Najica Blitz Tactics Vol. #3

By Dani Moure     February 02, 2005
Release Date: June 21, 2004



What They Say
Super agent Najica Hiiragi and her Humaritt partner Lila have their hands full! Humaritts are androids trained for absolute obedience; but when the Humaritt Elith rejects a decision by her master , the rebel leader Athena, the CRI agents can't prevent the tragic results. Then a call from Gento's long-lost friend Yoshiki has Najica and Lila racing to save the scientist and his lover, the Humaritt Serina, from the forces of Dr. Renika Ren (the creator of all Humaritts). The greatest danger, however, just might be Serina's desire to protect Yoshiki!

To end the Humaritt threat, Shinba Industrial attacks Dr. Ren's secret underground laboratory in an abandoned city. A massive battle erupts with Dr. Ren's android army, including the awesome Humaritt X. Inside the lab, Lila befriends a mysterious boy called Alpha, and Najica suspects Dr. Ren isn't what she appears to be. But time is short: a military air strike is set to level the city. Don't miss the awesome conclusion of Najica Blitz Tactics!


The Review!
The final volume of Najica brings plenty of action, and even more of the craziest panty shots you'll find.

Audio:
I listened to the Japanese stereo track for my main review, and noticed no distortions or dropouts. The track itself was quite lively and immersive, and I really enjoyed the voice work from Yumi Touma as Najica and Juri Ihata as Lila; they worked very well playing off each other, especially in the final episodes.

The English language track is presented in 5.1, and it sounded great as I listened to it while writing the review. Kira Vincent Davis and Monica Rial make for a great paring, and work together just as well as the Japanese actors. This disc holds up very well in the audio department, and I am glad we have the presence of two really good audio tracks here.

Video:
The masters for Najica are obviously in great condition, as the transfer is extremely fresh and clean, looking great. I noticed no artifacts or aliasing during regular playback, though there was a bit of shimmering on a few panning sequences. This disc just showcases again how good most of ADV's UK releases have turned out in terms of video. Subtitles are the usual ADV UK small and yellow font.

Packaging:
The packaging is particularly striking once again. Coming in a white keepcase, the cover has a white background and a sparse look, with a quality image of Najica posing with a large gun. The series logo is off to the left and the volume clearly numbered. The white space really helps this cover standout, and fits the tone of the show well. The back cover contains the volume synopsis with three screenshots. Extras and languages are clearly labelled, with the runtime and episode numbers listed clearly in the standard ADV UK information bars. The insert is a single sheet with artwork of Lila on one side, and a brief disc breakdown on the other.

Menu:
The main menu is split almost halfway, with the left hand side looping video of some of the more panty-filled scenes from the show playing to the opening theme, with easy episode selection on the right, and the submenu links below it. The submenus are static but cleanly presented with fast access times, all looping various instrumentals from the soundtrack. The only oddity on this release, as with several other ADV series, is the lack of chapter selection. While some may think it's unnecessary, it's a very basic option and while I appreciate being able to jump to individual episodes with one click, scene selection would be nice.

Extras:
It's more of the same in the extras department, but that's by no means a bad thing. We have another appearance from the textless opening and ending, and another production gallery. There's also a "Diligent Circle of Ekoda" video, which is essentially a performance of the theme tune, and is quite amusing to have.

A final commentary is present, this time with David Williams (ADR Director), Kira Vincent Davis (Najica) and Monica Rial (Lila). This is a hilarious track to listen to, and while it's not the most informative it's always fun to listen to a group with such energy as this.

Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As the series draws to a close, we get two more stand-alone stories, which have some good character development within, and then things kick into high gear for a nice conclusion with a two-part story wrapping things up. Once again while it doesn't really set the world on fire, Najica continues to be hugely entertaining.

The first story opens with a rather grim scene of Najica chained up and being beaten by a woman. We then cut back to real time and the mission begins, with Najica and Lila sent in to infiltrate a group of revolutionist women trying to overthrow their government. But in a nice twist, the plan goes totally wrong and both Najica and Lila, who have gone their separate ways mission-wise, are captured. Najica is roughed up, while Lila gets stuck with a Humaritt called Elith, who works for the leader Althena, her master. But there's yet another twist in the tale, as Althena begins to regret going against her country (and relatives), while Elith wants to continue their mission.

There's actually some really good characterisation in this episode, as Lila sees what it's like for a Humaritt to break from being obedient to their master, and the consequences that can have. Najica and Lila's relationship is interesting, as Najica continues to keep Lila at a bit of a distance, despite her growing warmth for the Humaritt. The plot itself is pretty standard fare when it comes to the rebel group plotting against the government, but it improves when the two go their different ways and are both captured, and again when Elith turns on Althena. It goes a way to show just what damage a Humaritt can do.

