Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~ Set 1 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

An enjoyable mecha anime series with a fine balance of action, humor and drama.  “Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~” is a story about three teenager girls who must conquer their fears and protect the city of Kamogawa and its citizens with their mecha vox robots against aliens who have come to attack Earth.  For fans of mecha anime or for anime fans looking for something not too deep or dark, definitely give “Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~Set 1″ a chance.  Recommended!

Image courtesy of © Lagrange Project. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~ Set 1 (輪廻のラグランジェ)

YEAR: 2012

DURATION: Episodes 1-12 Minutes (275 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16×9), English and Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Viz Media

RATED: TV-MA

Release Date: June 11, 2013

Chief Director: Tatsuo Sato

Director: Toshimasa Suzuki

Series Composition by Shotaro Suga

Original Character Design by Haruyuki Morisawa

Character Design by Chizuru Kobayashi, Takushige Norita

Art Setting: Michie Watanabe

Music by Saeko Suzuki, TOMISIRO

Anime Production: Xebec, Production I.G.

Featuring the following voice talent:

Kaori Ishihara/Kira Buckland as Madoka Kyono

Ai Kayano/Karen Strassman as Muginami

Asami Seto/Sophie Roberts as Lan

Ayumi Fujimura/Erika Harlacher as Ayane Iwa/Haruka Uehara

Azumi Asakura/Midge Mayes as Machiko Iwabuchi

Hiroyuki Yoshino/Ben Diskin as Izo

Hisako Kanemoto/Saki Shin as Asteria Lizamarie De Roschefall

Iori Nomizu/Erika Harlacher as Shōko Igarashi

Kazuyuki Okitsu/Vic Mignogna as Moid

Kenji Hamada/Bubba Chow as Hiroshi Nakaizumi

Kenji Nojima/Johnny Yong Bosch as Kirius

Makoto Yasumura/Patrick Seitz as Shōzō Tadokoro

Mamiko Noto/Wendee Lee as Yōko Nakaizumi

Megumi Nakajima/Cristina Vee as Grania

Rie Tanaka/Laura Post as Eri Watabe

Madoka Kyono is an energetic girl who is full of passion. As the proud, and only, member of the Kamogawa Girls’ High School Jersey Club, she goes around helping people in need. But Madoka’s life is turned upside down when she is suddenly asked by a mysterious girl named Lan to pilot a robot. Motivated by her desire to protect the people and city of Kamogawa, Madoka agrees to pilot the resurrected Vox robot to fight against extraterrestrials that have come to attack Earth.

In the summer of 2012, Xebec and Production I.G. joined forces in releasing the mecha anime series “Lagrange  ~The Flower of Rin-ne~”.

With an ongoing manga serialized in Square Enix’s “Young Gangan” magazine in 2011, a total of 25 episodes were released on television and an OVA was released with a PS3 video game.  And now “Lagrange  ~The Flower of Rin-ne~” will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in the U.S. courtesy of Viz Media.

The Chief Director on “Lagrange  ~The Flower of Rin-ne~” is Tatsuo Sato (“Shigofumi – Letters from the Departed”, “Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars”, “Tokyo Tribe 2″), the series is directed by Toshimasa Suzuki (“Hidamari Sketch x Hoshimittsu”, “Dance in the Vampire Bund”, “Polyphonica Crimson S”), music by Saeko Suzuki (“Brave King GaoGaiGar Final”, “Vampire Princess Miyu”) and TOMISIRO, character designs by Chizuru Kobayashi (“Pandora Hearts”), Takushige Norita (“Broken Blade”) and art direction by Michie Watanabe (“Wolf’s Rain”, “Fullmetal Alchemist”, “House of Five Leaves”).

“Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~ Set 1″ covers the first season and is a series that revolves around a teenager named Madoka Kyouno.  The sole member of the Jersey Club, she is a teenager that loves to help people. May it be saving people like a lifeguard at the beach, to helping other clubs in school.  But if anything, she feels it’s her duty to help those in need in her hometown of Kamogawa.  And she also has the habit of saying “perfect” while drawing a circle in the air.  She’s also a very good athlete and tries to excel in sports.

One day after saving a child from drowning (before heading out to school), while saving the boy, someone had taken her clothes.  So, Madoka ends up wearing her gym clothes to school.  By the time she gets out, she is approached by a unusual girl named Lan, who has the habit of saying “Woof” (she was told that was a human greeting for “hello”).

Lan approaches Madoka and asks her to follow her to an offshore base and asks her if she can pilot the robot aircraft known as a Vox (Ovid).

Immediately when she touches the space craft, she experiences a flashback being submerged in water but is not sure why.   Not long after, an enemy from outer space is seen piloting an Ovid attacks a base in Kamogawa and wanting to protect her city, Madoka goes after it with her Ovid.  And using her skills she learned through athletics, she surprises the enemy using a wrestling move and defeating him.

Shocked by what has occurred, Lan reveals to Madoka that she is an alien that was sent to Earth to protect Madoka and the Ovid, both which are linked together.  She introduces Madoka to the military and learns that the planet needs her help in defeating the enemy because the De Metrio are planning to destroy the planet and a group known as KISS is starting to cause problems with their Vox.  So, Madoka is the planet’s only hope!

Not knowing if she has what it takes to protect the planet, she believes as a Jersey Club member, she must fulfill her obligations to protecting Kamogawa from KISS.

Meanwhile, along the way, Madoka becomes good friends with Vox pilots Lan and Muginami who become new members of the Jersey Club.

Can these three working together, protect the city of Kamogawa and its citizens?

Find out in “Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~ Set 1″!

The main characters of “Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~” are:

• Madoka Kyouno – The sole member of the Jersey Club who pilots a Vox.  She is the planet’s only hope and she is always want to protect the city, her friends and the people of the city.   She pilots a Vox which she has named as Midori and has recruited Lan and Muginami as members of the Jersey Club.
• Lan – An alien who was unable to utilize her Vox, because of knowledge of an unknown fate that happens to Vox pilots.  But since she met Madoka, she overcomes her fear and learns to control her Vox which she names Orca.  Lan attends the same school as Madoka, keeping her identity of a space alien, secret to her classmates.  She is often jealous of Muginami.  Lan also holds a secret of her true identity.
• Muginami – A well-endowed, slow-witted person who acts naive.  Her brother is Villagiullio of De Metrio, but after trying to infiltrate the Pharos Base to steal a Vox (which she named Hupo), she is abandoned by her brother and left alone.  But feeling bad for her, Madoka takes her in as a friend and member of the Jersey Club.
• Youko Nakaziumi – Madoka’s cousin and a researcher on underwater archaeology.  She knows a little about Madoka’s past (which Madoka doesn’t remember) and tries to prevent Madoka from getting in contact with a Vox but eventually allows her to pilot the Vox under one condition, she lives her daily life normally.  She is a former Jersey Club member and is the one who inspired Madoka to be a protector.
• Hiroshi Nakaziumi – Madoka’s uncle and Yokou’s father who owns a restaurant.
• Machiko Iwabuchi – A teacher at Madoka’s high school and a former member of the Jersey Club and also a friend of Madoka’s mother and Youko.
• Shozo Tadokoro – The Commander of the Pharos base.
• Asteria Lizamarie De Roschefall – The granddaughter of the chairman of Nomundus and is responsible for making the orders for Pharos.  She often dress in Lolita fashion and carries a secret.
• Villagulio – The disowned prince of De Metrio who forms a rebellious organization known as “KISS”, and comes to Earth to investigate.
• Kirius – A pilot for Kiss and is the eldest member of the three pilots working with Villagulio.
• Izo – A pilot for Kiss and a hot tempered individual.
• Array – A pilot for Kiss and is the youngest of the three.  He often wears maid outfits.

VIDEO:

“Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~ Set 1″ is presented in 1080p High Definition that combines beautiful backgrounds, wonderful mechanical designs and a colorful series that looks beautiful on Blu-ray.  While character designs are well-done, I’m really impressed by the architectural and also mecha design for this series.  Featuring CG and beautifully painted artwork, I was impressed by the style, look and feel of the entire series.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~ Set 1″ is presented in Japanese and English DTS-HD MA 2.0.  Both are well-acted and will entertain anime viewers with either language.  If there was one thing that I wished the series had was a better lossless and immersive soundtrack.  For a series with a lot of action, it would have been great to hear a 5.1 or 7.1 soundtrack.  But the fact is that a lot of Japanese animation is made in 2.0 and Viz Media tends to not stray from that.

It’s important to note that you can not change audio or subtitles with the usual button, you need to go into the menu and select English audio or Japanese audio with English subtitles.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~ Set 1″ comes with the following special features:

• Production Art – Cycle through various production art using your remote.
  
• Clean Opening and Ending
• Kamogawa Drama - (15:13) A collection of short “Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~” animated clips about three minutes each.  Some feature the characters in super-deformed chibi format.  Stories examples include Madoka and friends treasure hunting in a pool, a video game competition amongst the KISS members and more.  In Japanese audio with English subtitles only.

Watching “Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~”, there have been quite a few anime about the girl who pilots a mecha from “Gunbuster”, “Gravion”, “Super Robot War”, “Macross”, “Evangelion”, the concept is nothing new.  But it’s how you keep the anime series fresh and different from the other titles, that make it much more interesting and exciting.

What “Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~” does quite well is having a protagonist that has is not too weepy, not too weak, not too whiny and if anything, a high school student that is a bit unsure but is determined to protect others.

From her bubbly personality, Madoka wins you over with her naivety but also her determination and her “Perfect” hand gesture.  There is none of the overdone self-doubting or underdog nature that we typically see in a mecha anime series, this is a series about a teen who has made up her mind that her life is defending her friends, her city and doing it to the best of her ability.

Throw in other characters such as Lan, the girl from outerspace that is trying to understand her emotions and finds herself joining the Madoka bandwagon and confronting her own fears.  While Muginami is your bubbly personality, well-endowed character who actually has more of a difficult pass and also a more difficult situation because her brother, that she has always looked up to, is the enemy.

Put these three teenagers together and the result is a mix between a teenage high school anime series drama and an action-packed mecha battle session.  There is no worry of perverted guys, this is not a harem anime series nor is it an anime series that tries to copy other titles.  It’s enjoyable, fascinating and quite an uplifting anime series.

The first season tends to deal with character introductions.  We get to learn more about what made Madoka so brave and the fears she faced in her past after losing her mother, we learn about Lan’s fears and how Moid doesn’t expect much out of her as a Vox pilot.  We also introduced about Muginami and her past and how she is loyal to her brother and how painful it is for her now to fight against him.

While rated TV Mature, that is because the opening episodes tried to incorporate a few fan service with brief nudity and panty shots.  In many ways, I’m glad that this series didn’t turn out to be another “Gravion” of even another “Strike Witches”, if anything, it’s about three friends trying to defend the city of Kamogawa from alien enemy attack.

And a storyline with fascinating twists that will surely setup an exciting second season.

As for the Blu-ray released, Production I.G. titles tend to look beautiful when it comes to detail and art backgrounds and while a Xebec produced anime series, it’s the use of characters, the added detail and mecha design that makes “Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~” so gorgeous on Blu-ray considering it is a TV series.

While I wish the lossless soundtrack was much more immersive, considering the amount of mecha action, the fact is a lot of anime series are 2.0 and it’s up to the company if they choose to added an immersive soundtrack for the Blu-ray release.  But Viz Media has typically kept things to its original presentation and so both Japanese and English soundtracks are DTS-HD MA 2.0.  Both are well-acted, but I just wished it was a title that would have featured immersive lossless audio and given a 5.1 or 7.2 treatment.

Overall, “Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~” has turned out to be an awesome, exciting mecha series that is a lot of fun and features very cool characters.

While the series may not be as deep as other mecha series, it does try to keep a good balance of humor, drama and action and so far it’s working!

If you are looking for an upbeat mecha anime series on Blu-ray, definitely give “Lagrange ~The Flower of Rin-ne~” a chance!  Recommended!

 

Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

Funny, perverse and just all out crazy!  “Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2″ is an anime series for fans who love harem anime (and a lot of boobage and panty shots) with a sci-fi element and a high dose of raunchiness.  If you want to spice up your anime Blu-ray collection, this anime series is for you!

Image courtesy of © 2013 FUNimation. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2

YEAR: 2010

DURATION: Episodes 1-12 Minutes (300 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16×9), English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV-MA

Release Date: June 25, 2013

Originally created by Suu Minazuki

Directed by Hisashi Saito

Series Composition by Yuuko Kakihara

Character Design by Yoshihiro Watanabe

Art Setting: Hiromasa Ogura, Hiroshi Gouroku

Anime Production: AIC A.S.T.A.

Featuring the following voice talent:

Saori Hayami/Brittney Karbowski as Ikaros

Souichiro Hoshi/Greg Ayres as Tomoki Sakurai

Ayahi Takagaki/Jamie Marchi as Mikako Satsukitane

Iori Nomizu/Kara Edwards as Nymph

Mina/Trina Nishimura as Sohara Mitsuki

Tatsuhisa Suzuki/Eric Vale as Eishirō Sugata

Kaori Fukuhara/Carli Mosier as Astrea

Aki Toyosaki as Chaos

Asuka Ogame as Daidalos

Shinichiro Miki/Christopher R. Sabat  as Master of the Sky (Zero)

Tomoki’s life was normal until a wish-granting angelic android named Ikaros fell from the sky and started calling him master. Things got even crazier when Ikaros’s fellow android, Nymph, came fluttering down to join the fun. With the winged vixens adjusting to life on Earth, you’d think Tomoki’s dream of a peaceful existence might finally be coming true – but you’d be wrong!

With his teenage impulses and dirty mind, Tomoki’s wishes are causing more chaos than ever before. Plus, there’s a curvy new android on the scene: Astraea. She definitely looks as angelic as Ikaros and Nymph, but there’s a chance this beautiful blonde newcomer is up to no good!

In 2007, mangaka Suu Minazuki created the manga series “Sora no Otoshimono” (Heaven’s Lost Property) which was published in the manga magazine “Shonen Ace” and is still ongoing in Japan.

With the popularity of the manga series, an anime adaptation by AIC was produced and aired on television on Oct. through Dec. 2009, with a second season that continued in Winter 2010 and a film that was released in June 2011.

With the US release of “Sora no Otoshimono” in 2011, the sequel “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property Forte – Season 2″ was released on DVD in 2012, while other series and film were released on Blu-ray.  So, FUNimation decided to release the second season of “Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2″ on Blu-ray!

Directing the anime series is Hisashi Saito (“Bamboo Blade”, “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai”), screenplay by Yuuko Kakihara (“Fairy Musketeers”, “Kage Kara Mamoru!, “Persona 4: The Animation”), character design by Yoshiro Watanabe (“Bamboo Blade”, “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai”, “Onegai Teacher!”) and art setting by Hiromasa Ogura (“Jin-Roh – The Wolf Brigade”, “Ashita no Joe 2″, “Spirited Away”) and Hiroshi Gouroku.

For those not familiar with “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property”, the series is a perverted mature-themed anime series along the lines of “Sekirei: Pure Engagement”, “Rosario+Vampire”, “B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time” featuring a lot of perverse humor, fan service and sexual themes.

What “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property” is about

“Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property” focuses on a young high school teenager named Tomoki Sakurai, a perverted young man (who was influenced by his equally perverted grandfather) who has panties and sexual things that are constantly on his mind.  And if there is one girl he occasionally likes to check out, it’s his neighbor and childhood friend Sohara Mitsuki.  Who is aware of Tomoki’s perverseness and is unafraid to give him her special karate shop and knock some sense into him.

Despite how she tends to dislike his perverseness and constantly beats him up, she knows deep inside that she is in love with him. Sohara is also aware that for some reason, Tomoki has had some unusual dreams involving an angel which tends to awaken him like a nightmare since he was young.

Meanwhile, with the start of a new school year… Tomoki meets Eishiro Sugata, a scientist who is trying to discover a “New World” and his friend Mikako Satsukitane, a buxom sadist who has a mafia background and is also the Student Body President.

One day, while Tomoki was outside, he sees something in the sky, a UMA (Unidentified Mysterious Animal) and she happens to crash land on Earth.  The UMA reveals herself as Ikaros, a “Pet-Class Angeloid, Type Alpha” and together, the two are bonded by an invisible chain and Tomoki becomes her master.

