Story
Faced once again against the Onawaban group, Megumi must now choose between her life and the lives of everyone at the Kamiya Kasshin Dojo when Kanryu threatens to burn down the dojo if Megumi does not agree to make more opium. Returning to Edo Castle, Megumi attempts to kill Kanryu and then take her own life. Stopped by Hannya, Megumi is thrown into the third floor observatory where she is given the choice of death at her own hands or the suffering of life. 

Meanwhile, Kenshin and the others have learned of Kanryu's plans for Megumi and have vowed to protect and save her. Breaking through the first defense of the Edo Castle, Kenshin must now battle Hannya and the Commander of the Oniwaban Group of Edo Castle, Aoshi.

The final episode on this disc focuses more on Yahiko as he must defend a girl named Tsubame from a vicious gang forcing her to help their robbery attempts by forging keys. Learning the true meaning and responibilities that come from protecting someone, Yahiko must have his first battle with an opponent wielding a real sword. 

Packaging
The front cover contains a silhouette of Aoshi's face and upper body with a full body color image of Kenshin preparing to draw his sword. The background is again an arrangment of flowers, this time with a blue scene. The back cover is the same layout as the preceding DVDs have been. The top begins with a daizenshyu quality image of Kenshin, Aoshi, and Sanosuke followed by three screen captures from the episodes. Beside these are episode titles and summaries, then finally production notes. This back cover ends with a "special features" image and various information pertaining to the DVD.

The extra contained within the DVD casing is a chapter list which also has screen captures; totaling four. The back of this slip contains the covers, names, Cat#s, and prices to other anime available from Anime works. 

Menu
The exact same menu images once again appear on this disc. However, the problems that we were forced to deal with in volume 2 have been fixed; the music and simple navigation have returned. 

English
The dialogue retains the same meaning as in the Japanese version, however the dialogue is changed to fit with the mouth movements. All of the voices were done well, and as much as I hate to admit it, there were some scenes where I actually preferred the English version over the Japanese version (INFIDEL! STONE HIM!) 

The VA that was cast for the character Megumi is solid and fits with the physical design of the character. She has a deeper voice than the average female but still retains the femininity of a girl. This is mainly due to her dark past and the crimes she has committed and feels she can never repent for. I did have a problem with the voice chosen for Hannya. The actor sounded too normal, not retaining the mystic aura as shown in the Japanese version. 

The Voice Actor chosen for Aoshi however was chosen to relate back to the voice actor of the Japanese version. The voice is distant and dark, making the character seem evil yet mysterious enough to hide his true intentions. They did however change the title for Aoshi from "Commander" to "Leader". Nothing major nor something that changes the impact of the character. 

Japanese
The subtitles are a white color with a thin black border, making the words very easy to read. 

The voices and the dialogue once again outweigh how the story was handled in the English version, however, some scenes were actually done better in the English version as I stated before. One such scene was the beginning of Kenshin's battle with Aoshi. The fight seemed more realistic in the English version than compared to the Japanese version.

Extras
Five extras accompany the content of this disc. The first is again "Liner Notes" which is always informative and something that many Anime DVDs need to contain. This is followed by an "Art Gallery" containing four daizenshyu quality images and "Contest Rules" for a contest that has now ended. The contest was a fan art type contest to get your work into the fourth volume and get a free copy of volume 4. The "trailers" (Extra number 4) are once again a disappointment as we are given Magic Knight Rayearth's trailer yet again followed by trailers for pathetically annoying anime such as Virtua Fighter, Ninku, and Gestalt. I say "pathetically annoying" because of how the trailers are done, not by how the anime may actually be. I have yet to see them so I cannot base a true opinion just yet. The final extra on this DVD is the "Original Japanese Credits" which is simply the ending theme with only the Japanese credits contained.

Final Thoughts
This was the first Anime DVD that I came to own and see. At first, I didn't think the episodes were that great. However, now that I have seen the previous two DVDs and some episodes after the ones contained on this DVD, I have come to understand and respect how the episodes were created. The research and creativity that has gone into the varying fighting and sword styles still leaves me dumbfounded at the quality. Anyone who is a fan of sword fighting or fighting styles in general will love this DVD. For those who aren't and just like action, this DVD contains that as well. Don't like action or fighting, well, this DVD contains some intense emotional and poetic scenes that make this DVD worth the money. Later minna!

© Eric.