The show centers on a young male, Jiro, who has amnesia and wanders around the countryside with a guitar strapped to his back. Remarkably strong, the guy is discovered to be a highly evolved form of android that was made by a scientist who's daughter becomes his sole friend (when the scientist dies in what was initially thought to be an accident). It quickly becomes evident that evil forces are at work and even the girl, Mitsuko, isn't sure if the android is trustworthy or not. It appears he has a specialized computer circuit, the Gemini, which makes young Jiro act in a law-abiding manner. If the circuit is broken of becomes defective, there's no fixing it and the android must be destroyed.

In the second DVD of the series, Android Kikaider 2: Conflicting Hearts, the next three episodes fill in a lot of blanks about the show and its characters. This helped me appreciate the show a lot more than the first DVD in that the second volume relied less on someone's knowledge of things that transpired than the first (yes, I know that sounds counter-intuitive). The stand-alone quality should be appreciated by those who didn't see the first set and cause them to go back and check it out.

Episode 5: City Of Rain:
Jiro is now a fugitive from the law as well as the evil forces that pursue him. While trying to keep one step ahead of everyone, he meets a young gal, Miyuki, who takes him in. Professor Gill sets in motion his latest plan, destroy the city by hiring crooks to plant explosives around town. The lead crook is a former lover of Miyuki and Jiro does his best to save the town, and restore the couple together, before events spiral out of control.

Episode 6: Negative Fragments:
Mitsuko is kidnapped by one of Professor Gill's robots, The Golden Bat, who is patterned after a vampire. The plan is to lure Jiro out into the open and destroy him. Mitsuko's father, the creator of Jiro, had business dealings with Professor Gill and their past comes to light as the trap is set. More details about the Gemini circuit are unveiled, including why the evil Professor finds it too dangerous. Apparently, it allows Jiro to refuse orders if they violate his moral code. The Golden Bat has a similar, though less developed, circuit and Jiro threatens the Professor's plans by virtue of being able to corrupt the other robots.

Episode 7: The Afterglow Of Regret:
Jiro arrives to attempt to save the day for Mitsuko but the Golden Bat has other plans. His own origin comes to light and in the ensuing battle, Bat's circuit kicks in. At the end, Jiro is surprised to find that Mitsuko has done a 180-degree turn about him; from hating him to caring deeply. Will any of it matter with Professor Gill and DARK after him?

I hate it when anime companies only put three episodes on a DVD but I admit to liking this set more than the first one. I'm upgrading the rating to Rent It and hope the future episodes are good enough to make me re-visit the entire series (it happens). The stories were simplistic but the themes borrowed heavily from other literature, which helps address common topics, however dressed up in the futuristic setting. In all, it wasn't bad.

Picture: The picture was presented in it's original 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. For the most part, the limited anime style, called "retro" by some fans, was clear this time with few major problems. There were a few moments of color bleeding and grain but not like in the first volume.

Sound: The sound was presented with a choice of either stereo English or Japanese, and optional English subtitles. The Japanese track was the better of the two but neither was especially well developed. Most of the vocals came from the center channel with some of the explosions coming out of the side speakers.

Extras: The extras consisted of a neat fold out paper insert that detailed the three included episodes, a few rough sketches of the artwork and a few trailers.

Final Thoughts: Android Kikaider 1 left me a bit cold, to say the least but I'm slowly warming up to the series having seen this second volume. I sure hope the number of episodes increases to at least 4 per DVD again, that was the deciding factor to rate this one a notch below what it would've earned otherwise. It's a cute series and I may even learn to like it in time.