The Miracle Begins Here!

(WARNING! Spoilers Ahead! Go to the Conclusion to avoid them.)

Akari and her team were getting beaten pretty badly in the last volume, but  No Turning Back tells the story of their return to glory. Just like the fourth disc, there are a total of three episodes on this volume, including "There Go the New Three!," "Light," and "Shadows."

In "There Go the New Three!," we see Miracle's plan for Akari, Kris, and Anna come together. When the three go shopping and get caught in an elevator, they not only work out the problems they have been having but find the resolve to try again. Also, during this episode we discover that Kris and Anna are motivated to compete by the example of Akari's mother.

As "Light" opens, we see Jessie's team getting beaten single-handedly by Lharri, the previous Cosmos Beauty. As a result of this match, Jessie is pretty badly shaken up both physically and mentally. When Akari visits her, the two have a discussion that deals with Jessie's background, which isn't exactly a happy one. Later in the episode, Jessie challenges Lharri to a run and looses, which convinces her to abruptly leave the competition. Yikes!

"Shadows," begins strangely, with a girl named Mylandha being brought before the Headmaster regarding some incident that led to her suspension (and apparent imprisonment!). Most of the rest of the episode, however, deals with Akari and her team successfully reaching the Pre-lim finals and defeating the other Earth team in the last game. This has the unfortunate side-effect of eliminating Tanya and her team mates (a surprising fact regarding the identify of a member of Tanya's team is also revealed, but I won't spoil it here!). "Shadows" also reveals that there is an antagonism between Lharri and Mylandha.

These three episodes conclude the  "Pre-lim" (short for preliminary, I'm assuming) story line, and sets the stage for the Great Competition to begin. In terms of characters, this episode seemingly eliminates all of the characters from the Antarctic Prep-School story arc of the first three discs. It is anyone's guess as to whether or not Itchan, Jessie, Tanya, or any of the others will ever make another appearance. Interestingly, Akari continues to have the occasional monologue in which she is seemingly dictating a letter to Itchan. This gives me hope that at least some of the earlier characters will show up again.

The two new characters introduced in this disc, Lharri and Mylandha, are truly frightening. Lharri seems to behave like an emotionless android, while Mylandha is vicious and vindictive you-know-what.  Both of them seem to be far more powerful than Akari at this point, as they demonstrate the kind of super-power athletic ability that the Headmaster did in the first disk.  I am curious to see how Akari will rise to this new challenge. We also get a very small hint that Anna may have some connection to Mylandha, so we'll have to wait and see.

In the end, these episodes weren't as focused on Akari, enabling more development of the other characters to occur.  I am especially happy to see some Jessie-related character development. Unfortunately, we never got to find out what that green plate on Jessie's forehead is for! Seriously though,  I wish that we got this kind of development for many of the other characters that were eliminated. The tidbits that we got regarding Anna and Kris's history were interesting, but I hope we get more.

This disc continues the high production values that have been seen thus far, although I think the dubbing for the Headmaster is a little under-par. I think the voice actor is a good match, but the writing and delivery don't agree with me. I can't put my finger on it exactly, but his part just sounds too forced. Fortunately, he has a relatively minor role and isn't on the screen that much. There are still no extras, save for a few stills advertising Pioneer's other releases. I have pretty much given up on seeing any extras on this release, after having 5 discs with didly-squat in this department.

Conclusion (Spoiler Free!)

Disc 5 is definitely darker in tone than disc 4 was. However, I regard these episodes as some of the best in the series so far. Not only do the three episodes on this disc do a great job at developing the characters and advancing the plotline, they also feature a number of surprising twists. On top of that, they lay the groundwork for the next arc of the story in a natural way that doesn't feel too heavy handed. With each disc, Battle Athletes Victory seems to only reel me in tighter!

By Andy Rucker