I Have Seen the Light!

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

The last volume ended on a cliffhanger, and The Last Dance does not disappoint as a conclusion. The three episodes included on this disc are "Friend," "Save the Last Dance For Me," and "Farwell and Introduction."

"Friend" begins with a quick glance into Lharri's past, but quickly picks up where volume 6 left off, with the second set of the semifinals. Kris and Akari get off to a rough start but quickly make some sort of mental connection that allows them to overcome Mylandha and Lharri. The animation almost seems to suggest the two have a direct telepathic connection, but I wonder if that is just the director's way of demonstrating that Kris and Akari are of the same mind and that the two share a deep emotional relationship. The episode ends with some more exposition on both Mylandha and Lharri's characters, and we really get the sense that they share a relationship that is very similar to Kris and Akari's.

"Save the Last Dance For Me" presents us with Kris and Akari preparing for the final event, a 100 meter dash. Unfortunately, the competition gets delayed by one day by a mysterious shockwave that arrives from outer space and does serious damage to the University Satellite. This causes a great amount of consternation for Kris, who was supposed to return to the Moon to start her life as a priestess the day after the Finals. The delay of one day interferes with those plans, and if Kris stays her people will not allow her to become a priestess. Ultimately, she decides to run with Akari rather than follow her chosen career.

"Farwell and Introduction" contains the actual final race. Of course, Akari wins and she and Kris share a very heartwarming moment. The most surprising twist of this episode is that Mister Miracle was, in fact, training Kris in order to spur Akari on. Mr. Miracle also uses the term "Genius" for the first time to describe Akari as someone with incredible raw athletic talent. Apparently, there is indeed some sort of class of  "super athlete."  Following the race, there is a tear-filled separation as Kris returns to the moon and Akari begins her career as the Cosmos Beauty. This episode ends in an odd fashion. Akari returns home to visit her grave, but finds a strange man there. The two are engulfed in an explosion as a flying saucer hovers ominously overhead.

These three episodes are the most emotion-filled in the series thus far. A great amount of loose ends are tied up as well, since we finally get a good understanding of Kris, Lharri, and Mylandha's back stories. Also, Mr. Miracle remains true to form as a highly manipulative puppeteer pulling the strings to direct events towards some unknown conclusion. In many ways, I feel the series could end here and do alright. However, the final scene and the large amount of hints dropped by the Headmaster and Mr. Miracle throughout the series point that there is still some larger purpose to the entire Cosmos Beauty competition. That giant shockwave that hit the university satellite is a big clue as well. There are four more episodes left, and as I see it a few big questions remain. Who exactly are the Headmaster and Mr. Miracle? Who was that strange man at Tomoe's grave? Why does the Great Competition exist in the first place? And what does that flying saucer have to do with anything?

One final note is that the dub for "Friends" was a little disappointing because the meaning of the first scene of the episode was radically altered in the English dialogue. The scene is supposed to be happening in Lharri's past, but the dubbers (for reasons which escape me) decided to depict this scene as taking place during the current Great Competition. This is a minor quibble, but I found it annoying becasue it made Mylandha's reaction in the same scene make no sense.

Conclusion (Spoiler Free!)

This is the most emotionally charged volume of Battle Athletes Victory yet! Kris and Akari clearly come to share something special by the end of the Great Competition. The series could have ended with this volume, since most of the major conflicts have been resolved by these three episodes, and in many ways the series has come full circle. However, there are still a few loose ends that seem to get blown wide open in the last scene of the last episode. Volume 8 has a lot of explaining to do!

By Andy Rucker