The Daichi family jumps into action again in the second volume of The Daichis: Earth's Defense Family.  With more odd aliens, a good number of family fights, and a truly odd episode thrown in for good luck, this is a fun series that should be getting more attention.

The Daichi's are the most unlikely of heroes, a dysfunctional family that can barely talk to each other, much less work together as a team.  Mamoru and Seiko, the mother and father, have been having problems for a while and only seem to scream at each other.   He's a spineless computer programer who has his head in the clouds, and she's headstrong go-getter who is only interested in how much money the family can bring home.  The children are no better.  Their son, Dai, is a juvenile delinquent who runs through the halls at school lifting up girls dresses to expose their panties, and Nozomi is a virtual slave, doing all the cooking and cleaning.  When they get selected by the Galactic Federation to be the Earth's defenders, and get the chance to earn some serious bucks in the deal, who can resist to call to glory?

The family gets  9.8 million yen (about $100,000) for each invading alien that they successfully repel, and they have some very awesome power-ups that allow them to vanquish the most henious aliens.  There is one little problem though.  Every time they use one of their weapons or technological devices, the cost is deducted from their earnings. After three battles they end up owing 99 million yen!   If they quit now, they'll have to pay the balance by doing hard labor on the planet Siberia for 100 years.  So now they are trapped into fighting, but they can't use their weapons if they ever want to get out of debt.

The Daichi's have been practicing night and day, honing their talents.  The plan is to vanquish some aliens without using any powers so that they can eventually get out of debt.  Things are looking good at first.  They manage to stop an invisible monster and save an auditorium full of people while turning a profit.

Even though a battle has gone their way, the family is still having troubles.  Mamoru has started getting close with a male co-worker, and her husband Seiko has been flirting with Dai's teacher.  Dai for his part is still depressed because he misses his alien pet, Weird, who took off into space in the last volume.  Dai is so down that he doesn't even answer the call when some Russian factories disappear and his family has to investigate.

In the best episode on the disc, Tokyo is overrun by Poke-marus; unbelievably cute little toys that can talk and fly.  All they want to do is have someone to play with them.  But when they start to join together and become as tall as a building, it's hard to find someone to play with.  It's up the Daichi's to stop this giant menace, but Seiko can't let his family harm anything so loveable.

In the final episode, and one of the stranger shows I've seen in a while, a giant heart appears at the top of Tokyo Tower.  This heart shoots out rays that make flowers grow out of peoples heads.  These flowers act like love potions and cause everyone to fall in love with someone else.  Can even a family as messed up as the Daichi's resist?

I'm really enjoying this series.  Though the last episode on the DVD was a little strange, both in plot and execution, this is a funny show that always brings a smile to my face.    It's fast paced and hectic, with a lot of action as well as humor.  Be warned, there is a lot of low brow bathroom humor, but the kid in me really enjoyed that aspect.

Audio:

Unlike many recent releases, the English dub was in stereo surround sound, not 5.1.  The original Japanese track is also pro logic surround.  I viewed the disc with both soundtracks, and I enjoyed them equally.  This would have sounded better in 5.1 since there is a lot of loud dynamic fight scenes, but the supplied audio tracks were sufficient.  There was a fair amount of dynamic range, and audio defects were nonexistent.  A good sounding disc.

Video:

The was a great looking disc.  The colors on this full frame image were very bright and dynamic.  The blacks of space were deep and solid, and the sky was bright blue.  The image was only marred by some light aliasing, which was fairly minor.  A excellent looking DVD.

Extras:

Extras on this disc include a non-credit ending, a minute and a half worth of Japanese promotional spots, and three trailers for other Geneon discs.

Final Thoughts:

This humorous take on group action shows is quite good.  Though there isn't an overall plot (at least not yet) there is a fair amount of continuity in addition to the humor.  With a couple of good laughs in every show, it is a series well worth taking a look at.  Highly Recommended.