SUMMARY
Ryu Soma is a
member of Funeral, an anti-alien attack force. No one
knows that he is really Takuto Kaneshiro, the only survivor of a secret
project called Morgue. They also don't know that he is supplying
information to a man known as Mister X.
Funeral is using a reconstructed alien called the Extra 1(aka Frank) to help fight
attacking aliens. Ryu blames the Extra 1 for the destruction of Morgue,
and the death of his girlfriend Maki. He also does not like the fact
that in order to control the Extra 1, they have to use a young girl named
Harriet, who has a symbiotic relationship with the monster.
The members of Funeral are in shock. Frank has started to
speak. His newly found voice causes Ryu and the rest of the team to
question their roles in the war against the alien. Unfortunately,
they don't have much time to reflect. The UN has revealed a new
weapon, an improved Zarg called a TOD. Now, Ryu finally understands
what the information he has provided to Mr. X is being used for. So
confident the UN is about their new weapons, Funeral becomes nothing more
than back up.
The truth about the aliens, Pilgrimage Point, and the reason Frank is
able to speak is finally revealed by Mr. X. The knowledge will bring
Ryu and Funeral to their knees, and may cause the destruction of the
entire world.
DVD VISION TEST
VIDEO: The quality is excellent.
There are no pixels or errors noted. The colors are solid, and the motion,
fluid.
AUDIO: There is very little difference between the Japanese and English 2.0 audio
tracks. What difference there is in the volume and the surround sound elements. It
will depend on your equipment on which one sounds better.
EDITS: The only edits is that the clean close animation is used. No edits
to the episodes have been made.
EXTRAS: Really skimpy on this one. You have a
couple of pages of Tech Specs, a moderate amount of character artwork, and
that's it. The cover can be reversed.
WIDESCREEN REVIEW
STORY:
With so many people involved in this series, it's amazing how put together this
show is. You have the "Original Concept" designers Hajime Yatate
and Kazuyoshi Katayama who came up with the idea. There is Chief Writer
Hiroshi Yamaguch, who is the one responsible for keeping it together. Last but
not least are the screen writers, who vary episode to episode.
ACTING: The acting on both sides is pretty typical. It's good,
but it's nothing groundbreaking.
FAN SERVICE: None in the panty category. Even the uniforms are very
un-sexy. There is a pretty obvious reference to 2001: A Space Odyssey
in this volume too.
CONCLUSION
This is it, the beginning of the end. The future of
Ryu, Frank,
and the entire Earth will be decided in the next few episodes. You
will learn everything. Who Mr. X is, why the aliens are heading to Pilgrimage
Point, why Frank can talk, and who attacked Morgue thus creating Ryu Soma. There are
more surprises to be had as well. As it turns out, Ryu is not the
only spy in Funeral. You will never guess who it is.
Ryu has some
serious issues to work through. As his fragile grasp on his sanity
continues to loosen, he starts lashing out at Hattie. Since she is
the physical embodiment of Maki, all his anger and regret wind up being taken out on her. While I really hate the character of
Hattie,
even I will admit that Ryu needs to find an alternative way to deal with
his problems. Gwen seems to be up for that job, giving the impotent
Ryu a lesson in "Aggressive/Hot Women 101". With a babe
like her, I would forget the cold and emotionless Maki.
Like Macross,
"Argentosoma" is a anti-war drama disguised as an action
series. Recently, many of the Funeral members have been questioning the reason they are fighting. Once the truth about
everything is revealed, even the stoic Captain Ines has some conflicting
emotions about her life and role in this war. Needless to say, Ryu has a nervous
breakdown when he realizes that his views of Frank and Maki were
totally off base. Yet, the hope for peace remains, and Funeral
decides to follow their heart, and do things their way.
To go any
further will spoil the plethora of surprises that await you in
"Argentosoma: Our Memories". I need the next volume.
Like Ryu, I need closure!
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