Betterman, Vol. 2: Metamorphosis

This 1999 supernatural mecha series plays like an addled mixture of Evangelion, Generator Gawl, and an early Gundam adventure. Keita, Hinoki, Sakura, and the gang continue fighting the creature known as Algernon--sort of. Characters and monsters arrive and depart arbitrarily: near the end of "Aqua," a giant polyp causes a large chunk of the sea floor to rise to the surface; nurses with lengthy talons attack Keita in "Poison," and there's a weird subplot involving living humans in fluid-filled capsules that appear and disappear. Fortunately, the title character shows up just in time to metamorphose into various bizarre forms and fight off the monsters. When he can't make it, Chandy, a mysterious girl with a lizard-familiar that turns into a suit of armor, picks up the slack. It must make sense to somebody. Rated 13 Up: Violence, risqué humor, brief nudity, ethnic stereotypes. --Charles Solomon