Stratos 4: Volume 2

Introduction

Volume 1 of Stratos 4 turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. Tempted by the mentions of Aika and Najica on the back of the case, I went in expecting a profusion of perverted panty-shots, and little else. Not only was there a distinct deficit of fan service, but instead they delivered an attractive looking show, with interesting characters, an inventive look at a familiar premise, and heaven help us all, a decent story. What's the world coming to if you have to watch 20 minutes of narrative before you get anything like hint of a teenage girl in a state of dishabille?

It's the future and the Earth is in danger as never before. The skies are full of comets, asteroids, and debris, all on a collision course with Earth, but to combat this threat, a space force has been put into place, the Comet Blasters, who venture forth from an orbiting space station and disintegrate the rocks before they fall to Earth. Of course there can be no plan without a back up, and supporting them from the Earth's surface are the Meteor Sweepers, who launch in high altitude aircraft to clean up what the Comet Blasters miss. As you would expect, it's the Comet Blasters who take all the glory. Mikaze Honjyo comes from a family of pilots, and together with friends Karin, Ayamo and Shizuha they undertake training as part of the Meteor Sweepers, hoping to work their way up to a space-borne position.


The next four episodes are on this disc from Beez

5. Go Around
Mikaze's depression over her apparent failure on the last mission is nothing compared to what is in store for her. Karin is still unconscious in hospital, and Ayamo blames her for what happened. But when Mikaze is called to the Commander's office, she realises that it can get worse. Her superiors have ordered her to Okinawa to face a board of inquiry, and she's unprepared for the grilling that she is to receive, from three faceless suits that appear to be more interested in covering up the facts and finding a politically expedient scapegoat than hearing the truth. To make things worse, they call Ayamo and Shizuha as witnesses. When she isn't being debriefed, she's constantly under guard and under surveillance. To make matters worse, the Comet Blasters arrive in Okinawa to a heroes' welcome.

6. Checking Six
Mikaze has a penalty to work off, and she's essentially grounded. She's on clean up detail, KP duty, all the messy stuff, but she's got something to work towards, and determined to keep her nose clean until she gets her wings back. She isn't expecting the restaurant mascot to get her into trouble. Fat moggy Alice stows away on her bike to work one morning, and is soon wandering around the base, causing all sorts of mayhem. When an important data chip goes missing (snagged into the cat's fur), the base is put on full alert, and it looks as if Mikaze is further away from flying than ever before.


7. Mach Speed
Mikaze's back on the flight roster, but it looks as if her dreams of getting into space are drifting further away. She can't take refuge in the hangar anymore, as she keeps getting chased away by the lovesick mechanic Sako. But it turns out that the parasol that she likes to nap in, isn't a parasol at all, it's a booster nozzle. There's a genuine space ship attached to it, the Stratos Zero, and all of a sudden, Mikaze realises that if her dreams to become a Comet Blaster don't come true, this may be the only way to get into space. Soon all the girls are drafted in, and with Sako's help, they start to restore the old spaceship to working order. Meanwhile strange things are happening up in orbit with the Comet Blasters.

8. Go Gate
The 38th annual Base Festival has arrived, and with it a party atmosphere. Everyone's invited, including the cadets' families. Of course with the parents arriving, it promises to be a traumatic experience for some. Ayamo's politician parents and Mikaze's famous pilot parents quickly opt for a game of one-upmanship, while Shizuha's photographer father can only talk to his daughter through the lens of a camera. It's all friendly and jovial, until the girls introduce their parents to the spaceship they are restoring and intending to fly. Meanwhile, Karin is looking off-colour and depressed, despite all the fun and frolics.

Picture

The 4:3 regular transfer is clear, sharp and colourful. It's one of the better such conversions in terms of NTSC-PAL, in that there's no ghosting or judder, and in terms of clarity, it could almost be native PAL. It's just a tad soft though, which I guess is to be expected. However, that has to be balanced with excessive pixellation and artefacting around fast motion. It isn't unknown in animated DVDs, but this is a little too much, and just too noticeable in some scenes. You expect to see it if you pause the disc at an inopportune moment, but you usually miss it during normal playback. Not here though, and it can be distracting.

The show itself comes from around 2003, and is a little behind the curve in terms of its look and style. The character designs are simple, but memorable enough, but this is one of those anime that mixes 2D and 3D CG elements. It's just that there's no attempt to blend the two, and the CG does stick out a mile, especially the space stations and air/spacecraft. That said the animation is bright, pleasant and fluid, and the show is very aesthetically pleasing.

Sound

It's the basics for the sound on this disc, DD 2.0 English and Japanese, along with optional translated subtitles in English, French, and Dutch (Beez is an anime company with a European presence). The dialogue is clear for both versions, and you get some nice, poppy themes for the opening and end credits. The sound is adequate for the action nature of the show, but a surround track would have been nicer. As for the dub, it's passable, although I have to admit that I didn't personally find it all that pleasant, sounding awkward and unnatural at times. Japanese is the way to go here.