In the beginning, Ikaros is an emotionless individual and because she is bonded to him and goes wherever he goes, it becomes somewhat of an annoyance for Tomoki, but at the same time, he realizes that with her abilities, it can help him make his perverted dreams come true.

Eventually, Sohara, Eishiro and Mikako learn about Ikaros and the two young women try to help Ikaros learn about how humans behave, while Eishiro tries to learn more about her programming and why she was sent to Earth, especially why she chose Tomoki.  And in order to keep the activities of Ikaros private, they join Eishiro’s “New World Discovery Club” to see if Ikaros may have some tie to this new world of Angeloids and Synapse that Eishiro is currently researching.

Meanwhile, another Angeloid has appeared on Earth, and her name is Nymph, an “Electronic Warfare Angeloid, Type Beta” who can’t stand humans and is sent to Earth to confront Ikaros. But similar to Ikaros, the more time she spends with Tomoki and friends, she gets to learn about human-kindness and what a nice master that Ikaros has.  Unlike Nymph, her master  (Master of Synapse) is abusive, maniacal and evil…but because she is tied to him, she will do as he wishes.

It is then revealed after a confrontation between Ikaros and Nymph that she was sent by the sadistic leader “Master of Synapse” to possibly destroy human-kind, something Ikaros does not want to do…especially now that she has started to discover newfound emotions…love for Tomoki.  But not just Ikaros, but also Nymph as she wishes more and more each day that she had someone like Tomoki as her master.

And now…”Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2″

With “Heaven’s Lost Property Forte: Season 2″, the sequel continues a few months later, but this time, a new Angeloid has been sent to Earth to kill Tomoki.  Her name is Astraea, blond, well-endowed and is a close-combat Angeloid, Type Delta sent by Synapse to kill Tomoki, but despite her awesome power, she is very dumb.  So, no matter what she does to try to kill Tomoki, due to her ability to keep falling all the time, Tomoki uses those moments to feel her up.  And at first she is clueless and doesn’t like it but she starts to realize that she may be falling for Tomoki.

Meanwhile, Nymph shows Sugata that they can enter their own dreamworld.  But when Sugata ventures into Tomoki’s dreamworld, for some reason certain things that can only exist in the dreamworld is also existing in the real world.

And while Tomoki and friends try to deal with Astraea, a new Angeloid named Chaos is sent to destroy Tomoki’s friendly Angeloids.

VIDEO:

“Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2″ is presented in 1080p High Definition. Because this is an animated film and not a TV series, everything from the scenes featured on the TV series and the footage shows much more shading and detail than the TV Series. Picture quality is much more vibrant, colorful and detailed.

Art backgrounds are well-painted and there is a good amount of lighting effects, especially when featuring the Angeloid’s in battle or Ikaros wings come out. If anything, “Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2″ looks colorful, vibrant and sharp on Blu-ray and AIC A.S.T.A. did a pretty good job with anime production.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2″ is presented in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0. It’s important to note that despite me typically watching anime series in Japanese, I chose to watch this series with an English dub because of the better dynamic range but mostly because FUNimation Entertainment really enhanced the perverseness and the craziness of the series through its dialogue.

Dialogue is crisp and clear with the action-scenes on both lossless tracks utilizing the surround channels.

The biggest difference is the Japanese version, while perverted is appropriate for Japanese television while the English dub really runs wild with mature themes and sexual perversion.  The voice talent in the audio commentary talk about why they enjoyed doing this series and its partly because they could let loose and have fun.

But it all comes down to preference.  Both versions are well-acted and I did watch it both in Japanese and English and enjoyed both voice acting, it’s just that the English version was much more perverted and the dialogue changes made the series quite fascinating and hilarious.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2″ comes with the following special features:

• Episode 4 Commentary – Featuring ADR Director Christopher Bevins, Greg Ayres (voice of Tomoki Sakurai) and Trina Nishimura (voice of Sohara Mitsuki)
  
• Episode 9 Commentary – Featuring ADR Director Christopher Bevins, Jami Marchi (voice of Mikako Satsukitane) and Carli Mosier (voice of Astraea)
  
• Textless Opening Songs – Ring My Bell (Tomoki Version), Haato no Kakuritsu
• Textless Closing Songs – Kaeru Kara, COSMOS, Kakemeguryu Seishun, Miracle Guy, ff (Fortissimo), Soldier in the Space, Kaerazaru Hi no Tame ni, Odoriko, Natsu no Ojousan, Bokyou no Tabi, Jidai Okure no Koibitotachi
• Heaven’s Lost Property Trailer
• Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte Trailer
• Trailers – FUNimation Trailers

If you enjoyed the first season and you are an anime fan who loves perverse harem anime with scantily clad women, boobs and panty shots, suffice to say, “Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2″ is for you!

There is no doubt that  “Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte” is one of the most perverted anime series ever created that’s not a porno.  Granted, the most perverted TV anime series (non-hentai) is still “Ping Pong Club” but the mature humor of this series definitely puts it’s up there of one of the perverse series to make it over to the U.S. and one of the few that is available on Blu-ray.   From the opening episode, the character Tomoki, a teenage boy that just loves boobs, panties and it’s in his mind continuously, so much this season that he is trying his best to calm his willy down and not have his periodic hard-ons.

But it doesn’t help that a new angeloid with huge breasts, who often keeps tripping and falling down, thus showing her panties to Tomoki nor does it help that Ikaros is often not wearing much.  So, for Tomoki…having these beautiful Angeloids around is not helping much.

But it’s not just Tomoki, you have Mitsuki Sohara, Tomoki’s childhood friend who acts very strict towards Tomoki, but in her dreams she can’t help but think about Tomoki being a pervert and fondling her breasts, while the gun happy Mikako has a thing about wanting to be naked in the hot springs all the time and like Tomoki, she’s also willing to partake in booby grabbing as well.

So, you get the picture…this is indeed one of those anime that lonely otaku guys (or those who simply love perverse anime) will love but yet enough craziness and humor that makes it accessible to anime fans who love this type of anime.

Outside of Tomoki’s sexual fantasies, while the first season focused on Ikaros trying to become more human, this time around we see more emotion coming from Nymph as she struggles as an angeloid without wings and without a master.  While Tomoki prefers her to be free with no master, Nymph still struggles of not having one, especially since she cares for Tomoki so much.

The first half of the season focuses on Astraea, while the second season focuses on the group taking on Chaos.  So, the second season also features quite a bit of action!

So, make no doubt about it, this sci-fi harem anime series is perverted and full of sexual themes but its important to note that there is no full frontal nudity or intercourse or anything like that.  Private parts are covered by hair (or some cloud) and if anything, the series is more comedy-driven through Tomoki’s behavior and of course, the harem element as we know that Nohara, Ikaros, Nymph, Aestraea (and possible more) are falling for Tomoki.

As mentioned, the series does have some of that “Urusei Yatsura” craziness but also the “Chobits” style of an angeloid who acts almost like an emotionless android but overtime, her emotions start to come into play through more exposure to Tomoki and friends.  So, while the majority of the series does feature more lighthearted to crazy, wacky plots…it does has its serious and emotional elements, although the latter doesn’t last that long.

As for the Blu-ray release, I’m glad that FUNimation has decided to release “Forte” on Blu-ray as it was the only title that was released on DVD.  So, fans should be happy that they can now complete their collections of “Heaven’s Lost Property” with this second season Blu-ray release!

Overall, “Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2″ was a fun, silly yet entertainingly perverse anime series.  There is no doubt that this will surely entertain anime fans who enjoy harem anime series especially with that sci-fi element and a bit of raunchiness as well.

If you are into that… then “Heaven’s Lost Property: Forte – Season 2″ is for you!

 

Tiger & Bunny: Blu-ray Set 2 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Review)

“Tiger & Bunny” was an awesome anime series when it first began and for its second half, it managed to become better and better with each episode!  I absolutely love this series and for anyone wanting a divergence from the banal anime series that they come across, and want something with a superhero angle but with humor, action and drama. “Tiger & Bunny: Blu-ray Set 2″ is highly recommended!

Image courtesy of © SUNRISE/T&B Partners. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Tiger & Bunny: Blu-ray Set 2

YEAR: 2011

DURATION: Episodes 14-25 (280 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, English Subtitles

COMPANY: Viz Media

RATED: TV 14

Release Date: February 19, 2013

Directed by Keiichi Satou

Series Composition by Masafumi Nishida

Music by Yoshihiro Ike

Original Character Design by Masakazu Katsura

Character Design by Kenji Hayama, Masaki Yamada

Art Direction by Kinichi Okubo

Mechanical Design by Kenji Andou

3D Director: Yoshikazu Kon

Anime Production: Sunrise

Featuring the following voice talent:

Hiroaki Hirata/Wally Wingert as Kotetsu T. Kaburagi/Wild Tiger

Masakazu Morita/Yuri Lowenthal as Barnaby Brooks Jr.

Go Inoue/Patrick Seitz as Keith Goodman/Sky High

Hiroshi Iwasaki/Dave Wittenberg as Doc Saito

Katsuhisa Houki/Beau Billingslea as Ben Jackson

Keiji Fujiwara/Steven Blum as Jake Martinez

Kenjiro Tsuda/John Eric Bentley as Nathan Seymour/Fire Emblem

Koji Yusa/Liam O’Brien as Yuri Petrov/Lunatic

Mariya Ise/Laura Bailey as Pao-Lin Huang/Dragon Kid

Michiko Neya/Stephanie Sheh as Kriem

Minako Kotobuki/Kari Wahlgren as Karina Lyle/Blue Rose

Nobuaki Fukuda/Jamieson Price as Albert Maverick

Nobuhiko Okamoto/Michael Sinterniklaas as Ivan Karelin/Origami Cyclone

Rina Hidaka/Een Riegel as Kaede Kaburagi

Taiten Kusunoki/Travis Willingham as Antonio Lopez/Rock Bison

Wataru Yokojima/Daran Norris as Alexander Lloyds

Yuko Kaida/Tara Platt as Agnes Joubert

Hailed as the heroes who saved Stern Bild, Kotetsu and Barnaby face a volley of media attention that includes their learning how to dance! Then, Kotetsu deals with his conflicted feelings about continuing as Wild Tiger and visits his hometown to spend time with his family. He tries to discuss his feelings with Barnaby, but when a possible new lead comes up, Kotetsu gives his full attention to helping Barnaby find the murderer of his parents.

In the first half of “Tiger & Bunny”, Kotetsu and Barnaby were able to overcome the power Jake Martinez, the person that is responsible for the murder of Barnaby’s parents.

And now that both partners have been in sync, they have climbed on top of the ratings.  But suddenly, Kotetsu notices that his power has increased, but the minutes of having power has shortened.

He finds out from a good friend and a former boss, that Captain Legend, the hero that Kotetsu has idolized, also had that same problem and lost his power completely.  And this may be a sign that Kotetsu’s power may disappear within weeks.

With his powers in decline, Kotetsu heads home and realizes how his daughter has had a tough life being left alone with her grandmother since her mother died.  And not knowing that her father is a hero, she thinks her father just doesn’t want to be around her.

So, Kotetsu is contemplating spending more time and a family and retiring as a hero.  But just as he is about to tell Barnaby his plans, Barnaby finds out from one of Jake Martinez’ followers that Jake was not responsible for the murder of Barnaby’s parents.

This leads to Barnaby starting to have another mental breakdown and as for Kotetsu and his declining powers, can he quit now that his partner really needs him?

Find out in the second half of the popular anime series “Tiger & Bunny”!

What is “Tiger & Bunny”?

In 2011, the anime studio Sunrise, best known for its anime series for “Mobile Suit Gundam”, “Cowboy Bebop”, “Dirty Pair”, “City Hunter” to name a few, went on to work on anime series that would captivate older viewers but also something unique and different for anime fans.

And the 25- episode TV series “Tiger & Bunny” was created.

Directed by Keiichi Satou (“Saint Seiya the Movie”, “Karas”, “Asura”), a screenplay by Masafumi Nishida, music by Yoshihiro Ike (“Asura”, “Cobra: The Animation”, “Dead Leaves”), character designs by Kenji Hayama (“Baccano!”, “The Big O”, “Casshern Sins”, “Getter Robo: Armageddon”) and Masaki Yamada (“Ergo Proxy”, “Appleseed”, “Great Dangaioh”), background art by Kinichi Okubo (“Ex-Driver”, “Honey and Clover”, “Angel Beats!”), mechanical design by Kenji Andou (“Origini ~Spirits of the Past~”, “Votoms Finder”), Yoshikazu Kon (“Gurren Lagann”, “Shangri-La”, “Mobil Suit Gundam 00″).

The series aired in Japan on April 2011 and also was seen in the U.S. via Hulu and the Anime News Network. And most recently on Viz Media’s “Neon Alley”.

In Japan, a one-shot manga by Masakazu Katsura (“Video Girl Ai”, “DNA2″, “Zetman”) was published in “Weekly Shonen Jump” and in Sept. 2012, an animated film was released and a second film currently in production and planned for a fall 2013 release. Also, the anime series has led to a PSP video game released in Sept. 2012 and a second game released in March 2013 courtesy of Viz Media.

“Tiger & Bunny” takes place in NC1978 in the city of Sternbild City. 45 years prior, humans with supernatural abilities known as “NEXT” began appearing in the planet. And now, these people with special abilities and are superheroes sponsored by major corporations such as Pepsi, Softbank, Calbee, etc. and are featured on the popular reality TV show titled “Hero TV”.

Each season, these heroes try to achieve points by capturing/defeating criminals and the best ranked superhero will be crowned as “King of Heroes”. While each are competing with each other, often they work as a superhero team.

The series focuses on the partnership between two total opposites, the older hero Kotetsu (Wild Tiger) and the young star, Barnaby.  While both are popular on Hero TV, Kotetsu is a single father who feels it is his obligation to be a hero and protect the public, while his partner Barnaby is tormented by his parent’s murder and wanting justice.

The primary characters are of “Tiger & Bunny” are:

• Kotetsu T. Kaburagi/Wild Tiger – One of the main protagonist, he is one of the oldest superheros and unlike others, tends not to listen to orders as he is the “Crusher of Justice” and could care less about the ratings. Because he causes too much damage and likes to do things alone, he was forced to take on a new partner, Barnaby Brooks Jr. Kotetsu is also a single father who never gets to see his daughter because of his superhero obligations, so she lives with his mother. His daughter is unaware that he is a superhero. Tiger’s power is the ability to increase his physical abilities for five minutes using his “Hundred Power”. His sponsors are Bandai and Softbank.
• Barnaby Brooks Jr./Bunny – A rookie that is called “Bunny” by Kotetsu. He is more about strategy and is not as rash as Kotetsu. He has a reason why he became a superhero and that is to find the one who killed his parents. His sponsors are Amazon Japan and Bandai. He also has similar powers to Kotetsu and becoming “King of Heroes” is important to him.
• Karina Lyle/Blue Rose – A popular girl in high school who wants to be a singer. She has freezing power abilities and is sponsored by Pepsi Nex and Suntory. She represents Titan Industry.
• Keith Goodman/Sky High – A popular hero and is the current “King of Heroes”. He is upbeat and has the power to control air current. He is sponsored by Tamashii Nations and Ustream and represents Poseidon Line.
• Nathan Seymour/Fire Emblem – An effeminate hero with flame abilities, Nathan wants to be part of the girls. He is sponsored by FMV and Animate and represents Helios Energy.
• Huang Pao-Lin/Dragon Kid - A tomboy Chinese girl who has the power to generate electrical discharge. She lived in China with her parents but they wanted her to go to Sternbild City to become a hero. She is sonosred by Calbee and DMM.com and is represented by Odysseys Communication.
• Antonio Lopez/Rock Bison – Kotetsu’s best friend since high school, his power is invulnerability. He is in last place of the Hero’s standings and is sponsored by Gyu-Kaku and represents Kronos Foods.
• Ivan Karelin/Origami Cyclone – A young hero who is typically seen standing behind-the-scenes and not fighting, Ivan has the power to shapeshift and copy the appearance and voice of another. His sponsors are .ANIME and he represents Helperidese Finance.

VIDEO:

“Tiger & Bunny” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:85:1 aspect ratio). “Tiger & Bunny” is probably one of the best, recent anime TV series that I have seen in awhile. From the detail of the futuristic structures, the costume design for the characters in superhero form, the mechanical design of vehicles and costumes and just the many location shots utilized for this anime series alone, these days, you don’t see too many anime studios going all out for a TV series, but in this case, Sunrise went all out with “Tiger & Bunny”.

