Gundam SEED turns into a soap opera in the fourth volume. I wanted to say "space opera" to be kind, but we're not in space anymore, Toto. After the harrowing experience of the third volume, the producers apparently decided it's time for everyone to get randy. We can hardly blame them, for there's only so much "teen spirit" one can take before reaching dangerous levels of saturation. (In the future, they'll probably need "angst analyzers" aboard spaceships as another measure for crew health, but that's a topic for another day.) The daytime drama doesn't take up all of the screen time, though. We're given a break in the form of a character reintroduction and more wartime sadness.

The big story in this volume is Kira remembering that he's an anime youth hero and doing a magical girl transformation into the dreaded Drama Queen of the Desert (patent pending). You can only imagine the destruction as it creates a ripple effect throughout the entire crew. Soon even the captain is having crazy thoughts, but thankfully a battle saves them all -- not to mention their ratings.

The enemy du jour for this round is Andrew Waltfield, a.k.a. the "Desert Tiger." His appearance brings the character count up to...I forgot. Waltfield is widely respected within both ZAFT and the Earth Alliance forces, and poses quite the challenge for the Archangel and her crew. He also brews exotic coffee blends, and thus is instantly likeable.

Cagalli shows up to save Kira from the melodrama.	She then gets all dolled up to chew people out in style.

Almost as important is the reintroduction of Cagalli, a main character that the writers forgot about for several episodes. They decided to make her a desert commando so that she could chew Kira out for being dumb, or something. Cagalli's a good character, so bringing her back can't be a bad thing. So far her purpose appears to be as a combination calming factor and reality check for Kira, but it's not all about Kira and his "needs" though! Really. Quite a few other characters are surprised by her ardor, especially the military types.

What amazes me about this volume is that the writers managed to maintain a serious mood despite all the silly melodrama, and even more impressive is that they did it with a single scene. The scene is cute in a way, but also has a sobering effect, reminding us not only that we like these characters, but that some of them might die. This is the good stuff, the stuff you remember after the credits roll.

This is also a time of new beginnings. T.M. Revolution's "Invoke" retires as the show's opening theme, and Vivian or Kazuma's "Moment" begins its run. The disc contains a textless sequence for the new song.

Volume Four is the first chance for Gundam SEED to really reach its audience. The first three volumes were a bit too hectic for the characters and audience to sit down and think about things, but this volume moved slowly enough for both. The ZAFT soldiers we've seen so far also had a bit of screen time, the content being not related to the desert skirmishes, but nonetheless a benefit to the audience. I found the disc very enjoyable.

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