Review of Kiddy Grade: Vol. 8

Introduction

In the distant future, mankind has colonised the galaxy, established worlds light years apart connected by a network of warp gates. The Nouvlesse who are the pure born descendants of Earth heritage, govern this Union of worlds. To mediate trade through the galaxy, The Galactic Organisation of Trade and Tariffs, GOTT for short, has been set up, staffed with a force of agents with broad discretionary powers. Éclair and Lumiere are members of the ES, long-lived cybernetically enhanced agents with youthful bodies and personalities; Kiddy Grade chronicles their adventures.

Volume 8 is the final disc in the Kiddy Grade story and provides an action packed conclusion to the series. At the end of the previous disc, Éclair and Lumiere were back at work at GOTT, and coming to terms with their new bodies. The galaxy was poised on the verge of a new stride forward, the launch of the Deucalion. The largest starship ever constructed, capable of intergalactic travel and terraforming, the Deucalion signalled mankind`s mastery over the stars. Then on the eve of the grand day, disgraced former GOTT director Chevalier D`Autrich stole the behemoth from where it was being constructed. The final three episodes are presented on this disc.

Demolition/Titan
The Deucalion, a planet sized starship has been stolen by former GOTT director and disgraced member of the Nouvlesse, Chevalier D`Autrich. It appears over the headquarters of GOTT on Aineias where it proceeds to wreak havoc with the planet`s climate. Éclair and Lumiere launch in a last ditch attempt to stop disaster, but are curiously welcomed by Chevalier, who has a strange story to spin. Before Éclair can act, a face from the past reappears and takes control of the Deucalion.

Annihilation/Zero
Alv is the Deucalion now, and she is intent on wreaking her twisted revenge on the Nouvlesse and their home, the cradle of civilisation itself, Earth. Attempting to rescue Chevalier and Dvergr, Lumiere and Éclair fall into Alv`s lethal trap. Eclipse arrives too late to rescue them, but leads a last ditch defence against the Deucalion. As she tries desperately to hold back Alv, the rest of ES arrives to join the battle, but it may not be enough. All seems hopeless, but are Éclair and Lumiere really dead?

As Time Goes By
The battle against the Deucalion concludes in the last episode of Kiddy Grade, but who will win, who will survive, and will the galaxy ever be the same again?

Video

The picture is presented in the original 4:3 format, and the transfer is perfectly adequate. Like most modern animation, computers have taken the place of pencils and paper, and that is immediately apparent from the precision of the animation. However, that fact soon faded from the awareness, and I was left to appreciate the design of Kiddy Grade`s world. The character design is simple but distinctive, and the realisation of the future world is intricate and well thought out. It`s a wholly realised future world with a consistent technological society based on the large scale and gargantuan.

However, this causes some problems on this final disc, with the Deucalion introduced as the largest spaceship ever built, dwarfing the average planet. A ridiculous figure like 63000 kilometres was mentioned. In comparison, the diameter of the Earth is a mere 13000km. It`s nigh on impossible representing this on screen. When the ES force is battling the Deucalion, although the ships seem like flyspecks in comparison, in the real world they would be the size of the Isle of Wight. It looks impressive enough, but begins straining the bounds of credibility.

Audio

There are a fine choice of soundtracks here, DD 5.1 and DD 2.0 English as well as DD 2.0 Japanese. As per usual, my preference is for original whenever possible, and the dialogue is clear throughout. Kiddy Grade also has some nice pop lite tracks for the credit sequences, and the incidental music has a sense of scale and orchestration more often associated with feature films. You can only select one subtitle track from the menu, and depending on whether the language track you chose was English or Japanese, the disc automatically plays either subtitles for the dubbed track, or translated subtitles for the Japanese track. You can switch between them on the fly if you wish.

Normally the English dub for Kiddy Grade is more than acceptable, but in these final episodes the dialogue suffers a drop in quality, less noticeable but still evident in the Japanese track. Still the DD 5.1 track gives that surround sound Oomph that certainly suits these action packed final episodes.

Features

Extras are few on this disc, but as usual there is an image gallery slideshow that lasts for 1½ minutes. There are the final copyright warnings in a section called Kiddy Grade Specials, and you can see the new credit sequences minus the text in Textless Song.

Thanks to seamless branching, you`ll either see the English or Japanese credits played depending on which language you chose from the menu. The usual jacket picture that is displayed when the disc isn`t spinning is there too.

Conclusion

Oh well, Kiddy Grade ends not with a bang, but with a whimper. Although, if you are keen on pyrotechnics, world shaking battles and eye-candy then the reverse could be said to be true. I must admit that I did enjoy the episodes on the final disc, having invested so much in the characters and the series it was hard not to, and there were moments of brilliance reminiscent of the series at its best. However, these final episodes simply don`t live up to the standard set by the rest of the series.

Kiddy Grade was always about Éclair`s character, her story. We followed her from her day-to-day work as an ES agent, to the resurfacing of her memories, and her escape from the GOTT as a fugitive. The story was a complex one, full of conspiracies, hidden agendas, twists and revelations as we watched Éclair regain her past and her heritage. A simple story got more convoluted and compelling, episode-by-episode, and each little breadcrumb of truth that was revealed simply added more mystery. The series took its time to get started and grew more and more tantalising with each successive episode. This story came to a conclusion in episode 20, when we finally learn of Éclair and Lumiere`s history together.

Episode 20 wasn`t an action heavy show; it was more of a downbeat story that gave closure to the main characters. At that point, Kiddy Grade felt done and dusted. The final four episodes, the Deucalion storyline feels like an afterthought, as if it was decided late on that the series needed to end in a pyrotechnic flare of space combat. This is despite the Nouvlesse plot and the Deucalion being hinted at in earlier episodes. The first of the Deucalion episodes was enjoyable, as it was built around another of those veiled dark conspiracies that typified Kiddy Grade. It leads into the first episode on this disc, the first half of which carries on in the same vein. Around here it loses its way, most noticeably when the Deucalion transforms into a giant mecha. For No Reason Whatsoever! The story defaults to the most clichéd of anime staples, big giant robo, terrorising populace, plucky heroes rushing to battle.

Kiddy Grade`s strength thus far had been its mystery and the drip-fed revelations intertwined with plot twists. Now the revelations come thick and fast, as we learn more about these characters than we had expected, or even needed. The revelatory device fails to work when there is no related mystery to solve. Instead it`s all just wasted information. The plot twists lose focus, and some are even unnecessary. The dialogue and the story have deteriorated compared to the earlier episodes, and Kiddy Grade`s denouement seems like a run of the mill anime.

I did enjoy these final episodes, if only because I love the characters so much. I was grinning when Éclair appeared in the nick of time with a jaunty "Cha-Chan!" to save the day one last time. Unfortunately Kiddy Grade went on 4 episodes too far, and despite the flashy visuals and action, this disc is a pale shadow of episodes 1-20. Completists will want it to finish off the collection, but it will probably leave the slightest of sour tastes in the mouth.