Based on a manga by Peach-Pit, DearS was available in Japan in the Dengeki Comic Gao magazine on a monthly basis and here in the states we can read the manga thanks to Tokyopop. As with a lot of popular manga, DearS got the conversion into an anime series last year and has finally found its way overseas to the U.S. thanks to Geneon. The thirteen episode anime (much like the manga) features several commonplace standards from large-eyed big-breasted alien girls, to a guy victimized by an obsessive and attractive girl; the show even has an obnoxiously cute cat girl. There are a lot of unique things going for this show, but with several "been there, done that" scenarios floating around it has a hard time setting itself apart from the rest of the pack.

Takeya is your typical teenage boy. He walks around minding his own business, then one day a beautiful and buxom alien girl known as Ren gets dropped in his lap. The only problem is that he doesn't trust her kind, but once she starts walking around in the nude, his tune slowly starts to change. She is a DearS, which is an alien race of gorgeous women that crashed onto Earth a year prior. While there weren't many of them on board, they were quickly assimilated into the culture and have become revered by everyone to be virtual goddesses. It's ironic because their alien/human relationships are that of master and slave.

In the second volume of the show Takeya and Ren are just going through the motions of daily life and not a lot change from the first installment. The two are still living together and it's creating all sorts of problems for poor Takeya, especially when Ren gets naked and climbs into bed. Miu (the other DearS in school) took it upon herself to work on Ren's development as a slave since frankly, she's about as dimwitted as it gets. Things got a lot more interesting when Takeya's younger sister Natsuki showed up and unfortunately she left just as quickly. She provided a lot of energy to the episode while she was around and it was something that the show needed.

The third volume continues the trend of only offering us three episodes for each release. The first episode introduces us to Miu's character even more and we are given a strong glimpse into her past and what makes her tick. She had a tragedy when she was younger that changed her perspective about the master and slave relationship and when Takeya and her get trapped together she tells him about it. Her jealousy for Ren starts boiling to the surface and you can almost tell that it's building up to a confrontation.

The second episode focuses mostly on Neneko and her relationship with Takeya. Her feelings are explored and we also learn a little bit about why she is such a tomboy. Oh and she also practices making sexy clothing for Miu and Ren to practice modeling. In the last episode on the disc Miu wins a pass for four people to a spa resort and invites Ren, Takeya and Neneko naturally. To say that there is a lot of nudity in this episode would be an understatement, though of course you never actually "see" anything. Ren also stumbles upon Takeya's hidden porno collection and tries to get him to have sex with her. In the very last seconds of the volume a surprise visitor is set up for the next installment so things should get interesting.

This volume was just like the previous ones. There were a lot of funny situations and naughty humor that made me crack a smile and to be honest the show has a lot of charm. The only thing is that there's really no point to it all and it lacks originality. The show is a lot of fun to watch and I have to admit that the three episodes here were probably the best so far. With only three episodes left to the whole series I can't imagine it going anywhere special though.

DearS Volume 3: 3rd Contact is presented in its original 1.33:1 full frame ratio and has a very clean transfer. I noticed only very minor amounts of aliasing in a couple of scenes but the image is pretty much grain free, aside from a few darker scenes. I particularly love the art direction and overall style of DearS since it has a very upbeat vibe with strong uses of color and facial expressions. The show also breaks down into a lot of super-deformed character animations at times, but these are some of the funnier moments of the series. While the series may not be the most unique, the art style helps separate it a lot. Well, that and the gratuitous nudity and sexual references.

DearS is presented with English and Japanese 2.0 soundtracks and forced English subtitles tossed into the mix for the Japanese track. Both tracks featured very good quality and despite the 2.0 aspect of the channels there is some directional sound used, though not much. I found both audio tracks to be competent and worthwhile and neither offended me with any bad voiceovers. Some of the translations for the subtitles seemed a little stiff to me at times, but I didn't really encounter that with the English track.

Just like the prior two volumes, the third offers up some paltry bonus material. The only bonus content this time around is some Geneon Previews and an Art Gallery. The images included on the disc are a smattering of characters, though there are only seven pictures in total and many of them grace the DVD cover. Speaking of which, just like the original DVD releases, this one includes a reversible cover, though arguably the regular one is naught enough with teacher wearing dominatrix gear.

DearS wants to be loved. The show has a great atmosphere, some wild humor, and some very naughty material. The only really problem is that the characters are utterly uninteresting and the story just doesn't go anywhere, even though the show is almost over. This volume offers up more character development than previous ones did and there was a lot more to love this time around, but the show is stuck in a rut. Since this was the most entertaining volume to date I'm going to give it a recommendation, but that's really only if you've been paying attention to the show so far. It doesn't mean you should run out and buy it if you haven't checked it out yet.

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