Phase 19: Crimes And Punishments:
Ryu, still awaiting a replacement SARG, continues to be torn up by the revelations uncovered in the last few episodes. His comrades, while on a sortie of their own, investigate the appearance of some alien technology in the countryside where their recent battle took place. While checking the metal out, they come under small arms fire by someone who doesn't want them to uncover more information.

Phase 20: Punishments And Awakening:
No sooner than they arrive at base, Simmons and Harris are sent back out to handle an alien incursion in nearby Kansas. Unable to stop the threat, they get Hattie to wake Frank up from his coma. Frank is damaged during the ensuing fight but manages to talk to them in English after the fight. His origins start to unveil themselves, much to everyone's surprise.

Phase 21: Awakening And Truth:
Frank's origin becomes clear and a bit of his background is provided on the alien SARG (who was cobbled together from various scraps of alien wreckage, thought to be machines). Massive waves of advanced aliens are enroute to Pilgrimage Point and the base is told to allow them to proceed. Even Frank's abilities will be unable to stop all of them and a nuclear option is being considered by the military. We also get to meet the man who got Ryu his current position, a man with ties to Frank.

Phase 22: Truth And Destruction:
The military takes over Funeral and a variety of traitors are uncovered, including Ryu himself. As the cast deals with the repercussions of everything that has taken place, Mr. X steps in to potentially serve as their ally. Will his actions help save the world or will they speed it up?

With all the information being made clear, a host of new questions pop up. The basic premise of the aliens is now clear but a lot of "why" is coming to mind. Why the government has been keeping everyone in the dark about the true dangers of the aliens, why the military is taking over Funeral in the fashion of a Coup, and why everything else is moving in the direction of an all or nothing gambit to save the world. I'm on the edge of my seat to see what happens in the concluding few episodes, all due out in the final volume of the series. Much like Argentosoma 4, I think this one is worth a rating of Highly Recommended.

Picture: The picture was presented in full frame 1.33:1 ratio color. It looked pretty good with few compression artifacts and accurate colors but a bit of aliasing was present.

Sound: The sound was presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo with a choice of either English or Japanese with optional English subtitles. It was a very clear Japanese track and the English track was pretty good too. The vocals were particularly clear with a good balance on the music but not a whole lot of separation in the channels.

Extras: They included a tech file which gives some background data on Morgue, some Personnel files which show some sketches of crew members, and some trailers. The DVD case had a paper insert detailing a couple of characters and the credits for the series.

Final Thoughts: With only one more DVD to go in the series, I think the underlying themes have proven worthy to this fan of science fiction anime. It had some rough edges in earlier volumes but overall it was worth checking out. The technical stuff was decent and the creative angles started to show the big picture aspects that so many anime series lose before being halfway through. I think fans will be hoping for the series to be released as a box set (with a lower price) once the next disc is released.