I'm only vaguely familiar with the first season but the premise was that Orphen, a sorcerer in training, set out to save a friend that had bad luck with a spell. The spell transformed her into a creature and Orphen's master set out to hunt her down. Orphen, on the other hand, tried to get to her first, in order to reverse the spell and protect her. Having defeated Flame Soul in Volume 3 and having potentially solved the group's financial problems in Volume 4, the group think their problems are over. Sadly, they were in for a rude awakening since that was not the case.

Needless to say, Orphen also has other enemies and must call upon his powers to fight off a variety of beasts and demons, as well as more mundane threats. The crew, on the other hand, has all the usual inter-personal conflicts with one another, to the point that they are usually more troublesome to each other than most of the enemies they encounter. With the series coming to a close with the next set of episodes, Esperanza figures in more prominently as do some of the hidden secrets that group possess. Here's a list of the four included episodes for you:

Episode Seventeen: It's A Fake Orphen!:
Orphen walks alone in the forest after the team abandons him in a restaurant. As he continues his journey, he comes across a strikingly attractive man (ie: a guy that looks exactly like himself) that wants to finish him off. The duplicate also has his sorcerer abilities and the perfect match progresses until others join in. Majic comes to his master's aid but they soon realize that the duplicates are perfect in every way, meaning they'll also have Orphen's weaknesses to exploit. The others continue about their business until a monster attacks Cleao.

Episode Eighteen: Rhapsody Of Sorrow:
Lycoris starts to remember her real past and Majic is tempted by Esperanza, who gives him lessons in sorcery (unlike Orphen). Orphen, in the meantime, is provided some clues as to the origin of the monsters that have been attacking him for a long time, and the immediate future doesn't look to good since the forbidden magic used is overwhelmingly dangerous and powerful.

Episode Nineteen: Lycoris Nielson:
Lycoris' memories come streaming into her brain after the events of the last show take full effect, causing her to leave the group and seek out some answers of her own. This sets in motion the events that will propel the show to its ultimate conclusion and explains a lot of the reasoning behind what has happened. In effect, it was the final piece of the puzzle (in most major ways) that starts tying things together for the cast and story.

Episode Twenty: The Truth Inside The Storm:
The origins of McGregor and Esperanza, as well as their motivations, become more clear and the crew set out to meet the threat posed head on. An old enemy attacks them to stop their progress (a cross dressing version of him at least) with a newfound source of power but Orphen isn't about to stop now that he knows what he's really up against. The team is strengthened by their resolve to complete their mission.

I actually liked this volume better than any of the previous efforts because the story started to show some focus. Gone were the random attacks of the past, the seemingly pointless threads and the weaker aspects of the show. In their place was the light at the end of the tunnel, something good writing could have introduced far earlier. I'm going to consider this one Recommended since the writing was better and themes more interestingly deployed but it was too little, too late in terms of saving the series for me.

Picture: The picture was presented in the usual 1.33:1 aspect ratio full frame color, the current industry standard. The picture was pretty good but there was some grain, some edge enhancement, and minor pattern noise at times. The anime style itself was somewhat limited, using various cost saving techniques (limited movement of the cells, static backgrounds, etc.), but about what you'd expect for a follow up series. I didn't see any artifacts or other major problems with the DVD transfer.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of either the original Japanese track with English subtitles or an English dub, both in 2.0 Dolby Digital. I didn't notice any real separation between the channels (I experimented with turning off my center channel) but the vocals were clear enough and the music okay for a budget release. The subtitles were not dub-titles in that they did not mirror what the English track said but most of the time they followed it fairly closely. I liked both audio tracks this time but have to give the nod to the original Japanese track for its lyrical quality.

Extras: There was around 50 seconds of audio outtakes, some trailers to shows like Kino's Journey, Final Fantasy Unlimited, Megazone 23, Angelic Layer, Azumanga Daioh, andSteel Angel Kurumi , a clean opening and closing, and a paper fold out poster of the cast.

Final Thoughts: I definitely liked this one better than the episodes before it and it showed marked improvement over the pre-Volume Three episodes, which was admittedly not hard to do. This gave me some hope for the last volume but you'll still want to watch them in order due to the way the show builds on earlier episodes. It's all too easy to get lost in such a show since threads continue through from previous volumes and without the background knowledge, you might get frustrated at the whole thing and simply give up.

For better anime choices, look at: DVDTalk's Best Of Anime 2003