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. With this being the last volume of the series, suffice it to say that all the loose ends are tied up and here's a breakdown of the three scenes included:

Episode 22: Jack In The Box:
Gauron, having hijacked the De Danaan with almost the entire crew locked in the hold, finds Sousuke and Kurz formidable foes since they disobeyed orders and remained free. The two wage a bit of a guerilla war to liberate their associates but the clock is ticking and Gauron has a few surprises up his sleeve.

Episode 23: Field Of Giants:
Sousuke and Kurz continue to attempt to free their teammates and have enough success that Gauron becomes suicidal, triggering a system that will end it for all of them. Kaname is freed at the last moment but will she be able to assist or will she become the next casualty in this meeting of the minds?

Episode 24: Into The Blue:
This is the final battle between Sousuke and Gauron as each uses their AS to attempt to overcome the other. With the lives of the crew hanging in the balance, Sousuke has a lot more to lose than his homicidal enemy and he must find a way to win, quickly, or it will all have been for nothing.

I'm going to rate this DVD as Highly Recommended since the action was so thick and the show impressed me with more than just a basic fight to the finish. The layers of the show are in full bloom here and the resulting quality was higher here than in any other volume of the series. While I would have appreciated more extras for the money, I watched this one more than once and it got better with each viewing. I hope that someone, somewhere, will decide to finance a second season if it can be done with as much thought as this one had going for it.

Picture: The picture was presented in 1.33:1 ratio full screen, as expected with a modern day television released anime. It looked clear and crisp with a solid DVD transfer to enjoy. The colors were somewhat clearer than I remembered volume four being, perhaps due to the settings. The images were crisp in most cases and I saw no compression artifacts while watching the DVD.

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. There was some dynamic range to the vocals and music but most of the time, the center speaker was where the audio action was at.

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 liked Volume 6 but I really liked this finale. I think the series, in a boxed set for a fair price, would be a great idea for anime fans. From the technical values to the writing to the voice acting, I enjoyed this volume enough to boost the rating up. The combination of anime styles came together nicely and both audio tracks had something to add to the mix. While this one had some stand alone value, I suggest you watch them in order (unlike myself) for the best effect.