Geneon finishes off the 3X3 Eyes OVA series with volume two which presents the final three episodes.  This is technically the second OVA series since there was a four year gap in between episodes four and five, though it takes up right where the first one left off.    While these episodes don't finish the story told in the manga, it does end in a nice spot and it isn't a cliff hanger the way the first OVA series was.  This is a good solid series for those that enjoy an older school feel to their fantasy-adventure anime.

Series background:

Yakumo Fujii is a pretty normal kid.  He goes to school, works at night, and enjoys working on his motorcycle and hanging out with his friends.  That changes when he nearly hits a girl on his motorcycle while on way to work.  The girl's name is Pai, and as luck would have it, she's been looking for Yakumo.  Pai is from China and met Yakumo's father there.  She took care of him when he was sick and dying and now he's written to his son asking a favor.  Pai is the person the elder Fujii spent his whole life looking for:  the last Sanjiyan Unkara.  She is from an ancient race of immortals, all of which turned themselves into humans.  For some reason the child-like Pai didn't undergo the process and has spent the last 300 years trying to become human.  In order to make this change, Pai needs an object, the Statue of Humanity.  Reluctantly Yakumo agrees to escort Pai to Hong Kong where the ancient object is kept.

Before they can go to China however, Yakumo is attacked by a monster and mortally wounded.  He would have died, but Pai merged his life-force with his, turning him into a Wu; an immortal being who cannot be killed.  Yakumo will stay in this state until Pai becomes human.  That isn't such a bad state though, since there are a group of monsters who are also after the Statue of Humanity.  These creatures want the statue in order to resurrect Kaiyan Wang an evil and powerful Sanjiyan who wants to rule the world as a despot.  It's up to young Yakumo and the innocent Pai to make sure the world doesn't fall under this dark demon's grip.

This volume:

Four years have passed since Pai faced Kiayan Wang's Wu, Bernard.  That battle ended in a huge explosion and no evidence of either person was found.  Yakumo knows that Pai is alive however.  If she were dead, he'd die too.  He's spent the last years searching the world for her.

As the series opens Yakumo has finally found Pai, but she's changed.  She has lost her memory and thinks that she's just a normal high school girl living with her grandparents.  She's not normal of course, and Bernard is looking for her too.  Kiayan Wang has contacted seers while trapped in his tomb and offered a large reward, eternal life, for anyone who can bring the girl to him.  Hordes of demons are looking for her and she doesn't even know why.

Luckily Yakumo shows up in time to protect her, but he has no idea how to restore her memory.  He knows someone who might be able to in Tibet however, and he and Pai travel through China to the mountains of that ancient country for some answers.  What they find is more revealing, and dangerous, than they imagined.

These three episodes retell the events from the manga through volume 5 (of a total of 18).  The story is very good and it isn't one of those monster-of-the-week shows, though there are a lot of battles.  This plot this time gets a little more convoluted than it was in the last volume, which was too bad, the story progresses at a good rate and there really isn't much down time in the show.   This is an enjoyable show that is a lot of fun, even if it is a little violent.

Pioneer released the entire seven episode 3X3 Eyes series in an incredibly expensive DVD set ($65 MSRP) back in early 2001.  Now Geneon (a subsidiary of Pioneer) is releasing these OVA's once again, this time in a reasonably priced two disc set. The discs seem to be exactly the same ones issued six years ago though I haven't been able to confirm that.

Audio:

The disc comes with the original Japanese soundtrack and an English dub, both in stereo.  I alternated tracks with each episode, and I enjoyed the Japanese track a bit more, though the dub is very good too.  Both tracks are free from distortion and background noise and though the more modern English track sounds a bit more polished, they were both very acceptable.

Video:

The full frame video also looked fine.  The lines weren't as sharp as they could have been, and the colors were just a tad on the dull side but this wasn't a problem.  On the digital side things were pretty good too.  There was some aliasing, more than on the first volume and a bit of banding in a few scenes but nothing to really distract from the show.

Extras:

This disc also comes with filmographies of the English voice actors and two art galleries.

Final Thoughts:

The program has a good mix of plot, action, romance, and horror, with just a touch of humor added for good measure.  The horrific aspects aren't as gruesome as some recent shows, but arms do get severed and there is a fair amount of blood.  With a retail price of only $14.95, it's certainly priced attractively too.  Well worth picking up.  Recommended.