TO is an interesting set of tales consisting of Elliptical Orbit and Symbiotic Planet. The source material for TO comes from the 2001 Nights manga series (Nights 12 & 14). The first story, Elliptical Orbit, is about a space cannon which delivers supplies to the Moon Colony, that gets a couple of unexpected visitors. The first is the crew of the Flying Dutchman, a ship that travels through space from a far reaching planet that will supply the Moon Colony with liquid protons, a power source that can supply energy to the Colony for a decade. The second is a group of space pirates that sneak on board through a late arriving crate. The pirates are from the ravished Earth and plan on doing damage to the Moon Colony using the liquid protons as a weapon to get back at the powers that be for not sending supplies to Earth to help its starving inhabitants. What ensues is your usual action/adventure space fare that grabs you but ultimately does so as a curve to reveal an unexpected twist in the story. I had to watch Elliptical Orbit twice to fully grasp what happened. I would suggest that if your going to watch Elliptical Orbit you really allow yourself the serenity of a quiet place to view it so you can really see and hear everything that’s going on. That or simply watch it with the Japanese language track with English subtitles. Sometimes its easier for things to be read.

Story two in the collection is Symbiotic Planet. While the core element here seems to be a Romeo & Juliet feel there’s way more to it then just that. Ion, an American, and Alena, a Eurasian, are two scientists from two separate colonies on a strange new planet and their in love. The problem is that two separate colonies on one planet, both searching for resources and ways to terraform the planet for human-kind, well there is quite a bit of tension, what with the competitiveness of discovery. Their quickly discovered and ordered not to see each other anymore. Meanwhile a white fungus that seems to consume the planet is being analyzed by one colony, the same colony that’s holding a peace talk, the other flying in to discuss. When there is an out break and the fungus quickly begins to consume the colony, beginning with Ion, all hell breaks loose. War looms heavy on the peace talks and Ion and Alena seemed destined to be parted.

Of the two films in the series Symbiotic Planet is the stronger of the two. While Elliptical Orbit was a subtle little action/adventure that gave us a great twist in the end Symbiotic Planet is one with a far reaching story and a wider universe to explore. Still, as a series what’s truly amazing is the visual. Fumihiko Sori builds off his previous works of Appleseed and Vexille, aesthetically, and offers up characters that look and move as fluid and human like as possible (though their hair doesn’t really move). The images of space are so sharp and defined you feel like you could reach into your set and touch the stars, and the Bazooka Station in Elliptical Orbit looks epically large and real as if the entire episode was shot in space. Though TO wasn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be, pretty much thought it would be another long running series Like Appleseed only in one off movie form, it truly amazed me.

QUALITY:
Nothing more to say about the picture quality other then it is immaculate. Audio was fantastic as well in both the Japanese and English tracks offering up an immersive experience. All the little blips and beeps out outer space technology pull you into the claustrophobic world of space suits and docking bays. This is truly a complete release from Funimation.

BONUS FEATURES:
~DVD version included on 2 discs.
~(HD)Special Interview with Director Fumihiko Sori, Akio Ohtsuka and Romi Park. The two voice actors here both worked with Sori on Vexille and Sori talks more about his advanced style of animation using CGI.
~(HD)Special Interview with Director Fumihiko Sori, Jun Fukuyama and Aya Hirano.
~Separate trailers for both Elliptical Orbit and Symbiotic Planet.
~Promo Video’s for both Rental & Sale versions.
~TV Spots
~Teaser