.hack//Quantum: The Complete 3 OVA Series (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

“.hack//Quantum” will entertain longtime “.hack” fans but also will be enjoyed by anime on Blu-ray fans for its slick anime production which looks fantastic and vibrant on Blu-ray but also sporting one of the best lossless soundtracks for an anime title on Blu!

Image courtesy of © 2012 FUNimation Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: .hack//Quantum: The Complete 3 OVA Series

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2011

DURATION: 3 Episodes: (75 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), Japanese and English DolbyTrue HD 5.1, English subtitles

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

Release Date: February 14, 2012

Directed by Masaki Tachibana

Written by Tatsuya Hamazaki

Music by Ko Otani

Original Character Design: Atsushi Hasebe

Art Director: Yusuke Takeda

Mechanical Design: Takeshi Takakura

3D Director: Eiji Inomoto

Sound Director: Kazuya Tanaka

Director of Photography: Toshiya Kimura

Anime Production: Kinema Citrus

Featuring the following voice talent:

Kana Hanazawa/Trina Nishimura as Sakuya

Miyuki Sawashiro/Anastasia Munoz as Tobias

Ayumi Fujimura/Lara Woodhull as Mary

Masami Iwasaki/J. Michael Tatum as Smith

Sanae Kobayashi/Stephanie Young as Shamrock

Yui Ogura/Lindsay Seidel as Hermit

Daisuke Namikawa/Brandon Potter as Iyoten

Youko Honna/Kara Edwards as Asta

Tobias, Mary, and Sakuya are way into the The World. Together, they form an inseparable group, grinding toward the break of day and running dungeons in search of the artifacts of adventure. But when the trio becomes lost in this virtual labyrinth, a chance encounter with the mysterious entity known only as Hermit will change their lives forever. There’s an eerie darkness spreading across The World, and once you stumble in, you may never make it out.

In January 2012, “.hack//The Movie” will be released in theaters in Japan and in America, the three-part OVA series “.hack//Quantum” will be released on Blu-ray+DVD courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment.

This long running multimedia series has its dedicated fanbase and it’s amazing how far it has come.

In the early 2000′s, a collaboration between media company CyberConnect 2 and Bandai would result in an anime, manga and video game multimedia franchise known as “.hack”.  The series began with the anime series “.hack//Sign” in 2002 and then led to four video game releases “.hack//(Infection/Mutation/Outbreak/Quarantine) which would contain the OVA series “.hack//Liminality”.

The series wold follow with a manga and anime series known as “.hack//Legend of the Twilight”  (2004), “.hack//Roots” (2006) and in 2008,  a new three-part video game series titled “.hack/G.U.” featuring “Resurrection”, “Reminisce” and “Redemption” were released.

To give people some background on what “.hack” is…

The series takes place during a time where people are hooked on a fictional MMORPG known as “The World” which is maintained by CyberConnect Corporation. “The World” was released two years after the virus known as “Pluto’s Kiss” caused a massive Internet shutdown which proved to be catastrophic worldwide.

As many people have partaken in “The World” online game, the game gives a chance for people to interact with each other through their virtual reality headsets (HMD) and a gamepad and can take on a character they have created and take part in adventures and battles monsters alongside friends or other people they meet online.

But unbeknown to people is that “The World” creator Harald Hoerwick designed the game to be a virtual womb to create the ultimate artificial intelligence known as “Aura” which literally receives emotional and psychological data from those playing the game.  “Aura” was created to be the daughter that Hoerwick and German poet, Emma Wielant have never had.

The first series “.hack//Sign” featured a person named Tsukasa who was mind-trapped inside the game, while players try to find out who and what happened to the person that is using Tsukasa in the real world and what connection the player had on Aura.

“.hack//Liminality” was a four-part OVA Series which focused on players who have been hospitalized and are in a coma after playing “The World”.  The first “.hack” video game series features two hackers Kite and BlackRose tring to find out what caused the coma of Kite’s friend Orca and BlackRose’s brother Kazu.

