The show concerns a group of super powered human fighters from another world, Leafeania, who follow some evil beings to Earth in order to restore order and capture or kill them. The demons they are chasing have the ability to hide until they are very powerful and the team of seven young men and women (several of which are young children) decide it's important that they find a being who can enhance their powers, a "pretear". This being is not known when they arrive on Earth but their survival seems to depend on finding him or her as quickly as possible. The being will have the genetic power to touch one of the team and be absorbed, giving the team member a tremendous boost (each member has their own unique abilities).

Episode Eleven: Eyes Of Glass:
Himeno, the Pretear, and her comrades have been forced to take refuge as Takako, the Princess of Darkness, and her hordes run rampant about the world. Himeno's family, in the meantime, has been searching for her since she's been missing for days. As Takako prepares to use Mawata by way of Sasame in order to further her own ends, Himeno and company are powerless to prevent her corruption as she loses her heart.

Episode Twelve: Warmth, Once More:
The world collapsing around her, Himeno attempts to free Mawata from the destructive Great Tree of Fenril. The tree is not without its means of defense and all the knights try to stave off the various threats while Himeno and her family tries to save their kin. As Takako and Sasame coldly watch the knights fight a losing battle, the fate of the world rests in the balance. The key to winning seems to lie within the birth of Takako's evil nature and the deep love Himeno is capable of showing.

Episode Thirteen: The Legend Of White Snow:
As Sasame lies prone and near death, Takako finds that she actually cares but only Himeno seems able to save the day when the Great Tree decides to take control. Will her desire to sacrifice herself for all the others, including her enemies, be enough to defeat the nearly invincible Tree?

The show was really sentimental and sappy (sorry, a tree joke seemed appropriate) but at least it ended in a manner that was befitting the content of the last several DVD's. Fans of the overly romantic style of anime this one embraced will likely appreciate it more than the rest of the world but you'll want to watch the volumes in order or you're going to find yourself swamped in details that were not particularly accessible to a newcomer. That said, I think it was worth a rating of Rent It based on the keen extras and technical qualities, but fans of the show will likely think a higher rating is in order.

Picture: The picture was presented in the industry standard 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. While not exactly top of the line, there was little grain or other problems to interfere with the picture quality. The anime style itself wasn't exactly high budget either but it was better than a number of other releases. I didn't see any major edge enhancement, artifacts, or moiré either for those of you who prefer hearing code words to a solid visual description in layman's terms.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of either a 5.1 Dolby Digital surround English track or the original 2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese track with optional English subtitles. In terms of music and separation, the dub track was far superior to the original language track but as much as I like some of the voice actors, the original vocals seemed a bit more refined and appropriate. The Japanese track seemed almost in monaural but depending on what you want out of the audio.

Extras: For me, the best extra was a lengthy interview with four of the voice actors, Lauren Goodnight, Kaytha Coker, Shelley Calene-Black, Mandy Clark and Jason Douglas. The feature lasted almost 58 minutes(!) and went into great detail with David Williams interviewing each of them. This is the type of value-added extra I look for in a DVD I want to keep. There was also a section with a minute of Japanese television spots and the usual clean opening and closing, trailers, sketches, and a paper insert that listed the chapters and DVD contents.

Final Thoughts: Watch Volume 1 first and then you'll be in a much better position to appreciate all that took place here. It wasn't bad for the overly sentimental type of anime that it was and the interviews were exceptionally good for an ADV extra.

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