ENEMY OF G.O.T.T.
Sesho | Pasadena, TX USA | 08/08/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"In the last volume of Kiddy Grade, Eclair and Lumiere were marked for death by the chief of G.O.T.T. With Volume 5 we have the most action-packed installment of the series so far. In episode 13, our two heroines seek sanctuary in an abandoned space colony where a promise was made to them long ago during a civil war. The only problem is that two other ES members know where they're headed, and their mission is to kill Eclair and Lumiere!
In Episode 14, the two girls think they can rest and make repairs to their ship but their former friends, ES members Tweedledee and Tweedledum, infect La Muse and Donnersclag with a a virus that makes them turn against their masters.
The final episode on this disk, "Break/Down", is one of the finest examples of anime I've seen. Eclair and Lumiere decide to attempt a full-frontal assault on G.O.T.T. headquarters in return for all the horrible things the organization has done to their lives and to the lives of others.
It's hard to imagine that we've come so far from the humorous and some would say, slight storylines of the earliest episodes to the Wagnerian themes of revenge and fate being played out in this volume. It's kinda like how the Beatles evolved from singing "Love Me Do" at first and progressed over time to "I Am the Walrus". It's a good thing. I'm not complaining. I don't know how the creators of this series are going to move this forward from here. It looks like they pulled out all the stops production-wise here, especially in the last episode where Eclair and Lumiere have to fight their way through multiple ES members as they attack the GOTT hq building. I can't stop talking about the depth of the series and the characters. Although I wish more of the girl's past and the other ES members would be revealed. But there are foreshadowings of all that spread throughout the episodes so far. Particularly touching is a shot of an arm seemingly in the throes of death, reaching up to a sun framed by a blasted city which I take to be Eclair's. There is a lot to be answered still. Highly recommended. Fantastic.
Extras are skimpy:
ES Force team Dossier
Clean Closing
Image Gallery
Character Profiles
I would also recommend the following anime: Last Exile, Noir, Najica Blitz Tactics, and Rahxephon."