“.hack//Legend of the Twilight” focuses on two twins, Shugo and Rena who won a contest and are given the avatars of legendary .hackers “Kite” and “Blackrose” (both were introduced in the first video game series).  But Aura gives Shugo a “Twilight Bracelet” and both embark on a mission to unravel the mystery of the bracelet.  Meanwhile, CC Corp executives are displeased and want to know how Shugo has brought an illegal item into the game.

For “.hack//Roots”, the story takes place in 2015 and CC Corporation’s building has been burned down and a lot of the data of the “World” was lost.  So, the corporation spliced data used for another game with the current data to created “The World R:2″ in 2016 and allowed for player vs. player (PVP) play. The story features on a person named Haseo who logs into “The World R:2″ for the first time and his character is nearly killed by PKers (player killers) but is saved.  He jouns a group of online friends to find the “Key of the Twilight”.

The second video game series “hack//G.I.” features Haseo (of “.hack//Roots”) trying to find a cure after his friend was attacked online by a player known as Tri-edge and led to Haseo’s involvement with Project G.U.

Which leads us now to “.hack//Quantum”, a three part-OVA series by Kinema Citrus Studio (“Eureka Seven – good night, sleep tight,  young lovers” movie, “Tokyo Magnitude 8.0″) and a tie-in to the video game and manga series “.hack//Link” (the final chapter to the “.hack” series) which is currently ongoing in Japan.

“.hack//Quantum” is an OVA series directed by Masaki Tachibana (“The King of Fighters: Another Day”, “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex”) and features a screenplay by Tatsuya Hamazaki (“.hack” related manga series, “Digimon Next”).  Character designs are by Atsushi Hasebe (“Darker than Black”, “Ouran High School Host Club”, “Fighting Spirit”), art direction by Yusuke Takeda (“Eden of the East”, “Neon Genesis Evangelion”, “Giant Robo”) and music by Ko Otani (“Ghost Slayers Ayashi”, “Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino”, “Eyeshield 21″).

The OVA series focuses on three players: Sakuya, Tobias and Mary who play the world’s largest MMORPG, “The World R:X” created by CyberConnect Corporation. The series showcases the characters in-game and out-of-game.

One day, the three go on an adventure together online and Sakuya tends to pick up anything she can find and one day, she picks up a glowing item not thinking much of it.

Meanwhile, a difficult boss fight take place between a guild and large dragon monsters and somehow Sakuya and friends get caught in the battle.  Meanwhile, watching them from afar is a cat character known as Hermit.

While Sakuya and friends literally survived the battle, unfortunately a bounty is placed on Sakuya’s character for interfering in a guild match and causing the death of 16 guild members in the game.

But as Sakuya’s friends are busy with their own personal life, she continues to visit the World (despite a bounty on her head) and encounters the mysterious cat character known as Hermit and become friends.

With Sakuya has a bounty on her head, she and Hermit are captured by one guild but each manage to escape thanks to her friends.

And as they try to escape from these guild members, somehow their activity inside the game including the injuries they suffer starts to affect them in reality.  Meanwhile, the mysterious Hermit appears to have special abilities in “The World” but also the ability to hack into the software and doing so for some apparent reason.

VIDEO:

“.hack//Quantum” is presented in 1080p High Definition and is presented in 1:78:1.  The OVA looks absolutely fantastic on Blu-ray with vibrant colors, amazing detail and for those who have seen the work of Yusuke Takeda on “Eden of the East”, you know that you’re going to get amazing detail with his work on “.hack//Quantum”.  He’s one of the best art directors when it comes to anime series in Japan and because this series was produced by newer anime studio Kinema Citrus, there is less worry about a studio being busy with too many projects.

If anything, the production of “.hack//Quantum” is quite impressive for its character designs and art backgrounds.  Not only is this the best “.hack” anime I have seen to date, it’s one of the better look anime OVA series to appear on Blu-ray thus far.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“.hack//Quantum” is presented in Japanese and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1.  And I have to say that the Blu-ray release of “.hack//Quantum” and its lossless soundtrack is phenomenal, specifically for the English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack.

The Japanese soundtrack is good, but the audio engineers at FUNimation Entertainment have amazed me of what they were able to accomplish with this OVA series.  The soundtrack is immersive with a lot of LFE during the eruptions and booms.  Depending on your setup, I can tell you that while I was watching, I had this smile on my face as my two subwoofers began to shake the floor.  Wow!    I was absolutely impressed.