Extras

The Amaray case gets a reversible sleeve, which allows the girls to change out of their uniforms into something a little more comfortable. The disc gets a nice animated menu, with all options available from all menu screens, making navigation a doddle.

You'll find the textless end credit, and trailers for Gundam SEED, s-CRY-ed, Witch Hunter Robin, Wolf's Rain, and .hack//SIGN.

You'll find a music clip on this disc, which essentially is the full 4-minute opening theme, set to animation. There is also a 7 minute Interview and Video Clip, which sees Megumi Hinata of Melocure talking about creating the theme song, 1st Priority, followed by 90 seconds of the music video. You can also access this 90-second clip directly without the interview. Finally there is the textless ending.

Conclusion

Volume 1 of Stratos 4 was enjoyable enough, a sci-fi action series with its eye on the light-hearted side of the genre, a familiar premise, Earth in peril, and teenage girls in form fitting spacesuits. You could easily file it under forgettable fun. Volume 2 changes direction slightly, pulling back from the sci-fi and peril aspects to concentrate more on the characters and the comedy. It turns out to be a wise move as this second volume is more enjoyable and entertaining than the first, and in a show where the focus is on the female form in various states of undress or in form fitting clothing, then it helps to flesh out those personalities beneath the jiggle. Despite the animators' decision to tone down the fan service, it is still there, and it is still part of the show, even if it doesn't dominate the anime.


We are still with the main storyline at the start of the disc, with Mikaze facing a disciplinary hearing for her failure to follow orders at the end of the previous volume. It's definitely a ground bound episode though, focussing on the bureaucracy and the apparent cover up that is taking place. The MIBs who 'interview' Mikaze, and the dark conspiratorial air does seem a little out of place with the light and airy tone of the show, and I am curious about the direction in which the story is heading. There are little hints of darkness that pop up during the episodes, concern about Karin's reaction at the end of the previous volume, odd things happening among the Comet Blasters up in orbit, and the aforementioned cover up, and all these things are at odds with the character comedy and triviality of the central storyline. It will be interesting to see whether the show finds a balance in the final volume, or if the tone shifts completely. The rest of this episode is pretty standard, with the Comet Blasters making an appearance in Okinawa, and the understandable reaction from the Meteor Sweepers who get sidelined and ridiculed as second fiddle support players.


Checking Six is the most trivial of all the episodes, following the mayhem that is unleashed when fat cat Alice wanders onto the base. Here's a chance for the fan service that has been so restrained so far, when the cat causes instructor Sayaka Kisaragi to fall over, ensuring that the colour of her panties won't soon be forgotten. Then, when one of the male pilots tries to apprehend the mischievous moggy, the pursuit leads him straight into the women's changing room. It's a pure comedy episode, but I was both rolling my eyes and laughing out loud when Alice ran into a bunch of strays, and the subsequent cat confrontation was subtitled (in Japanese, overlaid with the English translation)


Mach Speed sees reality hit home for the girls, when they realise the sheer competition to get into space and become one of the Comet Blasters. For Mikaze, that would be a hard pill to swallow, as she has her heart set on being the first Honjyo in space, and making a name for herself rather than riding her pilot family's coattails. But she doesn't have a chance to mope when they discover that the base mechanic Sako has a veteran spacecraft stashed away in the hangar. He's been moping ever since being dumped by his Comet Blaster girlfriend Miharu, and he has been nursing a vague plan to somehow repair the Stratos Zero and prove he's just as capable a space traveller as she is. Of course he's a mechanic and not a pilot. But that plan crystallises when Mikaze learns of the Stratos Zero, and the girls start a project to renovate and restore the spaceship to working order. Meanwhile Miharu is up in space, acting weirdly, and providing more fan service by pouncing on fellow Comet Blaster Betty in the shower, and infecting her with her weirdness.


Go Gate is another strictly off storyline episode, but it also fills in the character blanks by introducing us to the girls' families, and in Mikaze's case showing us why she is so driven and determined to get into space. We meet her proud parents, as well as the older sister who invites unfair comparisons, not least from Mikaze herself. The comedy comes from Ayamo's parents, who are the typical competitive mum and dad who usually make life hell at school football matches, only they're major politicians, while Shizuha's father is just plain weird. The tragic side of the story comes from Karin, as we learn of her past, and the reason why she is alone on the island during the festival. However this is tinged with the overall weirdness that keeps cropping up with this show, and I wonder how much of this is down to Karin's tragic past, and how much down to the weird conspiracy and the fact she blacked out at the end of volume 1.


Volume 2 of Stratos 4 is just as much fun as before, but it's more rounded in terms of character development and incrementally advancing the plot. I don't think my interest could have sustained if it had been a rock of the week show. It will be interesting to see how it is resolved in the final volume.