The fifth volume of Stellvia starts off rather slowly. The 2nd wave is over, and though some of the students have been called back because of an emergency in space, nothing really comes of that for a while. Still, just when I was ready to write this volume off as being a dud, the last half of the final episode on the disc really kicks things into overdrive.

In the your 2167, the Earth was hit by a very powerful electromagnetic wave created by a supernova 20 light years away. The wave had catastrophic effects, and life on Earth was almost extinguished. But the survivors rebuilt civilization, and now, 189 year later, a second wave of particles traveling only 10% as fast as the electromagnetic radiation, but potentially much more dangerous and damaging, has reached Earth. All of Earth's technology and manpower has gone toward erecting a shield to protect it from the second wave. The system is successful, and humanity is saved. But now there are mysterious objects that are buzzing the outermost space station. Earth may have been saved from the nova, but now there may be a much more dangerous threat.

The world has been at peace for decades while they have been preparing for the second wave, and nationalistic rivalries have died away. While national conflicts many not be a problem, that doesn't mean that suspicions have gone away. When unidentified objects appear near the space station Ultima, some of the military think that one of the other foundations have already armed themselves. So the call goes up to create a space fleet based on the Stellvia. This, of course, causes the other foundations to worry about the Stellvia's military capabilities.

The higher ups decide that the civilians on the Ultima are in danger and should be evacuated, so a ship is launched from the Stellvia. When they approach the deep space station, they aren't prepared for what they find.

This volume also deals with Shima's budding relationship with Otayama. The two students obviously like each other, but they aren't sure how they should each act. That leads to some hurt feelings and bruised egos unintentionally.

This is the first volume where the story starts to drag a bit. Nothing really happens in the first two and a half shows on this three episode disc. There is a lot of talk about whether or not a space force is called for, and there is some time devoted to Shima and Otayma, but there wasn't a lot of movement on the plot. It really felt like they were using these shows to draw out the episode count.

Things did start moving in a big way when the relief ship arrived at the Ultima. They set things up in this last half of a show for the rest of the series, and based on the earlier volumes, it should be quite interesting.

This disc contains a scant three episodes, and comes in a keepcase with reversible cover. (The advance disc I received came in a typical black case, but I assume the retail version will come in a clear case as the other ones have.)

Audio:

The DVD includes stereo soundtracks in both English and Japanese. Both tracks sounded very good, with a good amount of range and crisp sound. I enjoyed the English dub just as well as the original soundtrack. The English voice actors did a good job and didn't give the young girls high pitched voices. Well, not all of them. The soundstage was used effectively in both tracks, with some nice panning of the sound effects. A nice solid sounding disc.

Video:

The full frame video looked very nice. There is a lot of color in the show and they were reproduced very well. The atmosphere of the Earth as seen from space looked great with no blocking in the clouds or haze, and no significant banding. A very nice looking show.

Extras:

This disc was pretty bare. The only extras on this disc were a few previews for other Geneon series.

Final Thoughts:

Though the previous volume set up the story of the mysterious unidentified objects that were spotted near the Ultima, it took most of this volume to actually do anything with that plot development. The vast majority of this disc feels like filler, and for the most part it is. Still, they really ratchet up the tension and excitement in the last part of the final episode, and that redeems the disc. Recommended.