Things are looking bad for the Earth Federation Forces in the fourth volume of Super Robot Wars. Not only do they have to worry about aliens that have been attacking Earth, but now there's a full fledged revolution they have to deal with too. The rebels are better armed than the Army, and they seem to be winning. Super Robot Wars continues to be a fun and exciting anime show, it's just too bad that few otaku will be able to buy the Region One discs since Bandai Visual has priced them so extraordinarily high.

Series background:

In the future the earth is a very different place. After being hit by two giant meteors and going through a series of wars, the Earth Federation Government united all the peoples of Earth under one flag and restored the peace.

Then the third meteor struck, but this one was different. Inside was a cache of alien technology and proof that invaders were coming to take over. The technology that was discovered was harnessed by the EOTI (Extra Over Technology Institute) Organization and used to create mecha, called Personal Troopers, in order to defend Earth.

Ryusei Date is a teenager who is crazy about Personal Troopers and is very good at the popular game Burning PT where opponents fight mecha in a virtual reality world. Little does he suspect but Burning PT is actually a training ground to find likely Trooper pilots. When aliens attack just after a PT tournament, the government sends out an unmanned Trooper that Date climbs in and uses to defend his girlfriend. Of course playing in virtual reality and real life are two different things, but with his life on the line, Date doesn't have a lot of time to adjust to the differences.

Quickly pushed through training, Date is made part of a team that includes the experienced pilot Raidiese Branstein and team leader Aya Kobayashi, who is insecure in her ability to lead the small fighting group. Though they fail in their first full-scale training exercise, the group is put on active duty since the situation on Earth is getting pretty bad.

The EOTI Organization has decided that the Earth Government's peace talks with the aliens are actually the powers that be selling out Earth for the sake of their own skins. The EOTI has renamed themselves the Divine Crusaders (DC) and with their new, very advanced flying PT are determined to take over control of Earth. The Earth Space stations and Moon colonies quickly align with the DC, which leaves the Earth Federation Army fighting a war on several fronts.

This volume:

Things are looking bad for the Earth Forces. The DC have taken over several bases, and those they couldn't conquer they have destroyed, along with the neighboring civilian population. As the volume opens, the Earth Federation only has one real chance left, and that's the Noah-class space ship Hagwane. Armed to the teeth and able to function in the air, water, or in space, the Hagwane is loaded with the latest PT craft, including a few experimental models that can fly. When the DC learns about the ship and the new PTs, they send a fleet out to capture it, or barring that, to destroy it. Still new and untested the Hagwane is able to fight, but whether it can take on the best of the DC is still to be seen.

After an epic battle, the tide turns ever so slightly in the favor of the Earth forces. Determined to keep up the pressure, it is decided to launch a surprise attack on the DC held base on Wake Island. The attack is carefully planned and looks like it will work, but none of the attackers realize that Wake Island has a new type of PT: The Barrelion.

Finally Date and his comrades meet a new playing in the game; Masaki Ando and his PT the Cybaster. This mysterious man disappeared a few years ago and now suddenly shows up with a very advanced mecha. The only thing they can get out of the young pilot is that he wants to kill Shu, the man who started the rebellion.

This is still a fun mecha show, though the cast of characters is growing at a rather rapid rate. Every episode seems to introduce a new player, and it can be hard to keep track of just who's who and what side everyone is on. The show is also a bit formulaic, with every episode having a battle between the main characters on each side, and more often than not the order to retreat is given for little reason. Still, there's a lot of mecha shows like that and it's not a fatal flaw in this one. Filled with some really good CGI battle scenes, this is an exciting show.

Audio:

Once again Bandai Visual has released a disc without an English dub. For the amount they are asking, you wouldn't think it would be too much to provide an English soundtrack for those who prefer watching dubbed anime. As it is the original Japanese audio is only in stereo but it sounds pretty good. The track had a fairly wide dynamic range and the impacts when two mecha were fighting had a fair amount of bass. Of course a multi-channel mix with a dedicated subwoofer track would make the fights more exciting, but you take what you can get. Overall this is a nice sounding disc.

Video:

The video quality of the 1.78:1 anamorphic image was very good, much better than the OVA that was released earlier. The image was pretty sharp with lines being tight and well defined. The colors were bright and solid and the blacks were deep. With only two episodes on the disc compression artifacts weren't a problem.

Extras:

Zip. Nada. Ziltch. Nothing. Just an 8-page insert. For the amount that they're charging for this disc, I was expecting something more.

Final Thoughts:

I'm enjoying this show quite a bit. It's a very good mecha anime that a lot more people would be talking about if only they could afford it. In any case this is a fun action show that has a nicely complex plot and some great looking mecha. Recommended.