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Argentosoma Volume 01: Another Reality (DVD)

Argentosoma is one of the best sci-fi releases in anime this year with its blend of intrigue and action. Unlike most series that rely on the large robot genre, the depth of the characters involved in the story add an additional layer to the tale with each character showing their own weaknesses and struggles. The excellent story-telling makes the story serve as an excellent psychological guide as you watch the antagonist work as a double agent. The series’ mainstay is as an action series, which highlights some intriguing battles between the invading alien force and the earth’s defensive forces.

Episode 01: Rebirth and Death

The world is reeling from the constant attacks from unknown invaders (think 4 story tall attackers), and Earth does not appear to be faring well with all of the casualties from the unexpected attacks. Studying towards military flight status is the talented metallurgist Takuto Kaneshiro, who is enlisted by his girlfriend Maki to help with her research.

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Her research is working on building a new being from alien components and Takuto is brought in to assist with the activation. The new being was given the name “Frank” for the obvious connection to Frankenstein. The activation process was progressing successfully but was interrupted by an military group attacking the research

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facility. The attack caused Frank’s restraints to breach and he broke free from the facility, flying away to North America. However, Frank’s escape severely damaged the facility and killed Maki and her professor. Takuto survived the attack, but was injured. The bulk of the episode is focused on the life of Takuto, both as a graduate student and as a human involved in a relationship.

Episode 02: Death and the Maiden

This episode focuses on new characters, a young girl named Hattie and her dog Walton who live in Montana with her grandfather. While playing in the forests surrounding her home with Walton, Hattie comes across Frank. Never having seen anything like Frank before, Hattie believes that he is an elf from her grandfather’s stories.

Frank’s extended contact with Hattie imprints upon him, and he begins to protect her. After a confrontation between social workers and Hattie’s grandfather, the social workers try to forcibly remove Hattie, which angers Frank and he becomes involved in the situation (much like the way a sledgehammer becomes involved with rock). At this inopportune time, an invader attacks the area killing the social workers as well as Hattie’s grandfather. Frank attacks the invader once it targets Hattie, and eventually kills it.

While all of this is progressing, we are introduced to the heart of the invader fighting task force code-named FUNERAL. The main team consists of the field captain Michael (an African American fellow with a penchant for following orders, but not sacrificing his charges) the transport pilot Sue (a late teenager with a talent for flying but still very much a young girl), Dan (the blond prodigy of a rich family who has forsaken his birthrights in favor of fighting the invaders, a truly talented pilot who leads in combat), Guenevere (the solemn red head who measures her words and actions) and the former three being pilots of the primary weapons against the invaders, the SARGs. The SARGs are variable fighters that can transform into a humanoid form the size of the invaders. The FUNERAL team is searching for Frank, and comes across the aftermath of the fight between Frank and the invader.

Episode 03: The Maiden and the Meeting

This episode returns us to Taketo, who is convalescing in the hospital from his injuries. At this point, he’s covered in bandages and restraints and is being interrogated by the military (including FUNERAL’s commanding officer, Commander Ines; a stoic woman who is always in control of a situation) for information about the research facility and more information on Frank. After the questioning, Taketo meets a long-haired man who asks if he wants revenge upon Frank for what he did to him and Maki.

In the meantime, Frank along with Hattie and Walton have been moved to FUNERAL’s headquarters until a different military group takes possession of them. When a mechanical mishap during the move of Frank scares Hattie, Franks takes Hattie and Walton with him and they escape from the FUNERAL base. To subdue Frank, Dan and Guenevere engage him in SARGs and try to prevent him from doing too much damage in the nearby city. Although they do subdue him without too much damage, Frank does make it to the hospital where Taketo is resting and crashes into it. Hattie momentarily speaks with Taketo which makes him decide to get revenge on Frank. The long-haired man appears again and gives Taketo a new identity, namely Ryu Soma.

In order to maintain the different persona, Ryu does not accept the cosmetic surgery to repair his face. He now has a series of criss-crossed scars on his face, a discolored eye, and a lack of color in some of his hair.

Episode 04: The Meeting and the Hatred

Now with a new persona and a fabricated past, Ryu is transferred to FUNERAL as a SARG pilot with the purpose of collecting classified information for the long-haired man. Ryu intends to try and kill Frank while serving in FUNERAL. Upon meeting the personnel of FUNERAL, Ryu comes into conflict with Dan immediately. Dan senses something about Ryu that he doesn’t like, especially when Dan catches Ryu using the computer system while collecting intel (but Dan didn’t know what Ryu was doing or looking for). The episode ends with the arrival of another invader outside New York (which has already been abandoned because of earlier invasions) and with FUNERAL dispatching everyone except Ryu.

Episode 05: Hatred and War

Dan and Guenevere engage the alien with their SARG units, however, during the battle it is discovered that this alien has the ability to stockpile energy and that all of their attacks are merely increasing the alien’s reserve. To engage the alien, it is decided to use Frank to fight but before a plan can be implemented, Ryu takes Hattie with him in one of the SARGs and gets Frank to follow them to the battle zone. After Ryu causes Frank to crash into the alien, they begin fighting with Frank eventually being victorious. However, during the heat of the battle, Ryu’s anger at Frank escapes and he tells Hattie that Frank isn’t alive; this statement angers Hattie enough that she no longer trusts Ryu.

Argentosoma is a very cerebral anime series that does an excellent job of balancing action with the politicking and insightful characterizations that aren’t seen in all shows and it’s a solid start to the series.

- Tazman

(October 17, 2003 )

"Oops, dart in your neck."

- Sparks (Sealab 2021)