You also get a good amount of audio coming from the surround channels and all I can say to FUNimation Entertainment audio engineers is that you have spoiled me with this release, I hope you continue to deliver lossless audio for anime on Blu-ray fans on these upcoming anime releases from here on in.  Once again, the lossless audio for “.hack//Quantum” via the English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 is fantastic!

And which leaves me to the Japanese lossless soundtrack.  As many know, I am biased to the original Japanese soundtrack, but with the acting of the FUNimation Entertainment releases and better audio quality with the English soundtrack is now making me want to listen to the English dub track even more.  The Japanese lossless soundtrack was good, the voice acting was very good but with the English dub soundtrack so much more immersive and obviously much better for those with a good home theater setup, it’s hard to listen to a soundtrack that is not as pronounced.

But the good news is that fans get the best of both worlds with the choice of two lossless soundtracks.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“.Hack//Quantum” features the following special features:

• Go, Our Chim Chims!! Part 1 – (3:04) Purple creatures talk about quantum physics.
• Go, Our Chim Chims!! Part 2 – (2:08) Purple creatures talk bout psi and phi waves.
• Go, Our Chim Chims!! Part 3 – (2:02) Purple creatures and Hermit talking about Schrodinger’s cat.
• Yui Ogura’s “Yui-Yui Cooking” – (17:59) Featuring Hermit voice actress Yui Ogura making charaben.
• Yui Ogura’s “Yui-Yui Club” – (11:12) Featuring voice actress Yui Ogura and Hamazoe visit Kinema Citrus studio talking to Yamamoto-san about flipbooks.
• Yui Ogura’s “Yui-Yui Cult Quiz” – (8:21) Featuring voice actress Yui Ogura giving the answers to the Cult Quiz.
• Promotional Videos – (3:12) Promotional videos for “.Hack//Quantum”.
• Original Commercial – (:17) Original TV commercial “.Hack//Quantum”.
• Pre-Release Promotional Video
• U.S. Trailer – (1:02) US trailer for “.Hack//Quantum”.
• Trailers – FUnimation Entertainment trailers

EXTRAS:

“.Hack//Quantum: The Complete 3 OVA Series” Blu-ray releases also come with the DVD version of the release.

For long time followers of “.hack”, as we near the end of the series, more anime episodes for fans is always welcomed.

While the OVA series for “.hack” tend to not have the overall deep storylines that their TV anime series counterparts have, “.hack//Quantum” still manages to incorporate as much action and character development into this three episode OVA-series but perhaps what separates this title from the others is its production quality.

“.hack//Quantum” is the best looking and best sounding “.Hack” series TV or OVA that I have seen or heard.

With newer anime studio Kinema Citrus handling the series, more time was put into the actual detail of the art backgrounds and character design.  And with Yusuke Takeda as art director for this OVA series, and many know of his work recently with “Eden of the East”, you know there is going to be amazing detail and that is what anime on Blu-ray fans will want to see.

Everything from character design to art backgrounds are detailed and sketched amazingly well.  From the dragon beats featured in the opening episode, to the detail of the villages that the characters visit, I was quite impressed with the overall look of this series.

And also equally impressive is its lossless soundtrack, specifically the English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack by FUNimation Entertainment.  Kudos to the engineers for what they were able to accomplish and I hope they keep it up because this OVA series sounds fantastic!

While many anime soundtracks on Blu-ray are good and some are great, “.hack//Quantum” is amazing!  The soundtrack is absolute immersive and utilizes the LFE and surround channels with amazing efficacy and this is what audiophiles have been wanting to hear more of on their action-driven anime series on Blu-ray.  More rumble, more ambiance, more immersive sound and “.hack//Quantum” definitely delivers!

And along with the fantastic picture quality and lossless audio, the voice acting via Japanese and English is well-done.  And there are also a good amount of special features were included.

