Gate Keepers - The New Threat (Vol. 4)

This comedy-adventure takes some unexpected turns as it reaches its midpoint. Shun, Ruriko, and their comrades at AEGIS confront two of the three "Top Invader Executives," who are far more powerful than the lock-stepping minions they've fought previously. Genie-like Baron Akuma Hakushaku creates worlds of illusion where the members of the Keepers experience their hidden desires. Kikai Shogun merges with machinery--including the engine of the bullet train Shun is riding with his mother and younger sister. The tone shifts to mystic and artistic when Shun and Ruriko search for a missing transport carrier that's been attacked by the Invaders. In the countryside, they meet the mysterious Yukino, who speaks in formal (i.e. oblique) Japanese poetry and whose memories seem to stretch back into the distant past. Viewers can obviously expect to see more of all three characters in upcoming adventures. Rated 13 Up: Violence, mild risqué humor. --Charles Solomon