Geneshaft, Vol. 4: Mobius (2001)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Created by Satelight & Kazuki Akane
Screenplay by Sho Tokimura and Miya Asakawa
Directed by Kazuki Akane

Features:

• Geneshaft glossary
  
• Character gallery
  
• Mecha gallery
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• You'll have to think
• Death and disaster
• Register abuse
• Suspiciously tight outfits on underage girls

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

My Advice: Check it out.

The Geneshaft saga crashes to an end with this fourth volume. The crew of the Bilkis struggles to rebuild after the shocking and painful events of Volume Three, while Mir decides to take her faith in Sergei to the limit. Hiroto awakens from his coma with startling revelations, and Beatrice may be experimenting with a new kind of emotionally-aware Register. Sergei's plans call for the destruction of all humanity--the bearers of the false program of DNA--but will one Shaft and one crew alone be able to stop him?

The problem with this show may lie with the characters. Tiki persists in being one of the most irritating characters in anime history; when, oh when, will the "precocious child = maddening brat" theme be out of style? The characters all have distinct, well-written personalities, but the writers chose to create them as all less than likable for the most part, which is a bit of a shame in a show like this. The characters have changed a bit as the show progressed, the Registers, especially, but is it too little too late?

On the other hand, the heady and emotional themes developed by the show are fascinating. Dolce and her team of crack (and cracked) programmers seem to have finally debugged the Shaft's driver programs...just in time for a new theme to develop on the show, that of DNA as another kind of buggy program. If you like to think about issues like the fate of humanity, how society can be rescued, what it might take to restart our species, and so forth, then you'll love the thought-provoking tone of this series.

The features list is short, but good. There is another in the series of mecha galleries that has come on every volume of the show so far, and there is another installment of the glossary. Any names, terms, and so forth that could use a bit more explanation after viewing the episodes can be found here. Luckily, the writers of the show didn't rely upon this trick to do their work for them, and the show can survive just fine without the aid of a reference guide.

The audio and video quality are both excellent, as always. Bandai has done a great job with the digital transfer. The English translation is reliable and maintains the sense of urgency, menace, and even fun of the original Japanese, and the casts do an equally good job of actually acting, and not just reading lines at speed.

With this last volume of the Geneshaft series, the seriousness begun in the previous volume continues. More deaths cap the show, and the deep themes help create something more than just a run-of-the-mill science fiction show. If you enjoyed shows like Nadesico or non-anime like Babylon 5, then you'll probably enjoy this one to pieces.