The series may seem simplistic but that’s because it’s an OVA series, not a 26-episode TV series.  There are only three episodes but for the most part, Tatsuya Yamazaki was able to create a pretty involving storyline within three episodes.  The characters are intriguing and fun to watch.  And I have to say that Kinema Citrus and the crew’s work on this series and how things look visually and how awesome the series sounds, made me appreciate the OVA series much more.  But I enjoyed watching “.hack//Quantum”.

As for those who are wondering if they can watch “.hack//Quantum” without watching any of the previous anime related releases or have not played the video games.  My answer is yes. If anything, the most important thing that people should know is that “The World” is the world’s largest online MMORPG and that with every video game, anime or manga release, the storylines focus on some unusual occurrence inside the game.

With this OVA series, the storyline is easily accessible.  For those who played an MMORPG and are familiar with it, can understand what is taking place.  For those who are familiar with the series will notice the upgrades to the overall MMORPG experience and the characters featured.  But other than that, anyone really can pick this series up and enjoy it.  No need to watch or play every video game.

And for anime on Blu-ray fans, this is probably one of the most immersive anime soundtracks on Blu-ray  for an OVA and is not an original movie (which typically gets the better production and better lossless soundtrack).

Overall, “.hack//Quantum” will entertain longtime “.hack” fans but also will be enjoyed by anime on Blu-ray fans for its slick anime production which looks fantastic on Blu-ray but also sporting one an awesome immersive HD soundtrack.

Fairy Tail Vol. 3 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Review)

More action! More devastation! More characters!  Wow!  The third volume of “Fairy Tail” was very exciting and from these episodes alone, it was definitely a major step up in the quality of the writing and also the amount of action featured.  So, for any fan who wants to stay with this long anime TV series for the long haul, all I can say is that things have just gotten even better and I can’t wait to see what happens next in the fourth volume of “Fairy Tail”.  Definitely recommended!

Image courtesy of © 2011 FUNimation Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Fairy Tail Vol. 3

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2009

DURATION: (Episodes 25-36) 300 Minutes

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), DolbyTrue HD 5.1, Japanese DolbyTrue HD 2.0, English subtitles

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

Release Date: January 31, 2012

Originally created by Hiro Mashima

Directed by Shinji Ishihara

Script by Atsuhiro Tomikoa, Fumihiko Shimo, Masashi Sogo, Shoji Yonemura

Music by Yasuharu Takanashi

Character Design by Aoi Yamamoto

Art Director: Junko Shimizu

Chief Animation Director: Takao Sano

Anime Production: A-1 Pictures, Satelight

Featuring the following voice talent:

Aya Hirano/Cherami Leigh as Lucy Heartfilia

Tetsuya Kakihara/Todd Haberkorn as Natsu Dragneel

Rie Kugimiya/Tia Ballard as Happy

Sayaka Ohara/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Erza Scarlet

Yūichi Nakamura/Newton Pittman as Gray Fullbuster

Shinichi Kotani/R. Bruce Elliot as Makarov

Akira Ishida as Zeref

Daisuke Kishio/Eric Vale as Loki/Loke

Daisuke Namikawa as Jeral/Mystogan

Eri Kitamura/Jamie Marchi as Kana Alberona

Hiroki Touchi as Pantherlily

Hiroki Yasumoto as Elfman

Kazuhiko Inoue as Gildarts Clive

Mai Nakahara as Juvia Loxar

Mariya Ise as Levi Macgarden

Miyuki Sawashiro/Lydia Mackay as Ultear Milkovich

Ryoko Ono/Monica Rial as Mirajane

Satomi Satou as Wendy

Sayaka Narita as Aries

Wataru Hatano as Gajeel Redfox

Yui Horie as Charle

The guild-on-guild mayhem continues as Fairy Tail struggles to fend off Phantom Lord – whose Element 4 must be defeated in order to disable a massive magic cannon aimed at guild headquarters! With a never-surrender attitude, Natsu and his friends push their powers to the limit to protect Lucy and save Magnolia from total annihilation!

Then, Erza’s tortured past returns to haunt her when estranged friends ambush a well-deserved vacation. Her team tracks them down to a looming tower where a possessed wizard close to Erza’s heart puts them in a sinister game of life or death!

A hilarious, action adventure magical anime series based on the popular Weekly Shonen Magazine manga series!

