Well, it has been a short and rather bumpy ride, my friends; but finally we reach the end of the journey: "Steel Angel Kurumi" vol. 4. Actually in all honesty, there is a fifth volume that serves as a wrap-up, to be touched on in a future review, but this is the end of the main series and will be treated as such. In brief, the conclusion proved to have some decent ideas and warmth to it, but was severely weighted down by clichéd writing and poor characterization. Read on.

The entirety of this volume takes place on and around the floating academy, and thus we spend a lot of time with characters standing around worrying and wondering how they can help. This wears thin fairly quickly, as none of the individuals here have enough interesting characterization to make me care for them and worry if anything will happen. Also, much of the "drama" is built around the viewer's fondness for Kurumi and the Kurumi/Nakahito relationship, both of which I have always found to be more annoying than endearing. However, Kurumi is thankfully mute most of these last episodes, which did allow me to forget about her exasperating personality some of the time.

Luckily, the rest of the cast fares a bit bitter than normal. Saki and Karinka steal the show in the last few episodes, though I can't help but feel that their selfless act at the end was not consistent with their usually self-centered behaviors. However, even at that they provided the most touching scene in the show, and I was happy with that direction of the plot. In contrast, Dr. Amagi (who has consistently been my favorite character of the series) was pretty much shelved for this volume, only allowed to weep for her "one true love" during the few times she opens her mouth. By the way, that brings me to the biggest downer of the show: too much of the drama pushes the envelope of suspension of disbelief. A large part of the plot relies on the viewer to believe Nakahito truly loves Kurumi, while all I've ever seen is him attempting to put up with her and protect her out of care and compassion, not love. Likewise, We've always been told Dr. Amagi loves Dr. Aynokoji, but we've never actually SEEN it.

As you might expect from such a derivative series as "Kurumi," the clichés and stereotypes are back in full force for the finale. All the old favorites are here, from the-big-baddie-who-is-actually-a-good-person-so-you-can't-kill-it, to the unbeatable power of "luuuv." Every now and then it raises some questions about ethics and the definition of humanity, but none of these are new or thoroughly explored. Actually, the one thing that ever took me by surprise was the short length of Claudia Black's role, which was much hyped in the first volume.

On the technical side of things, the show still looks and sounds good, as they have done away with the chibi technique all together during these more serious episodes, and have favored the normal style, which I find to be typical of modern anime shows, though a little glossy. The extras on the disk are the same as always, with plenty of variety and some stuff usually not seen on an anime disk. The cast interviews are back, with interviews of the American voice actresses behind Karinka and Mikhail, the two characters not yet introduced in the first volume. There's also an amusing tidbit tacked on the end with Claudia Black recording a few of her lines, but mostly any enjoyment from that one is wiped out by the incredibly annoying producer.

I often find upon rereading my reviews that I come off much more negative than I actually was at the time, especially with "Steel Angel Kurumi." While the show has its many faults, there's also a good bit to like here and it serves up lowbrow humor and cute characters effortlessly. It's a junk food show, and not a great one at that, but still has its moments and should be rewarded as thus. And besides, some of the characters, like Saki and Karinka, have managed to come through and consistently entertain, which is more than can be said about many other players in anime far superior to this. At the end, I had a bit of fun with the show, and that's all that needs to be said. Oh, and will SOMEBODY get Nakahito some pants?

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