The second to last volume of The Get Backers is another solid entry in the series.  Volume nine starts off with a pair of stand alone stories and then launches into what is sure to be the last big story arc of the series.  This has been a fun show, and it looks like it's moving towards a great ending.

Series recap:

The Get Backers are a pair of young guys, Ban and Ginji, who run a business retrieving stolen or lost objects.  Business isn't very good right now.  They live in their car, and have run up a huge tab at a local restaurant.  Even giving their lowly standing, they are quite good at their job.  Once they take on a job, these goofy guys always recover the object they are sent after.

Part of the reason for this amazing success rate is that both members of the team have superpowers.  Ginji is a human electric eel, who can generate a powerful electric charge with his hands, and Ban has a 'jag-on' the ability to create a powerful illusion for up to a minute.  With these powers, and a stubborn streak that doesn't allow them to give up, the Get Backers are able to recover just about anything.

Volume 9:

Hevn, the negotiator who arranges many of the Get Backers' jobs, has an episode mainly to herself at the beginning of this volume.  When a group of mercenaries turn up wearing familiar uniforms, they bring up some unpleasant memories.  Years ago, Hevn was working on a secret research project to develop a alloy with unique properties.  One afternoon a group of men attacked their facility and killed her lover trying to steal the new metal.  When these men show up again, Hevn goes after them alone to retrieve the sample that they stole.

The owner of the Honkey Tonk, Paul, has his past catch up with him in the next episode.  An old friend walks into Paul's restaurant, a friend that he thought had been dead for the past ten years.  The man, Azuma, used to be in a small gang of thieves along with Paul.  One day their third member betrays them while attempting to steal a valuable vase, and Azuma was shot, presumably killed.  Now the traitor has shown up again, this time with a new face and he's holding political office.  Paul and Azuma want to even the score, even though they may not make it out alive.

The last three episodes are the beginning of what must be the last major storyline: The return to the Limitless Fortress.  Word gets out that something bad is happening in the Fortress.  As impossible as it sounds, someone has kidnaped Makubex, and they didn't leave a clue.  So Ban and Ginji decide to get Makubex back.  Along with Kazuki and Himiko they go back to the limitless fortress.  Things may be more difficult than they think though, the last of the Four Kings, Kurusu, is responsible for the abduction, and he's counting on the Lightning Emperor trying to get him back.

This was another fun volume. I really liked the first pair of shows that gave some interesting background on some of the lesser characters in the series.  These stand alone stories were always the Get Backers strong suit, and these two start the volume off at a fast pace.

The story that I liked the least in the series was the original Limitless Fortress saga.  I wasn't that excited when the group decided to go back in, but this second storyline doesn't seem to be dragging like the first one.  They introduce a lot of new characters with interesting powers and the fights actually have outcomes that change the dynamics of the show.

The very end of the last episode is really good and something I should have seen coming but didn't.  I can't wait to see how the series wraps up.

This DVD presents episodes 41-45 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 good.  There was some problems with the English track though.  At the beginning of the first episode the music is way too loud when compared to the dialog.  This evens out after a few minutes.  Aside from that, 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:

The only extras on this disc are clean opening and closing animations and a few trailers.

Final Thoughts:

This penultimate volume of The Get Backers was very entertaining.  This is a fun series that just seems to hit everything right.  If you've followed the series up to this point, you'll be happy with this volume.  Highly Recommended.