Series: Flag 1 is the story of a journalist photographer named Shirasu Saeko assigned to cover a United Nations special operatives team by virtual of a photograph she took of a flag during a civil war in the small Middle Eastern country of Uddiyana. Her photograph of a special flag that had a powerful religious leader praying thanks to a lucky shot; the picture taking on strong symbolic importance and a life of its own. Because of her role as the one taking the picture, she is commissioned to join the team of specialists as they fight terrorists trying to end peace negotiations; that faction led by an older religious leader of great importance.

What is special about the story in the first volume is that it is told from the point of view of one of Shirasu's coworkers, the man reading back some of her written words and watching tapes of her footage in a slightly eerie manner as though she were dead (rather than merely missing). Her viewpoint is enhanced by the fact that the military has granted her complete access to all mission logs and footage but also allowed to go on missions herself in the war torn country. The special nature of the deployment team (the group called the SDC or Special Development Command) is that they use some mech robots as part of their advanced arsenal; the machines called HAVWC's (high agility versatile weapon carriers). Unlike shows that provide towering devices hundreds of feet tall, these are similar in size & scope to tanks; the show using realistic physics to enhance the appeal. If a larger gun is installed in one of the devices, the recoil becomes a risky matter, the technical aspects catered to for the wonks but not so much that the rest of us get bored.

The episodes were 1) Flag, 2) Portrait, 3) Embedded Reporting, and 4) Night of the New Moon. The initial episode showed a world much like our own with obvious parallels to the Iraqi war currently the topic of debate world over. The technology was only slightly ahead of our own except for the robotic weapons that soldiers get into for fighting (and these were not common in the show; acting as advanced prototypes that even the reporter had only heard about in whispers). Once established in the first episode, Shirasu shows the setting up of her position on the front lines (not far from the enemy stronghold 200 miles away). She tours the base in the second episode and the story provides a wealth of background on the location and military situation. The following two episodes show her getting accepted by the majority of base members when she saves one of their personnel on a mission that has problems and the subsequent preparations for a covert operation at night.

Were this the only things going on in the show, it would have been pretty watered down but Shirasu was like a wide eyed kid in how she approached her assignment, the political background covered as much by the narration (more aggressively on the dub track) as the people she encounters stating their opinions. The advanced technology gives the UN forces a decided edge in their dealings, some of which were decidedly black op missions, but does not make them invincible with the gal exploring the conflict as a photojournalist rather nicely. In that, I give full credit to the series creator Ryosuke Takahashi for weaving a web that blends real life military dynamics with the fictional elements to make a more poignant set of points; allowing the viewer to decide how to take the events. So, my rating of Highly Recommended is based on the totality of the show, proving Bandai can take a relatively unknown series and add some spark with a dub that provides a whole new way of looking at the action (both versions were highly entertaining).

Picture: Flag 1 was presented in an anamorphically enhanced 1.78:1 ratio widescreen color as shot by Japanese director Kazuo Terada. The series was interesting in how it used a lot of stills, clips as if taken from real video cameras, and voice over narration to tell much of the story. The visuals on the actual animation itself were nicely drawn; again trying to be more realistic in terms of proportion and scale than most anime offerings. The camera angles and composition looked as if taken from live action shows too, albeit within the confines of the anime style universe that allows for anything to happen, and this added something to the look of the show I found satisfying as well. That it used the stated elements so well was as much a testament to the creative process as anything else; typically with the viewfinder of a camera (still or video) show in plain view. The use of CGI effects was well done too, mostly on the military machinery but blended in better than many of the more cartoonish animation I've watched of late. The bitrate was often in the upper 6 Mbps or better, so I wasn't surprised that I saw no compression artifacts.

Sound: The audio provided a wealth of options this time, with a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround in the original Japanese or the English language dub (both in 384 Kbps) as well as a 2.0 Dolby Digital version of each track (in 192 Kbps). The optional subtitles were in English with full subtitles, signs only, or completely off so I imagine this could appeal to those of you learning the language as well as the purists that hate seeing any vestiges of the dub. The audio itself was actually an exceptionally pleasing experience with the surround tracks both offering a lot of separation and headspace to test out your home theaters. There were a lot of special audio effects, background noises, and music that took reasonably good advantage of this so even if the vocals were not quite as advanced; it did make the audio better than most recent offerings. The 2.0 versions were of course limited so after you hear the surround tracks, you are not likely to go back unless you have a spare set up in another room. I liked the music enough to want an audio CD of it and while it was not an overly aggressive score, it bolstered the overall experience nicely. In terms of the actual dub versus original language track is concerned, Flag will offer enough quality to satisfy both sets of fans. A lot of care went into the audio and while not all the voice actors were as good as the others, I did not find a single voice markedly off track (a common problem in dubs but also in original tracks these days). All the key players did a fine job of conveying the experience via their performances and I doubt anyone is going to find major areas worth complaining about. There was one major difference between the dub and original tracks though; the narration on the dub was a lot more explicit and in the open, filling in blanks that might have been best left off in certain cases (as in Blade Runner's ending sequence).

Extras: Seeing as how I had the collector edition to look at, the best extra was the heavy cardboard holder for all four volumes of the series. It had a flap on the front and presented one of the mech robots on the back. The other extras were on the weaker side with some trailers, a clean opening, and some DVD creditsbut I hope future releases might expand on this kind of thing.

Final Thoughts: Flag 1 by Bandai and original series maker Aniflex was the type of show a military type like myself can really sink his teeth into. Rather than following the pack as other companies seem too willing to do, it tries a different approach and while I'm not completely convinced it works all the time, it did provide a new viewpoint to the hostilities of modern warfare using just enough spin with the modernistic mechs to make it believable but not comical. In short, Flag 1 not only gave pause for the manner in which the military has a love/hate relationship with the press but the horrors of war were covered and done so in a way that shows the stark difference between the military forces against the civilian lead. I really look forward to seeing future volumes and where they will take the characters and situations but this was a winner all around.

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, Best of Anime 2005, and Best of Anime 2006 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.