"In the distant future, mankind is forced to live in domed cities called Domepolis after an environmental cataclysm ravages the Earth's surface. These cities are maintained and supplied by private corporations, but at what cost to the inhabitants living within them? In a Siberian Domepolis, virtual game champion Gainer Sanga is arrested on suspicion of "Exodus", an unauthorized venture beyond the dome walls and strictly prohibited by the government, but why? In prison, he meets Gain Bijou, a mercenary bent on escaping and together the two will steal a mysterious Overman out of Duke Medaiyu's mansion. Fighting back the Siberian Railway Patrol forces, they both lead a massive Exodus out of the city to the east land Yapan, where their ancestors are originally from."

Okay, the premise is that in a futuristic society set somewhere in Siberia, people live in domed cities to protect them from the ravages of a past war or environmental problem. A large group of people decide that they don't want to live under an oppressive governmental regime so they make plans to find a new place to live. Much like the "runners' of the Logan's Run trilogy of books (or weaker movie), they want to live their lives elsewhere with perhaps the highest crime they could commit being to escape their sheltered lives (for reasons unknown). The people wanting to leave hire an expert at such escapes, a man called Gain Bijou, and after he becomes inadvertently caught in a sweep of potential criminals (the society apparently has few due process procedures to protect the citizens from the excesses of a brutal police force), he meets a young teenager also caught up in the sweep, named Gainer Sanga, well known as an internet gaming guru who always wins. Most of the first few volumes of Overman King Gainer: Exodus 1 detailed their jailbreak and the beginning of the Exodus from the Siberian Dome, setting up the generic formula where the government forces sent a new attack every episode (more or less). As with the general theme in the underrated Earth 2, escaping the pursuing authorities takes precedence and the race was on after that. Here's what the back of the second cover said about this volume:

"A Dangerous Man Is After Gain! His Name Is Asuham!
The London International Monitoring Agency (IMA), the central government that strictly censors and controls the Domepolis throughout the world, has taken charge of stopping the Siberian Exodus and has deployed its elite St. Regan troops, led by Asuham Boone, to attack the City Units. Despite the perilous situation they are in, Gain and Gainer hide this fact in order for the residents of the City Units to forget their worries and enjoy the athletic festival. But sooner or later, they are going to have to face the pursuing troops and discover the truth behind Asuham's obsessive hatred of Gain."

The episodes this time were 6) St. Regan's Assassin, 7) Railway Tycoon Kids Munt, 8) Hell's Marathon Relay, 9) Miss Adette's Hard Lesson, and 10) Asuham's Grudge. To be frank about the matter, I still thought the rating of "13 Up" on the back of the DVD case was a bit high since the stories were obviously designed for someone half that age but I did see some hope in how the show was developing this time. With the premise set up in the first several episodes of the initial release, this second volume had more of an opportunity to expand on some of the driving forces, and characters, of the series, that seemed overlooked previously. Three of the episodes took a long look at some of the players here and the other two weren't all that bad in terms of sketching out some of the background details about the Exodus so in that aspect, the second volume was better than the first. On the down side, the show still seemed made for the much younger audience, playing up the kiddy parts of the show as if they were the sole audience (I've long held that kids can handle more complex themes and that they know when a show is being dumbed down for them). The better extras helped make it easier to review but I still thought it was only worth a rating of Rent It unless you're watching it with your kids.

Picture: Overman King Gainer: Exodus 2 was surprisingly presented in 1.78:1 ratio anamorphic widescreen color, as originally made for Japanese television by director Yoshiyuki Tomino. It looked quite retro in most ways so I was again surprised to find it was a fairly recent show, released in 2002, although looking much like an enhanced version of Aura Battler Dunbine from long ago. The colors were bright and cheerful, somewhat inappropriately for the subject matter, and the anime style was fairly limited in terms of frame movement and backgrounds but it wasn't the worst I've seen of late. I saw no compression artifacts but there was some grain, video noise, and minor pattern noise from time to time, even if not frequently enough to fuss about.

Sound: The audio was presented in the usual 2.0 Dolby Digital with a choice of either the original Japanese track with English subtitles or a new English language dub. In terms of quality, I actually preferred the dub over the original track this time although I was splitting hairs about the relative merits of each track when I made that decision. The music was fairly pleasant, and I'd listen to a music CD of the material offered; with some decent audio special effects to enhance the exploits of the cast. There was more separation between the channels with the music and special effects than in the vocals (particularly the Japanese vocals) but it was generally well made.

Extras: With another five full episodes on the DVD, I'd be hard pressed to demand too many unique extras here but I was a bit surprised that there was a lengthy director's interview included (it looked to be a television special designed to promote the show). Yoshiyuki Tomino and some of the others involved with making the show were given a chance to outline some aspects of it although it seemed that they were making much of it up as they went along (I got the impression that they had only made the first few episodes, and that they hadn't scripted anything beyond them when this was made). It contained a few spoilers but I'm kind of mystified as to why it wasn't included in the first volume DVD given the introductory nature of the comments made (even though the female host was irritating). There were the usual trailers, some artwork, and the informative double sided DVD cover that included a lot of information on the inside of the cover (if only all anime had such a value adding cover!).

Final Thoughts: Overman King Gainer: Exodus 2 kept skirting around the formula I was sure it would fall into, using various stereotypes in the usual settings to either gain our sympathy or ire, in an often heavy handed manner. I will admit that I liked this second volume better than the first (I watched them in a single sitting which facilitated a better comparison) but it still fell flat for me. With huge plot holes, unexplained phenomena important to the show, and generally weak characters, the series seems to have increased its potential entertainment value but not enough for me to recommend to the average anime fan at this time. A show can be thoughtful, intelligently written, and appeal to a wider audience without resorting to the generic tricks used here, so I'll suggest you Rent It before buying it unless you have to own all anime on DVD.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003 and Best Of Anime 2004 article or regular column Anime Talk