Review of Kiddy Grade: Vol. 7

Introduction

In the distant future, mankind has colonised the galaxy, established worlds light years apart connected by a network of warp gates. 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, cybernetically enhanced agents with youthful bodies and personalities; Kiddy Grade chronicles their adventures.

In the last disc, two masked strangers challenged Éclair and Lumiere`s brief directorship of the GOTT. Even their clones proved ineffective against the powerful duo, but the clones proved more trouble than they were worth, when they began to question Éclair`s orders. An impromptu execution is interrupted at the beginning of disc 7, which contains episodes 19 to 21 in the Kiddy Grade series.

Take/Revenge
Alv and Dvergr have been unmasked and it`s up to the newly reincarnated Éclair and Lumiere to stop the usurpers. They`re not alone in coming back from the dead, as Eclipse wants her job back. But Alv and Dvergr`s hatred of the Nouvlesse makes them choose a final stand.

Lost Days
Éclair and Lumiere are getting used to working back at GOTT as well as their new bodies, but the latter is harder than the former, and Lumiere falls ill. Her mind hasn`t integrated with her new body, and information overload is endangering her life. Only those closest to her can give her any hope of surviving, and even then it will require a tremendous sacrifice.

Nouvlesse/Arc
The largest spaceship ever built is about to be launched. The Deucalion is over 60000 kilometres in length, the ultimate in human achievement as ordained by the Nouvlesse ruling class. But this ship has a nefarious hidden purpose. Disgraced GOTT head, Chevalier d`Autriche has his own plans to thwart the twisted designs of his former employers. Meanwhile Eclipse and Armbrust uncover the corruption at the heart of the GOTT.

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.

I did feel that there was a small decline in animation quality for the episodes on this disc, especially around fine detail. But Kiddy Grade still aims for the atmospheric in terms of mood and lighting effects. Also on this disc, with the new look Éclair and Lumiere, there come new title and end sequences.

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. It`s all very impressive. 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.

I`m usually loath to sample the English dubs, but Kiddy Grade makes a welcome exception. Instead of merely translating and filling the extra lip movements with extraneous dialogue, the voiceover has gone back to basics and provided a dialogue that not only conveys the story accurately, but also sounds natural when spoken. The actors also suit the characters, so it`s fair to say that you don`t lose anything by going with the English dub, indeed the DD 5.1 track gives that surround sound oomph to the space opera action, so no matter what your personal preference is when it comes to soundtracks, you`re in a win-win situation here.

Features

The DVD credits have been hidden away as an Easter Egg. Otherwise this disc only has the usual 90-second image gallery with slides from the episodes, the new end sequence minus the text and seven text character profiles.

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

They think it`s all over, well not quite. If you have been following the Kiddy Grade story thus far, then the first two episodes do a fine job of wrapping up the storyline, and tying up the loose plot threads, all the while laying the groundwork for a pyrotechnic finale spread over the last four episodes of the series. Take/Revenge settles the conspiracies and resolves the plot thus far, following the return of Éclair`s memories and the explosive attack on GOTT headquarters. It`s your classic confrontation between the good guys and bad guys, and in true anime fashion, they`ll pause occasionally to make a speech or just posture before resuming Earth shaking combat. It`s clichéd certainly, but once you have invested in the characters, you can take a little cliché, especially as the characters remain true to themselves in the episode.

Lost/Days is the highlight of the disc, focussing solely on character and lacking in terms of action and eye-candy. This episode shows that there is a price for the powers wielded by the members of the ES, and the story is about Lumiere`s decline and Éclair`s reaction. This is also the episode the fills in the remaining gaps of the Kiddy Grade story. Thus far we`ve seen Éclair`s memories returning piecemeal and disjointedly, but this episode allows the pieces to be joined together, and we see how the first few exceptional individuals came together to form the ES. Nouvlesse/Arc is an exercise in exposition, 25 minutes that sets the stage for the finale of Kiddy Grade, as we are reintroduced to the major players, and the pieces are all set on the board ready for the endgame.

Having seen the finale of Kiddy Grade and been left feeling disappointed with the direction taken, I feel tempted to mark this disc down for Nouvlesse/Arc, the first of those episodes. That would be unfair, as Nouvlesse/Arc taken by itself is a decent bit of storytelling. It follows the established Kiddy Grade style of elaborate conspiracies and drip fed plot points, and there is no sign of the narrative vacuity that will inflict the episodes on the last disc. This disc is worth it for Lost/Days alone, and if you have kept up with the storyline thus far, then this episode will reward your patience and then some.

Kiddy Grade is one of the better cyberpunk anime that I have seen, and reaches a peak here with the conclusion of the character arc in Lost/Days. Stories can be light or dark in tone, but it is the rare tale that manages to combine the two. Kiddy Grade manages this deftly, and the characters are well rounded and a joy to watch. Disc 7 provides another 75 minutes of entertainment. There may be a question of value for money with just over an hour of material on each disc, but with the story as involving as this, it becomes a small complaint.