"The story takes place in the future on an island paradise known as Tatsumiya Island. Life pretty much seems to be like any other island community, with kids going to school, parents working in their shops, and little exchange between the mainlands that are hundreds of miles away. The lead character is Kazuki, a high school kid that is no stranger to a fight and generally seems slightly withdrawn. When Soshi returned from an extended trip to Tokyo, all heck started breaking loose with announcements made for the residents to go to a series of what appear to be bomb shelters. Kazuki is taken to a small military base and soon finds himself piloting a large, powerful humanoid shaped robot called Fafner with the assistance of Soshi due to a series of inter-related circumstances involving an attack on the island by a golden robot called Festum. Festum is routing all the other defenses and after a brief bit of exposition, we find out that several of the students have the right genetic code to pilot the Fafner but Kazuki is most suited. He stumbles through the fight as several initially important characters bite the big one and we find out the history of the island, with few bits of interesting facts about the devastation of Earth in recent years (that the youth of the island had no idea about)."

Okay, the story is familiar enough to those of us that have watched more than a couple of anime series in the past twenty years and here's what the back cover said about the second volume: "Nothing has been the same ever since the Festum invaded the island. While the population copes with constant attacks and battle preparations, the leaders of Alvis struggle to move forward under increased political pressure from the Neo UN. Meanwhile, battle fatigue has set in for the young pilots and, while Kazuki is away on a rescue mission, Shoko is pressed into service to pilot the Fafner with devastating results."

So, with Fafner: Human Force, what new happened (don't worry, I'll keep the spoilers to a minimum since other review websites seem intent on ruining your viewing pleasure)? Well, the box cover puts it like this:

"The team is in the fight of their lives when the Festum attacks them on a mysterious island. Koyo goes on a rescue mission and saves the day but at a great personal cost. After the dust settles the remaining pilots try to get on with their lives as best they can but Kabuki's mind wanders back to his childhood and to an unpleasant memory involving Soshi. But running away from his past only compounds his problems when he is duped into leaving the island and gets captured by the Neo U.N.!"

The episodes this time were 9) Separation (Assimilation), 10) Disintegration (Crossing Paths), 11) Human Forces (Old & New), and 12) Desperation (Absence). A lot took place this time yet I was left hanging more often than not since the characters that had already been established started acting out of character, new characters were introduced so flippantly that they were either disposable or in great need of more explanation, and the events transpiring seemed to be a continuous stream of attacks from the Festum designed to play a sleight of hand game that the series is backtracking most of the original concepts. The lead protagonist of the show, Kazuki (spelled wrong on the back cover by the way), has been completely against fighting and the resulting consequences have been felt by all those around him (who consider him dangerously inadequate) is used to spirit out the advanced Fafner unit by a mole. He then finds out his fate is tied to the machine more than ever as a new pilot with quirks of his own embraces his role far too readily in battle, leading to some probably interesting consequences in future episodes but laid down as making him a goofball here. The secondary characters were played up slightly more but since they were never properly established in the first place, I didn't care what happened to them; not a good sign when you're midway through a series suffering from sophomore slump syndrome. I'm going to rate the DVD as a Rent It since I still feel there's more potential for the future that has been unexplored but my patience is wearing thin (perhaps this is one of those series that will make better viewing as a single show, all at once).

Picture: Fafner: Human Force (V3) was presented in the original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color it was produced in for Japanese television. I saw no flaws in the picture with the colors looking great, the backgrounds being well handled, the overall detail being solid, and the levels of grain and/or noise barely noticeable. The anime style itself was a combination of the newer CGI and more traditional work now seeing widespread use throughout shows although the CGI was limited to some parts of the island, the shore fortifications, and the like. In all, it looked great which is no surprise considering that the show was just released in Japan.

Sound: The audio was presented with the usual choice of 2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese with English subtitles (the original track of course) or an English language dub. To be fair to both, I liked each of them for various reasons; the original flowed slightly better but the dub was as solid as I'd expect from a new Geneon release. The music and sound effects seemed to be the same this time and there were few flaws in terms of the vocals or miscast actors. There was some decent separation and dynamic range to listen to this time, particularly if you use headphones although they aren't necessary to hear the quality of the audio.

Extras: The only extra this time was a set of trailers, a double sided DVD cover, and some minor artwork from the series. At least the DVD had four episodes or I'd be jumping up and down in a rage.

Final Thoughts: Fafner: Human Force (V3) had some fine production qualities and a great many aspects worth exploring further but I just haven't been able to get into them as presented (for the most part). The manner in which the characters are written and the storyline deliberately misleading the viewer to instill some elements of surprise in what is coming to look like a generic show full of generic situations just left me cold here. Maybe this is part of a grander scheme to make the last few volumes look better by comparison or simply an effort to show the same old stuff is a (very) slightly new way but the new volume or two better be more involving than this one or I'll be upset at having been so taken by the first volume in order to get my hopes up for the likes of this.

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