“Fairy Tail” is a manga series which began in 2006 and was created by mangaka Hiro Mashima (known for his manga series “Rave Master”). Featured in Weekly Shonen Magazine, the manga series is still ongoing, meanwhile an anime adaptation of the manga series was created in 2009 produced by A-Pictures and Satelight. And similar to the manga series, is also ongoing!

And here we are with the third Blu-ray release of “Fairy Tail” featuring episodes 25-36 courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment.

The anime series is directed by Shinji Ishihara (“Aoi Kokuhaku”, “Tenbatsu Angel Rabbie”, “Tokyo Majin” and is written by Masashi Sogo (“Bleach”, “Yukikaze”, “Hunter x Hunter”). The anime series features character design by Aoi Yamamoto, art direction by Junko Shimizu (“Midori Days, “Blue Dragon”, “Trinity Blood”) and music by Yasuharu Takanashi (“Naruto Shippuden”, “Hell Girl”, “Gantz”, Ikki Tosen”).

A Quick Summary of what has taken place in “Fairy Tail” thus far:

“Fairy Tail” revolves around a 17-year-old celestial wizard named Lucy Heartfilia who dreams of joining a sorcerer guild known as Fairy Tail, a group known and feared for the destruction they cause. One day, she runs into Natsu Dragneel, a guy who is traveling to the land of Fiore along with his partner Happy (a talking blue cat with wings) who is searching for his foster parent, a dragon named Igneel who has disappeared.

While traveling to Fiore, both Lucy and Natsu encounter a sorcerer claiming to be the famous Salamander of Fairy Tail. Natsu is the first to object that the man is a phony but the fans of Salamander are dismayed by Natsu’s comments and beat him up, meanwhile Lucy finds out that this fake Salamander is using his sorcerer abilities to make young women fall for him.

As Lucy tries to show her gratitude to Natsu for breaking the spell that would have otherwise have hypnotized Lucy, the two become friends.

But when the fake Salamander tells Lucy that he would get her into Fairy Tail, she knows he is a fake but any chance of getting to join the guild would make her dream come true, so she decides to visit him.

But it’s all a ruse and the fake Salamander is just trying to find female slaves and because he is so powerful, Lucy does not have the magic necessary to beat him. But coming to Lucy’s rescue is Natsu, who is revealed to be a true member of Fairy Tail and also revealed to be the true “Salamander”. And he easily beats the fake Salamander up.

When Natsu discovers that Lucy’s dream is to become a Fairy Tail member, he asks her to join him and he can help her get into the guild and from that moment on, Lucy becomes Natsu’s partner in various Fairy Tail guild missions and for each mission they beat, the more income they make.

And more money means more keys to gain more powers, which would help Lucy become a powerful celestial wizard!

Meanwhile, as both Natsu, Lucy and Gray have gotten better (and more destructive) at handling missions, they begin to team up with the elite warrior Erza, who had to go after the three because they took on an S-Class Ranked Mission without approval from the Fairy Tail Guild.  Meanwhile, the Guild was unexpectedly attacked by their long time rival, the Phantom Lord Guild led by Jose.

In “Fairy Tail Vol. 3″,  Jose and the Phantom Lord continues their attack on Fairy Tail, but will the members be strong enough to defend their area and respond to their attacks.  And why are they attacking and who is responsible?  The episodes of volume 3 also explore the history of characters of Loke and Erza.

“Fairy Tail” Vol. 3 features the following characters:

