Battle Athletes Victory Vol 8 : 3 of 5

This last volume of the series was pretty good, but not nearly as fun or inspiring as the previous parts of the story. These final episodes take the show in a totally new direction (so I'm glad they fit nicely on the last DVD!), when we learn that Earth was challenged to a sports competition by evil aliens, so they built University Satellite and the whole Cosmo Beauty competition just to build a team of the very best girl athletes! Oh, and Mister Miracle is Akari's father, but that one didn't surprise me much. Anyway, Akari gathers up all of the gals from series, so we get to see Itchan again (and see some hilarious love triangle stuff with Kris, so I got my wish!), plus Jessie and the others (but the Russian girl can't compete because she's pregnant). The aliens bring Akari's mother back to life at age 17, supposedly the best athlete ever, and finally Akari beats her (because the Earth has to be saved to make a happy ending). I really enjoyed this series - lots of different personalities, great humor, and exciting competition! At least now I can continue watching other anime I started so long ago.