We've reached volume nine of Law of Ueki, and the show is still going strong.  While no one will ever accuse this program of being anything more than a simple fighting show for kids, it does that quite well and with a lot of flair.  The show has a lot of imagination behind it and is filled with bizarre powers and strange characters.  A fun and enjoyable show for both children and adults who are looking for a change of pace in their anime watching.

Series background:

Kousuke Ueki is your typical middle school student until he encounters an odd man named Mr. K one evening.  This unusual person, out of the blue, offers Ueki his choice of super-powers.  Out of all the myriad of abilities that are offered, the young man chooses (drum roll please....) the power to turn garbage into trees.  Not what I would have picked, but okay.  With this power Ueki has to battle the 99 other middle school kids who have also been given super-human abilities.  (And just about all of them are as odd as Ueki's.  One person has the ability to turn cloth into steel, but only while he's holding his breath.  Another can turn water into fire, but only if the water is in his mouth.)  The winner of this tournament will gain the talent of blank, and the 'sponsor' who granted the child the power he used to win will become the Celestial King.

The first round, where talent users fought each other one-on-one, is over and the second round has begun.  This round is a team event, with groups fighting against each other.  Five teams with five members each have made it to the finals.  In addition, two people, 'Robert Haydn' and Li Ho, decided not to recruit teams and they get a pass to the next level.  In this round the rules are a little different.  When someone is knocked out, they no longer loose their power.  It's only if the entire team is KO'ed that the power users will get in trouble.

Helping Ueki in this trial is a fellow middle school student, Ai Mori.  She has a power of her own, but the person who gave it to her forgot to reveal just what her special ability is.  Also on Ueki's team is Rinko Jerrard, a power user who can change beads into bombs, and Seiichiro Sano who can transmute towels into steel.  Rounding out the team is Hideyoshi Soya who has the seemingly useless power to turn voices into portraits.  Though he's not a member of the team, Tenko is a large heavenly beast that takes a shine to Ueki.  Tenko can change into a fuzzy bracelet if he wants so that Ueki can wear him on his wrist and give advice.

This volume:

As this volume opens, Ueki's team has just won their first round and they have a day off to recuperate before their next battle.  They plan on watching that day's round, but Team Marilyn bests their opponent in just five minutes.  Ueki's group will be matched against Team Marilyn next, and they're pretty worried about it.  Everyone except Ueki of course.  During his day off, he fights Li Ho, who has called him out in order to teach his some skills that will come in handy in his next match.  Li Ho is a great fighter and can hold his own against Ueki, and that's without using his special power.  What can he teach Ueki, and why does he want to help his opponent?

The next show pits Ueki and his friends against the dangerous Team Marilyn.  The battle takes place in a ghost town, and in this series that mean a town inhabited by ghosts.  The rules for this round are a little different:  each member of each team is given a necklace.  Each is worth one point, though one on each team is worth ten points.  You can steal a necklace from an opponent only by knocking them out, and the team with the most points at the end of the encounter wins and advances to the next round.  Ueki's team is guardedly hopeful after getting some encouraging words from a friend, but that soon turns to dismay as Marilyn's team finds them and knocks out one of their number quickly.  Working with military-like precision, Marilyn's group knows how to set up a trap and lure their opponents into it.

With one down, Ueki calls for a retreat.  He doesn't want his friends hurt any more than they already are.  They manage to get away from the enemy, but with an unconscious team member, they can't move very fast.  Ueki comes up with a plan:  he tells everyone else to take the unconscious fighter to safety, and he stays back to delay Team Marilyn.  Okay, so it's not much of a plan, but it's the best he can come up with, and it works.  He stops the other team from perusing his friends for a while, but eventually they catch on to his ruse.  Marilyn leaves one of her strongest members to take care of Ueki, while the other four go ahead to cut off the remaining members of Team Ueki.  Does either party stand a chance?

This volume is mainly taken up with the battle between Ueki's team and Marilyn's.  It's a pretty good battle, and the writers continue to come up with interesting ways for people to use their powers and creative traps that have to be overcome.  There's a bit too much "we knew you'd do that" - "oh yeah, well we knew you'd know!" going on at times, but it just adds to the fun of the show.  Not a deep or intellectually rigorous show, it's still nice to sit back and watch some of the weird battles.

Audio:
 
Viewers have the choice of either the original Japanese audio track or an English dub, both in stereo.  The English dub was a little heavy handed in the effects department.  In the very first episode they added some heavy echos to the voices in one scene which made it hard to understand what was being said.  It also sounded pretty stupid.  Because of that, I enjoyed the original language track a lot more.  Both audio options sounded good though, with nice range and clear dialog.  There wasn't any hiss of background noise.

Video:

The full frame picture looked very good.  The image is clean and clear, and the lines are tight.  This is a colorful show with a wide range of shades present.  The colors are strong and bright and add a lot to the show's look.  Digital defects are nearly absent, with only some very minor aliasing in the background.  Overall this is a very nice looking disc.

Extras:
 
The only extras is a textless version of the new opening that the show has.

Final Thoughts:

This is another fun but mindless volume.  The show is still a lot of fun because people are starting to cooperating and finding different ways to combine their abilities.  Nearly all of this volume is taken up with battles so there's no lack of action either.  If you're looking for some light, senseless entertainment, look no further.  Recommended.