Ban and Ginji take on their toughest case yet in the third volume of Get Backers.  Unlike the previous volumes, the shows on this disc are all related, telling one story.  This longer arc fills in the backgrounds of some of the characters but there isn't as much humor as in some of the earlier shows.

The Get Backers are hired by a mysterious group of people to retrieve "IL," an unknown object that is being held in a lawless area know as the Limitless Fortress.  The Fortress is a group of abandoned skyscrapers in the middle of the city.  This is the place that Ginji used to rule as the Lightning Emperor.  By returning, Ginji is putting his life at risk.  When he left he let down a lot of people, people who would just as soon see him dead now.

The Limitless Fortress isn't an easy place to get into or out of, and the mysterious group that hired Ban and Ginji wants to ensure their success. So the Get Backers are forced to team up with some friends and old enemies:  Dr. Jackal, Shido, Kazuki and Himiko.

This group of six enter the Limitless Fortress and find that things have changed a lot since Ginji was running the place.  The new boss is Makubex, a brilliant computer whiz who is also a ruthless man that rules the Limitless Fortress through intimidation and fear.  He also has a mysterious play that may involve the mysterious IL that the group is looking for, a plan that promises to have negative effects on both the Limitless Fortress and the world outside.

This longer story arc was an interesting divergence from the stand alone episodes and short arcs that the series had consisted of up until this point.  While the story never dragged or got boring, it did have a much more serious tone then the earlier shows did, and didn't have the humor that I'd come to expect from the series.

This set of shows were different, but they were still good.  The world of the Limitless Fortress is an interesting place and a good setting for these shows.  A lawless town where might makes right, having Ban and Ginji, two people with compassion, enter it made for some good stories.  This arc was a good excuse to fill in some of Ginji's background, as well as that of some of the other supporting characters.

If you liked the earlier shows, be prepared for something a little different.  Still entertaining and enjoyable to watch, this volume of Get Backers takes the show off on a tangent, which keeps the show fresh and interesting.

This DVD presents episodes 11-15 on a single DVD that comes in an Amaray case with an insert listing the titles of the episodes and the extras.

Audio:

This DVD offers the choice of the original Japanese in stereo, or a 5.1 English dub.  I viewed the show with both soundtracks, and they were both very good.  Both were clear and had good range.  The 5.1 dub was more dynamic than the Japanese track, with a little more strength to the bass.  The English voice actors did a good job, putting feeling into the characters without making them sound goofy like some dubs.   The rear speakers are used to good effect.

Video:

The anamorphic widescreen image looked pretty good.  The colors were bright and the image was sharp.  There were some digital defects with aliasing in the background being the most noticeable.  Fine lines tend to shimmer when the camera pans over them, and there was some cross colorization in the few black and white scenes.  These weren't distracting and this is still a good looking DVD.

Extras:

There was a good amount of extras included with this DVD.  In addition to clean opening and closing animation, there was also a half hour  interview with some of the voice actors who worked ) which were a little standard but still pretty interesting.
 
There was a commentary for episode twelve with Samantha Inoue-Hart and Hector Martinez Jr.  Samantha doesn't appear in this series, so I'm not sure why they picked her for the alternate audio track.  The commentary was sedate, which is a good thing.  As I've mentioned before, I really get tired of the 'party' atmosphere that many group anime commentaries have.

Final Thoughts:

This volume of Get Backers is a nice addition to the series.  While these shows have a different feel than the earlier volumes, being a little more dark and with less humor, it is still an enjoyable set of programs.  They do a good job of filling in the background of some of the main characters without telling you the whole story.  A good set of shows that has me looking forward to the next volume.  Recommended.