Awesome character designs, background art is fantastic but just the character and mechanical designs featuring animation and CG is well-done. The character designs catches your attention with the colors and shading but the mechanical design and the superhero character designs look awesome. Even the art backgrounds as the futuristic city is well-painted, full of detail and adds to the overall look of the series.

“Tiger & Bunny” looks magnificent in HD!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Tiger & Bunny” is presented in lossless English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Both are similar when it comes to special effects. Dialogue is crisp and clear but voice acting is well-done on both the Japanese and English soundtrack. While it would have been nice to have a 5.1 lossless track, especially since this series has plenty of action, the series does sound crisp and clear through the front channels.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Tiger & Bunny: Blu-ray Set 2″ comes with the following special features:

• Tamura & Katsura Exclusive Interview – (13:44) Interview with Kazuhiko Tamura (Sunrise) and original character designer, Masakazu Katsura and how he came up with the design for each hero.
• Production Art – Using your remote (or keyboard), you can look at the production art of “Tiger & Bunny”.
• Illustration Gallery - Using your remote (or keyboard), you can look at the illustration gallery of “Tiger & Bunny”.
• Japanese Trailers – (3:57) The Japanese trailers for “Tiger & Bunny”.
• Clean Opening and Clean Ending

Fantastic!  It’s the one word that I can describe the “Tiger & Bunny” series!

Earlier this year, a friend who attended Tokyo Anime Fair and Anime Contents Expo 2013, gave me a chance to see all the Tiger & Bunny cosplayers and some going so far to make the actual suits for Tiger and Bunny.   Even today, it’s hard for me to imagine that Masakazu Katsura, a mangaka and designer who I followed since “Video Girl Ai” and “DNA 2″, was behind the character designs of these heroes.

An anime series that manages to capture humor, action, drama with wonderful character designs, mechanical designs and art backgrounds, one can say that “Tiger & Bunny” is an animated series that is a total package.

From the first half of the anime series which goes into introducing us to each characters, the second half focuses on Kotetsu and Barnaby as partners but the trouble both face when Kotetsu begins to lose his powers (permanently) and Barnaby finds out that the person they battled and defeated, was not the person who killed his parents.

Suffice to say, both men are at their highest point as heroes but their lowest point as individuals.  For Kotetsu, quitting his job as a hero and focusing on spending more time with his daughter is important, but also his honor as a hero to protect and also be their for his partner is equally important.

As a person who enjoys anime, we have seen the team dynamic in many forms.

From the sentai teams of yesteryear, may it be “Gatchaman”, “Voltron” to super teams such as the Z-Warriors of “Dragon Ball Z”, the ninjas of “Naruto” or the high school friends as seen on “Bleach” and “Yu Yu Hakusho”.

But one thing that we often see in America through comic books, animated series and live action films are the superhero teams. May it be Marvel’s X-Men, The Avengers or Fantastic Four or DC’s Justice League of America, The Teen Titans or Legion of Super-Heroes and it has always been in the back of my mind, what if there was a caped superhero for an anime series?

We have seen a singular costumed heroes from anime series such as “Moldiver” and shows like the Kamen Rider or even Ranger series but what Sunrise was able to create with “Tiger & Bunny” is exciting, unique and different from anything ever featured in Japan.

Humans with special abilities known as NEXT who take on the bad guys, but in a twist, are featured on television and challenge other heroes of who can catch the most criminals and get the most points to increase their ranking, as each compete for the title “King of Heroes”.

The characters are nothing like American superheroes in the fact that these are individuals that are flawed.  The main protagonist Kotetsu is an older superhero who knows he is not a great father. He speaks to her on intercom but is never there to see her face-to-face and his daughter pretty much gave up on seeing him. He knows he causes trouble for the station because he causes quite a bit of damage and now, to help put him on the right path, he is given a partner with Barnaby.

And while Barnaby has a cool demeanor, a strategist who thinks first before attacking, he also has a tragic past that drives him to become a superhero and that is to find the killer responsible for killing his parents.

The two are joined by heroes that are interesting. Blue Rose is popular because of her sexy outfit and cute demeanor when fighting criminals but deep inside, she is torn between pursuing her dream to become a singer or being a hero. Dragon Kid is a tomboy and doesn’t like to wear cute things, but as she gets older, she is starting to discover her feminine side. Meanwhile, Fire Emblem is an effeminate hero who wants to be accepted by the girls, but yet is considered as a guy. Rock Bison is more interested in partying with Kotetsu and getting drunk than capturing criminals and now he is in danger of losing his job because he is in last place. And Origami Cyclone, a shy guy who has the power to shapeshift but feels it’s a worthless power and is more of a cheerleader than a person who does the fighting to capture the criminals.

Suffice to say, each of these characters are unlikely heroes but yet as a team, they are starting to work well with each other. But it takes time, and also, as much as they are a team when facing difficult criminals, they are also rivals trying to get the most points and representing their sponsors with pride.

“Tiger & Bunny” really is an anime series that is unlike anything I have seen before in my decades of watching anime.  And with this second half, the story becomes much more captivating, much better than the first half and I am definitely impressed with this series overall!

And as for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is vibrant and colorful. Sunrise is known for creating magnificent looking anime series but “Tiger & Bunny” features wonderful character and mechanical designs and a great balance between animation and CG. I was really impressed with how cool this series looks. And you get both Japanese and English soundtracks in lossless 2.0 and a few special features are included.

Overall, “Tiger & Bunny” was an awesome anime series when it first began and for its second half, it managed to become better and better with each episode!  I absolutely love this series and for anyone wanting a divergence from the banal anime series that they come across, and want something with a superhero angle but with humor, action and drama.

“Tiger & Bunny: Blu-ray Set 2″ is highly recommended!

 

Howl’s Moving Castle (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

“Howl’s Moving Castle” is another enjoyable Studio Ghibli film.  Another box office hit in the oeuvre of Hayao Miyazaki. While, Studio Ghibli fans already know this is must-have film for their collection, “Howl’s Moving Castle” is worth the upgrade to Blu-ray due to its gorgeous picture quality and it’s crystal clear lossless soundtrack.  Recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2013 Disney. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Howl’s Moving Castle (ハウルの動く城)

FILM RELEASE: 2004

DURATION: 119 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:85:1 Aspect Ratio), Audio: English and Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital,  Subtitles: English, English SDH and French

RATED:G (General Audience)

COMPANY: Disney

RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2013

Created, Written and Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki

Character Design: Akihiko Yamashita

Music by Joe Hisaishi

Art Director: Noboru Yoshida, Youji Takeshige

Animation Director: Akihiko Yamashita, Kitaro Kousaka, Takeshi Inamura

Executive Producer: Hayao Miyazaki

Producer: Toshio Suzuki

Anime Production by Studio Ghibli

Featuring the voices of:

Chieko Baisho/Emily Mortimer as Sophie Hatter

Takuya Kimura/Christian Bale as Howl

Akihiro Miwa/Lauren Bacall as Witch of the Waste

Akio Ohtsuka/Mark Silverman as King of Ingary

Haruko Kato/Blythe Danner as Madam Suliman

Ryunosuke Kamiki/Josh Hutcherson as Markl

Tatsuya Gashuin/Billy Crystal as Calcifer

Brimming with a blend of imagination, humor, action and romance, “Howl’s Moving Castle” is the story of Sophie (voiced by Emily Mortimer), a diligent teenage girl working in her family’s hat shop, who finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome-but-mysterious wizard named Howl (voiced by Christian Bale).  The innocent encounter engages the vain and conniving “Witch of the Waste” (voiced by Lauren Bacall), who transforms Sophie into a 90-year old woman (voiced by Jean Simmons).  Sophie’s efforts to break the curse bring her to Howl’s magical moving castle, where she befriends Markl (voiced by Josh Hutcherson), Howl’s apprentice, and the hot-headed fire demon Calcifer (voiced by Billy Crystal).  Her love and support have a major impact on Howl, who can be maddeningly self-indulgent and singularly noble as he defies royal orders to participate in a meaningless war and risks his life to protect Sophie.

Hayao Miyazaki, the most prominent Japanese filmmaker who has created animated films that not only broke Japanese box office records but has created animated films that reflect upon nature, technology, family and more. Compared to the accomplishments of Walt Disney, Miyazaki is a filmmaker who has amassed a respect from his fans worldwide and his animations studio, Studio Ghibli, continues to be one of the most appreciated and respected animation and production studios in the world.

In 2004, Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli released “Howl’s Moving Castle” in Japan and released in America in 2005. An animated film adaptation that is loosely based on Diana Wynne Jones’ 1986 fantasy novel.  As Miyazaki is a pacifist, the major difference between the novel and the animated film is that the animated film is set during a time of war and Miyazaki was affected by America’s war in Iraq which profoundly impacted the film.  There are also key differences of the main characters (ie. Sulliman in the novel is a man, in the animated film, Sulliman is a woman) and more characters in the novel that are not in the animated film version, but author Diana Wynne Jones gave her blessing for the film and that although she had no input on the film, she expected the film to be different from her novels.

The English dub was directed by Pixar’s Pete Docter (“Toy Story” films and “Monsters, Inc.”), a big Studio Ghibli fan and would feature an all-star cast which includes Christian Bale, Billy Crystal, Blythe Danner, Jean Simmons, Lauren Bacall and Josh Hutcherson.

With a budget of $24 million, “Howl’s Moving Castle” was a box office success earning over $235 million in the box office and for many film critics, were included in their best 10 films of 2005.

In May 2013, Disney will be releasing Howl’s Moving Castle” for the first time on Blu-ray along with another Studio Ghibli classic, “My Neighbor Totoro”.

What is “Howl’s Moving Castle”?

The film revolves around an 18-year-old hatter named Sophie.  While working, she hears all the stylish women at work talking rumors about Howl’s moving castle which they see briefly in the distance and talks about how he eats women’s beautiful women’s hearts.  Not one to hang out with the other woman, as she feels she is not beautiful or stylish as them, she focuses on her work.

One day, while walking, she comes across two soldiers who are trying to flirt with her and wanting her to stay with them.  But a man comes from behind and pretends to be her boyfriend.  Immediately after the soldiers leave, he tells her that he is being followed and he grabs her hand and are pursued by black figures.  He picks her up and they start flying and walking on air.

Not knowing if what she experienced was true, her sister Lettie confirms that she had floated down the balcony.  Lettie warns her that it may be the wizard Howl and to be careful or he will steal her heart and would eaten it.  But Sophie responds that he wouldn’t because she is not beautiful.  Lettie still warns her to be careful, especially with word that the Witch of the Waste is back on the prowl.

Meanwhile, the black figures that were pursuing Howl and Sophie return back to the Witch of the Waste.

Returning to the hat shop, The Witch of the Waste shows up, looking for Howl and being rude.  Sophie tells her to leave the shop but instead of leaving discretely, the witch she curses Sophie and transforms her into a very old woman.

The following day, when her mother Fanny tries to visit her, Sophie doesn’t want anyone seeing her appearance and she knows that she can’t stay home anymore.  So, Sophie decides to leave home and heads to the Waste area in hopes she can find the witch and remove the spell.  Meanwhile, the townspeople begin talking about a missing prince.

While walking up the Waste, she comes across a branch that she can use as a cane.  As she tries to pull it from a bush, she finds out the branch is a scarecrow. But while she walks up the hill, the scarecrow follows her and gives her his cane.  And helps find her a place to stay.

As she tries to walk up the hill, she comes across Howl’s moving castle.  Sophie comes inside the castle and feels that Howl won’t eat her heart because she thinks she is a shriveled up old lady.

Inside the castle, Sophie meets a fire demon named Calcifer who knows about the curse on Sophie.  Calcifer tells Sophie that if he breaks his spell (which keeps him stuck inside Howl’s moving castle), he can break the spell on her.

Also, inside the castle is a child named Markl, a young apprentice of Howl who disguises him as a short, older wizard who helps run the castle which has the ability to transport itself to different parts of the city with the turn of a door knob.  While Michael and Sophie discuss what she is doing in the castle, Howl receives two summons from the King (summons for his alias, Wizard Jenkins and Wizard Pendragon).

Eventually, Sophie shows her worth to Howl and Michael as their new cleaning lady.  But what is more surprising to Howl is how obedient Calcifer is towards Sophie.

But it is learned that Calcifer’s power is what makes the castle move, while Michael makes income by pretending to be a wizard and people buy spells from the shop.

And as they all live together, Sophie starts to wonder about the things that Howl takes part in when he leaves the castle.  Meanwhile, life in the city is not going so well as a war continues to loom and meanwhile, the Witch of the Waste’s black henchman continue to search for Howl.

But overtime Sophie learns that Howl has been transforming himself into a bird-like creature to interfere with the war and with each transformation, it becomes much more difficult for him to return to human. And the more she gets to know more about him, the more she cares for him and wants to help him.

But with the king’s magic adviser, Suliman, wanting to use Howl’s magic to contribute to the war, with Sophie trying to protect him and not use his powers any longer, they become the wanted.  But can Sophie, under a curse of an older woman, help the man she has feelings for and will she ever break the curse?

VIDEO:

“Howl’s Moving Castle” is presented in 1080p High Definition and what a gorgeous film that Studio Ghibli was able to create.  It’s a staple of Miyazaki films, beautiful art backgrounds, wonderfully painted, lush green forests and sceneries and detailed buildings.  Colors are vibrant, characters are well-designed using the Studio Ghibli style.

I saw no banding, compression or any negative issues during my viewing of “Howl’s Moving Castle”.  This film is colorful, gorgeous and magnificent in HD!

AUDIO:

As for the audio, “Howl’s Moving Castle” is presented in English and Japanese 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, French 5.1 Dolby Digital.  And immediately from the starting of the film, with the various aircraft and Howl’s moving castle, you can hear with each foot movement, LFE reacting to the huge metal on ground and the sounds enveloping the soundscape with magnificent dynamic range and surround sound use.  An active soundtrack that sounds crystal clear, clean dialogue and an immersive soundscape during its more action-intensive scenes, fans should be happy with this lossless soundtrack!

Subtitles are in English, English SDH and French.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“My Neighbor Totoro” comes with the following special features on a second DVD disc. Included are:

• Behind the Microphone - (9:02) – Co-Producers Rick Dempsey, Ned Lot, Director Pete Docter, English language adaptation crew – Cindy and Don Hewitt discuss the English language adaptation.  Featuring the all-star talent involved in the English dub process and more!
• Interview with Pete Docter – (7:23) A Japanese featurette with an interview with Pete Docter about working on “Howl’s Moving Castle”.  (English with Japanese with English subtitles).
• Hello Mr. Lasster: Hayao Miyazaki Visits Pixar – (16:29) A Japanese featurette featuring Hayao Miyazaki’s surprise visit at Pixar animation studios.
• TV Spots and Trailers – (8:15) The television spots and trailers for “Howl’s Moving Castle”.
• Original Japanese Storyboards - (1:59:10) The entire film with Japanese dialogue (with English subtitles) featuring the original Japanese storyboards.

EXTRAS:

“Howl’s Moving Castle” comes with a slipcover.

When it comes to Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki’s work, one thing you can always expect is quality, a message delivered through the film from Miyazaki but also a feeling of fantasy, fun but most of all, an enjoyable cinematic experience.

Because Studio Ghibli is responsible for so many hit films, majority of them have become box office hits not only in Japan but many other countries including here in the United States, it’s not easy to compare each film on how it ranks in the typical “Which Miyazaki film is best?” poll.  Everyone has their own experience with each of his films and an opinion of which work is better or weaker.

And to tell you the truth, I can’t even call a Studio Ghibli film weak because each film I have watched, I thoroughly enjoyed and felt it was a cinematic experience.

For “Howl’s Moving Castle”, I can say that I enjoyed other Studio Ghibli films much more, but I can also say that I enjoyed this film for its story and breathtaking visuals.    But first let me explain why.

When it comes to Miyazaki or Studio Ghibli films, I have enjoyed the pacifist message that are seen in films such as “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”, “Princess Mononoke” and “Castle of the Wind”.  I loved the human emotion portrayed in “Grave of the Fireflies”, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, “My Neighbor Totoro”, “Ponyo” and “Arrietty”.  So, I do enjoy the Studio Ghibli films that are melodramatic, full of human emotion or is smart, complex with a message from Miyazaki and also the films that mixes fantasy.

