Thefirst third of the series mainly concentrates on different missionsassigned to Lumiere and Éclair to carry out; some inconjunction with other ES teams. Nothing was terribly exceptionalexcept that I was having difficulty (at first) figuring out how16-year old (Éclair) could have such superhuman strength andhow a 13-year old (Lumiere) could speak to and control any computersystem she came in proximity to. I was about to give up that thisseries would bore me, but near the end of disc 2 little snippets werefinally being revealed that the girls actually had complex backstories and reasons for their abnormal powers. For example, in anepisode cataloguing a particular day off of work the girls had, youlearn that Éclair’s super strength is only activated whenshe puts on lipstick, so the lipstick she always uses in battle ismore than just a neat little girly weapon.
Fromthat point on, you learn more about Éclair and Lumiere, aswell as the other ES Force members. Not only that, but darker facetsof the G.O.T.T. begin to come to light as Éclair and Lumieretackle each mission that comes to them. What will these clues andÉclair and Lumiere’s seemingly unwanted successes ultimatelylead to? Well, you’ll just have to watch the series and find out!
Presentation:
The completeseries of Kiddy Grade comes to you in complete eco-friendly packagingmade of thick paper akin to poster board. What’s really neat aboutthis is that once you take the case from the slipcover, it’sactually a book with individual sleeves for each of the eight discs.I also find it handy that the titles of each episode on the disc arelisted in order on each “page.” The packaging (as well as thediscs themselves) sports some pretty nifty artwork, mainly of Éclairand Lumiere, but also other ES members from the series. At firstglance, I did think it was strange that each DVD only had 3 episodes,but that was resolved once I saw how full each disc was with extras.
Theseries also sports a wonderful soundtrack that enhances the settingsand gives the show an overall elegant quality (which would be much toLumiere’s liking). You have an excellent Japanese voice track,however I felt that the voice-acting for the English dubbing was abit sub par. Not only that, but the hearing impaired Englishsubtitles versus the English translation subtitles brought oneirksome thing to my attention. In moments when there is an emotionalsilence in the Japanese dubbed version, the English dub has addedinternal dialogue that wasn’t there. I feel that was ratherunnecessary as well as redundant. But, by and large, that was my onlyannoyance with the presentation of this set.
Extras:
I wasabsolutely amazed at the amount of extras this series set gives you.Every disc sports a host of Funimation trailers for shows like DBZ,YuYu Hakusho, Tenchi Muyo! GXP, and Dragon Ball GT (to name the onesprevalent on each disc). Also, the first few discs have originalcommercials and promotional slideshows for Kiddy Grade. From disc 3and on, every disc sports an ES profile list that specializes ingiving a little extra info on ES members. Every disc also has animage gallery, which is essentially a slideshow of screen capturesfrom the disc’s episodes, and basic character profiles. Not onlythat, but every disc includes a textless song. Usually it’s theending song, but a few times you’re treated to the opening song.However, anime purists might be disappointed that these songs areonly given dubbed in English.
Overall:
I was reallyimpressed with Kiddy Grade. At first, I was afraid this series wasgoing to be a dull, sub par space opera. After the first severalepisodes, I finally began to see hints of answers rather than morequestions as to who these girls were. It really felt like I wasjumping into a story in the middle. But now I realize that it wasjust a particular choice in the story telling. Aside from that, I wasreally impressed by the nice and unique packaging style as well asthe plethora of extras on every disc. Kiddy Grade is a nice additionto any anime collection. It sports something for every fan: cutegirls (or guys), spaceships, robots, action, and drama.
Rating:
Story:8.5—It takes a littletime for the series to sink its claws in, but otherwise it’s a veryinvolving story.
Presentation:9.0—Very unique, eco-friendly. Only the dull English voice dubkeeps it from a perfect 10.
Extras:9.5—Kudos toFunimation for loading eight discs with extras! However, theselection of trailers gets woefully redundant.
Overall:9.0—An enjoyableseries wrapped up in a great package.