The show draws from the wealth of material surrounding the Final Fantasy games that have been popular for years and years but also invents a number of new characters and scenarios so as to keep from forcing the audience from having to know what went on in those long, and often difficult, games. In short, the series is almost an homage to the games rather than an actual spin off. The show is set in the near future where a cataclysmic battle took place between two large monsters that came from a beacon of light. The area was devastated and the beings disappeared but a ghost train appears at regular intervals to transport people to another world, Wonderland, which is a series of interconnected cities floating in an ethereal place. Each city has its own properties regarding the laws of physics and its own set of characters, some of which are friendly while others are quite hostile. The show centered on a trio of young adventurers who were trying to search for people they cared about (two of them for their parents), as detailed below in my episode breakdowns:

Episode Nine: Oscar: The Endless Project:
The cast, now joined by the mysterious Kaze and Lou Lupus, come across a large factory full of workers that are engaged with putting together, and taking apart, components to a device as they sing a song similar to the Ompah Lumpah song from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. In a separate thread, the king sends out his minions to find the pieces to Omega, hoping to consolidate his power. The team then falls under attack by Oscar and a large robot formed by the workers.

Episode Ten: Mansion: The Memory Of Sagiso:
Sagi, a plant-boy from Lisa's past, is discovered in a large mansion made up of and full of plants. Herba captures the team and it takes a combination of Kaze, who thankfully appears when needed, and Chocobo to save them from their untimely demise.

Episode Eleven: Ciel: The Departure Of Chocobo:
Lisa, Ai, and Yu are attacked by a large monster who seems intend on destroying a large group of Chocobo's relatives. Thy fight it off, this time without Kaze's help and they discover a prophecy involving Chocobo as a leader to his people. As the episode progresses, another threat appears and only Kaze can help them but he appears unresponsive to their pleas for help. Will Chocobo follow his destiny and leave the group or will he stay with his newfound friends?

Episode Twelve: Fungus: Eternal Life:
The king, Earl Tyrant, gets impatient with the Lords of Ellium's lack of progress in their search and takes it out on Fungus. Fungus, afraid of the consequences of failure, makes a last ditch effort to revive his long dead race and defeat Kaze for his king. By absorbing a large number of spores and being in his place of power, seems undefeatable, even to Kaze's Summon. Will Kaze get a second chance to win? Check out the audio commentary on this episode after watching it.

For an anime buff looking for something way off the beaten path, I can safely give this one a rating of Rent It at this time although it could go higher or lower in the future depending on how the characters grow and what happens with the scenario presented. The cartoonish nature of the characters wasn't my favorite style and only time will tell if this aspect colored my perceptions too heavily in the negative. The lead characters were unchanging, a problem for those of us that demand some semblance of growth, and while the show looked interesting, it seemed to stagnate with the same old people doing the same old stuff. If the show is just going to be about Kaze bringing forth his Summon creatures to fight the bad guys, the window dressing is going to get really old.

Picture: The picture was presented in the usual 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. The look of the show was quite unique in how it mixed more traditional styles of anime with modernistic CGI effects. I wasn't too keen on the limited drawn anime style of the characters (they often looked like low budget quickies) but after a few episodes, it grew on me a bit more than I thought it would. In any case, the picture always looked good and no problems were evident.

Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of 5.1 Dolby Digital surround English or 2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese with optional English subtitles. The English track was superior in terms of the ambiance, special effects and music while the voice acting was somewhat better on the Japanese track. Both were clear and crisp within the limitations of their source material.

Extras: The best extra was the audio commentary track on episode twelve with director Charlie Campbell with voice actors Grant James (Fungus) and Lainie Frasier (Chocobaba). I think the commentary was okay with each of the performers telling a bit about themselves and the show. I'd have preferred more commentary about the show though since the comments were almost completely interview style, which might've made for a better extra apart from the commentary. There were a number of sketches and illustrations presented on the DVD as well as the usual trailers, and a double sided DVD cover. Lastly, there was a paper insert that a lot of character, including the Summons that Kaze brings forth. Taken as a whole, the extras were pretty solid.

Final Thoughts: The series is not without merit but I find more traditional forms of anime to appeal to me on other levels than this one did. The low-budget look of the animation itself, the weak story lines, and the content issues were more troublesome than the technical aspects though so if you're looking for something different, check it out. Keep in mind the stand-alone value of this one is fairly high since nothing much seems to change from volume to volume, a kiss of death from a fandom point of view.