With “Howl’s Moving Castle”, the film is another with a message from the pacifist, Hayao Miyazaki who was not too thrilled with America’s war on Iraq.  The film unlike the novel is set during the time of war but the film mixes in fantasy but also an emotional element.

Sophie is a young woman who never saw herself as beautiful or even needed, but now under the curse of a witch, she has been turned into an older woman and realizes that she has fallen for Howl, a man who risks his life trying to prevent war but yet countries wanting to use his power for war. The film introduces colorful characters such as the humorous flame demon Calcifer (who is unaware of his true inner strength), a young boy named Michael who is an apprentice of Howl but you wonder what has happened to this boy’s family but how important Sophie has become in his life almost as a motherly figure.  And of course, we learn about Howl and even the Witch of the Waste and why she is so desperate of stealing Howl’s heart.

With a magical storyline, Studio Ghibli delivers with gorgeous visuals from well-detailed, painted buildings and scenery.  The mechanical design of Howl’s moving castle is also a sight to behold.

The voice acting is also wonderful!  The Japanese version utilizing popular actor (and SMAP music star) Takuya Kimura as Howl and longtime actress Chieko Baisho as Sophie.  While the English dub version utilizes an all-star cast with Christian Bale as Howl, Emily Mortimer as Sophie, Billy Crystal as Calcifer, Blythe Danner as Madame Suliman.  But knowing how Miyazaki loves the utilization of screen legends, Disney also features the voice acting of Jean Simmons as the older Sophie and Lauren Bacall as the voice of the Witch of the Waste.  Which is better, I feel it is very subjective to the viewer but I do enjoy the acting on both soundtracks.

And while I enjoyed the storyline and the visuals, typically, you are used to watching the protagonist in a more demanding and active role.  For the role of Sophie, it’s difficult when most of the storyline features her as an older woman, shown cooking, cleaning and taking care of the castle. For Howl, we understand that he is a free spirit, not wanting war to take place and sacrificing his life, but there are moments where you wonder more about his character that is not fully explained.  Not to say that it becomes too confusing but you just feel that you want a bit more explanation about Howl’s motivations a bit more.

With that being said, “Howl’s Moving Castle” is still an enjoyable and gorgeous film, even moreso now in HD on Blu-ray.

But for a studio that has created many wonderful films, in terms of storyline, there are other Studio Ghibli films that I enjoyed much more.

Overall, “Howl’s Moving Castle” is another enjoyable Studio Ghibli film.  Another box office hit in the oeuvre of Hayao Miyazaki. While, Studio Ghibli fans already know this is must-have film for their collection, “Howl’s Moving Castle” is worth the upgrade to Blu-ray due to its gorgeous picture quality and it’s crystal clear lossless soundtrack.  Recommended!

 

My Neighbor Totoro (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Review)

“My Neighbor Totoro” is a Studio Ghibli classic and a heartwarming animated film that will entertain families and even adults for more generations to come.  A beloved Japanese animated film and Studio Ghibili classic, “My Neighbor Totoro” is one of those must-own Blu-ray releases for Miyazaki and anime fans!  Highly recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2013 Disney. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ/Tonario no Totoro)

FILM RELEASE: 1988

DURATION: 88 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:85:1 Aspect Ratio), Audio: English, French and Japanese 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio, Subtitles: English, English SDH and French

RATED:G (General Audience)

COMPANY: Disney

RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2013

Created, Written and Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

Storyboards by Hayao Miyazaki

Music by Joe Hisaishi

Art Director: Kazuo Iga

Animation Director: Yoshiharu  Sato

Director of Photography: Hisao Shirai

Executive Producer: Yasuyoshi Tokuma

Producer: Toru Hara

Anime Production by Studio Ghibli

Featuring the voices of:

Chika Sakamoto/Dakota Fanning as Mei Kusakabe

Hitoshi Takagi/Frank Welker as Dai-Totoro

Noriko Hidaka/Elle Fanning as Satsuki Kusakabe

Shigesato Itoi/Timothy Daly as Tatsuo Kusakabe (Mei & Satsuki’s father)

Tanie Kitabayashi/Pat Carroll as Granny

Toshiyuki Amagasa as Kanta

Lauded as “one of the most beloved of all family films” by critic Roger Ebert, “My Neighbor Totoro” is the heartwarming story of sisters Satsuki (voiced by Dakota Fanning) and Mei (voiced by Elle Fanning).  Much to their delight, when Satsuki and her four-year-old sister Mei move into a new home in the countryside, they discover that their new neighbor is a mysterious forest spirit called Totoro—who can be seen only through the eyes of children. Totoro introduces them to extraordinary characters—including a catbus—and takes them on an incredible journey. 

Hayao Miyazaki, the most prominent Japanese filmmaker who has created animated films that not only broke Japanese box office records but has created animated films that reflect upon nature, technology, family and more.  Compared to the accomplishments of Walt Disney, Miyazaki is a filmmaker who has amassed a respect from his fans worldwide and his animations studio, Studio Ghibli, continues to be one of the most appreciated and respected animation and production studios in the world.

In 1988, wrote and directed the animated classic “My Neighbor Totoro” (Tonari no Totoro) which won the Animage Grand Prix Award in 1988 and was brought over to the United States from Fox Video/Streamline on VHS in the ’90s and on DVD in 2002.  When their rights expired, Disney picked up the rights to the many of the Studio Ghibli films and redubbed the film featuring major Hollywood talent and re-released the film on DVD in 2006 but this time with both an English and Japanese audio track.  In 2010, “My Neighbor Totoro” was released on DVD as part of Disney’s releases of Studhio Ghibli classics which include  “Kiki’s Delivery Service” and “Castle in the Sky”.

In May 2013, Disney will be releasing “My Neighbor Totoro” for the first time on Blu-ray along with another Studio Ghibli classic, “Howl’s Moving Castle”.

What is “My Neighbor Totoro”?

“My Neighbor Totoro” is a film that takes place in 1958 and is about the Kusakabe family which include university professor Tatsuo Kusakabe  (voiced by Shigesato Itoi/Timothy Daly) and his daughters, 10-year-old Satsuki (voiced by Noriko Hidaka/Dakota Fanning) and 4-year-old daughter Mei (voiced by Chika Sakamoto/Elle Fanning).  The family has moved to a rural area in Japan to be closer to a hospital where their mother Yasuko (voiced by Sumi Shimamoto/Lea Salonga) is trying to recover from her illness.

When the daughters check out the house, they discover the home is filled with susuwatari (dust bunnies/creatures) and try to move to dark places of the house.   They are greeted by Granny (voiced by Tanie Kitabayashi/Pat Carroll), the landlord of the house and grandmother of a young boy named Kanta (voiced by Toshiyuki Amagasa/Paul Butcher), a boy who is a neighbor and soon-to-be classmate of Satsuki.

The family carries on life in the country but for young Mei, one day while playing outside, she sees two rabbit like creatures in the grass.  When she goes to follow them, she ends up finding this very large creature which she names “Totoro” (voiced by Hitoshi Takagi/Frank Welker) and falls asleep on him.  When Satsuki finds her, she is alone but Mei tells her about this big creature she saw.  Of course, Satsuki doesn’t quite believe her at first but their father tells them that Totoro is a keeper of the forest.

One rainy night as the daughters wait for their father to return by bus and doesn’t arrive, while Mei is fast asleep on Satsuki’s back, Totoro shows up and Satsuki sees the creature for the first time as he is protecting himself with a leaf from the rain.  She offers him her father’s umbrella and happy about the umbrella, he gives her some nuts and seeds.  Meanwhile, we see what Totoro is waiting for as a big bus-shaped giant cat (voiced by Naoki Tatsuta/Frank Welker) comes to pick up Totoro.

While Satsuki and Mei are overjoyed by seeing Totoro and other creatures, they are struck by bad news when they find out their mother will not be coming home from the hospital and both girls now worry that she may die and take the possibility of that happening very hard.

But on one day, young Mei is missing and it prompts Satsuki and the entire village to search for Mei.  What has happened to her?

VIDEO:

“My Neighbor Totoro” is just an amazing animated film which I first watched back in 1993 (in Japanese, no subtitles) and at the time, although I didn’t know what was going on, I was simply in awe with the animation.  Of how beautiful the artistic backgrounds were.  The village and its lush green, to the painted detail on the trunk of the trees to even the ground during rainy weather, I was impressed. Now, the film is 22-years-old and watching it again, the film still holds up remarkably well today.

For the first time in the U.S., “My Neighbor Totoro” is presented in 1080P High Definition.  While one should remember that this film is old school anime from 1988, the film is not going to have the amazing detail and vibrancy of Studio Ghibli films made digitally today, but with that being said, the film is lush and beautiful too look at for a film that is 25-years-old.  This is amazing cell art production of Japanese animation of the late ’80s and looks amazing on Blu-ray.  Background details are much more clearer, no blurriness and the picture quality looks clean, no dust or white specks.

When it comes to picture quality, in America, this HD version of the film is the definitive version to own.

AUDIO:

As for the audio, “My Neighbor Totoro” is presented in English, French and Japanese 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio.  The film is presented in English Dolby Digital Sound and also includes the Japanese and French language tracks.  It’s important to note that fans of the film have heard two different English dubs of “My Neighbor Totoro” in the past (with the old FOX Streamline English dub) and the version included on the Blu-ray release is the Disney verison.

Audio is crystal clear but as I hoped a lossless upgrade to 5.1, for a film of this age, it’s understandable to get the English and French lossless soundtrack in 2.0.  But the biggest news is the inclusion of the Japanese 2.0 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless track.

Subtitles are in English, English SDH and French.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“My Neighbor Totoro” comes with the following special features on a second DVD disc.  Included are:

• Original Japanese Storyboards - (1:26:16) – Watch the entire film but this time with the video showcasing the original storyboards.
• Original Japanese Trailer – (1:50) The original Japanese theatrical trailer.
• Behind the Microphone – (5:41) Featuring the English dub voice talents talking about their role, their appreciation for Miyazaki and his films.  Also, behind-the-scenes of the talent recording their voices.
• Creating My Neighbor Totoro – (2:59) Hayao Miyazaki talks about how he came up with the concept of “My Neighbor Totoro”.
• Creating the Characters - (4:22) Producer Toshio Suzuki talks about the characters of “My Neighbor Totoro” and how “E.T. was an influence.
• The Totoro Experience – (2:00) Producer Toshio Suzuki talks about how the film didn’t do well in the box office but when it aired on television, it did remarkably well.
• Producer’s Perspective: Creating Ghibli – (1:22) Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki talks about how the named “Ghibli” came about.
• The Locations of Totoro – (28:34) An excerpt from a Japanese documentary on “My Neighbor Totoro” and visiting the areas that inspired Miyazaki to create the village of Totoro.
• Scoring Miyazaki – (7:17) A featurette about Joe Hisaishi’s scoring Miyazaki films and more.

EXTRAS:

“My Neighbor Totoro” comes with a slipcover.

I absolutely love “My Neighbor Totoro”.  From when I first saw it in Japanese (which I didn’t understand at the time) at a Japanese animation club screening back in 1993 and now watching it over 15-years-later and watching it alongside with my son.  There is this captivating quality with Miyazaki’s characters, his enjoyable to sometimes serious screenplays and Studio Ghibli always delivering when it comes to quality.

And when you consider how a lot of animated films today are 100% CG animated, when you see a Miyazaki film, you know that he doesn’t follow the mainstream.  He makes the kind of films that he wants and for the most part, every film that I have seen from Studio Ghibli, I’ve been more than satisfied.

I remember watching “My Neighbor Totoro” and enjoying the lively moments from the beginning but having seen his animated films “Nausicaa”, “Laputa: Castle in the Sky” and even “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, as his films are happy and humorous, by the final half of the film, the story definitely shifts to a serious tone and in this film, it does get a bit serious when both Satsuki and Mei facing the probability of their mother dying in the hospital.  These are genuine emotions that these two young girls feel but at the same time, what transpires afterward was captivating and how the film ends, Miyazaki definitely knows how to wrap up a film and make you feel content and satisfied with overall story.

“My Neighbor Totoro” is a wonderful family film and by no means is it scary.  For the parents, this film is among the more lighter-toned Miyazaki films out there.  Miyazaki has mentioned in interviews that he created “My Neighbor Totoro” for the children while his latest film “Ponyo” was more of him wanting to create a film for even younger children.  But for the most part, if you want to introduce a Miyazaki film to your children, “My Neighbor Totoro” is a great place to start.

But the big question for many people is if “My Neighbor Totoro” is worth the investment to upgrade to Blu-ray.  My opinion is yes!

While the 2010 DVD release was fantastic, the detail and picture quality on Blu-ray is much better!  If you own the older 2006 Disney DVD, there are a large number of special features on this 2013 Blu-ray release that are not included in the 2006 DVD but personally it comes down to picture quality and better audio.  But for those who have never owned the 2010 DVD and now the 2013 Blu-ray release, upgrading to Blu-ray is a no-brainer.  The film just looks and sounds better!

I know there are some fans who prefer the original dub from the old Fox/Streamline years but that release was pretty much a barebones DVD.  Yes, I still have my old copy of “My Neighbor Totoro” and I did enjoy the original dub a lot but personally, with this newer release, you get the Japanese audio track and plenty of special features that were not included in the 2006 DVD release.  Also, for voice acting, I felt that Dakota and Elle Fanning did a wonderful job and Tim Daly and Lea Salonga also did a solid job with their voice acting.  But of course the voice acting of the original Japanese featuring Chika Sakamoto, Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Naoki Tatsuta, Toshiyuki Amagasa is fantastic!

In Japan, the Totoro character has become so iconic that Studio Ghibli stores, may it be near the Tokyo Sky Tree or Yokohama to Kinokuniya stores in America, the Totoro character or even the Cat Bus are still characters that are featured in stores and many, including John Lasseter of Pixar has them in his office and even included it in his film “Toy Story 3″.

“My Neighbor Totoro” is a Studio Ghibli classic and a heartwarming animated film that will entertain families and even adults for more generations to come.  I watched this film when I was younger and now I’m sharing it with my son, who may share it with his family in the future.

A beloved Japanese animated film and Studio Ghibili classic, “My Neighbor Totoro” is one of those must-own Blu-ray releases for Miyazaki and anime fans!  Highly recommended!

 

Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 2 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray review)

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 2″ is recommended for fans who love sci-fi anime with a harem twist!

Image courtesy of © 2013 FUNimation. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 2 (異世界の聖機師物語)

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2010

DURATION:  Episodes 8-13 (271 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Subtitles: English

RATED: TV 14 LD

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2013

Original Creator: Masaki Kajishima

Original Character Designs by Hajime Watanabe

Directed by Koji Yoshikawa

Series Composition by Hideki Shirane

Music by Akifumi Takada

Character Design by Hajime Watanabe

Art Director: Kyou Inoue

Chief Animation Director: Hajime Watanabe

Mechanical Design by Naohiro Washio

Anime Production by AIC Spirits/BeSTACK

Featuring the voices of:

Ayumi Tsunematsu/Jami Marchi as Mexiah Furan

Hiro Shimono/Jason Liebrecht as Kenshi Masaki

Madoka Yonezawa/Jad Saxton as Lashara Aasu XXVIII

Natsuko Kuwatani/Morgan Garrett as Chiaia Furan

Chiaki Kanou/Trina Nishimura as Jozzy

Eri Taruta as Mahya, Yeliss

Erika Sudou/Karen Bright as Hannah

Hiroki Yasumoto/R. Bruce Elliot as Babalun

Hiromi Konno/Alexis Tipton as Lapis Razz

Hyo-sei/Shelley Calene-Black as Emera

Junko Noda/Lydia Mackay as Aura Shurifon

Kana Oomura/Caitlin Glass as Lithia Po Chiina

Young Kenshi Masaki has his hands full catering to the whims of an entire academy of oversexed schoolgirls, but a darkness looms on the horizon that will soon cast his life into chaos. The mysterious and enchanting Doll, controlled from afar by a power hungry madman, leads an unthinkable invasion that attacks the nubile students of the academy from inside its once protective walls.

To save his bevy of galactic playmates, Kenshi must summon the power of a Sacred Mechanoid and fight to preserve peace in a world that hovers on the brink of destruction. Should he survive, Kenshi will be mobbed by a hoard of comely coeds who want to make the hero their husband!

