for the amount of clothes she wore). The same could be said of Yu's attire in general, which is barely there. Shameless fan service serves as an interesting counterpoint to the action-packed nature of these episodes. Even the light hearted "All that Papa" reaches its climax with violence, despite its comedy.

The music and voice acting remains top notch. Kudos to Geneon Entertainment for recruiting such a well-rounded and talented vocal cast. The English voices tend to have the same kind of emotion that the Japanese voices do, and this goes a long ways towards capturing the personality of the Japanese characters. Once again, the music is nothing to shout home about: good enough to add to the action sequences without actually distracting from the action in progress.

Once again, the specials on the DVD are sparse. A textless opening is all that's included with the DVD, but no one buys anime for the extras, right? In any case, Daphne is shaping up to be a better anime than anticipated, with the final addition to the cast and the deeper development of the characters driving the story forward. We can only hope that the dangling thread of Maia's missing memories can be resolved in the coming episodes.