Saber Marionette J to X, Vol. 4 (1998)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Akahori Satoru
Character Design by Tsukasa Kotobuki

Features:

• Making-of featurette
  
• English and Japanese audio
  
• English subtitles
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• goofy heroes
• more bad luck than you can shake a stick at
• tyrannical governments

Rating: 13+

Anamorphic: N/A

My Advice: Rent it.

Otaru, Hanagata, and the Marionettes are on vacation in Xian at last, but of course it does not really turn out according to plan. Otaru collapses with illness—a terrible fever—and when the physician arrives with instructions, Lime, Cherry, and Bloodberry scatter to gather the herbs he needs to make Otaru well. Unfortunately, the next thing Otaru knows is that five days have passed while he was delirious with fever, and his friends the Marionettes are all missing. But that is not the worst of it...somehow, he has earned the ire of the Xian government, and they think he is a terrorist. Now, he must not only find the missing girls, but do so without getting arrested--and maybe somehow find a way to clear his name.

The plots of this disc are a bit improved from the silliness and lackluster plots that came before. We still have a goofy comedy here, but it blends a bit better with the action-related segments of the story. The combination of comedy and drama/action is still a bit uneasy, but it is getting better, and it is possible that Saber Marionette could become a truly good title very soon.

The audio and video quality are standard here. Neither the English nor the Japanese language tracks showed any serious problems, and both voice casts were talented enough to be fun and believable. A little bit of cross-coloration was evident, but nothing to be worried about.

The features on this disc boil down to one short making-of featurette. It is nice to learn more about how our favorite anime titles are created, especially one that could be as fun as this one might become, but it is too short to really be engaging. Just as you are really getting interested, it is over. It also would not cost them much, you would think, to add a short gallery to show off the character concepts, a “meet the characters” feature, or perhaps even a segment of outtakes. After all, what else can they do with the tapes containing errors? May as well make a feature out of them.

In short, volume four of this title is more of the same that came before--albeit with some improvement. If you enjoy character comedies with a bit of action and fantasy for spice, then you will probably enjoy Saber Marionette. Yes, it lacks a bit of character development and the plots have that uneasy combination I discussed above, but it is still inoffensive enough to entertain most preteens and teenagers. If you were lukewarm about earlier discs, give this one a try and see if it suits you a bit better.