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Followup to the previous review in EX 4.3:

BATTLE ATHLETES VICTORY definitely earns the "most-surprising" anime series I have seen all year. After watching (and reviewing) the original OVA series, I was originally expecting this to be more of the same. Instead, I found that BATTLE ATHLETES VICTORY took everything from the OVAs, and made it 10 times better.
This volume continues the saga on the space satellite, as the Daiundokai (or Great Competition) gets underway. Similar to the OVA series, the Akari, Chris and Anna have qualified for the big event. However, everything else has changed in one way or another. Anna has been hiding a terrible secret (that will even surprise even OVA veterans) which dominates much of the three episodes of this volume. Akari still struggles to explain that nothing is going on between Chris and herself (much to the shock of everyone during the big tournament). The competition with Lahrri and the beast-like Mylandah reaches a new level, and puts to major doubt how Akari and Chris can actually win. And characters like Mr. Miracle do a great job in adding variety, plot and humor to the series.
I have very little to complain about for this volume. Along with the seriousness of the competition and Anna's scary secret, the humor is still strong and I have to admit I got a great kick from seeing the Chris's cow attempting to communicate with Akari (with subtitles!). The character development in this series is great on all counts, and the longer timeline definitely helps describe Akari's slow transformation from bumbling goof to eventual athletic superstar.
The DVD quality is of standard high Pioneer levels. To nit-pick, the menus are surprisingly slow to access and navigate on my Panasonic A110 player, and I admit I would have preferred Pioneer to not cut the openings and endings from between the episodes (it currently plays the opening, all three episodes, then the ending credits). However, overall I was definitely satisfied by the DVD.
Doing some quick research into director Akiyama Katsuhito's works, I found some of his past works to include BUBBLEGUM CRISIS (the original) and the PRETTY SAMMY TV series. I think his years of experience, along with the entire team, have done a commendable job in making BATTLE ATHLETES VICTORY one of my favorite anime series released in North America this year.

Volume 6 (of 8)
Released in N. America by Pioneer Entertainment (USA) L.P.
VHS | DVD, 65 minutes
DVD: PIDA-7146V $29.98
VHS Dubbed: PIVA-7146D $24.98
VHS Subtitled: PIVA-7146S $29.98
Available now in the USA
Where to buy