SUMMARY
The end of the
world is fast approaching. A giant mass of alien material is heading
toward the Earth. In a desperate plan, the United Nations decides to
turn the space station Ulysses into a giant thermonuclear bomb.
With all the secrets out in the open, the members of Funeral decide to
rescue the imprisoned Commander Innes, and try to reactivate the comatose
Extra 1 (aka Frank). With the help of Mr. X, Ryu Soma and Hattie
sneak into Funeral while their friends stage an attack on the base.
Time is running out. If they can't reactivate Frank and get him
to stop the mass, then the UN will launch the Ulysses.
The fate of the Earth rests in the hands of Ryu Soma, Hattie, and the
Extra 1.
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 edit 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
a "special episode". 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: Well, we do get a down shot of Hattie's breasts (when she's 19),
and we see requisite cute girl Sue in a tank top and panties.
CONCLUSION
This is it, the end, and it's been a pretty intense ride. For the
last 22 episodes, we have seen Ryu Soma and Funeral fight a never ending
battle against not only aliens, but their own government. It now
boils down to episodes 23 and 24. The decisions, actions, and
sacrifices made by these characters will affect the fate of the entire
world.
It's hard to go into too much detail with out spoiling the
ending. While it's pretty cool, It didn't quite end the way I
expected. I will say that all the conflicts, both physical and
emotional are resolved. The final episode (episode 25) was a little
too neat and tidy for my taste. Still, it needed to be done.
We needed to find out the "fallout" of the events surrounding
the aliens and the secrets of the United Nations. Besides, it sets
things up quite nicely for a sequel.
The big question I have is why did
they make an "extra episode" featuring the obnoxious Sue
Harris? I am assuming that she was the "fan favorite"
because the entire episode centers on her. Frankly, I would have preferred
a special on Guenevere Green. She was a more interesting character,
and sexier to boot. At least the episode explains why Sue and Dan
got it on.
Argentosoma
was one of the most entertaining series of 2003. With it's solid writing,
interesting concepts, and cool action, this is one series that I will
watch again and again.
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