• Natsu Dragneel – Also known as “Salamander”, Natsu is a kindhearted, always hungry wizard who travels with his partner Happy in search of Igneel, a dragon who raised Natsu but is now missing. Natsu is a dragon slayer and a wizard who can perform “Lost Magic and can have physical properties of a dragon. He specializes in Fire Dragon Slayer Magic which allows him to breath fire and ingest fire as a form of nourishment. He is also gifted with other powers not yet revealed in the first volume of “Fairy Tail”.
• Lucy Heartfilia – A celestial wizard who can summon contracted spirits (with special abilities) through a set of keys known as Gatekeys. She treats these spirits as friends. Her dream is to join Fairy Tail and through meeting Natsu, now her dream can come true.
• Happy – A blue cat with wings and a best friend to Natsu. He can fly and can carry a person while flying. He is also known to irritate Lucy.
• Gray Fullbuster – A powerful wizard of Fairy Tail and the opposite of Natsu, in that he has control of ice. Gray has the power of Ice Make which can make him create weapons or anything out of ice. He was raised by the wizard Ur. He also has a bad habit of taking of all his clothes without realizing it.
• Erza Scarlet – An S-Class wizard (high-ranked) and is the most powerful member of the Fairy Tail guild. She has magic known as “The Knight” which allows her to summon and equip weapons and armor and also has the ability to resist magic attacks. She is feared by others because of her lack of compassion.
• Mirajane – A 19-year-old S-Class wizard who is the cover girl of Sorcerer’s Weekly magazine and helps Lucy understand what is happening with the members of the Fairy Tail guild. She has the ability to change her appearance to something she previously encountered.
• Cana Alberona – A short-tempered heaving drinking woman. She uses card magic to cast her spells.
• Elfman – Mirajane’s younger brother who is known for his physical strength. He can absorb the power of any monster he defeats.
• Loke – A flirtatious wizard who is often seen in the company of many women.
• Makarov Dreyer – The elder master of Fairy Tail. He is constantly busy because of his guild members becoming too violent.

The third volume of “Fairy Tail” comes with 12 episodes on two Blu-rays (and also includes two DVD’s):

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 25 – Gray vs. Juvia, who can control the element of water, but also a woman who finds herself falling in love with Gray.
• EPISODE 26 – Lucy is kidnappd by Gajeel, Erza vs. Aria.
• EPISODE 27 – Natsu vs. Gajeel
• EPISODE 28 – Gray vs. Lion Round 2.
• EPISODE 29 – Erza vs. Jose, Makarov comes to the rescue.
• EPISODE 30 – The Magic Council is not pleased with the aftermat of the fight between Fairy Tail and Phantom Lord and Makarov may receive jailtime.
• EPISODE 31 – Lucy suspects something is wrong with Loke and investigates his past.
  
• EPISODE 32 – Loke reveals his past to Lucy and Lucy decides to fight for him and return him back to the Spirit World.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 33 – Lucy and friends receive passports to the Fiore Kingdom resorts for some R&R.
• EPISODE 34 – Erza’s past is revealed.
• EPISODE 35 – What is the connection between Erza and Jellal and why did Erza become a wizard?
• EPISODE 36 - Lucy and Juvia take on Jellal’s mercenary Vidaldus Taka, while Natsu takes on the mercenary Fukuro.

VIDEO:

“Fairy Tail” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1). It’s important to note that this is a anime TV series, not a film or an OVA and is a weekly anime series. What that means is A-1 Pictures and Satelight, have their hands full, especially if they have other TV series to work on that week. Typically a lot of anime series are quickly done in order to make it by their weekly deadline and sometimes, they are done the day of deadline. So, production values for TV series are typically not that high if they are working on multiple series.

Fortunately A-1 Pictures has become one of the newer studios that have been doing production for quite a number of popular hit series such as “Blue Exorcist” and “Big Windup!” and Satelight does a lot of the in-between animation. So, while they are a smaller, growing company, they are not overburdened as other studios and that means, more time dedicated to the anime series.

“Fairy Tail” features cool production value. A lot of detailed artwork, because of the many adventures, you get so many locations and not the typical regurgitated scenery.

There is a lot of detail featured in the art backgrounds, a lot of characters featured and these characters have great detail and shadowing. Colors are absolutely vibrant, black levels are deep. I found no compression artifacts or any problematic issues with this Blu-ray release. If anything, the Blu-ray really brings out the details and colors of the series and looks fantastic!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Fairy Tail” is presented in English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0. Dialogue and music is clear through the front channels for the lossless stereo soundtrack but because the English is 5.1, there is better use of the surround channels.

In fact, I found myself listening to the English dub track for “Fairy Tail” much more than the Japanese soundtrack because of the 5.1 but also, FUNimation did a magnificent job with the casting of this series. I was very pleased especially with the casting of Lucy, Natsu, Happy, Grey and Erza and for the most part, I think whichever you prefer, you will be pleased with Japanese and English audio tracks.

