Glass Fleet vol. 4 — anime dvd review
Given our friend Rachel at The Anime Blog’s reactions to the previous three volumes of Glass Fleet, I was prepared for some excruciating pain. Everything I’ve heard conveyed terrible character models, an un-engaging story, and all around retarded package. But you know what? Sitting down and watching this fourth volume, I found myself enjoying Glass Fleet. And this wasn’t just a case of lowered expectations making the unpalatable somehow tolerable. I actually found Glass Fleet to be an involved, thoughtful political drama that demands almost as much from its viewers as it gives in return.
Existing somewhere between the novels of Alexandre Dumas and anime classic Space Battleship Yamato, Glass Fleet is a tale of prodigal princes and stolen kingdoms, heroic rebels and religious oppressors, political intrigue and epic battles. It’s not your everyday synaptic rush of arterial spray or hyperactive panty-flash comedy. Instead it is an involved royal drama, the likes you would expect from BBC miniseries…certainly not “stereotypical” anime. In a nutshell, the main story concerns a tyrannical holy emperor, Vetti Sforza, who has taken it upon himself to wage war on the “People’s Army”,
a band of well-meaning rebels, lead by Michel Volban. Under immense pressure from Vetti’s forces, Volban seeks the help of a band of space pirates with a legendary Glass Fleet. As it turns out, the leader of these pirates, Cleo might just be the long lost heir to the throne, his existence further threatening Vetti’s grasp on power. An epic war ensues, with nothing less than the fate of the entire galaxy at stake.
Disc 4 opens on a prison planet, with Cleo and his buddies the new special guests on the prison-mine chain gang. Cleo talks his way into being the test subject for a sadistic female doctor with a penchant for cutting, who discovers a strange and mysterious quality about Cleo’s constitution (I don’t know if it’s been divulged in previous episodes, so in the interest of avoiding spoilers, I’ll leave it at that.). Cleo soon escapes, making his way to the cell of a long interred prisoner, with possible ties to Cleo’s past. As you can probably guess, Cleo and his compatriots escape, but not before a whole slew of revelations on Cleo’s past are revealed. Suffice it to say, the whole thing plays out like the lengthy prison escape sequence from Final Fantasy XII, only done in an interesting and entertaining fashion.
And the character designs? Yeah, they may not be all that hot, but they do their job. Facial models seem like slightly more “anime” infused versions of those found in American efforts such as Heavy Metal 2000 or the recent Turok movie, complete with the 80’s metal hair. Costumes, however run the full 
range of 17th century French fashions to Aztec priest wear. Spaceship models are a bit jarring as well, given their overly glossy early-nineties CG style, but then again, they’re glass. They’re supposed to be glossy.
Music too surprised me, sounding like decent radio-play worthy J-pop songs rather than the sometimes bargain basement knockoffs. Unlike recent titles I’ve reviewed, I liked both the opening and closing themes.
In closing, Glass Fleet entertained me quite a bit. As stated above, the show isn’t your normal passive action entertainment, and does require the viewer to possess a rather lengthy attention span, but if you’re up to the task the show will prove rewarding. Call me crazy, but I dug Glass Fleet.
The DVD
Funimations DVDs always look good, so I’m going to jump straight to the voice performances. Again, both the English and Japanese language tracks are decent. While undoubtedly most people 
will prefer the latter option, the former isn’t that bad…something on par with acting found on quality books on tape or radio drama. It’s not exactly stellar, but better than the usual.
In the extras department, the disc features a Live Action Drama extra with voice actors doing a live performance of script dialog in front of a large screen. A bit of a throwaway extra, it’s not particularly interesting or noteworthy. Also included are the usual trailer gallery and textless opening and closing animations.
All in all, a good show on a decent disc. I’d recommend Glass Fleet to older anime viewers looking for an engaging tale with actual substance. Good stuff.
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