Geneshaft, Vol. 2: Halo (2001)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Created by Satelight & Kazuki Akane
Screenplay by Sho Kokimura and Miya Asakawa
Directed by Kazuki Akane
Voices by Yuko Kaida, Rio Natsuki, Kumiko Higa, Amanda Winn Lee, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn

Features:

• Clean opening and closing
  
• Character gallery
  
• Glossary
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• Animated violence
• Minor angst
• Personal betrayal

Released by: Bandai
Region: 1
Rating: 13+
Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: Get it.

In the science fiction world of Geneshaft, people are genetically engineered to perfect their skills base, as well as to ensure the ideal balance of male to female...males being seen as the aggressive, warmongering force in the humanity. Further, each human has a color-coded gene type that reflects their skill-set and potential. The crew of the Bilkis reflects this genetically-engineered society, including Mika, a "white," whose potential is still unknown, as white is usually only the color of childhood until the adult color manifests.

This second disc of the series has Our Heroes deep in space, attempting to find the source of the Rings that endanger Earth. In "Angels and Spaceships," a small ring infiltrates the Bilkis and proceeds to clone people, stealing their DNA by nearly bleeding them dry. Next, in "Hotline from the Past," the ship discovers a space shuttle from 21st century Earth, including her crew of three "Ancients"...Americans with their natural, unmodified--and therefore dangerous--DNA. What can the crew learn from such primitives? Finally, in "Ring World," the crew learns that Mika can destroy rings with a new weapon...or maybe it wasn't really her. In addition, one of their own leaves to join the sinister Lord Sneak.

Halfway through the series, the plot has taken a more serious, X-Files-like turn, and it was never much of a comedy. Now the threads of genetic terrorism, individual freedom, and personal potential are coming more to the forefront, and are starting to make a bit more sense, after the set-up of the first disc. We learn more about what makes the individual characters tick as well. Unfortunately, they aren't much more likable. Dolce keeps screaming and frightening her programmers, Mir is still the Ice Queen from Hell, Hiroto still stonewalls every attempt to get to know him, and basically only Mario, Sofia, and Mika are likable. Tiki, particularly, is so irritating that whenever she's on the screen, you'll want to smother her with a pillow. Luckily, the plot is so engaging that you wonít mind. And having a world full of imperfect characters is just a slice of verisimilitude, at least to my mind.

The features are nicely done: we get the clean opening and closing that anime fans expect, but we also get a helpful "Geneshaft Glossary" that illuminates some of the terms and things inside the world of the show. Finally, there's a character gallery that shows off the animation and allows fans of various characters to have a good look at each unique, personalized uniform. A more extensive gallery would have been nice, but what we have is good stuff.

The audio and video quality are both fantastic. I detected no aliasing, and the colors are clear and bright without being oversaturated or distracting from the mood of the show. The characters and mecha are all so beautifully designed that the blend between cel and computer animation is smooth and subtle, with the possible exception of the obviously digitally-drawn Rings, which are, after all, supposed to be alien and different.

Overall, if you like science fiction, then you'll enjoy Geneshaft. With mecha, sociological pondering, and nicely done characters, it has something for everyone. If you liked space tales like Nadesico or Gundam, then you'll like this too.