The story revolves around young Shuji and Chise, two high school students who have just begun dating. Sounds ordinary enough right? Well get ready for the twist.. In a time when the world seems to be at war (they don't make who is at war very clear, but for good reasons, this isn't a war story, it's a love story.) Chise has been modified by the military into their "Ultimate Weapon". What do you do when your girlfriend has become the ultimate weapon?

Saikano has the perfect balance of the heart warming, and the heart wrenching. Some moments will make you smile, and laugh. While others will make you cry. It will also make you question what it is to be "human".

That being said, Saikano probably isn't for everybody. There isn't much action. Very little actually. So action-junkies will be disappointed. But for anyone looking for a good love story filled with twists and turns, Saikano would be right up your ally.

Stunning. Absolutely stunning. A lot of attention is paid to characters facial expressions, and everything is well drawn, and very colorful. I don't really have any complaints in this department. I wouldn’t change a thing.

Both the English and Japanese voice acting is very well done. Some people may not like Chises English voice actor, as she sounds a little childish, but i thought it complimented her character very well. All the other characters, in both the English and the Japanese audio tracks, have very good voice actors.

Personally i did prefer the Japanese audio, but again, the English is very well done, so if you don't like reading subtitles, and don't understand Japanese, stick to the dub.

Music - 8/10

The music for the most part is wonderful, with a few less then memorable tunes. But the music used when Chise is on the battlefield is simply amazing. Those few songs alone make me want to buy the OST.

The opening theme is wonderful. Both the song itself and the video sequence. However, personally i feel the ending theme isn't up to par with the opening, but it's still good.

The packaging is very well done. The artwork on the covers (both the DVD and the case) is wonderful. And although the 2-disc edition of the first volume comes in a thicker case (to accomodate 2 discs) it doesn’t feel or look awkward, like some other 2-disc DVD cases I’ve seen.

DVD Content - 8/10

I love the menus Viz has done for Saikano. They make finding what your looking for very simple, and they look good to. The second disc of the 2-disc edition of the first volume has a lot of nice extras as well. There’s only one thing about the DVDs that drives me nuts. They FORCE you to watch the previews, as they start before they bring you to the menus. Pushing the menu or title button doesn't work to skip this either, although, the up button on my remote allows me to skip them. Yet, even though i can skip them, it still annoys me enough to deduct marks for it.