Phase 6: War And Escape: Harriet, a young girl who has some link to a semi-sentient alien war Mech, slips away with her dog and the alien. As the entire base scrambles to find them, near tragedy ensues when Walter, her dog, is shot. The mech (Frank or "Mr. Elf") is about to respond with lethal force but she seems to stop him. Ryu, a usually cold-hearted military Mech pilot, hesitates when he sees her near the alien, even though he has a powerful thirst for revenge on the alien (apparently, they killed his fiancé in the first dvd).

Phase 7: Escape And Memory: A new type of Alien, the M1, attacks. Unfortunately, all conventional means of stopping him fail-he turns liquid so that bullets pass through him and he sustains no damage. The commander decides to try Frank (EX-1) who initially fails too. Having just implanted a nuclear bomb on Frank in order to control him, the call to blow Frank, and therefore the other alien, to kingdom come is made. We learn in flashback more about Ryu's previous life. To save the nearby community, Ryu thinks outside the box.

Phase 8: Memory And Loneliness: Ryu, the top mech pilot, and Dan, his rival at Funeral, get into a fight and thereby endanger the base. To handle the matter Captain Michael Hartland suggests they are disciplined together and that they be forced to work together since they are the best fighters the organization has. Commander Lana Ines agrees.

Phase 9: Loneliness And Sorrow: Harriet escapes yet again. Considering her age and intelligence level, you'd think those in charge would have assigned someone to watch her more closely by this point. She evades them in the air shafts of the base but eventually, the Commander herself joins in and the girl is found. Through flashbacks, we learn more about the Commander and the choices she had made that landed her in a position of such responsibility.

Phase 10: Sorrow And Malice: The latest threat to the base is another progressive alien who has a nearly impenetrable shield with an EM pulse that keeps domestic mechs a good distance away. Frank, armed with a weapon designed by Ryu called the Excalibur goes in. The sonic weapon isn't enough but as a team, Ryu and his mech along with Frank, stop the threat. The thought that he's saved Frank, an amalgamation of alien parts (ala Frankenstein's Monster) who was responsible for Ryu's fiancé (and the rest of his former life) death is almost unbearable.

Picture: The picture was presented in full frame 1.33:1 ratio. It looked really good, if not the absolute best Bandai has offered lately.

Sound: The sound was presented in 2.0 stereo with a choice of either English or Japanese with English subtitles. Very clear Japanese track and the English track was pretty good too.

Extras: The extras were pretty meager but with 5 full episodes, it's not a bad trade off. They included a tech file which gives some background data on the mechs and such, some trailers, and a textless ending sequence. The dvd case had a paper insert detailing a couple of characters and the credits for the series.

Final Thoughts: I liked this one enough to start looking for volume 1. It has a lot of elements for an enjoyable show yet isn't as obscure and open ended as some of Bandai's other recent releases have been. There's enough depth of character to satisfy most fans, the anime is interesting enough, and the whole show isn't about the typical robot A fights robot B each episode. I look forward to future installments and rate this one as Highly Recommended.