Babalun, Dagmeyer and the male Sacred Mechamasters have begun their attack on the Holy Land and have captured it!  But with all hope is lost, the women of the Holy Land have one person they can put their trust in…one who may be able to save their lives…Kenshi!

Can Kenshi pull it off and will Kenshi ever return back home?  Or will his friends or the temptation of so many girls wanting to marry him, will make him want to stay? Find out in the final part 2 of “Tenchi Muyou!: War on Geminar”.

What is “Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar”?

In 2009, a spinoff OVA series that is a spin-off of “Tenchi Muyo!” was created by original creator Masaki Kajishima.

Presented in 13 OVA episodes which was released from March 2009-March 2010 and produced by AIC Spirits and BeSTACK, the OVA series would lead to a light novel adaptation by Atsushi Wada in 2009, a manga adaptation serialized in Comic REX in 2010 and now released in America on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of FUNimation.

According to Kajishima, the anime is part of the “Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki” continuity and takes place 15 years after the events of “Tenchi Muyo! GXP”. Because “Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar” features the debut of Tenchi’s half brother Kenshi, this would lead many fans to discuss theories of Kenshi and its connection to the original series.

The series revolves around 15-year-old Kenshi Masaki who ended up in an alternate world of Geminar. This world has been waging war against each other using Sacred Mechanoids (humanoid weapons discovered in ancient ruins).

We are first introduced to Lashara Earth XXVIII, the 12-year-old ruler of the Shrtrayu Empire and her bodyguard Chiaia Flan who fights against intruders in the Holy Land. One of these intruders proves to be an excellent fighter and is revealed to be Kenshi.

Kenshi has been ordered to assassinate Lashara Earth XXVIII but can’t do it as he is not a killer. Seeing good within Kenshi, as the group hold him captive and to find out his whereabouts, it is quickly learned that Kenshi is not of this world. In fact, he was being used by the enemies of Shtrayu Empire who had promised him a safe return back to his homeworld, which became false.

Finding out he had been betrayed, he is rescued by Dark Elf Aura Shurifon, who returns him back to Lashara. But they realize that he has caught a disease and will die unless he receives treatment. So, everyone works quickly to try and save him.

For now, Kenshi can be useful to the empire who is suffering from enormous debt. So, as they try to find a way for Kenshi to return back home, Lashara Earth XXVIII has Kenshi become her assistant, so he can learn and assimilate with society (which the female population outnumber males by a very large margin). So, naturally many of the women he comes into contact with are impressed by his demeanor, his work ethic and are amazed by his uncanny fighting skills and bravery.

But as Lashara and those working for her try to keep Kenshi’s identity secret, there are those in the Holy Land who are working for the enemy and are keeping their eyes on Kenshi.

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar” features the following characters:

Kenshi Masaki – The younger half-brother of Tenchi Msaki and the son of Tenchi’s father Nobuyuki Masaki and his second wife, Rea. Kenshi traveled from Earth to the alternate world of Geminar and is trying to find a way to go back home. He was used by one faction to assassinate Lashara Earth XXVIII in exchange for information to bring him back home, but not a killer, Kenshi made the decision to not hurt her. So, Lashara decides to help Kenshi but he may disguise her as her servant and keep the fact that he is from another world as a secret. So, for now, he must try to fit in with the people in the Holy Land.

Lashara Earth XXVII- The 12-year-old ruler of the Shtrayu Empire. She is thrusted to inherit the throne and rule the land after her father’s sudden death. She takes Kenshi in as a servant and tries to get him to take part in duties int he Holy Land. She may have feelings towards Kenshi but because of her royal status, she is unable to show those feelings towards him.

Chiaia Flan – Lashara’s personal escort and bodyguard. Attends Holy Land Academy to complete her Sacred Mechamaster training. She has a crush on her childhood friend Dagmyer, but although she is seen getting upset at Kenshi a lot, she may be having some feelings towards him.

Maria Nanadan – A young princess from the country of Havoniwa and is currently attending Holy Land Academy with Lashara. Both are cousins but they are not fond with each other and are constantly trying to one up each other. Although she supports Yukine’s emotions towards Kenshi, she seems to also be falling for Kenshi.

Yukine Mare – A shy servant of Maria but very skilled at information gathering. She is attracted to Kenshi.

Wahanly Shume – A brillliant inventor and good friend of Lashara. She looks like a teenager but she is actually 97-years-old. She also starts to have feelings towards Kenshi.

Lithia Po Cheena – Granddaughter of the Pope of Geminar and President of Holy Land Academy’s Student council. She is bitter, sarcastic and blunt. She sees Kenji as a “wild animal” (in a literal way) but she may have feelings towards him.

Aura Shurifon – The Dark Elf Princess of the Shurifon Kingdom and member of the Pilgrimage Route Guard. She is often protective of Kenshi and develops feelings towards him.

Mexiah Flan – Mexiah is a person who is very sexual around Kenshi and often seen taking off her clothes when she is around him, often making Chiaia concerned when Mexiah is near Kenshi.

Dagmyer Mesut – Chiaia’s childhood friend and the one responsible for manipulating Kenshi into assassinating Lashara. He is constantly recruiting students for the invasion of Holy Land.

Ulyte Mesut – Dagmyer’s uncle and the younger brother of Babalun. He is a instructor at the Academy and also wants to invade the Holy Land for another reason.

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 2″ features the first six episodes. Here is a brief spoilerless summary of each episode:

• EPISODE 8 – Dagmeyer and the male Sacred Mechamasters attack the Holyland.  Meanwhile, Chiaia’s big sister Mexiah…is she friend or foe?
• EPISODE 9 – With Babalun taking over the Holy Land and having the Shield of Gaia in his possession , meanwhile Chiaia is ordered to kill Kenshi.  Can she do it?
• EPISODE 10 – Kenshi and the King partake in a competition, meanwhile the Church is attacked by Doll.
• EPISODE 11 – Ceres is attacked by bandits, Kenshi must go to the aid of Ceres.
• EPISODE 12 - Babalun tries to take control over Kenshi, leading to a battle.
• EPISODE 13 - The final battle between Dagmeyer and Kenshi.  Gaia has been revived with a Doll inside of it and Kenshi must take on the Doll.

VIDEO:

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 2″ is presented in 1080p High Definition. Because the series is an OVA series and not a television series, I was expecting the picture quality to be vibrant and fully-detailed. If anything, “Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar” seems more like a television series when it comes to picture quality.

There is a hint of softness, but the series does feature good shading, character and mechanical designs designs but similar to the original series, tends to use a lot of lush backgrounds, blue skies, mountains, a lot of trees, etc. But there are some emphasis on building structures, cement walls and most importantly its use of mechanical designs with Mecha featured throughout the series. There is also a good use of CG for floating structures and backgrounds. There are some indoor scenes which are nicely detailed but overall, picture quality is good but it is a bit soft.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar” is presented in Japanese and English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. I have to admit that I was so excited for the lossless soundtrack because the opening theme really comes out crystal clear and utilizes the surround channels immediately. But the overall presentation, while clear, is not as immersive as I would have hoped. Audio is primarily dialogue driven and center and front-channel, while music gets the surround sound treatment. But for a television series, audio is could and didn’t notice any difference in terms of surround sound use on both Japanese or English lossless tracks.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 2″ comes with the following special features:

• Audio Commentary for Episode 13 – Joe McDonald, ADR Director interviews the English dub voice talent and technical crew.
  
• Information and Sneak Peek of the Pay-Per-View Program 7-13 – (3:33) The Japanese previews for the pay-per-view commercials for “Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar”.
• Presale Promotional Videos – (:43) Promotional videos for the “Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar” DVD.
• Teaser Trailers 3-5 – (4:27) Teaser trailers for “Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar”.
• A Taste of a Day Recording Tenchi Muyou! War on Geminar’s Radio Broadcast – (8:04) Featuring personality Hiro Shimono (voice of Kenshi) and guest Mie Sonozaki (voice of Yukine) and a footage from the episode radio broadcast.
• Web Trailers – (3:42) The web trailers for “Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar”.
• Textless Opening Song “Follow Me”
• Textless Opening Song “Destino”
• U.S. Trailer – U.S. Trailer for “Tenchi Muyou!: War on Geminar”
• Trailers – FUNimation trailers

EXTRAS:

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 2″ comes with the Blu-ray and DVD version of episodes 8-13.

I have been watching every “Tenchi Muyo!” series since it was first released in Japan. A big fan of the original OVA’s and animated films, it’s always fascinating to see how the storyline is without the characters that fans have followed for many years.

First with “Tenchi Muyo! GXP” and now with “Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar”, what will interest fans the most is the introduction of a 15-year-old named Kenshi, the half brother of Tenchi Masaki. How did this happen? Fans will find theories from other fans about who Kenshi may be. But in terms of the series, we have Kenshi stuck in another world and for the first half, the series is more introductory to the characters and a secret plot taking place behind-the-scenes.

The second half of “Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar” focuses on Babalun and his son Dagmyer along with the male Sacred Mechmasters of the Academy capturing the Holy Land.  But also Babalun possessing the Shield of Gaia and trying to defeat Kenshi and restore the Sacred Mechalord Gaia.  But to save the land, Kenshi must do all that is necessary to stop Gaia’s revival.

The series does tend to play out as a harem anime series with flocks of women, not just a few, wanting to marry Kenshi.  But fortunately, a much more deeper storyline is presented in the final half of the OVA series.

There are references to the “Tenchi Muyo!” characters in the anime series such as Washu and others when Kenshi is questioned about his home and these crystals that belong to him. But also his unusual abilities that surpass normal people in the planet.

As mentioned in my review of “part 1″, there is a little sexual humor in the series, so you may not want to watch this series with children in the room.

As for the Blu-ray release, I have to admit that I was a bit surprised that the OVA series looked more like a television series. Back in the day, “Tenchi Muyo!” was a series that captivated our attention at anime club screenings as the series was known as a quality series on LaserDisc at the time. Fast forward to 2010, when this series was first released, while shown on the Animax pay per view channel, I was hoping for sharper, crisper animation and less softness. But the series was soft and while many scenes did have good detail for its art backgrounds and some scenes and characters were well-shaded, it seemed more like the picture quality of a TV series than OVA series.

As for the lossless soundtrack, I loved how the music was utilized for the surround channels but I was hoping the action sequences would feature a bit more LFE and surround use. Dialogue and music are crystal clear but was hoping for something more immersive.

For special features, you get many of the Japanese special features included such as the commercial previews or trailers, a behind-the-scenes radio featurette and an audio commentary featuring the English dub voice talent and the FUNimation crew that worked on the series.

Overall, “Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar” is a harem sci-fi anime series that is enjoyable and fun.  While the first half of the series is more about the fun and harem side of Tenchi, his gullible nature and the women who love him, there is more story, more action and things become a bit more deeper for the second and final of the OVA series.

If you are a fan of “Tenchi Muyo!”, while none of the original characters appear in this OVA series, we are introduced to Kenshi Masaki, a 15-year-old half brother of Tenchi that is stuck in an alternate world and with his kind nature and his special ability, he proves himself as important in the lives of many people.  But will he stay or will he go home back to Earth?

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 2″ is recommended for fans who love sci-fi anime with a harem twist!

 

K-ON!: The Movie (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

If you are a big fan of “K-ON!”, this animated film is a must watch, must own Blu-ray release!  A fantastic animated film that fans will absolutely love and a Blu-ray release that is jam-packed with lengthy, awesome special features!  5 stars and a Blu-ray release that is not only highly recommended but definitely on our list for one of the best anime Blu-ray releases of the year!

Images courtesy of ©Kakifly/Houbunshua/Sakura High Band. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: K-ON!: The Movie

DURATION: 110 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16×9), Audio: Japanese and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Subtitles: English

RATED: TV 14

COMPANY: TBS Animation/Sentai Filmworks

RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2013

Originally Created by kakifly

Directed by Naoko Yamada

Screenplay by Reiko Yoshida

Music by Hajime Hyakkoku

Character Design by Yukiko Horiguchi

Art Director: Seiki Tamura

Chief Animation Director: Yukiko Horiguchi

Animation Production: Kyoto Animation

Production: TBS

Featuring the voices of:

Aki Toyosaki/Stephanie Sheh as Yui Hirasawa

Asami Sanada/Karen Strassman as Sawako Yamanaka

Ayana Taketatsu/Christine Marie Cabanos as Azusa Nakano

Chika Fujitō/Laura Bailey as Nodoka Manabe

Madoka Yonezawa/Xanthe Huynh as Ui Hirasawa

Minako Kotobuki/Shelby Lindley as Tsumugi Kotobuki

Satomi Satou/Cassandra Lee as Ritsu Tainaka

Yōko Hikasa/Cristina Vee as Mio Akiyama

Graduation time is finally here, but the girls of the Sakuragaoka Girl’s High Light Music Club aren’t going to let the end of high school be the end of all they’ve built together. First though, they have to keep a promise to take a trip together, and like everything else they do, they’re not doing it halfway. So it’s time to hop on the bus – the double-decker bus that is – and go around the world as the band heads for the birthplace of the British Invasion: the United Kingdom!

On the way they’re going to have to solve that one last big puzzle that’s been vexing them: what to get for their underclassman rhythm guitarist Azusa, who will be taking over the club once they don their caps and gowns and leave Sakuragaoka for the last time. Get ready for a Magical Musical Tour as the whole gang takes in the sights and sounds of London and prepares for one last amazing encore!

Fans of “K!-ON!” have watched as the band members of Hokago Tea Time: Yui Hirasawa (guitar), Mio Akiyama (bass), Tsumugi Kotobuki (keyboard), Ritsu Tanaka (drums) and Azusa Nakano (guitar) have won fans hearts with their music.  But also watching the band but most of all, the friendships grow from the beginning to the graduation of four of the members from high school.

But as the final episodes of the second season gave viewers a glimpse of the concern the four members had for their youngest member and leaving her behind, the animated series kept things simple, yet sweet as we watch the band and friends prepare for graduation but we saw Azusa’s side of wanting to do something for her graduating friends and fellow band mates.

But with the popularity of the series and how it became a phenomenal hit throughout Japan inspiring video game and merchandise tie-ins, an animated film was released in December 2011 to showcase the final vacation shared by the five band members but what the band members did for Azusa before graduating.

The film was a big hit in Japan and now, the animated film will be released on Blu-ray in May 2013 courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.

What is “K-ON!”?

“K-ON!”, it happens to be one of the hottest manga and anime series in Japan that has not only done remarkably well in the anime TV ratings (from 2009-2010)  but also have its music top Japan’s Oricon music charts!

The series has been a phenomenon as it has attracted fans all over the world, those who want to cosplay as the characters, those who want to sing like the characters and those who want to play the music of the characters. Just one look on YouTube and you can see how passionate people are for this series!

“K-ON!” began as a four-panel comic strip written and illustrated by kakifly and the manga would then be serialized in Houbunsha’s seinen manga magazine “Manga Time Kirara” between May 2007-October 2010. In April 2011, the manga was relaunched on both “Manga Time Kirara” and Houbunsha’s magazine “Manga Time Kirara Carat” with two separate storylines.

The popularity of the manga series led to a 13-episode anime TV series which aired in Japan on April-June 2009, an OVA episode in Jan. 2010 and a 26-episode second season titled “K-ON!!” which aired in Japan from April through Sept. 2010 and a new OVA released in March 2011.

The series would also lead to a Sony PSP music rhythm video game and the film released in Dec. 3, 2011.

As for fans in the United States, there was been high anticipation for the anime TV release and the release of the first and second seasons on Blu-ray arrived with plenty of fanfare.

As for what “K-ON!” means…  “K-ON!” is a play on the Japanese word “keiongaku” (light music) and the series follows four high school students of Sakuragaoka Girl’s High School who are members of the “keiongaku” club.

The four characters featured thus far in the series are Yui Hirasawa, a naive and clumsy student entering high school who is not entirely sure what she wants to do in terms of extracurricular activities. While she tries to figure out what she wants to do, two other students, Ritsu Tainaka and Mio Akiyama join the keiongaku club to find out that most of the members have graduated and the only way they can keep the club open is if they have four members.

Because Ritsu plays the drums and Mio plays the bass guitar, they hope they can find other musicians and form a band.

Fortunately, a new member joins the group, Tsumugi Kobobuki, a student from a wealthy family who plays a Korg Triton Extreme 76-key keyboard. Now all they need is one member.

