The story is set in a fantasy world where magic is the norm and medieval trappings are common. The two principle characters are Lina Inverse, a short but perky magician, and her rival/friend, Naga the Serpent, a tall and busty magician, who thinks she's superior in every way to her dwarfish pal. The two save a young maiden, Laia Einberg from a golem, a large and powerful creature made with magic, and she introduces them to her brother and father. It seems the father, Galia, and brother, Huey, are both in the golem making business and feuding on their own. When the city leaders provide a perfect opportunity for the men to settle their differences, they jump at the chance, in a contest of golem vs. golem, with each modeled after one of our heroines.

Needless to say, the golems are made are gigantic in proportion and the women get tricked into using their own magical powers to power the monoliths in a clash of the titans. The city leaders are found to be using the competition to fuel their own schemes and only the blundering might of Naga and Lina will be able to save the day, bizarrely as that may be.

I liked the show and may have to search out previous releases in the series, both the movies and the long running television series itself. I'm going to rate this as Recommended since it was a lot of fun but it was definitely a guilty pleasure with little internal consistency. I would've liked to see some decent extras too but for the most part, the feature had a lot going for it by itself. If you want what amounts to sugary sweet fun, with a touch of adult themes to boot, you'll want to give this one a look.

Picture: The picture was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color that most anime seems shot in. The colors were pretty solid and the grain minimal this time but it wasn't the high-end release that I'd heard it was by any stretch of the imagination. I think it was originally released in Japan seven years ago and it looks its age. I didn't notice many compression artifacts or mosquito noise although some were present occasionally.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of 2.0 Dolby Digital stereo tracks in the original Japanese with English subtitles or a dubbed English language track. I think the original audio track was superior this time although the sound effects and music were about the same in each. There was enough difference on the subtitles compared to the dubbed track that I wouldn't call them dubtitles.

Extras: There were some trailers and a single sheet paper insert but nothing else.

Final Thoughts: I really wish that ADV had included two of these releases together since it was a bit under an hour long, even if the price would've gone up to their usual MSRP. Having better extras and slightly higher technical values would've been great too but the show was plenty of fun for what it was and I can't argue that the show had no replay value because I like it more each time I watch it.