The fourth volume of Gilgamesh has some interesting twists in the plot that will entice fans of the show, but is still hampered by stylized animation and a slow moving plot.  That wouldn't be so bad, but the gaps in plot development are filled with teenage angst that really has been overdone in anime recently.

Series Background:

Fifteen years ago the Heaven's Gate project, a scientific organization with unknown goals and methods was about to be shut down.  A lone scientist who was working on the project and also lobbied for its termination, Dr. Madoka, enters the inner core of the project and sets off a reaction that has global implications.  A wave of energy races across the planet and alters the sky, making it shimmer and reflect lite, blocking out most of the sun, and making computers and other technological equipment useless.  This happened on October 10th, or X - X in roman numerals and it's now referred to as Twin X.

Now, fifteen years later, the "Sheltering Sky" as it is called is still encircling the Earth and technology still doesn't work.  Two orphans, Kiyoko and Tatsuya, are trying to stay ahead of debt collectors and find enough food to eat in this bleak future.  Running to avoid being caught by some bad men they owe money to, the pair hide in a house were they meet some interesting children who have amazing powers.  These young adults, known as Gilgamesh, fend off the hoods easily, but then they are attacked by a second group of teens called the Orga.  After a pitched battle with no clear winner, the leader of the Orga, the mysterious Countess of Werdenberg asks Kiyoko and Tatsuya to join her cause in fighting Gilgamesh.  When they refuse, she buys their contract from the debt collectors and in effects owns them.  The Countess says that the members of Gilgamesh are evil, but they say the same about her.  Could these two groups be interested in these kids because they are the children of the infamous Dr. Madoka?

As Tatsuya discovers that he has special powers just like the Orga, Kiyoko finds out that she doesn't.  The Countess has no use for the powerless sister who is starting to cause trouble, so she kicks her out of the Hotel Providence  the she and the other Orga live.  Kiyoko still has to pay back the money that the Countess paid for her though, and the monthly payments will keep her in poverty for the rest of her life.

Not everyone is willing to just accept the Sheltering Sky though.  The Mitleid Corporation has constructed a mechanical computer inside of a huge spiral tower.  They plan to use the device to reverse the events of Twin X.  Gilgamesh has sworn to stop them, but the Countess pledges that her Orga will help protect the tower.

This volume:

With the Mitleid Corporation's plans almost ready, they beef up security around the spiral tower.  The Countess send her Orga in to test the security, and though the kids don't realize it's a test, they fail miserably.  The tower is now guarded by Embryons, creatures, once human, that aren't affected by their powers.  If it had been a real battle, the Orga would have been killed.

Confident that the tower is safe the plan is put into motion and they sky starts to slowly return to normal.  Gilgamesh desperately wants to stop this, so they make a last ditch effort to destroy the project.  Something that has unforseen consequences for both Gilgamensh themselves and the city as well.

There are aspects of this series that are very, very good, and others that are not so great.  The overall plot concerning the Twin X event and the mystery surrounding that is very interesting and is the reason for watching the show.  I also like the fact that viewers are never sure who the good guys and bad guys are.  Like real life, it all depends on which side you look at things.

Unfortunately there are some aspects that keep the show from being really enjoyable.  Much of the program is taken up with teens full of angst sitting around feeling miserable.  This has gotten old really fast.  At one time that was new and interesting, but that time has long since passed.

As I mentioned in my other reviews of this series, the animation is very stylized, and not to my liking.  The characters don't move realistically and it is distracting. It's hard to really get into a series when you're constantly reminded that you are watching a cartoon.

Audio:

This disc offers the option of the original language soundtrack in stereo or an English dub in 5.1.  I alternated between the tracks with every episode, and thought they were both very good.  I preferred the Japanese track, but only slightly.  The English 5.1 dub made very good use of the rear channels, for example it had the children's psychic voices echoing from behind the viewer which was very effective.  There were no distortions or other audio defects in either track.  A solid sounding disc.

Video:

The anamorphic widescreen image looks pretty good overall.  The color palate consists of mainly  blacks, whites and greys and these are reproduced faithfully.  The lines are a little on the soft side, but not too much so.  The level of detail was fair and the contrast was good.  Digital defects are nonexistent, even aliasing doesn't show up.

Extras:

There were a good number of extras on this disc.  The disc starts out with a clean opening and closing, two galleries of production art and character art, a glossary of terms, as well as some previews.

Behind the Scenes: In the Studio with Gilgamesh is a 14-minute interview with the English cast where they talk about the show and the recording.  The set was decorated with candles and trees to create an atmosphere for the actors, and it was pretty interesting seeing what it looked like.

Gilgamesh: A Buried Masterpiece is an audio featurette that is presented over the visuals from one of the episodes.  This presents the history of the show starting with the manga that was created in the mid 1970's, and its place in the creator's cannon.  There was a lot of information presented and it was very interesting.  The narration was pretty wooden, but I think that was the tone they were going for.  Aside from the fact that they refer to the charlatan Uri Geller as a "philosopher" it was very enjoyable.

Finally there are two "tables" labeled "03: History" and "05: Future."  These are two minute reels of clips that show scenes from the earlier and later episodes respectively.  I didn't find these very interesting, and the future one gave away some plot points.

Final Thoughts:

The good aspects of this show definitely make it worth watching, but I can't help but think that with some slight alterations this could be a much better show.  The teens sitting around complaining and the unrealistic dialog really bring this series down a couple of notches.  Even though four voulmes have come and gone, I'm still on the fence about this series.  This volume gets a light recommendation.