Kurau Phantom Memory: Between Two Worlds, Vol. 1

Living on the colonized Moon, Kurau spends her 12th birthday in the lab with her widowed scientist father, where an energy experiment gone awry sends twin bolts of light into Kurau as she's taken over by a binary alien life form called Rynax. The Rynax in Kurau is not like the malevolent chest-busters from Alien, but rather a sympathetic childlike presence struggling to please Kurau's father, a man who initially works with other agencies to try to understand the Rynax's superhuman abilities (which include flying and passing through solid objects) in order to bring back the “real” Kurau, but ultimately sends his blended daughter into hiding. Flash forward a decade: Kurau is a freelancer working for an agency involved in various types of dangerous dirty work, ranging from recovering stolen artifacts to preventing an outer space disaster involving a haywire cargo ship. Kurau, called a “danger junkie” by her colleagues, is a perennially lonely figure, still waiting for her Rynax “twin” to emerge. When the twin is finally “born” as a ball of light that resolves into the fully-formed figure of a young girl (whom Kurau names Christmas), elite mercenary agent Kurau suddenly finds herself backing off from the more deadly jobs so that she can care for her “sister.” Unfortunately, various governmental and private agencies that are tracking “Ryna sapiens” are on Kurau's trail, sending the siblings into flight in the first four episodes of this intriguingly offbeat series mixing elements of sci-fi, action, and introspective character study. Presented on a dual-language disc, rated TV-14, DVD extras include a promotional video, glossary, production artwork, and a booklet with filmmaker interviews. Recommended. [Note: Kurau Phantom Memory, Vol. 2 is slated for release on June 12.] Aud: P. (R. Pitman)