"The show initially focused on a young student, Maia, who is studying for her entrance exams for the last bastion of government, the elite Ocean Agency. Unlike here in the USA, the best and brightest in Japan have long been involved in public service as it honors their family and elevates their social status accordingly. The Ocean Agency is the last true governmental body left in a world gone wild so it makes sense that the intelligent, thoughtful, and highly capable Maia serve in the agency as she is shown to be head and shoulders above her peers in every way. Needless to say, sometimes life throws us a curve or two and young Maia soon finds herself unemployed, homeless, and without a friend in the world (perhaps a mystery that the series will delve into later on; at least I hope so) after failing the exam. Through a quirk in fate, Maia stumbles into a shoot out between some hot looking futuristic detective/bounty hunters/mercenaries (later known as employees of the Nereides Corporation, a nebbish gal named Shizuka and a cold hearted capitalist named Gloria) and a thug on the run. Before long, she ends up working with the two, even though her lack of real world experience hampers her initial efforts at assisting them, often as either bait for their sting operations or to serve as a buffer between the members of the group that don't get along."

The second volume of the series fleshed out the team members a bit more and established their relationships with one another so this time, the series seemed more focused. It started off with episode 9) Only I Don't Have Tomorrow, where Gloria is found out to have a very limited amount of time to live. The others treat her far better than they otherwise would have and the manic action ensues until she finds out the scoop. One thing leads to another and the following two episodes, 10) Siberian Super Vacation! and 11) The Long Stay!, follow the team on a vacation from Nereides, with tickets won during Gloria's reign as a soon-to-die friend. Unlike vacations where people relax, see the sights, and otherwise goof off, the team soon finds itself involved in several little mysteries, from a kidnapping, to an exploration of restaurants, to a surprise from Maia's past. The main thrust was Maia remembering that she had been to Siberia before; with a rush of memories from her early childhood (the exposition of her past coma answered a few questions but left far more new ones in my mind). The DVD ended with 12) The Day Earth Floated Away, an episode where the agency is assigned to crowd control of a large festival that gave a lot of detail about how the various city states came into being. With seemingly mundane tasks such as reuniting a little girl with her mother and keeping the more aggressive members out of trouble, this set of four episodes wrapped up nicely and added some needed complexity to the series.

Okay, I've liked the series thus far and these episodes were also a lot of fun to watch. I'm continuing to rate it as Recommended thanks in large part to the interesting manner the story unfolded but also thanks to the technical excellence displayed throughout the episodes. In some ways, the pacing of the show was helpful in that the series hadn't gotten around to revealing all the secrets of the team, allowing it to grow each time and push some of their evolution further than would be appreciated otherwise. If the next few volumes in the series live up to what's been given us so far, I think the inevitable boxed set will be highly regarded by anime fans of all types.

Picture: Daphne in the Brilliant Blue 3 was presented in the same 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was shot in for Japanese television a year ago. The colors, with some of the most subtle shading I've seen in a recent anime, were very nice to look at and the anime style itself managed to showcase some of the best Japan has to offer these days. The animation approach itself appeared almost as though it were done in the traditional fashion with painted cels but upon closer look I came to think it was greatly assisted by computer assistance (which is not all bad, contrary to what you may have heard).

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of the original Japanese or an English dub, both in 2.0 Dolby Digital. The music and special effects had the most separation and dynamic range (for each track) and my belief was the original vocals scored somewhat more points for the naturalness of the voice acting. The English dub track won out in terms of the mix as the bass was deeper and the treble somewhat sharper so take some time to acquaint yourself with each track if you want to hear the relative merits of each.

Extras: The only extras included were some trailers, a Japanese cover art section, a double sided DVD cover, and a paper insert that unfolded into a small poster. I would have really appreciated the insert to have more details about the city, the characters, or even a timeline of the events leading to this futuristic place or at least to the main agencies playing a role here but perhaps that can come later.

Final Thoughts: Daphne in the Brilliant Blue 3: Getaway maintained the initial quality of the series in a way that made me like it all the more. While the cute fan service action certainly didn't hurt any, the manner in which the cast seems to be as much a danger to each other as to the crooks they hunt down for money almost always makes me smile. I know that some of you have written me suggesting it gets even better (or worse per two of you who've seen some largely inferior fansubs) but I'll hopefully get a chance to make up my own mind as the series continues to unveil the secrets of the futuristic society inhabited by half dressed women, a level of capitalism that probably scares the heck out of socialists desiring anything but this most efficient form of resource deployment, and the teammates themselves as their pasts come into play in more frequent threads in the episodes.

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