Saber Marionette J to X, Vol. 6 (1998)
Review by Dindrane
Film:
DVD:

Directed by Masami Shimoda
Starring Megumi Hayashibara, Yuka Imai, Yuri Shiratori, and Akiko Hiramatsu

Features:

• Clean endings
  

Dindrane's Anime Warnings:

• Improbably and impractically huge breasts
• Marionette emotional abuse
• Bad choices

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

My Advice: Rent it.

The end of the Saber Marionette saga is upon us, and Otaru seems defeated by the reality of the marionettes’ new lives. However, the girls are well aware of their marionette status, and the knowledge that she can never be real breaks Lime’s heart. She agrees to undergo the process to make her human, while Cherry and Bloodberry rush to stop her. The plot of the entire series culminates in a single, emotional moment of sacrifice, choice, and tragedy that will leave viewers surprisingly touched and moved.

The real problem with this series has been that it's just plain mediocre. In trying too hard to be something other than the formula, while keeping what works in the formula, it didn’t take any worthwhile chances. The relationship between Otaru and the marionettes has never really been anything but lukewarm, and even the girls’ personalities, while interesting enough, have never really grown or changed in interesting ways until at the very end. This could have been a fine series and a great example of ensemble pieces, but instead it’s just mediocre--not bad by any means, but not great, either. Here in the last disc, when the creators upped the emotion quotient, it’s just too little, too late; the entire show should have been more like this, or at least more of the last couple of discs.

The features list on this disc is rather slim. All we have this time is a set of textless closings. It’s nice to be able to see all the changes from all along the series side-by-side.

The audio and video quality are as they have been for the entire series. There are few problems with either, except for the continuing problems with cross-coloration seriously marring the otherwise attractive and entertaining animation. The music particularly sounds rather nice and crystal clear.

In short, fans of the series will love this rousing ending and will likely want to watch the final episodes over and over. People who have been straddling the fence all along will feel vindicated but wonder why, if the ending can be so good, the rest of the saga could not have had more power to it. The plot of the ending of this series increases the emotional drama rather satisfactorily, but it still leaves viewers wondering why there wasn’t more to the tale as a whole. If you like action and characterization, you’ll likely want to give this one a watch, but, alas, the only disc you’re likely to want to keep and watch again is this last one.