While Yui is trying to think of activities to do, she sees a flyer for the keiongaku club and in her mind, she remembers light music as something she did when she was young student in elementary school and so she joins. Meanwhile, the other three members are happy because with a fourth member, the club will stay alive but also the fact that maybe Yui is a guitarist and now, they can start their own band.

But Yui is not a musician and if anything, what she loves about the club is the ability to eat desserts and drink tea with the other members but when the three members perform in front of her, she becomes inspired and wants to be a member of the club and be part of the band.

The group eventually form the band “Hokago Tea Time” and with the help of their band adviser/teacher Sawako Yamanaka (who once was a student at the same high school, attended the same music club and member of the speed metal band, Death Devil), the group gathered the strength to perform in front of a large audience.

When they performed, their music eventually captivated a young guitarist named Azusa Nakano, a friend of Yui’s sister Ui.

Azusa became the fifth member of Hokago Tea Time and the five friends would eventually take part in several live performances but practice together as a band while enjoying sweets and tea inside their band room.

And as these band members became great friends and bandmates overtime, by the final weeks of their final year in high school, the band realizes that they are leaving Azusa behind, as she is younger than them and graduating  later on, the band just wants to make things comfortable for her.

And the final year of high school played out in the anime television series.

“K-ON!: The Movie”….

And with the release of the animated film “K-ON!: The Movie”, the film takes place months before the four members are to graduate.  Both want to experience a vacation together as friends and as a band, but they also want to spend their final time with their youngest band member Azusa, who they worry about and don’t want to leave her all alone.

So, the group come up with an idea, plan a trip to London along with Asuza, but to come up with ideas of what farewell gift they should give Azusa before the graduate.

A fun and music-filled film as the group manages to get lost in London, what kind of adventures will the five experience in the city and will they be able to play Hokago Tea Time music in this country they are visiting?

And what final gift will the four members decide to give as a parting gift for Azusa?

Find out in “K-ON!: The Movie”!

“K-ON!: The Movie” features the following characters:

• Yui Hirasawa- Yui is a naive and clumsy student who likes to sleep, eat and go shopping. But when she joins the Keiongaku club, she becomes the band’s guitarist and vocalist. She plays a Heritage Cherry Sunburst Gibson Les Paul standard electric guitar.
• Ritsu Tainaka – The most vocal person of the Keiongaku club. She is a drummer that plays a yellow Rick Marotta Signature Yamaha hipgig drum kit and always upbeat, energetic, sarcastic and often always playing jokes on her good friend Mio. Sometimes she can get in the nerves of the other members but she is the most determined in wanting to make sure the club exists and that they form a band.
• Mio Akiyama - The levelheaded person of the group and the smartest student among the four. She plays a Fender Jazz Bass. She originally was planning to join the literary club but her friend Ritsu tore up her applications and made her join the Keiongaku club. Although a person who knows quite a bit about music, she is also quite shy and is easy to scare. She can’t take anything that deals with anything scary, ghosts, blood, injuries or anything macabre.
• Tsumugi Kotobuki - The daughter of a very wealthy family. Known as “Mugi”, she plays a Korg Triton Extreme keyboard and is a piano prodigy. She is known for her blonde hair and thick eyebrows. Because her father owns a variety of businesses including a maid cafe, she often brings desserts to the club meetings. She also has an intriguing interest in the club advisor, Sawako Yamanaga.
• Azusa Nakano – The same class as Yui’s sister Ui, Azusa joins the Keiongaku music club but often feels that the other  members do not appear to be taking their band practices seriously and are often wanting to have fun.  She is a guitarist.

OTHER CHARACTERS:

• Ui Hirasawa – Yui’s younger sister who tends to get Yui out of a jam. Unlike Yui, Ui is more responsible and mature and takes care of her older sister and is good friends with Azusa.
• Nodoka Manabe - Yui’s childhood friend and confidant. Smart and intelligent, despite how Yui is at times, Nodoka always supports her.
• Sawako Yamanaka – A beloved teacher known for her kind heart, she also carries a secret, she is a former member of the Keiongaku music club during her high school years and was a member of a death metal band known as “Death Devil” as the lead guitarist and vocalist. She has tried to hide her past but when the members find a photo and music of her past, as part of a deal for them to keep it a secret, she becomes their advisor. Despite seeming to be responsible, she is quite wild and an airhead like Yui. And also making the members dress up in costumes that she creates.

VIDEO:

“K-ON!” has always been an anime series that is stylishly created but also features beautifully painted art backgrounds. Presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 anamorphic widescreen), one thing that I love to see when it comes to anime series is the attention to detail when covering a modern setting.

A lot of TV series tend to not make the backgrounds of a city landscape so detailed and tend to put a lot of recycled trees, dirt and sky but “K-ON!”, is not one of those anime series. There are scenes and also still images of natural settings that are beautifully painted and added to the series. There is detail for the instruments, for the desserts and I felt that with each episode, aside from the practice room and the wideshot image of their school, there was always something new being featured in terms of location. So, the color palette of the series is full of color and nothing is stale or seemed regurgitated.

With that being said, “K-ON!: The Movie” expands on the look by much better shading and a really beautiful look of London scenery with beautifully painted backgrounds.  As one can expect for a recent animated film, the Blu-ray release features a colorful palette, vibrant colors, inky black levels and during my viewing, I saw no problems of banding or artifacts.

AUDIO:

If there was anything that I was critical of “K-ON!” in the past was its 2.0 soundtrack for the TV series, but this time around, because this is an animated film, the lossless audio is presented in English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.  It’s important to note that I spent most of my time watching this animated film in Japanese but checking both lossless tracks during certain scenes to see how they utilize the surround channels.  For the most part, the music is crystal clear and sounds fantastic in HD.  There are use of surround channels for crowd scenes but for the most part, the film is dialogue and musically driven and sounds fantastic.

While I am biased towards the original Japanese voice talent (which I found each to be fantastic with their performance and music vocals), fans who have watched the original “K-ON!” TV series releases in the last three years via English dub and enjoyed it, should be satisfied with the animated film.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“K-ON!: The Movie” comes with the following special features:

• Minami Tanaka’s Dubbing Investigative Recording – (22:38) TBS announcer Minami Tanaka visits voice actresses Aki Toyosaki, Ayana Taketatsu, Minako Kotobuki, Satomi Satou and Yoko Hikasa and each take part in tongue twisters.
• London Bus and Press Conference at TBS – (19:00) A featurette with the five Japanese voice actresses riding a London red bus to the TBS headquarters to discuss the the film.
• Navi Show 1-2-3 is K-ON! – (23:59) Featuring TBS announcers Haruka Kobayashi and Sylvia Kato hosting the program and cast interviews with TBS announcer Minami Tanaka.
• Movie Premiere Event - (21:40) TBS announcer Sylvia Kato and the cast members of “K-ON!” at the movie premiere event for “K-ON!: The Movie”.
• Director Naomi Yamada in London – (28:59) A featurette on “K-ON!” director Naomi Yamada visiting London and her thoughts of the area, while doing research for the film.
• Good Luck Music Hall – K-ON! Music Hall – (4:43) TBS Anime Meister and announcer Masao Mukai discusses the music of “K-ON!: The Movie”.
• Japanese Trailer – (1:38) Japanese theatrical trailer for “K-ON!: The Movie”.
• Japanese Teaser - (:41) Japanese teaser for “K-ON!: The Movie”.
• Japanese Spots - (2:44) Japanese commercial spots for “K-ON!: The Movie”.
• Clean Opening and Closing Animation
• Trailers – Sentai Filmworks trailers

I have been vocal about “K-ON!” being one of my favorite anime series, from its combination of humor, music but also fun character interaction and magnificent voice acting of the Japanese cast.

In my last “K-ON!” review, I wrote about how sad it was to say goodbye to the members of Hokago Tea Time as they graduate and go their separate ways.  While the manga series continued and possibly in the near future, we may see another animated series with the four members as college students and Azusa continuing the tradition of the club in high school, the fact is that there has not been a series that I found so colorful, fun and amazing when it captures all-female band members (which is common to see in Japan) trying to form a band, performing live and just grow with each other as friends.

In Japan, you can watch variety TV shows such as “Gakkou e Ikou” (Let’s go to School) or films such as “Linda Linda Linda” and there are many young people who want to play music. And its evident from the various young bands that have come from Japan straight out of high school that have become signed to a major label.

While here in the West, there are shows and events that spotlight this, in Japan, its a bit more magnified because these storylines are brought to television, film and manga. There are constant music auditions throughout Japan featuring many young teenagers who want to make it and these auditions are featured on television. Especially female students who create a rock band.

“K-ON!” captures that essence of those female students wanting to create a rock band and the series gives life to those characters and while keeping the stories fun and light-hearted, I was very impressed with how music is integrated into the series. From the instruments featured, the focus on chord progression and hand/finger movements. While there is an anime series such as “La corda d’oro ~primo passo~” that does focus on intricacies of instruments and focuses more on classical music, the show is more magical in a sense that a fairy gives the protagonist the power to play the violin.

Most often there are dramatic series about girls and guys  ala “NANA” or one that is geared towards idol pop such as “Hummingbird” and “Idolm@ster”, but “K-ON!” didn’t even go that direction, it focused on the music and the friendships with each individual.

What “K-ON!: The Movie” does with amazing efficacy is to give us a clear look at how the four founding members of “Hokago Tea Time” felt about leaving Azusa behind and wanting to do something special for her before they leave.  So, as the TV series focused on the school life of the students, the film features a vacation as the five visit London but also the four wondering what goodbye present to give to Azusa.

Not only was the adventure in London entertaining and a lot of fun, the way the film is handled as the group are about to graduate felt much better than the TV animated series, because you can feel the emotion of the four members towards Azusa and what the four decide to give her as a final present.

The music for the film is catchy and upbeat and just to hear things in lossless audio is fantastic and the picture quality was vibrant with beautifully detailed backgrounds.

But one of the reasons why this animated film is also worth owning on Blu-ray is the amount of bonus features included.  From the TBS Japanese special features to promote the film, featuring fun games and interviews with the Japanese voice talent, there is also the premiere event, the pre-promotional event in Japan and even a featurette with director Naoko Yamada and staff going to London and sharing their thoughts and experiences of the locations they researched and featured in the film.

And no, this is not your typical 3 minute special feature, each of these are 20-30 minutes long.  So, you are getting a good amount of special features included on this Blu-ray release, more than what you usually see in anime Blu-ray releases these days, so this release is really jam-packed with “K-ON!” awesomeness!

Overall, if you are a big fan of “K-ON!”, this animated film is a must watch, must own Blu-ray release!  A fantastic animated film that fans will absolutely love and a Blu-ray release that is jam-packed with lengthy, awesome special features!

5 stars and a Blu-ray release that is not only highly recommended but definitely on our list for one of the best anime Blu-ray releases of the year!

 

Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan: Set 1 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

“Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan” is another fun and exciting “Shonen Jump” series.  Yes, similar to other SJ titles like “Naruto” and “Bleach”, “Nura: Rise of the Clan” features plenty of characters, action and humor!  But definitely a series that I found entertaining and worth recommending!

Image courtesy of © Hiroshi Shibashi/SHUEISHA, Nurari Project. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan: Set 1

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2010

DURATION: 13 episodes (325 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080i High Definition, English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Subtitles: English

RATED: TV 14

COMPANY: Viz Media

RELEASE DATE: January 8, 2013

Original Creator: Hiroshi Shiibashi

Directed by Junji Nishimura

Series Composition by Natsuko Takahashi

Music by Kouhei Tanaka

Character Design by Mariko Oka

Anime Production: Studio DEEN

Featuring the voices of:

Aya Hirano/Mela Lee as Kana Ienaga

Jun Fukuyama/Darrel Guilbeau as Rikuo Nura

Jun Fukuyama/Grant George as Rikuo Night

Ai Maeda/Sophie Roberts as Yura Keikain

Akira Ishida/Vic Mignogna as Tamazuki

Ami Koshimizu/Julie Ann Taylor as Sasami

Chikao Ohtsuka/William Frederick as Nurarihyon

Hiro Shimono/Doug Erholtz as Kurōmaru

Hiroki Yasumoto/Kyle Herbert as Aotabō

Hiroyuki Yoshino/Jason Wishnov as Gozumaru

Jouji Nakata/Taylor Henry as Gyūki

Junji Majima/Spike Spencer as Karasu Tengu

Kana Asumi/Wendee Lee as Saori Maki

Kishô Taniyama/Sam Regal as Kiyotsugu Kiyojūji

Most families have a skeleton or two in the closet, but Marika is understandably shocked to learn that what her family has been hiding is a skull and crossbones! While the revelation that her late father was a space pirate would have been earthshaking enough for most teenage girls, discovering that he was the captain of the notorious pirate ship Benten Maru will change Marika’s life forever. You see, pirating is a family business, and she’s just inherited the position of captain – and her father’s former crew is quite intent on making sure Marika accepts the job!

What’s a girl to do? Well, if you’re a high school student whose prior total naval experience has been working at the space yacht club, there’s really only one moral dilemma that has to be resolved: are pirates allowed to wear really short mini-skirts?

In 2008, mangaka Hiroshi Shiibashi created “Nurarihyon no Mago”, first published in Shueisha in 2007 and then received a serialization in Weekly Shonen Jump in 2008.  With a total of 25 tankobon volumes as of December 2012, the popular manga series would receive a 26-episode TV adaptation back in 2010 courtesy of Studio DEEN.

The series is directed by Junju Nishimura (“Kyo kara Maoh!”, “Dog Days”, “Ranma 1/2″, “True Tears”), series composition by Natsuko Takahashi (“Bleach”, “Brothers Conflict”, “ATASHIn’CHI”, “Gankutuou: The Count of Monte Cristo”), music by Kouhei Tanaka (“Dirty Pair”, “Ah! My Goddess”, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure”, “Gad Guard”, “One Piece”) and character design by Mariko Oka (“Hell Girl”, “Hetalia the Beautiful World”, “Tactics”).

And now, Viz Media will be releasing Shiibashi’s popular hit anime series on Blu-ray and DVD in May 2012 and will be titled “Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan”.  “Yokai” which means ghost/demon spirits from Japanese folklore, plays a big part in the anime series, as it is said that a head of the Nura Clan would lead the Yokai (who typically see humans as their enemies).

But fast forward to modern times in which the elder Nurarihyon, the Supreme Commander of the Nura Clan has decided that with his grandson Rikuo Nura (who inherited a 1/4 of his grandfather’s blood) now turning 13-years-old, he wants him to succeed him as the leader of the Yokai.  Rikuo may look nerdy and weak on the outside, but inside him is great power.

But with Rikuo being raised to live a human life and doing good deeds, unlike previous masters of the yokai, Nura cares about the humans, and not so much of yokai’s evil nature and wants to establish peace, by doing good deeds.  And that includes turning into the Third Head, in which his Yokai blood activates and awakens his yokai form when there is impending danger, and turns him to this white hair, brave and powerful individual.

But he knows his role in the family and that he would be the third head of the Nura clan but he intends to live a normal life.

While he joined the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol at school, a group of students that investigate yokai, the group does not realize how close they are getting into confront yokai but also be targeted by them.

As Rikuo tries to protect his friend, someone is trying to get other yokai clans to cause problems and eliminate Rikuo, so they can be the next head of the Yokai.  Who is responsible?

“Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan” features the following characters:

Rikuo Nara – A 13-year old student and the main protagonist of the series.  Because he inherited 1/4 of his grandfather’s blood, Rikuo is chosen by his grandfather to be the next Master of all yokai.  But as most yokai do not like to be around humans, because Rikuo has lived a normal lifestyle, he has compassion towards humans and is not thrilled of having to be the next head of the Nura clan.  Whenever there is danger, Rikuo’s yokai blood awakens (only during the night) and he is able to switch to his yokai form (known as “Night” Rikuo).

Nurarihyon - The grandfather of Rikuo and Supreme Commander of the Nura Clan.  He likes pranking humans and wants his grandson to succeed him as head of the clan.

Tsurara Oikawa – One of Rikuo’s protectors with the power of freezing things.  She is disguised as a school student and is often overprotective of him.  His friend Kana wonders how close he is with Tsurara.

Aotabo – A degenerate priest and the strongest yokai in the Nura Clan.    He has become one of Rikuo’s protectors.

