The show centers on young Sergeant Sousuke, a man assigned to an anti-terrorist organization, Mithral. Mithral was designed to combat well-funded terrorists that pilot various mech-robots against targets protected by friendly governments. Recently, there has been an advance in the design of such robots and both sides lay claim to the technology behind the advance and use it for their missions. The series has Sousuke on a long term protection mission of a high school girl, Kaname, and this being anime, the two fall for one another (yet won't openly admit to this fact). Apparently, she has a gift (somewhat of a mystery at this point in the series) that relates to the new technology and is considered too precious to go unprotected. As the cast goes on a number of missions, we learn a bit more about them and the near-future technology behind the show.

Episode 13: A Cat And A Kitten's Rock & Roll:
Captain Tessa, the boss, and Melissa, one of the experienced combatants, get into a personal fight over their living quarters. They decide to resolve it by means of a duel with the robots (AS's) on a remote island. Tessa is brilliant, but not well versed in the use of the machines, and asks Sousuke for help in training. In a battle of a modern day David and Goliath, which will win? Further, the stakes are high since the loser will be required to run around the camp naked.

Episode 14: Is Narashino Burning?:
Shinji, a friend of Sousuke's, has been at odds with his father for years. Sousuke encourages the two to work as a team in a competition between two rival factions of the Self-Defense force. Shinji's team is majorly out of their league but with a bit of strategic assistance from world champion pilot Sousuke, they actual have a chance to at least leave the field with honor. More importantly, will the father and son learn a bigger lesson about the value of teamwork and relationships?

Episode 15: The Wind Blows At Home, Part 1:
Sousuke is forced to participate with a military hit team assigned to a familiar target, an old foe that's still alive, against all odds. The rest of the team is doubtful of his experience due to his age and special assignment, which leads them all into trouble when the hunted starts hunting them down. Can Sousuke save his team from the enemy, an enemy operating a Lambda driven mech, or will all of them die as a result of the inner rivalry between team members? Even more important than that, will the team be able to recover a dangerous weapon discovered during the mission and keep it out of enemy hands?

The thing that bothered me more than anything here was that there were only three episodes on the feature, with no corresponding increase in extras for the full MSRP of the other volumes. Splitting up the two parts of the last episode was just salt in the wound too. As much as I've learned to appreciate the direction, voice acting, and story line, the best I can give this one as a rating would be Recommended. There was a lot to like but the marketing decisions behind such choices are usually irritating to consumers such as myself.

Picture: The picture was presented in 1.33:1 ratio full screen with an action sequence or two in widescreen. It looked clear and crisp with a solid DVD transfer to enjoy. The colors were a bit muted this time but that was likely due to the settings at night and in a jungle, which made the creative direction seem even more realistic.

Sound: The audio was presented in a few choices: English 5.1 or 2.0 (with optional song subtitles) or the original Japanese stereo track with English subtitles. Like the picture, the sound was exceptionally clear and well planned but I preferred the original language track.

Extras: The extras were pretty solid here. The DVD cover is double sided with the inside containing background data on the episodes. The paper insert had some great attention to detail and provided background on a number of the cast, their weapons, and props. There was the usual clean opening and closing, a bunch of trailers, some cute Japanese copyright warnings (English ones over the FBI warning at the beginning too) and some production sketches. The DVD case was clear plastic and solidly built and the DVD menus were great.

Final Thoughts: I have liked this series more with each volume and wish I could honestly give it the same rating as Volume Three but losing an episode (this one had only three instead of the industry standard of four), makes me feel an obligation to warn folks. The show has just the right mix of solid technical values, decent writing, and solid voice acting (for both languages), that I think it's worth checking out by anime fans all over the place. Hopefully, future volumes will at least add better extras on the DVD if the episode count drops.