The series is set in the future with the world using much the same technology as it does today. For whatever reason, Earth has been in the path of increasing numbers of comets and other solar debris so the formation of two branches of government have been set up to prevent the inevitable disasters that result from the impact of large bodies of rock onto the planet. Most of them break apart just fine by themselves but there are times when the Comet Sweepers come into play, using nuclear warheads to break up the larger comets so that their Earthbound counterparts, the Meteor Sweepers, can make short work of them with similar technology. The glory tends to go to the Comet Sweepers as they are the top notch in the food chain but the work done by all of them is considered of vital importance to keeping the world safe.

The primary focus of the show is one such group based on Shimoji Island off the coast of Okinawa, and one gal in particular, Mikaze Honjo. She comes from a long line of excellent pilots with distinguished records, and her goal is to become a Comet Sweeper in space. The show begins with her in training as a fairly new recruit in the Meteor Sweeper crew, lacking any real motivation to study as hard as is needed or show any real initiative. This causes those around her to think of her as a slacker who won't be with the program much longer. Even on the base there is a rivalry going on between different squads and the pressure to keep up puts everyone on edge. The teachers are tough as nails and while the base commander is more laid back, even he sees the benefit of discipline, leaving it up to the teachers to institute.

The initial episodes set up the premise fairly well with the four teammates studying hard by day and working part time in a noodle shop by night. The island is small and everyone knows one another, amplifying the good events with the bad as the whole world seems to know everyone else's business. The story eventually begins in earnest when Mikaze runs a mission where the meteor she's sent to destroy seems to veer off course unpredictably. This is, of course, impossible given the laws of physics and she believes she sees something that makes no sense, missing the chunk of burning matter altogether. It hits an island and obliterates it, leaving an object investigated by the authorities much higher up her chain of command. Due to the failure to sweep the meteor, a board of inquiry is set up and the goal of the trio seems to be to point the finger at the base commander (and relieve him of duty in a political maneuver). Mikaze refuses to cooperate and then throws herself into her studies like never before, realizing more is going on then meets the eye.

The rest of the episodes after that detail the plotting of various groups to get what they want as Mikaze and crew continue to do their duty to the best of their abilities. This leads them into a greater conspiracy where one of their own, Karin Kikuhara (notable for the dub voice being singer Stacy Q) is taken on medical leave to be whisked away to parts unknown off the island. The exact nature of the warring factions becomes evident just as the largest comet in history is poised to strike Earth, with all of the Comet Sweepers out of commission, thereby dooming Earth if nothing is done. The rest of the story will depend on you getting the set since I don't want to spoil it for you any more than I have to.

The show was interesting for me, especially compared to Return To Base, since it provided plenty of drama and the typical backgrounds used in anime. The characters weren't all that well developed but this was a half season show and didn't have enough time to do so, perhaps weakening what could have been in favor of the expedited format of the show. Still, it was a value oriented set with all the extras from the original release and plenty of bang for the buck so I rated it as Recommended for all fans of anime into this kind of thing. It also had plenty of positive role models for the ladies, unlike most anime where the males take charge, so it had that going for it too. Give it a look but expect to pick up a copy after you do.

Code: 101 Initial Point
Code: 102 Fox One
Code: 103 Decision Height
Code: 104 Tally Ho!
Code: 105 Go Around
Code: 106 Checking Six
Code: 107 Mach Speed
Code: 108 Go Gate
Code: 109 Vapor Trail
Code: 110 Mission Abort
Code: 111 Target Merge
Code: 112 Engage
Code: 113 Final Approach

Picture: Stratos 4: Limited Edition Box was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was made in by director Takeshi Mori for Emotion (and domestically by Bandai). It looked very well done with a solid set of colors, decent composition of shots, and a feel of immediacy during the crisis parts of the show. The combination of newer CGI techniques and more traditional anime drawing worked well in most cases with a few limited scenes looking somewhat out of place (I like some of the CGI work here but it didn't blend well at all with the older style when applied together). There were no compression artifacts or video noise, as expected for such a recent show from Japan.

Sound: The audio tracks offered up a couple of typical choices for the viewer; the original 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo track in Japanese, a similar track in dubbed English, or a newly enhanced 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround English track (each with some decent, optional subtitles in English for the words and/or the signs). I preferred the original for the vocals since it seemed to fit better but the dubbed voices in English weren't bad either. My preferred track though was the 5.1 version since the separation was much better as was the music but the volume seemed to be inadvertently set to a lower level on some of the episodes, leaving me wondering what took place. Still, the music was actually pretty solid and cheerful, making me wish there had been a music CD included in the package.

Extras: One of the recent developments in anime has been companies that release boxed sets with all the extras stripped off from the original releases. They then drop the price considerably to balance things out but I have to admit that I like having the same version of the DVD to check out, regardless of the format in hand (boxed set or individual release). Well, Bandai has been bucking that trend and establishing a new paradigm for other anime companies to follow by releasing the same version, figuring early adopters of a series get the benefit of a year or two (perhaps even more) of enjoyment to balance out the cost variation. That said, there were numerous extras included on the four discs, each appearing to be the same volumes placed in the box case rather than remastered. There were the usual clean opening and closings, the usual trailers and text files on various aspects of the show but also numerous voice actor vacation features (where the voice actors in Japan would goof off with each other and provide interviews). There were also music videos of the cast songs, a discussion about military technology, and various Japanese cast members commenting on the show. Add in some filmographies of the English dub cast and some of those plastic pencil boards (the plastic transparencies of the covers) as well as paper inserts to the volumes in the cardboard case and you can see why I had some positive feelings about it.

Final Thoughts: Stratos 4: Limited Edition Box was not the deepest anime series I've watched of late, nor was it without numerous rough edges but the story was compact enough and the extras helped keep it worthy of the type of show many of you may enjoy watching repeatedly. The novelty factor of having Stacy Q on the dub cast list was interesting too (We Connect, Two of Hearts, and Forever in Heaven were some of my favorite pop tunes in the mid-1980's) and I thought the show was far superior to the OVA I reviewed last year. Give it a look and I think you'll like it too.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, and Best of Anime 2005 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.