Kiddy Grade  Recommended
Publisher
MVM
Director
Keiji Goto
Production
Fuji TV, GONZO
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
24 episodes
Year
2002
Kiddy Grade Volume 7: Lurking Shadows
By otaku_kei
22nd Mar 05  Kiddy Grade has consistently entertained me from the opening volume, and now with the excitement building in this penultimate volume we finally start to get some of the answers to the many questions that have been raised. At the end of volume 6 after a long running battle between the clone Eclairs' & Lumieres' with those mystery fighters we got the big revelation - no those masked ladies were the real Eclair and Lumiere! So who is the Acting Chief of the G.O.T.T. and what are the Nouvlesse truly up to? Kiddy Grade best start coughing up the answers soon because there is not much time left... Well still limited to just 3 episodes a disc everything moves along at quite a pace with shocking revelation following shocking revelation. The acting Chief and her Lumiere are exposed as Alv & Dverger but what were they planning, and why did they eliminate Chief Eclipse? What follows is a long running battle between Eclair, Lumiere, the clones, the other ES members and Alv & Dverger. But not all is as it seems as we have yet another improbable resurrection. But whilst Kiddy Grade may take suspension of disbelief to new levels the action always delivers to carry the viewer along on this great ride. The next episode sees Lumiere deathly ill, and Eclair beside herself with worry for her partner. This makes a nice company piece to the episode on a previous volume where Eclair was on the brink of madness/depression. These episodes are an exploration of the close bond between the two central characters but also the A.I. that govern their war machines and spacecraft. And then the last episode starts the final revelation as to the true intentions of the Nouvlesse, as a renegade member of the Galactic Union parliament does a runner with the most powerful starship in the galaxy. (Which continuing the fan service tradition of this show finally gives something for the girlies out there with the Ducalian being shaped like a phallus). With so little time to wrap up the threads of this show the hints to future revelations are coming thick and fast and it is quite clear that this grand theft spaceship is not all it seems. But of course there are only two people who could possibly deal with this threat effectively, but how much use will a weakened Lumiere be in this battle? Well here it is, just one more volume to go and still we are no nearer to knowing what the grand scheme of this show is. Even at this late stage we are getting episodes that do not serve to progress the story along at all but none of that really matters when the journey is as fun as this show. The non-stop action of certain episodes or the character explorations of other episodes have all been top-notch, and yes the fanservice has grated from time to time but the longer the show has gone on the less it has cropped up. But how much longer can this show push the boundaries of suspension of disbelief when it appears there is a revolving door between the afterlife and the real world? And how can this show possibly bring to a close everything it has set-up with only 3 episodes left to go?
R2 DVD Notes
Features: English 5.1; English 2.0; Japanese 2.0; English Subtitles; Image Gallery; Character Profiles; Textless Song
Release information: 7th March 2005 - Out Now
Notes: For some reason Kiddy Grade seems to be catching the sharp end of the stick when it comes to the extras on the releases. Whilst the quality of the audio and visuals are never less than superb Kiddy Grade has had a complete lack of worthwhle extras. The episode count has also been a sticking point with only 3 episodes a disc making for a very drawn out show. This of course is not MVM's fault as it comes from Funimation the US distributor of the show but still it is an annoyance.
-- otaku_kei 22nd Mar 05
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