Zen – A poisonous bird yokai and childhood friend of Rikuo.  He is disappointed that Rikuo has become soft and not sure if he Rikuo has what it takes to be the next head of the yokai.

Kubinashi – One of Rikuo’s guardians and is known for his head floating on top of his body, without a neck.

Kana Ienaga – Rikuo’s childhood friend and neighbor and also a member of the Kiyouji Paranormal Patrol.  She likes Rikuo but is jealous of Tsurara always around him.  She has a history that involves a yokai from her past.

Kiyotsugu – Obsessed with Yokai and the leader of the Kiyouji Paranormal Patrol.

Yura Keikain - An onmyoji of the keikan House who specializes in shikigami.  She was raised to see yokai as evil and her goal is to fight and destroy Nura (not knowing that Nura is the master of the yokai).  She is also a member of the Kiyouji Paranormal Patrol.

Gyuki – A yokai who is a high ranking subordinate of the Nura clan but can he be trusted?

VIDEO:

“Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan: Set 1″ is presented in 1080i High Definition.  The animation is vibrant, well-detailed and the art backgrounds are painted with great detail and for the most part, this is a very colorful anime series which I didn’t detect any banding issues, nor did I see any artifacts or softness.  Colors are sharp, black levels are nice and deep, line detail is very good and the series looks fantastic on Blu-ray!

AUDIO:

The lossless soundtrack for “Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan: Set 1″ is in Japanese and English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.  As one can expect from a front channel driven soundtrack, dialogue is crystal clear but I wished the soundtrack was given the 5.1 treatment because it’s an action-driven series with many characters.  But that’s how TV series are in Japan and the overall soundtrack provides clarity and good dynamic range.  As for the acting, acting on both soundtracks are magnificent.  The Japanese soundtrack features veterans such as Aya Hirano, Jun Fukuyama, Ai Maeda, Chikao Ohtsuka, while the English dub features great voice acting from Darrel Guilbeau, Grant George, Kayla Yesratsian and Mela Lee and many others.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan: Set 1″ comes with color production art, production art, clean opening and a trailer.

When it comes to anime that deal with yokai, there have been interesting series in the past.  From “Ghost Sweeper Mikami”, “Ghost Hunt”, “Phantom Quest Corp.”, “Haunted Junction” to name a few.

But what makes “Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan” stand out from the other anime series is the fact that its protagonist is a 13-year-old boy named Rikuo who was chosen to lead yokai, despite not exactly wanting to help them because he has lived a human life up to now.

But when he turns 13 and his grandfather wishes he succeed him as the Supreme Commander of the yokai, not only has Rikuo’s life has changed, but he now knows that because of what he is, what will he become, makes him a target for other yokai clans wanting to rule, but also them targeting his innocent human friends.

The first half of the series is more about character introductions.  How Rikuo Nura is now being forced to take on a position he never even wanted and wanting to remain human.  This is different from any previous Supreme Commander who are yokai and have caused problems for humans through eternity.  Rikuo wants nothing of that, he wants to help yokai but also help humans, he does not want to be evil or to do anything to hurt or scare humans.

The series carefully builds up by introducing us to Rikuo’s human friends and are part of the Paranormal Society that he belongs to but then introducing us to a few yokai characters, those who are there to protect Rikuo from harm.

So, the series incorporates action, a love triangle as his classmate and childhood friend Kana is jealous that he is often around Tsurara (who is a yokai protector of Rikuo),  you also have an onmyoji named Yura (who comes from a family of onmyjoji and taught that all yokai are evil) who eliminates yokai but yet hangs out with Rikuo (not knowing that he leads the yokai clan) and then you have a group of high school classmates that seem to seek out yokai and end up confronting them and getting themselves into trouble.

The storyline is also exciting and fun.  The first revolves around a rat clan that has caused problems with the neko (cat) clan and have kidnapped both Yura and Kana and Rikuo must save them.  It’s the first time we also see his yokai blood activate and transform him to the deadly and serious “Night” Rikuo.

And soon after, the storyline picks up with more yokai clan targeting Rikuo and his friends, as someone mysterious is responsible for the attacks on Rikuo and friends.

So, while these first 13 episodes are character driven episodes, the writers do a great job in character introduction (because there are many) but also making a storyline that is exciting, action-packed and a lot of fun.

Overall, “Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan” is another fun and exciting “Shonen Jump” series.  Yes, similar to other SJ titles like “Naruto” and “Bleach”, “Nura: Rise of the Clan” features plenty of characters, action and humor!  But definitely a series that I found entertaining and worth recommending!  I’m looking forward to the 2nd set!

 

Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 1 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray review)

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar” is a harem sci-fi anime series that is enjoyable and fun!  The first half is primarily full of laughs and comedy, but expect the second half to feature much more action and s a serious storyline.  If you are a “Tenchi Muyo!” fan, “Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar” is an OVA series worth watching!

Image courtesy of © 2013 FUNimation. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 1

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2010

DURATION: 7 episodes (322 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Subtitles: English

RATED: TV 14 LD

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2013

Original Creator: Masaki Kajishima

Original Character Designs by Hajime Watanabe

Directed by Koji Yoshikawa

Series Composition by Hideki Shirane

Music by Akifumi Takada

Character Design by Hajime Watanabe

Art Director: Kyou Inoue

Chief Animation Director: Hajime Watanabe

Mechanical Design by Naohiro Washio

Anime Production by AIC Spirits/BeSTACK

Featuring the voices of:

Ayumi Tsunematsu/Jami Marchi as Mexiah Furan

Hiro Shimono/Jason Liebrecht as Kenshi Masaki

Madoka Yonezawa/Jad Saxton as Lashara Aasu XXVIII

Natsuko Kuwatani/Morgan Garrett as Chiaia Furan

Chiaki Kanou/Trina Nishimura as Jozzy

Eri Taruta as Mahya, Yeliss

Erika Sudou/Karen Bright as Hannah

Hiroki Yasumoto/R. Bruce Elliot as Babalun

Hiromi Konno/Alexis Tipton as Lapis Razz

Hyo-sei/Shelley Calene-Black as Emera

Junko Noda/Lydia Mackay as Aura Shurifon

Kana Oomura/Caitlin Glass as Lithia Po Chiina

Fifteen-year-old Kenshi Masaki has been taken from his home planet, transported to a galaxy far, far away, and captured by a gorgeous princess! This royal beauty quickly claims Kenshi as her personal servant – and lends him out to all the lecherous ladies at her prestigious boarding school.

On the rare occasion Kenshi doesn’t have his hands full with a curvaceous coed, he can be found training for the intergalactic mecha battle royale looming on the horizon. Helping the princess save her planet is Kenshi’s ticket home, but losing means he’ll be stuck scrubbing backs in the interstellar sauna for the rest of his life!

This limited edition comes with a collectible rigid art box designed to hold both parts 1 and 2 plus a 16-page art booklet.

Contains episodes 1-7.

In 2009, a spinoff OVA series that is a spin-off of “Tenchi Muyo!” was created by original creator Masaki Kajishima.

Presented in 13 OVA episodes which was released from March 2009-March 2010 and produced by AIC Spirits and BeSTACK, the OVA series would lead to a light novel adaptation by Atsushi Wada in 2009, a manga adaptation serialized in Comic REX in 2010 and now released in America on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of FUNimation.

According to Kajishima, the anime is part of the “Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki” continuity and takes place 15 years after the events of “Tenchi Muyo! GXP”.  Because “Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar” features the debut of Tenchi’s half brother Kenshi, this would lead many fans to discuss theories of Kenshi and its connection to the original series.

The series revolves around 15-year-old Kenshi Masaki who ended up in an alternate world of Geminar.  This world has been waging war against each other using Sacred Mechanoids (humanoid weapons discovered in ancient ruins).

We are first introduced to Lashara Earth XXVIII, the 12-year-old ruler of the Shrtrayu Empire and her bodyguard Chiaia Flan who fights against intruders in the Holy Land.  One of these intruders proves to be an excellent fighter and is revealed to be Kenshi.

Kenshi has been ordered to assassinate Lashara Earth XXVIII but can’t do it as he is not a killer.  Seeing good within Kenshi, as the group hold him captive and to find out his whereabouts, it is quickly learned that Kenshi is not of this world.  In fact, he was being used by the enemies of Shtrayu Empire who had promised him a safe return back to his homeworld, which became false.

Finding out he had been betrayed, he is rescued by Dark Elf Aura Shurifon, who returns him back to Lashara.  But they realize that he has caught a disease and will die unless he receives treatment.  So, everyone works quickly to try and save him.

For now, Kenshi can be useful to the empire who is suffering from enormous debt.  So, as they try to find a way for Kenshi to return back home, Lashara Earth XXVIII has Kenshi become her assistant, so he can learn and assimilate with society (which the female population outnumber males by a very large margin).  So, naturally many of the women he comes into contact with are impressed by his demeanor, his work ethic and are amazed by his uncanny fighting skills and bravery.

But as Lashara and those working for her try to keep Kenshi’s identity secret, there are those in the Holy Land who are working for the enemy and are keeping their eyes on Kenshi.

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar” features the following characters:

Kenshi Masaki – The younger half-brother of Tenchi Msaki and the son of Tenchi’s father Nobuyuki Masaki and his second wife, Rea.  Kenshi traveled from Earth to the alternate world of Geminar and is trying to find a way to go back home.  He was used by one faction to assassinate Lashara Earth XXVIII in exchange for information to bring him back home, but not a killer, Kenshi made the decision to not hurt her.  So, Lashara decides to help Kenshi but he may disguise her as her servant and keep the fact that he is from another world as a secret.  So, for now, he must try to fit in with the people in the Holy Land.

Lashara Earth XXVII- The 12-year-old ruler of the Shtrayu Empire.  She is thrusted to inherit the throne and rule the land after her father’s sudden death.  She takes Kenshi in as a servant and tries to get him to take part in duties int he Holy Land.  She may have feelings towards Kenshi but because of her royal status, she is unable to show those feelings towards him.

Chiaia Flan – Lashara’s personal escort and bodyguard. Attends Holy Land Academy to complete her Sacred Mechamaster training.  She has a crush on her childhood friend Dagmyer, but although she is seen getting upset at Kenshi a lot, she may be having some feelings towards him.

Maria Nanadan – A young princess from the country of Havoniwa and is currently attending Holy Land Academy with Lashara.  Both are cousins but they are not fond with each other and are constantly trying to one up each other.  Although she supports Yukine’s emotions towards Kenshi, she seems to also be falling for Kenshi.

Yukine Mare – A shy servant of Maria but very skilled at information gathering.  She is attracted to Kenshi.

Wahanly Shume – A brillliant inventor and good friend of Lashara.  She looks like a teenager but she is actually 97-years-old. She also starts to have feelings towards Kenshi.

Lithia Po Cheena – Granddaughter of the Pope of Geminar and President of Holy Land Academy’s Student council.  She is bitter, sarcastic and blunt.  She sees Kenji as a “wild animal” (in a literal way) but she may have feelings towards him.

Aura Shurifon – The Dark Elf Princess of the Shurifon Kingdom and member of the Pilgrimage Route Guard.  She is often protective of Kenshi and develops feelings towards him.

Mexiah Flan – Mexiah is a person who is very sexual around Kenshi and often seen taking off her clothes when she is around him, often making Chiaia concerned when Mexiah is near Kenshi.

Dagmyer Mesut – Chiaia’s childhood friend and the one responsible for manipulating Kenshi into assassinating Lashara.  He is constantly recruiting students for the invasion of Holy Land.

Ulyte Mesut – Dagmyer’s uncle and the younger brother of Babalun.  He is a instructor at the Academy and also wants to invade the Holy Land for another reason.

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 1″ features the first seven episodes.  Here is a brief spoilerless summary of each episode:

• EPISODE 1 - Kenshi Masaki is ordered to kill Lashara Earth but is unable to.  Meanwhile, Kenshi is dying of the diseases known as Rodeshiatore and has six hours to live.  Can Aura and Mexiah save him?
• EPISODE 2 – Kenshi Masaki is made a servant to Lasara.  We are introduced to Lashara’s cousin Maria Nanadan and her assistant Yukine.
• EPISODE 3 – In order to integrate Kenshi in the Holy Land, he is introduced to the Headmistress of Holy Land Academy and is assigned various jobs.
• EPISODE 4 – Maria tries to get Yukine and Kenshi together, meanwhile Kenshi talks about his past to Lashara and Chiaia.
• EPISODE 5 - Kenshi becomes a member of the Student Council, making him more popular with the girls.  Female upperclassmen and underclassmen form an alliance in hopes of capturing Kenshi.
• EPISODE 6 - Flora Nanada, the Queen of Havoniwa invites Maria and Lashara to visit her but also, so she can meet Kenshi.
• EPISODE 7 – As Dagmyer recruits bandits, Lan who remembers Kenshi tries to recruit him as part of their group.  The race begins for the Warrior Tournament.

VIDEO:

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 1″ is presented in 1080p High Definition.  Because the series is an OVA series and not a television series, I was expecting the picture quality to be vibrant and fully-detailed.  If anything, “Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar” seems more like a television series when it comes to picture quality.

There is a hint of softness, but the series does feature good shading, character and mechanical designs designs but similar to the original series, tends to use a lot of lush backgrounds, blue skies, mountains, a lot of trees, etc.  But there are some emphasis on building structures, cement walls and most importantly its use of mechanical designs with Mecha featured throughout the series.  There is also a good use of CG for floating structures and backgrounds. There are some indoor scenes which are nicely detailed but overall, picture quality is good but it is a bit soft.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar” is presented in Japanese and English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio.  I have to admit that I was so excited for the lossless soundtrack because the opening theme really comes out crystal clear and utilizes the surround channels immediately.  But the overall presentation, while clear, is not as immersive as I would have hoped.  Audio is primarily dialogue driven and center and front-channel, while music gets the surround sound treatment.  But for a television series, audio is could and didn’t notice any difference in terms of surround sound use on both Japanese or English lossless tracks.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 1″ comes with the following special features:

• Audio Commentary for Episode 1 – Joe McDonald, ADR Director at FUNimation interviews English dub voice talent and technical crew.
  
• About the Making of the Closing Theme “Destino” by Alchemy – (3:51) Behind-the-scenes of the making of “Destino” and the duo talking about the song.
• Digest in Commemoration of Sales release (Second Half of Episode 1-2) – (8:30) A collection of clips from episode 1 and 2.
• Stills of Recording the Music for “Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar” – (1:10) Photo stills featuring composer Akifumi Takada and orchestra played along with music.
• Information and Sneak Peek of the Pay Per View Program 1-6 – (3:02) The Japanese previews for the pay-per-view commercials for “Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar”
• Teaser Trailers 1-2 – (2:43) The teaser trailers for “Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar”.
• Textless Opening Song “Follow Me”
• Textless Opening Song “Destino”
• Trailers – FUNimation trailers

EXTRAS:

The “Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar – Part 1″ comes with an artbox slipcase to hold both parts and a 16-page art booklet. (Note: We were not provided with the limited edition boxes or booklet, so I am unable to comment on them)

I have been watching every “Tenchi Muyo!” series since it was first released in Japan.  A big fan of the original OVA’s and animated films, it’s always fascinating to see how the storyline is without the characters that fans have followed for many years.

First with “Tenchi Muyo! GXP” and now with “Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar”, what will interest fans the most is the introduction of a 15-year-old named Kenshi, the half brother of Tenchi Masaki.  How did this happen?  Fans will find theories from other fans about who Kenshi may be.  But in terms of the series, we have Kenshi stuck in another world and for the first half, the series is more introductory to the characters and a secret plot taking place behind-the-scenes.

While the latter is setting up the storyline for the second half of the OVA series, the first half tends to be more harem like.

Because Geminar is a female dominated planet, because Kenshi has special abilities, speed, strength and a good guy overall, many female characters want to marry him.  Actually, many of the female student body at the Academy wants to be with Kenshi.

There are references to the “Tenchi Muyo!” characters such as Washu and others when Kenshi is questioned about his home and these crystals that belong to him.  But also his unusual abilities that surpass normal people in the planet.

Harem anime fans will enjoy the sexual humor as women want to be naked with Kenshi, women tease Kenshi that if he saw them naked, he would have to marry him.  And there are a lot of scenes that feature these women and teenage girls really doing all they can to be close to him.

