It's not often that a series comes out and can be called unique these days. Studio DEEN's latest, Tactics, is one of those rare titles. Originally a manga by Sakura Kinoshita and Kazuko Higashiyama the anime features 25 episodes and is being published here in America by Manga. The surprising thing from the DVD aspect is that so far, with two volumes under its belt, we've been seeing five episodes per release. That's a far cry from the three or four that some series get, but it's the quality of the program that makes this series worth checking out; not just the quantity.

At its heart Tactics is an exorcism and spiritual anime, meaning that the main characters walk around vanquishing demons and passing the souls of the dead to the afterlife. The thing with this series that makes it so unique in the genre is the way that it's handled. Everything has a dreamlike tone to it and much of the show feels like a Japanese fairy tale of some kind.

The show focuses on a young boy named Kantaro who specializes in exorcizing demons of all shapes and sizes. He's made something of a career and hobby out of doing just that even though he writes fantasy novels on the side. He is joined by a fox demon named Yoko and a demon-eating tengu named Haruka; who appears as a suave looking player of sorts. A little girl called Suzu also tags along but her role seems to be there for comic relief as she spends most of her time adoring Haruka. These characters got quite a bit of development in the first volume thanks to the inclusion of five episodes, but it's the way each character is used that propels their personalities along. Granted Kantaro and Haruka are the two main characters but the others get their share of the spotlight as well.

In the first volume we were introduced to all of these characters and the world that they live in. The episodic pattern of the show came to fruition with several one-off adventures. These stories helped flesh out the world and gave Kantaro's background a purpose, but without a larger plotline in the works things started to drag a little towards the end of the volume. If you checked out the first release and wanted a refresher Kantaro and company took down a photographer demon, possessed geisha, ice demon and a poltergeist who takes the form of a life-size doll. As we slide into the second volume we see that it's day to day exorcizing as usual for the group.

Things get started off in the second romp with an episode that tells the story about a ghost trolly that appears every night at 9:07 in town. As Kantaro and Haruka investigate they learn that it's operated by a conductor that died in a tragic accident not too long ago. It seems that he's coming back around to find his daughter because he promised that he would pick her up. This tale wasn't as deep or emotional as some of the others in the last volume but it hit plenty of positive notes.

The second episode on this disc was interesting in a couple of ways. On one hand there was the main story that involved kidnapped children, stomach parasites and an ancient spider demon. On the other Kantaro puts Yoko and Haruka to the test after witnessing an entertainer with a trained monkey. This side plot uses the monkey's relationship with its master as a way of showing the fragile state of Kantaro's relationship with his subordinates. It definitely added some depth to the characters and overall this was a great episode.

In the next episode the story focuses on Yoko's character entirely. She and Kantaro have something of a tiff and she tries to break her pact and go out on her own. While she's gone a creepy guy approaches her and offers her a job in an exhibition. Of course it's not exactly what she's thinking since this exhibition is a freak show of monsters and since she's a fox demon you can guess what happens.

The final two episodes on this disc prove just as interesting as the previous ones. Tactics may be episodic and there isn't a lot of continuity to be had but every one of the ten episodes that I have seen are definitely high quality. The story telling is rich, the characters are well developed and the world Kantaro lives in is best described as surreal. If you haven't heard of this series yet you owe it to yourself to check it out.

The best way to describe the visual presentation for Tactics is "absolutely stunning." From the 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer to the beautiful image quality, this is a show that defines anime as a work of art. The animation is stunning, the artwork is breathtaking and the backgrounds resemble Japanese watercolor paintings. It helps that there is virtually nothing to complain about with this digital transfer either. The picture is sharp and there is very little aliasing to get in the way and muck things up.

Beating the par set by most other anime releases Tactics offers a whopping four audio selections before you start watching. Two of them are 2.0 tracks for English and Japanese. The other two are 5.1 surround tracks. The quality for both types is remarkably good though the 5.1 is the winner here. Both the English and Japanese language tracks offer roughly the same experience from a technical standpoint. The stereo track offers the limited diversity that you'd expect but the surround option doesn't seem to hit all of the points that it should. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't call it bad by any stretch of the imagination; I guess I was just hoping for more.

Just like the first volume, the latest release for Tactics comes with a decent supply of bonus content. Original Japanese TV commercials, merchandise ads, an image gallery and another round of Japanese voice actor interviews appear this time around. Those player card profiles come back as well along with some trailers for other stuff on DVD.

For a series that practically came out of nowhere with very little buzz Tactics is full of quality. The DVDs offer great presentation values with packed discs and nice aesthetics. The show itself may be episodic but the character development and quality of the stories is very high. Few shows are this unique in the grand scheme of things and if you haven't heard of the series before it comes highly recommended.

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