The second episode was also entertaining, as one of Gento's friends, Yoshiki, calls him to ask for Gento's help, as he and his Humaritt Serina are on the run from the Humaritt forces of Dr Ren, the woman that created them. But Najica's is asked to save them both, but bring back Serina, which would mean splitting the pair up. When they meet, Najica has a few deep conversations with Yoshiki, but doesn't let anything get in the way of her mission> Lila on the other hand bonds considerably with Serina, and learns a lot from her and her actions. As the forces of Dr Ren attack, Najica and Lila fight, but so does Serina, despite her promise to Yoshiki that she would never be violent.

In some ways, this episode was a little bit deeper than previous fare on Najica. Yoshiki and Serina's love for each other was really well presented, from his blindness (or rather, turning a blind eye) to Serina's violence, to her devotion to her master, and wanting to do right by him. Lila's time with Serina is quite interesting, too, as Lila hears a lot to think about and is quite heavily affected by what Serina tells her about a Humaritt obeying their master and her feelings for Yoshiki. It sets things up nicely for Lila's own relationship with Najica, as she seems to want to get closer but Najica herself still seems intent on keeping her at a bit of a distance. This is definitely one of Najica's strongest episodes.

For her next (and final, for us) mission, Najica is sent to infiltrate Shinba Industries' secret research facility and protect Dr Ren from the opposing forces. Initially, Gento suggest Lila shouldn't go, because of her recent changes and the fact that the facility is Lila's birthplace, but Najica is insistent. So the pair trek to the underground research base, and are attacked pretty quickly. They're backed up by Gento and the rest of the team, who get attacked by a purple-haired Humaritt that takes out their helicopters and other forces using a satellite attack. Najica and Lila again split up to search Dr Ren, and on her search Lila finds a Humaritt in incubation that the purple-haired one called Alpha. They bond somewhat, as Lila teaches it how to learn and it follows her like a mother.

Meanwhile, Najica runs into the purple-haired Humaritt, which thinks she took Alpha away, and gets into a massive fight. Najica escapes, but runs into Dr Ren herself, or so it would seem. The operation continues, with Najica in a deadly face-off, but there's more to it than there seems when Najica realises that Dr Ren abandoned the Humaritts here, and this isn't really Dr Ren at all.

As a final two-parter, this story works pretty well as it brings some conclusiveness to Lila's story, with what she's grown into, and also gives an interesting ending to Najica's story herself. The plot of the two-parter is slightly bate-and-switch, as we never end up meeting the real Dr Ren at all, but the interjection of X and her fights with Najica allow the tension to be ramped up, and Najica to be put in a threatening situation for the last time. It's a bit different to past episodes, too, because since it's the finale there's always the chance, slim as it is, that the creators could pull something out the bag and kill her off.

Nevertheless, the real story in the finale, and indeed for much of the series, is Lila and the changes she's been through. In working with Najica she's become somewhat "humanised", and she's gained some interesting feelings for Najica and also the way she should live. It comes across well here, as she has Alpha to play off in the final episodes, and it really shows us how far she's come. Essentially, Alpha is something of a mirror image of Lila when we first met her, so seeing her against Alpha shows how much she's changed as she almost nurtures him in a way, and is really protective of him. The final showdown with Najica is interesting as it's a little inconclusive, but it does reveal exactly how Lila and Najica feel about each other, and then shows us what happened to them afterwards.

In the end Najica was a fun series, that was never really going to break any boundaries but was just out to entertain, and give a little bit of substance to the girls-with-guns and fanservice stories. One of the things I did like is that although the series is heavy on the panty shots, and those shots are sometimes completely absurd, it doesn't get in the way of the story as no one focuses on them or really talks about them. As such, if you don't really care for fanservice, you can pretty much laugh it off and ignore it without it getting in the way of the enjoyment of the show.

In Summary:
Heavy on the panty shots but with some decent stories behind it, Najica Blitz Tactics comes to an enjoyable end. While it maintained a light-hearted tone throughout, some of the individual stories broke out into something a bit deeper, such as one of the episodes here, and it continued to be entertaining throughout. The characters are all quite charming in their own ways, and there's a nice story that runs throughout the series based on Lila and her development. So while it won't change the world, Najica is a fun series to watch. For those who have previous volumes, this is mostly more of the same, but for anyone looking for a good series that will give you a few hours of enjoyment and some great action scenes, you could do much worse than to pick up the three volumes of Najica. With great presentation from ADV, you might just warm to the charm of the panties.

Features
Japanese Language (2.0),English Language (5.1),English Subtitles,Clean Opening & Closing,Production Sketches,Commentary by David Williams (ADR Director) Kira Vincent Davis (Najica) & Monica Rial (Lila),Diligent Circle of Ekoda Video

Review Equipment
Philips 28" Pure Flat Widescreen TV, Pioneer DV-464 code free DVD player, JVC gold-plated RGB SCART cable, standard stereo sound.