The show is a tribute to the wacky adventures and mini-dramas that young females go through. Ran Kotobuki is a 16-year old gal who has tons of attitude about everything modern day life has to offer in Japan. She sees herself as ruler of a shopping district/mall and does whatever she thinks fit her image. Fiercely loyal to her way of life and friends in a contemporary setting, she provides a perfect example of what young females should not strive for in a society that imposes it's will on youngsters. The show is full of cultural references and translations that pop up on screen to keep the viewer informed as to what's happening. The limited anime style was actually appropriate for the show here and the messages were loud and clear in terms of what everyone thought. In a sense, it was a show about the coming of age of young women that have led sheltered lives, which "should" be lame, but works to entertain.

Episode 19: The Sun: Sun Sun: Summer Girl!:
Episode 20: Dreamy-Eyed: Mami: Her First Love!:
Episode 21: It's Certain Victory: Go! Go!: Sports Fest!:
Episode 22: High School Culture Fest: Para Para: Meisho Queen!:

The episodes here followed the generic formula of Ran bossing everyone around, although being easily distracted by shiny objects. The shows saw Ran get a job to buy a present for her friend, Monkeyboy, Mami hook up with her long-lost love (with choices to make about friendship and love), a sports festival where Ran has a chance to boost her grades, and a cultural festival full of cute boys at an exclusive all boys school. In short, the same old stuff but done with a smile. If you've enjoyed the earlier exploits of Ran and crowd, you'll probably like this one too although it didn't say anything different than previous volumes. I'm rating this one as a Rent It but again, you'll either love it or hate it, with a select few anime fans thinking it's a good show to watch with friends as you get drunk.

Picture: The show was presented in 1.33:1 ratio full frame color and was bright and clear. I saw no problems with the picture and its colorful nature. The transfer was nearly flawless as well but the style of anime was very limited in terms of movement and quality.

Sound: The sound was presented with a choice of either 5.1 Dolby Digital English or the original 2.0 Japanese with English subtitles. Both were crisp and clear with no problems and a solid mix between the vocals and music.

Extras: Aside from the usual clean opening and closing, there were the usual trailers. There was a short feature "The Super Gals Explain It All" where one of the English dub characters provides some background as to the attitude of the females portrayed here (in character no less). There were some production sketches and a paper insert with a variety of cultural notes and definitions to the slang used too.

Final Thoughts: Most anime fans will either love this one or hate it with little middle ground. Those who like strong female characters and romantic comedies will likely enjoy it a lot while the rest of anime fandom will find the scripts and voices (on both language tracks) to annoy the heck out of them. I liked it at first but then I saw it became repetitious which is not something I care much about. I think this is a series where you can skip around and have just as much fun with it but you'll likely be less lost if you watch them in order, starting with Volume 1, continuing through Volume 4, and then watching this fifth volume.