Created in honor of the 50th anniversary of influential comic artist Leiji Matsumoto's first published work, Galactic Railways continues on strong with the third volume.  This four episode disc contains some excellent episodes including the touching story of Captain Bulge's true love as well as a pair of action packed shows.  It's a nice mix that shows just how diverse this series is.

Series recap:

Manabu Yuuki is the son of a Captain in the SPD, Space Defense Force, the organization that protects and guards the millions of miles of interstellar space routes that the galactic trains travel across.  Manabu's father, Wataru, is the Captain of Big One, the pride of the SDF fleet.  Wataru sacrifices his life to save his crew and the passengers of a train while Manabu and his brother Mamoru look on.  A few years later Mamoru comes of age and joins the SPD, only to die in the line of duty like his father.

When Manabu reaches maturity, he feels that it's his duty to join up with the SPD also to see the universe and help his fellow man.  Over the strenuous objections of his mother, Manabu ships out.

As luck would have it, he is assigned to Sirius Platoon, a fighting unit that sees a lot of action and uses his father's old command: Big One.  In the platoon with him are Louis, an attractive new rookie, and Bruce, the old hand who doesn't approve of the newcomer.

Manabu is a little different from the other members of the SDF.  He doesn't want to see anyone die, so he'll readily attempt some dangerous plan in a hostage situation.  On top of that, the only weapon he carries is his father's old sidearm which no longer functions.  This causes some tension between Manabu and his fellow SDF officers, but his optimistic outlook wins them over.

Volume 3:

The volume starts off with a romantic and bittersweet episode that was really touching,  Bludge, the Captain, thinks back on his past when he was 1st officer under Manabu's father, Captain Yuuki.  He recalls how Wataru saved his life, and introduced him to his girlfriend, Catalina.  Having a love life while working for the SDF is difficult, and it is even more challenging when the lines of communication aren't clear.  An excellent story.

Manabu gets into a bit of trouble in the next story.  While making sure that a planet whose sun is about to go nova is totally evacuated, Manabu discovers an old lady living by herself.  She mistakes Manabu for hew son who went off years ago to make his fortune and never returned.  She's so happy to see her 'son' again, that she doesn't believe Manabu he tells her the truth and assumes that Manabu has made a fortune off planet.  When the other members of his squad come looking for him, the lady thinks that they are his servants and puts them to work chopping wood and washing clothes.  When the crew looks up the woman's real son and finds out that he died a long time ago, they don't know how to tell her that she's lost her son and will soon loose her farm too.

This was an interesting show that had an unexpected ending that works better than I thought it would.

After these more somber episodes, it was nice that the following show was more action oriented.  Manabu accidently gets on the wrong train, the 777, a train that has no home station and no schedule.  It's path depends on its passengers; it delivers them to the station of their destiny.  When the 777 is attacked by pirates, it's up to Manabu to save the people on board, including a childhood friend.

This action packed show was a lot of fun, but the ending left a lot to be desired.  The deus ex machina climax left a sour taste in my mouth.  While I didn't mind the mystical climax to other episodes in this series, this one didn't work well at all.

Another action show finishes off the disc, and this one is better than the previous one.  When Manabu and Louis are assigned to guard the president of a planet, things get a little dicey, and not only because the VIP turns out to be Louis' father.   He's also been targeted for assassination.  The president isn't worried because he has a team of robot guards, but when they get reprogrammed and turn on him it's up to the two SDF agents to protect his life.

This volume had a great mix of shows.  The first two were touching and very good, but the action filled episodes were a lot of fun.  This is a very good series that has a lot going for it.

This volume contains episodes 11-14 in a clear keepcase with a two sided cover.  As with the other discs, the one thing that mars the presentation is the non-skipable trailer that FUNimation included before the menu.  You can't fast forward or chapter skip past it, which is pretty irritating.

Audio:

This program offers the choice of a Japanese track in stereo or and English dub in both stereo and 5.1.  I alternated tracks while viewing the show, and all three were very good. While I wish that the original language track was in 5.1 also, I couldn't complain about the sound quality. The dialog was clean, and there was no distortion or other audio problems. The English 5.1 track had a bit more punch to it, and used the soundstage a bit more. The voice actors were very good. I was quite impressed. There were not any stupid accents or phony sounding voices. While I prefer the Japanese track, I enjoyed the English dub as well.

Video:

The anamorphic widescreen video image is very good.  The colors are bright and solid and the lines are tight.  There is a good level of detail with even small items being crisp and clear.  Digital defects are nonexistent with even aliasing being absent. This is a very good looking show.

Extras:

The main extra on this disc is a 10-minute excerpt from the Japanese recording session.  In addition to this there is a textless opening and closings is included as well as a series of trailers.

The most interesting bonus item was another episode of Mr. Stain in Junk Alley.  "Vol. 7" is included on this disc. This 7-minute CGI short is pretty amusing, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.  The series is going to be released in 2006, and this is a great way to get the word out about it.

Final Thoughts:

Though I didn't like the ending to one show, the other three episodes were great.  This is a show that has a variety of stories to tell, and it doesn't get locked into a single style or genre.  There are hints of a larger story in this volume too, but whether one will actually develop still isn't clear.  Whichever the case is, the ride's very enjoyable.  A high Recommendation.