Anime — Allison & Lillia

On a world that is not our Earth, two nations that share a continent have long been at odds, glaring across the separating river, and often breaking out into war. In a period akin to the inter-war years of Europe, these two nations have fallen into an uneasy armistice. Two young people, Wil and Allison, learn from an old man of a secret treasure that could end this seemingly eternal war.

That is a set-up that could last a whole series -- but that's just the first 4 episodes; and in the peace that follows there is skullduggery afoot seeking to reignite the flames of conflict. That provides for a series of escapades, including the involvement of our heroes with the royal family of the tiny statelet of Ixtova; then at the half-way mark, the torch passes to the next generation, Lillia, daughter of the original pair, and Trieze, incognito prince of Ixtova.

It's rather Tintin-esque in flavour; with firearms proving a threat but (except in one case of an old chap needing to exit the stage for plot reasons) never doing any harm. And there are magnificent old style train and aeroplanes.

There is a continual motif of the couples never realising each others' feelings, which one has come to expect from anime, but that never really gets in the way of a good Boys' Own style of adventure. The real weak point is the ending, which is, if you pardon the pun, a bit of a trainwreck -- the last episode is very poorly paced, and uneven in style.

Still, not bad in all -- the journey was fun, if a bit delayed.