Though the voice cast includes two actors familiar to the FUNimation name -- Eric Johnson and Laura Bailey, who supplied the voices for the adult and young Trunks respectively in "Dragonball Z" -- Sabat clarifies that the dub process is unique.

"Our recording sessions for Blue Gender have been dramatically different from that of Dragon Ball Z," he reveals. "Usually held at night, after normal business hours to assure that the actors are free of any distractions. The night sessions have also provided the dark, intimate setting that is 'Blue Gender.'"

Johnson and Bailey play the roles of the lead characters, Yuji, the aforementioned novice to "Gender's" new Earth, and Marlene, a mecha pilot battling the insects. Both seem ready and able to face the challenges inherent in doing such a series. On the "Blue Gender" website, Johnson expressed his enthusiasm.

"I am excited about the character Yuji because it gives me a chance to play a character who is experiencing emotions different from what I have played in the past," he says. "I think 'Blue Gender' is the best thing that FUNimation has produced so far. It is one impressive piece of work."

"I am so excited to be a part of something so new at FUNimation," Bailey echos. "Marlene is such a strong character it is an honor to be able to bring her to life."

Gen Fukunaga, president of FUNimation, also comments on 'Blue Gender's' English dub cast. "We've used some of our best talent on producing 'Blue Gender' including two of our most popular Dragon Ball Z voice actors," he says. "Anyone who loves anime or sci-fi will love 'Blue Gender.' The artwork and stories are very compelling."

For all of its hype, though, "Blue Gender" appears, at least on the surface, to be a well-animated, but mediocre science fiction epic.

"I'm a sucker for high quality animation," Zac Bertschy confesses in his review of "Blue Gender" on Anime Colony. "If it's pretty, I'll watch it. Blue Gender isn't the most original show on the planet (find one that is these days) but the animation is so fantastic that it's worth watching even if the story doesn't interest you."

However, FUNimation spares no expense in putting out a high-quality, accessible package for its imported title. The "Blue Gender" DVD is planned to carry a host of extras, which include image galleries, audio commentary, character profiles, and music videos. The discs will be bilingual, featuring both an English dub track and the original Japanese audio. The music will remain unchanged, and removable English subtitles will be available. The first disc will include three episodes, but FUNimation has yet to release information about the number of episodes on subsequent discs.

Getting back to the main plot of Blue Gender, with half the retrieval team dead and hordes of oversized insects closing in, Yuji realizes that it's kill or be killed. As he adapts to his inescapable fate, the remaining soldiers of the rescue team plan to seek out a launch site to return to Second Earth, a space station orbiting their infested home world. But the launching bay that the team plans to use lies in ruins. Even more urgent, they must find a weakness in these rapidly breeding, quickly evolving insects before they entirely eradicate humanity. Will the genetic information stored in Yuji's cells bring hope to the desperate freedom fighters? Will humanity persevere? Visit Funimation's official "Blue Gender" website to preview the coming terror.