Join galactic police Eclair and Lumiere, along with their ship the La Muse, as they enforce the laws and edicts of the Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs in "Kiddy Grade," the latest contribution to the world of Japanese anime. This film is directed by Keiji Goto, who has also directed the anime selections "Gatekeepers I," and "Gatekeepers II."

Eclair and Lumiere are Elite Service members of the GOTT. They serve not only as diplomatic envoys, but also as galactic Interpols. Along with Donnershlag Mark I, their robot helper, and Wirbelwind, the artificial intelligence that runs their ship, they arrest criminals, maintain the peace and protect society. They fight everything from organized crime to the theft of illegal military weapons (like planet-killing graviton bombs).

The director of GOTT is named Eclipse. A former ES member herself, she oversees the teams and assigns their missions. Eclair and Lumiere are not the only ES members at the GOTT. There are several other teams, all of whom operate in groups of two. Each member of an ES team has special abilities.

Eclair has speed and strength of superhuman proportions, as well as the ability to fly. However, she does have her problems. For example, she lost her memories, and when she puts on her lipstick, she has trouble controlling her strength. Eclair is a passionate person who tends to let her emotions dictate her actions.

Lumiere is a more gentle and logical person. Her special ability is to control computer systems. She can control the entire computer system of an entire fleet if necessary. Plus, she can control a substance called nano-mist that is used to create shields, weapons, containment fields for sterile environments, and security fields for trapping an intruder in an enclosed space or blocking off sensitive or classified areas.

The other ES members have other special abilities, making each team different so no one plan will work against all of them. The other teams' powers or abilities range from molecular manipulation (when Cesario and Viola hold hands) to the Absorb ability (of Alv and Dvergr).

Alv and Dvergr can absorb any form of energy and send it right back where it came from, or save it for future use, or eliminate it all together.

Inspector Armblast rounds out the team as the Galactic Union's advisor and the guardian of Eclair and Lumiere. A teaser who likes to poke fun at his charges, he carries around a special case that holds more than it should possibly ever hold. If the outer layer of this case is damaged, another, unharmed case comes out of it. It can change size from a portable briefcase to one that needs to be rolled around on built-in wheels.

The political system in this world is vastly different than the one we are used to. The planets are run by a group called the nobles, who are considered pure humans because they are Earth-born. However, they number less than 100,000.

The rest of the population is made up of the commoners; however, when Earth made its jump into the cosmos the nobles on some of the terraformed planets had the original settlers sign documents that made them and their descendants non-citizens -- essentially, slaves.

(Terraforming is the process of changing a planet's atmosphere and other characteristics to make it suitable for human habitation. Most of the planets which are inhabited were made inhabitable through this process and need constant monitoring and stabilizing -- otherwise, they would slowly return to their original state.)

The planets are connected through a system of "warp gates" that connect all the planets and systems together, allowing for fast travel to anywhere in the warp gate system. The gates themselves are huge (think Death Star size).

The nobles consider everyone else to be beneath them and care nothing about them -- except for one. This family is headed by a man who has lived among the commoners and was brought to his noble family by Lumiere, Eclair and Armblast.

They helped him win his right to enter and take his position in the family. He later starts an initiative to bring the nobles and the commoners together.

As the series progresses, Eclair and Lumiere learn that their duties include unpleasant ones that sometimes go against their own ethics and beliefs. They have to decide if they are going to protect the system or go rogue and fight against it to protect their own beliefs, ethics and those being oppressed.

To find out what their decision is, you'll just have to watch the show. Funimation will be releasing the first DVD soon so look for "Kiddy Grade" wherever you buy DVDs.