Superior Defender Gundam Force 5: Up in the Sky

Rating:
Summary: It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a cliche superhero reference
Review: After a long delay, SD Gundam Force continues it's DVD run. Has it been worth the wait?

The Gundam Force is still stuck in Lacroa. Everyone (heroes and villains) make their way to the entrance of the Dark Hole. An epic battle will be waged and the fate of the Spirit Egg will be decided.
After their return, the Gundam's face the strangest threat yet- Zakos dressed as reporters. With their 'cunning' disguises they hope to fool the Gundams into sharing their secrets. But the plan backfires and our heroes gain more than they lose.
Soon after a more serious attack occurs when Zapper, Grappler and Destroyer attack with the new Koumusai II. But a bucket of Control Horns soon sees both sides in trouble. It's up to Neotopia's newest Gundam, the flying GunEagle, to ground this aerial menace.

The big change here is the packaging- Bandai have scrapped the style of the first 4 discs and are now using the Japanese covers for the series. This volume's cover is Captain and Shute in action poses. Whilst it creates bad continuity with the previous covers, there's no denying the new ones are better.
The disc starts off by wrapping up the Lacroa mini-arc which was started on volume 4. It's been a long wait to see the cliff hanger resolved, so it's a shame that what we get is a bit of a let down. Having realised that the Spirit Egg in his posession is a fake, Lord Tallgeese returns to the Dark Hole to personally seize the real one and punishes the triplets for their trickery. Luckily for the three brothers the Gundams show up in the nick of time. After their failure last time, the three robot warriors are more prepared to tackle Tallgeese and his Griffin. The fact that they pretty much dominate the battle this time feels at odds with Tallgeese's incredible power in the previous episode and what Zero tells us about those who have a Sacred Beast under their command. At least we're told that Tallgeese will likely have survived his defeat and be out for vengance.
The next episode is a standard anime clip show, an episode designed to give the staff a break and get new viewers up to speed on what has happened so far. SD Force handles this via the Zako's hatching a hair brained scheme- disgusing themselves as a GM reporter and her camera man, hoping to get an interview with each of the Gundams to learn their secrets and weak points. Our heroes easily see through the plot but decide to have some fun. This episode is really just there to fill the episode count, with it's saving grace being the humour and an imporant event involving Zero's new Spirit Egg. The Zako Zako Hour is also finally back and is one of the funniest and informative yet, with the Zakos mourning the Koumusai (accidentaly blown up in the last disc) and explaining the concept of alternate dimensions and travelling between them.
After the touching tribute to the Koumusai, the final episode on this disc reveals that whilst the Gundams were busy in Lacroa the Dark Axis have replaced their ride with the new and deadly Koumusai II. An aerial assault on Neotopia is planned to test the new design and the Dark Axis forces are given flight packs to join in. However, a pair of Zakos carrying a bucket of Control Horns accidently drop them and the new Koumusai goes out of control. As Zapper, Grappler and Destroyer do their best to calm the crazed machine, the Gundams find themselves pretty useless as none of them are capable of true aerial combat. Captain puts in a call to base and the new team member is revealed- GunEagle, a cocky young Gundam who is designed to excel in sky-based combat. The situation worsens when Zero's new ly hatched spirit ends up trapped in one of the Koumusai II's barrels. The episode is followed by a Zako Zako Hour, in which the hosts show off their cool new jetpacks.

The show returns to a more stable and solid formula with this disc. The Lacroa mini-arc is finally completed on DVD and we get some nice comedy and action. Reccomended to fans.