El Hazard: The Wanderers, Volume 4: The Final Adventures

Matt Brown (Editor in Chief) — March 31st, 2002
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The final volume of The Wanderers came as a surprise, in that it's quite a bit better than the first three. The story gets back on track from the last volume and ends incredibly well. Volume 4 starts out with Makoto and the gang trying to oppose one of Jinnai's increasingly clever schemes for taking over El Hazard, and ends with everyone trying to save the world from Jinnai's latest plan, which is over even his head. We learn of Ifurita's true purpose, and we also learn the purpose of the Eye of God, and who built it. The answer to why the Eye of God was constructed in the first place is never given, but it does little to hurt the closure of the story. This volume is also a time where relationships are formed, and hearts broken.

The music for volume 4 is pretty much recycled from earlier points in the series. If it weren't good music, this would be a problem, but it's really not. Volume 4 has six episodes, thereby ending the series at half the cost of the average full-season series. Pioneer gets mad props for this bonus, sweetened further by the fact that the series takes up half as much space on the shelf.

Makoto's ever-persistant rival, and the Queen of the Bugrom. An odd alliance indeed. *sniff* That's beautiful, man!

This volume was done well technically, but not better or worse than the previous volumes. The packaging is improved though, sporting a lovely picture of Makoto and Princess Rune on the front. The cover is reversible, having an equally lovely picture of Makoto and Ifurita on the other side. The insert also contains a picture of Makoto and Rune, with Roshtaria in the background. There are two extras on the disc: a picture gallery with seven images, and a textess version of the 2nd opening sequence.

All in all, The Wanderers has beaten out the first OVA as my favorite El Hazard series. It successfully keeps the feel of the originals and steps up the quality on the music and entertainment value.

Video Quality: A
Audio Quality: A-
Presentation: A
Content: A+
Overall:A