t the end of Battle Athletes Victory Vol. 6,
the solar system-wide competition for the title of Cosmic Beauty had
narrowed to four competitors: spunky-but-whiny Akari Kanzaki; her flaky
roommate Kris; the rabid beast-girl Mylandah; and the machinelike
former Cosmic
Beauty Lahrri. Mylandah and Lahrri, both upperclassmen, are paragons of
athleticism who have trained ruthlessly for this contest, while Kris and
Akari don't seem to be remotely in their league. But the younger roommates
have an emotional connection and shared goals that their older
rivals can't match. Besides, the Victory series has settled into a predictable
pattern by now, and if it veered from its preordained path, fans might
think they were watching the wrong show.
Once the dust settles and both the competition and the
post-competition whining are over, a new threat emerges. As Battle
Athletes fans may remember from the original video animation series, the entire Cosmic
Beauty contest is simply a front. The University
Satellite where the athletes train is actually preparing them to represent
Earth in a sort of Universal Olympics. An immensely powerful race called the Nerilians is targeting
Earth as its next conquest. If Earth's representatives fail
to beat the Nerilians in a simple sports competition, Earth will become
one more decoration in the solar system-sized Nerilian spaceship, and all
humans will be remade as high-powered, high-tech Nerilian slaves.
Naturally, this is another occasion for Akari to beat her breast,
doubt her skills, and rely on her friends to provide the motivation she
can't provide for herself. But it also gives her a chance to gather all her friends and rivals for a big, colorful reunion that has as much comic potential as it has dramatic weight. And given Akari's incredible powers under pressure, the Nerilians wouldn't be much competition if they didn't have one very personal surprise ready.
Misfit mutants
Victory practices some remarkable economies of scale in
storytelling. Mylandah and Lahrri's entire history together is
explained in one simple, brief scene that makes everything about their characters fall neatly into place. The few words that pass
between them during subsequent episodes speak volumes about the nature of competition and friendship. Storytelling that's this spare and deft unfortunately
leaves a lot of slack in a 22-minute segment, and episodes 20-22 take up the slack by repeating the same lines and the same animation sequences over and over ad nauseam. Virtually the entirety of the Last Dance installment is an anticlimactic retread of previous story arcs.
But the pace picks up considerably throughout The Human Race.
It's hard to say much about the story without giving away critical plot
twists, but there are a number of major surprises that build on one
another. The giddy, humorous tone of most of these episodes is a bit of
a disappointment. The series began as a hyperactive comedy, and the
return to type isn't particularly surprising, but the jokes aren't
as powerful as the serious moments. Although the
Nerilians' stable of mutated misfits is often funny--their sprinter is
half-girl, half-sports car and their star swimmer has a propeller--they
aren't very intimidating, and the threat to the Earth never seems
substantial. The Nerilians' final surprise could have been truly devastating--and much more emotionally poignant--if it had been played for dramatic effect instead of for laughs.
Still, this remains an energetic, dynamic series with a lot of thought
under the surface glitz, and this ending is enjoyable if not overwhelming.
As ever, the animation is eye-catchingly bright and bouncy, though some
corners are clearly being cut. The dubbing is
competent, although subtitles for the
on-screen text (like signage) would have been nice. Battle Athletes Victory may not live up to its full dramatic potential, but it's a good, balanced series with a lot to recommend it.
