Revenge of the Space Cows!

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

Well, we have finally made it to the Great Competition! Willpower once again contains three episodes, "Sorry!," "Reason to Fight," and "From Heart, To Heart."

"Sorry!" serves as the introduction to the Great Competition story arc (the winner of which becomes the Cosmos Beauty), but that is actually pushed to the background by a great deal of character development for Anna. What we learn is that Anna is much more troubled than she lets on, and it turns out she has a mean streak in her that hasn't been seen before. We learn that she even injured her twin sister in a tennis match before reaching the University Satellite. Yes, Anna is seriously messed up in the head, and her condition isn't helped very much by the fact that she has to face Mylandha in the first round of the Great Competition. She is eliminated and suffers serious injury, but by the end of the episode Anna does reach some sense of peace with her inner conflicts.

"Reason to Fight" begins with an interesting monologue by Lharri that suggests she is having similar difficulties to the ones Ayla had earlier in the series, in that she lacks a competitive spirit. We see that Anna is still unconscious after her match with Mylandha, then we see Kris win convincingly in her first round and get chosen by Captain Miracle for personal training in the Great Competition. Akari very naturally feels betrayed by this turn of events, and barely manages to scrape by the first round. As part of Captain Miracle's training program, Kris and Akari are put under enforced separation. Kris's primary motivation has now become to avenge Anna's defeat upon Mylandha. After some more cow-related humor, we get a look at the second round of the competition and the power of Lharri's talent. Once again, Akari manages to scrape by, but given the strength shown by both Lharri and Mylandha, one can't help but wonder if Kris or Akari will be able to overcome them. However, by the end of the episode, Anna regains consciousness and Kris and Akari decide to keep fighting so that they might face each other in the final event.

"From Heart, To Heart" begins the semifinals of the Great Competition. Lharri, Mylandha, Akari, and Kris have all made it. Lharri continues to have difficulty in understanding how emotion is a factor in competition. We get a look into Captain Miracle's uncompromising training program, which continues to drive Kris towards greater heights. Akari, on the other hand, is being helped by Tanya (hilarity ensues!).  The semifinals begin with Lharri going against Akari and Kris versus Mylandha. The semis begin pretty badly for Kris and Akari, as they get behind pretty quickly. The episode ends with a little more lesbian innuendo and a promise from Kris that her and Akari will make it to the finals.

So, we finally get to the main event! There are a lot of dynamics that underlie the interactions between the characters here. The conversations in these episodes between the Headmaster and Captain Miracle are particularly interesting in this regard, because they seem to suggest there are some ulterior motives on Captain Miracle's part for training Kris. These episodes struck me as being much better balanced than those on the previous disc or two. "Sorry!" is particularly noteworthy, because I feel it does a great job at investigating the consequences of over competitiveness. I have to say that I am not surprised that Tanya was retained to keep some sense of comedy in the show, but I also have to say that it seems as if she is being tacked on to a certain extent. Still missing in action are all of the other candidates from Akari's days at the Antarctic training school. I hope that Itchan, Jessie, Ayla, and yes, even Ling-Pha make an appearance before the series is over!

I also have to take a second to comment on the dubbing. For the most part, the dubbing is quite good. However, as I mentioned in my last review, the Headmaster's casting seems a little off color to me. Also, for some reason they changed Lharri's last name. It's not that big of a deal, but I can't figure out why the decision was made to do it because there doesn't appear to be any reason for it.

Conclusion (Spoiler Free!)

Things are really starting to heat up in Disc 6 as Battle Athletes Victory moves towards its climax. These episodes contain a lot of action, but at the same time they do a good job of developing the characters further. Ultimately, I feel this lends Disc 6 a more balanced feel than some of the earlier discs in this series. Interestingly, the amount of time covered in this disc has shrunk; instead of months or weeks, only days have transpired. At any rate, this disc ends on a cliffhanger that I can't wait to see resolved in disc 7!

By Andy Rucker