Final volume? Indeed it is!

As I’ve no doubt previously mentioned, this volume has foregone the previous volumes omake featurettes, and instead the extras section has hidden in it a special version of Episode 26, featuring around an additional two minutes of actual animated footage between the ending credits and the “The End” card shown at the end of the show.

I can’t imagine anyone else has enough interest to talk about the show at this point, let alone bothering to watch the epilogue version of 26, so I guess I’ll give a quick overview.

Mondenkind, stripped of all their neat-o iDOL-y stuff, now have a space program. Probably not rocket-porn-y enough for Author.

Inside, there’s a press conference going on…

…where the pilots are revealed as being Iori and Makoto. Makoto is still wearing Azusas moon necklace, by the way.

One of the attendees reveals that, thanks to her cute forehead, the odeko-chan nickname has spread into use among the general public. Iori, unsurprisingly, isn’t best pleased (“Wait! What kind of jerk is saying that? I may be cute but…”)

The comp̬re interjects in order to introduce their boss РHibiki Saku! Booo! Gotta love Iori and Makotos intense look of disinterest here. It cuts away part way through Sakus explanation of what the whole project is about, so I have no idea what this rocket is supposed to be achieving.

Meanwhile, the old mechanic crew, no longer working for Mondenkind, are watching the press conference on TV.

They’re all working for Chikako now (or, at least, all the uniforms and the sign outside reads “Minamoto”, and she has to remind Hotaru that she’s the boss now). None of them really say anything more interesting sounding than “They look the same as always”.

This is outside the same building, so presumably Naze is working for Chikako as well. Sorewa is leaving, moving on to her next project (because she’s a genius and all that). Naze asks her what on Earth has happened to Naraba…

Apparently he’s went off to sea, and gone insane. Ho-hum.

Ami and Mami continuing on with the whole idol (of the singing and dancing variety) thing.

Yukiho, dressed rather smartly, is laying flowers on top of the hilltop gravestone we’ve been seeing since the first episode.

Joseph appears behind her. Yukiho instinctively refers to him as chief, but he clarifys that he’s merely a old coffee-shop guy these days. At this point it just cuts back to Haruka leaving her apartment, as at the end of the broadcast version of the episode.

That’s the lot, both for this disk and the series. It’s been a fun ride – it’s a much better show than most give it credit for, marred more by a sense of over familiarity than it has any real problems with the actual show. That, and the fact that the game connection caused a lot of people just to dismiss it off-hand. I had a lot of fun with it, anyway, particularly with all the waiting for Yukiho to come out, as it were, with all the references to not being Erstin that it entailed. Ah, it was such an easy to show make jokes out of…

Anyway, the material extras for this volume included that artbox pictured up at the top of the post. It’s a nice looking box, but I have to admit being a little disappointed that they’ve just used the same three images they’ve been using for the show since the place holder website went up many, many moons ago.

The other extra is a little neater – it’s a little folder with nine postcard sized illustration cards. The art on the cards is actually from the exclusive versions of the Xenoglossia DVDs sold via Bandais dot-anime online store, which used variant covers featuring the same characters and poses but with the girls in swimwear. I have to wonder if the dot-anime exclusive version of this last volume comes with cards of the regular DVD art, as if they don’t then I’d imagine those who invested in those releases (no doubt at a greater expense to the regular editions) will be feeling pretty gypped right now.

Well, that’s it. I’ve pretty much ran out of things to say about the show at this point. Thankfully the existence of Cluster Edge and SEED Destiny prevents Xenoglossia from being the most maligned Sunrise show of recent years, but there probably isn’t much in it.