While harem storyline is nothing new to the “Tenchi Muyo!” series, the main difference is that a large number of women and teenage girls want to be near Kenshi.  In fact, in episode 6, one of the girl’s mothers just wants to have her fun around Kenshi and somehow Kenshi has earned a reputation of having magic “massaging” hands.

But the first part of “Tenchi Muyo! War on Geminar” are character establishing episodes and how any of these women want Kenshi badly.  It sounds like a story that came from a visual novel, but I hope the storyline does become more serious in the second half.  But because of the sexual humor, you may not want to watch this series with children in the room.

As for the Blu-ray release, while I can’t refer to the packaging or the booklet which comes with part 1, I can comment on the picture quality.  I have to admit that I was a bit surprised that the OVA series looked more like a television series.  Back in the day, “Tenchi Muyo!” was a series that captivated our attention at anime club screenings as the series was known as a quality series on LaserDisc at the time.  Fast forward to 2010, when this series was first released, while shown on the Animax pay per view channel, I was hoping for sharper, crisper animation and less softness.  But the series was soft and while many scenes did have good detail for its art backgrounds and some scenes and characters were well-shaded, it seemed more like the picture quality of a TV series than OVA series.

As for the lossless soundtrack, I loved how the music was utilized for the surround channels but I was hoping the action sequences would feature a bit more LFE and surround use.  Dialogue and music are crystal clear but was hoping for something more immersive.

For special features, you get many of the Japanese special features included with part 1 and you also get a single audio commentary featuring the English dub voice talent and the FUNimation crew that worked on the series.

Overall, “Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar” is a harem sci-fi anime series that is enjoyable and fun, but expect the second half to feature much more action and a more serious storyline.  If you are a fan of “Tenchi Muyo!”, while none of the original characters appear in this OVA series, we are introduced to Kenshi Masaki, a 15-year-old half brother of Tenchi that is stuck in an alternate world and must find a way back home.   But also stuck in a planet that is primarily all-female, so for a guy like Kenshi…it’s open season for many of these young women and teenage girls.

 

Kids on the Slope: Complete Collection (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

“Kids on the Slope: Complete Collection” is an anime series that you rarely see these days.  The characters and the storyline just draws you in, the overall series is just delightful and so enjoyable!  From the creative team behind “Cowboy Bebop”, “Kids on the Slope” is not just highly recommended, it’s on my list as one of the top anime series for 2013 on Blu-ray! 

Image courtesy of © 2013 Sentai Filmworks. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Kids on the Slope: Complete Collection

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2012

DURATION: 12 episodes (300 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Subtitles: English

RATED: TV 14 LD

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2013

Original Creator: Yuki Kodama

Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe

Script by Ayako Katoh, Yuuko Kakihara

Music by Yoko Kanno

Character Design by Nobuteru Yuki

Art Director: Shinichi Uehara

Anime Production by Mappa, Tezuka Productions

Featuring the voices of:

Ryohei Kimura/Chris Patton as Kaoru Nishimi

Yoshimasa Hosoya/Andrew Love as Sentarō Kawabuchi

Aya Endo/Maggie Flecknoe as Yurika Fukahori

Junichi Suwabe/David Matranga as Junichi Katsuragi

Yuuka Nanri/Rebeka Stevens as Ritsuko Mukae

Nobuhiko Okamoto/Blake Shepard as Seiji Matsuoka

Nozomi Furuki/Chris Martinez as Taichi

It’s the summer of 1966 and high school freshman Kaoru Nishimi is struggling to adjust to the latest of many moves in his young life, this time to his uncle’s home in the seaside town of Kyushu. It’s never easy adjusting. It’s never easy fitting in. But this time will be different. This time he’ll meet friends who will change his life forever. And he’ll discover a new passion, one that grabs his heart and rocks him to his very soul. It’s music. A beat. A whole new way of looking at life. It’s called jazz, and together with bad boy Sentaro and music store girl Ritsuko, they’re going to follow their muse to wherever their music takes them! You think garage bands are something new? Think again and travel to a time when dreams and a couple of musical instruments really could change the world! Get ready to be blown away by a tale of life, love and all that jazz in THE KIDS ON THE SLOPE!

In 2007, mangaka Yuki Kodama would create a manga series titled “Sakamichi no Apollon” which was serialized in “Flowers” Magazine.

The manga series would attract the attention of director Shinichiro Watanabe (“Cowboy Bebop”, “Samurai Champloo”, “Baby Blue”).  Knowing that the series would feature a lot of music (especially with jazz), who best than go to a person that is well known for creating music for anime series, Yoko Kanno (“Cowboy Bebop”, “Aquarion”, “Macross Frontier”, “Macross Plus”, “Escaflowne”, “Darker than Black”, etc.).  And in 2012, the 12-episode anime series was featured on Fuji TV’s “noitaminA” anime block.

“Sakamichi no Apollon” would feature a storyline written by Ayako Katoh (“Chihayafuru”, “Stitch!: Itazura Alien no Daiboken”) and Yuuko Kakihara (“Heaven’s Lost Property”, “Stitch!”, “Chihayafuru”), character design by Nobuteru Yuki (“Battle Angel”, “Battle Royale High School”, “The five Star Stories”, “Heat Guy J”, “Space Battleship Yamato 2199″) and background art by Shinichi Uehara (“Aoi Bungaku”, “Ninja Scroll”, “Paprika”, “Summer Wars”, “Tokyo Godfathers”).

And now “Sakamichi no Apollon” will be released in the U.S. with the title “Kids on the Slope” in May 2013 on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sentai Filmworks as a complete collection.

“Kids on the Slope” is a series that takes place in 1966.

Kaoru Nishimi is a teenager who has to move from Tokyo to Kyushu and live with his Aunt, while his father is working abroad.  Trained in classical piano, Kaoru loves to play but his wealthy aunt is not too fond of him playing piano until a certain time and for the most part, the family is very strict and Kaoru feels like he is living alone.

During his first day at school, he tries to keep to himself and is warned that a boy named Sentaro Kawabuchi sits behind him and not to mess with him.

Meanwhile, the class representative named Ritsuko Mukae shows him around the school.  And for Kaoru, her vibrant smile for some reason, makes him very happy.

While looking for a way to get to the rooftop at the school (a place where Kaoru typically runs off to when he wants to be away from everyone), he sees a guy sleeping near the top area.  When Kaoru ask if he knows where he can get the key, a group of seniors come with the key but are not interested in giving it away.  Seeing how badly Kaoru needs it, the guy who was sleeping ends up getting a fight with them and while he is outmatched by the three guys, he manages to get the key to the top floor.

When Kaoru tries to get it, the guy tells him that he will give him the key for money, which Kaoru refuses and becomes upset.

While class is about to start, Sentaro Kawabuchi sits behind Kaoru and when Kaoru turns around, he finds out that Sentaro is the guy he met earlier and fought with the three guys.  As Kaoru tries to run away from Sentaro, Sentaro follows him wherever he goes.  Kaoru runs to the roof despite the heavy rain and Sentaro does the same.  But he throws Kaoru’s umbrella and tells him to embrace the rain and both are soaken wet.

As Kaoru tries to help both of them with clean clothes, Kaoru sees Sentaro playing drums with his pencils and finds out that Sentaro is a jazz drummer, while Sentaro finds out that Kaoru is a classical pianist.

After school, Kaoru asks Ritsuko if she knows a record shop in town and surprisingly, she tells him that her father owns Mukae Record Shop.  When Ritsuko finds out that Kaoru plays the piano, she tells him to go into the basement where he sees a piano.  But to his shock, he sees Sentaro there playing the drums.

And that day would be the first time Kaoru is introduced to jazz music.  Sentaro asks Kaoru to play the piano and the two get into a discussion of how Kaoru can’t play jazz music and let his emotions be free while playing. Wanting to prove Sentaro wrong, Kaoru begins to listen to jazz music and learns how to play it on the piano.

Next thing you know, these two different people end up becoming good friends and both become interested in practicing and performing jazz music with one another.  But will their differences lead them to stay as friends or will it push them apart?

As for Ritsuko, being friends to both guys, she knows that the two who have had bad childhoods and because of that, they need each other to be as friends but also for support.  But how strong is their friendship?  And will their pasts interfere with their present?

“Kids on the Slope” features the following characters:

Kaoru Nishima – Lived in Tokyo, but when his mother abandoned both him and his mother. Because times are tough, his father had to look for work, while he stayed with his wealthy aunt who is very strict.  Throughout life, Kaoru has been a shy, timid boy who never knew what friendship or love was all about.  So, while he has learned how to play the piano and does very well in school, he has been used to being a school loner and being bullied at school.  But despite not knowing what true friendship is, he develops a friendship with someone so different than him…Sentaro Kawaguchi.  He also is in love with Ritsuko.

Sentaro Kawaguchi - Sentaro is half Japanese and half American.  When his mother left him and his father, he and his young siblings lived with his grandmother but after she died, his father became an alcoholic and started beating on him and the children.  Forced to grow up at an early age, Sentaro’s life has always been a tough guy who got into a lot of fights.  He’s not interested in school, loves playing jazz music on drums and takes care of his young siblings, while his father works far away.  His only friend at the time was his neighbor Ritsuko, who he grew up with.  But now he finds a new friend in Kaoru and has feelings for a girl named Yurika.

Ritsuko Mukae  – The class representative and nice individual who grew up with Sentaro and always watched over him.  Because she sees how Kaoru is and how he is with Sentaro, not many people treat Sentaro normally, so she hopes the two can be very good friends.  While she grew up liking Sentaro, she is unaware that Kaoru has fallen for her.  How will she respond if he tells her that he loves her?  Ritsuko’s father is also the owner of the local recordshop and in the basement is where her father, Sentaro, Junichi and Kaoru practice their music.

Yurika Fukahori – A girl that was getting accosted by guys, Sentaro came to her rescue.  From the first moment he saw her, it was love at first sight.  And now Kaoru wants to help Sentaro get closer to Yurika, so he can get clsoer to Ritsuko.  But because Sentaro is shy, he tells Yurika that Kaoru is the guy interested in her.  But for Yurika, she is smitten with Junichi.

Junichi Katsuragi – The cool trumpet playing friend of Sentaro. He often joins Sentaro and Ritsuko’s father for a session in the record store basement.  From a wealthy family and attending college, Junichi walks to the own beat of his drum.  And his cool demeanor captivates Yurika.

Tsutomu Mukae – Ritsuko’s father and owner of the local record shop.  He is a bass player and jazz music aficionado.

Seiji Matsuoka – Dreams of becoming a rock star and wants Sentaro to play drums for his band.

Shigetora Maruo – Guitarist for Seiji’s band and a guy who sits next to Sentaro and Kaoru.

VIDEO:

“Kids on the Slope” features fantastic animation and background art courtesy of Mappa and Tezuka Productions!  Presented in 1080p High Definition, the series definitely captures Yuki Kodama’s artwork and brings life to the anime adaptation.  Characters are well-shaded and drawn, while background art is very detailed. I love the overall look of this anime series!  No sign of softness, banding or any major issues.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

The lossless soundtrack for “Kids on the Slope” is presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.    While dialogue is crystal clear, how I would have loved to have a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack because of the series’ wonderful music.  The music is so awesome for this series that I was hoping that it would utilize the surround channels but it’s primarily a lossless stereo soundtrack, which is common for an animated television series from Japan.

As for voice acting, both the Japanese and English soundtracks are well-performed.  There is one primary difference and that is for the character of Seiji Matsuoka.  In the Japanese version, Seiji sounds like a regular teenager but for the English dub version, they made him sound very feminine and with the lisp, changed the dialogue and have him flirting with Kaoru (which is not in the Japanese version), I thought that was an interesting direction by ADR director Steven Foster to take the character of Seiji in that direction.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Kids on the Slope: Complete Collection” comes with the following special features:

• Clean Opening and Ending
• Japanese Previews – (3:04) Japanese prevews for “Sakamichi no Apollon”
• Interview with Shinichiro Watanabe – (16:04) An interview with the director of “Kids on the Slope”.
• Interview with Yoko Kanno – (21:46) Yoko Kanno talks about how she was brought on board as a composer, how she found the jazz musicians through YouTube and how she had YUKI and Motohiro Hata do the music for the series opening and ending themes.
• Interview with Takashi Matsuanga and Shun Ishikawa – (13:33) Interview with the teenage pianist and drummer who provided the music for Kaoru and Sentaro for the anime series.

It’s very rare to come across an anime series that captures real life and focus on character interaction, emotions and most importantly, music.

While we have seen these type of storylines featured in Japanese dramas such as “Long Vacation” or “With You”, for anime there is “Nodame no Cantabile” but most of the time, there is always a supernatural, fantasy type of addition to that storyline.

Here we are with an anime adaptation of Yuki Kodama’s “Sakamichi no Apollon” and having watched all 12 episodes, I can’t help but feeling of how awesome, how delightful this anime series was, because it’s such a rarity to see, especially to see it released in the United States.

“Kids on the Slope” captivates the viewer for its storyline of friendship of two broken individuals, the love triangle but also how jazz music is incorporated into the film and I must say, this is one of the coolest, hippest soundtracks I have heard from an anime series.  So much that I wanted to purchase the soundtrack immediately because the music for this anime series was fantastic!

While those used to a certain style of anime may not like a series about a bromance, let alone about music, “Kids on the Slope” is probably one of the best anime series that I have seen in 2013 and I have to put this in my top three for anime series on Blu-ray for the year because it’s that good!

Why is this anime series so captivating?

It’s about the characters!  Kaoru is a guy who hasn’t had many friends or social activities.  He is not good at reading people, nor is he that good at showing emotions.  That so many times, he reads things and his only way of communicating is with anger.  We see Kaoru as this meek character with glasses, always studying and playing the piano.

While Sentaro also never had many friends growing up, but you realize that the reason why he’s gotten into so much trouble is because he was always bullied because he was not full Japanese.  He used his height and his strength to deter people from bullying him and he ended up getting into a lot of fights while growing up.  But like Kaoru, he also had a dysfunctional childhood.

Kaoru needs Sentaro, because he makes him feel wanted and important but most of all, he’s the first guy who never treated him any less, but accepted him as a friend right off the bat.

Sentaro respects Kaoru for his magnificent piano playing but because he cares so much about him.  He lived life feeling that no one cares about him, thus he became a bully but now he has found a friend who believes in him.

And for both individuals, having each other as friends is not easy because they are so different, but despite their problems, they know that they make a great team and are very good friends.  But both are a bit too hardheaded to admit it.

Ritsuko is your good-natured female character and good friends with both.  She grew up with Sentaro and she always took care of him as he was always getting into fights.  She is his neighbor and Sentaro has always practiced the drums at her father’s record shop.

But she sees how Sentaro has opened up to Kaoru and she knows he needs that. But as she gets to know Kaoru, she knows he needs Sentaro as well. But when she finds out that Sentaro likes another girl, let alone finding out that Kaoru has fallen for her, how is a girl supposed to react?

Throw in characters such as Yurika and Junichi and other dramatic situations that really bolster the storyline, the characters and also the emotional angle of the series.

I felt the series delivered in emotional impact when Kaoru felt that he was lonely and no one understood his feelings, but when he found out how his life was all this time and how he lived alone and had to endure abuse and bullying throughout his life, much worse than he has had, it was an emotional scene.  In fact, there are many of these emotional moments throughout the series and I was pleased of how the writing was. Both Ayako Katoh and Yuuko Kakihara did a wonderful job!

As for the Blu-ray release, the anime looks fantastic!  The character designs are different from what most people may be accustomed to but it actually has a taste of the old school anime that I grew up watching.  Characters are well-drawn, well-shaded and the art backgrounds are just beautiful too look at.

And as for special features, I was amazed to find interviews instead of the typical clean opening and ending animations.  So, you do get an interview with director Shinichiro Watanabe, composer Yoko Kanno but also with teenage musicians Takashi Matsunaga and Shun Ishikawa who were both found by Kanno on YouTube.  Two young professional musicians who know jazz music and really made the anime feel believable, entertaining and exciting.

Overall, “Kids on the Slope: Complete Collection” is an anime series that you rarely see these days.  The characters and the storyline just draws you in, the overall series is just delightful and so enjoyable!  From the creative team behind “Cowboy Bebop”, “Kids on the Slope” is not just highly recommended, it’s on my list as one of the top anime series for 2013 on Blu-ray!

Highly recommended!

 

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