But for the most part, for a TV series, lossless audio is crystal clear and while not the most immersive soundtrack (which I typically don’t expect TV series to boast incredible immersive lossless soundtracks, unlike a film or OVA series), “Fairy Tail” does sound very good on Blu-ray!

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Fairy Tail Vol. 3″ features the following special features:

DISC 1:

• Episode 26 Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Tyler Walker (Director/Line Producer/Adapted Script Writer) with Andrew Tipps (Mix Engineer) discussing various techniques of mixing “Fairy Tail” and the audio plug-ins used.  A very insightful commentary!

DISC 2:

• Episode 32 Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Tyler Walker (ADR Director/Line Producer/Adapted Script Writer) with Cherami Leigh (voice of Lucy) and Eric Vale (voice of Loke).
• Textless Opening Songs: “ft.” and “R.P.G. ~Rockin’ Playing Game”
• Textless Closing Songs: “I’m Sorry” and “Kimi Ga Iru Kara”
• Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment trailers

EXTRAS:

“Fairy Tail” Blu-ray releases also come with the DVD version of that volume.

Fun, action-packed adventures featuring the most destructive wizard guild in the planet!  The third volume of “Fairy Tail” features possibly my favorite episodes yet!

For one, there is intense action in this volume a members of the Fairy Tail Guild take on the Phantom Lord and we see a major transformation in the power of Natsu but also we are introduced to a new character named Juvia who may/may not become a love interest to Gray.  But that story arc alone was quite impressive as we get to see everyone in the guild in battle.

Volume three also explores the history of Loke and what he actually is but also exploring the history of Erza which has been quite private and mysterious and her storyline actually leads to another major battle.  So, needless to say, while “Fairy Tail” has its many humorous moments, the episodes really take the action up a notch as it is continuous and makes everything quite exciting!

“Fairy Tail” is an anime series that manages to have a lot of fun through the adventures of Natsu and Lucy and it has similarities to the action/adventure anime series “One Piece” and “The Slayers”.

For one, the adventure and action is big part of this series as the characters take on various rival wizard guilds, the problem is that they tend to get into so much trouble that they end up creating a lot of damage. And the object of these adventures are working guild jobs as the characters have bills to pay and each time they destroy something, it comes out of their paycheck.

With this third volume, you really get to see how these characters have grown since the first episode.  Natsu and Gray are growing in their powers but also Lucy also has some major revelations featured in this latest volume as well, but also to see her involved in the battles, especially during the Loke storying.

With that being said, this series has over 100 episodes and is still ongoing in Japan. Next to “Dragon Ball Z” and “Yu Yu Hakusho” (which are older anime series), “Fairy Tail” is the most recent, longer anime series from Japan to be released on Blu-ray by FUNimation Entertainment. So, if you want a series to watch for the long haul, “Fairy Tail” is a series worth considering.

As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is very good for a TV series and features a good solid lossless soundtrack. It’s important to emphasize that this is a TV series and not a film or OVA, thus the production quality of animated TV shows tend to be lower (and created in a short time) than a film/OVA, so there is a bit of softness and shadowing and detail are not utilized a lot for this series.

As for special features, you do get the English voice actors providing commentary for one episode, while the other was pretty awesome as it really went in-depth on the mixing for the series and the various plug-ins and effects.  Rarely do audio commentaries from FUNimation Entertainment go into the more technical side of their production, especially towards sound.  So, I thought it was very awesome to hear this commentary on “Fairy Tail”.

Overall, the third volume of “Fairy Tail” was very exciting and from these episodes alone, it was definitely a major step up in the quality of the writing and also the amount of action featured.  So, for any fan who wants to stay with this long anime TV series for the long haul, all I can say is that things have just gotten even better and I can’t wait to see what happens next in the fourth volume of “Fairy Tail”.

Definitely recommended!

Star Driver Vol. 2 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

An anime series featuring all-out mecha action!   The conclusion of “Star Driver” ends literally with a bang and I can only hope that Bones considers a second season.  Exciting and overall an awesome mecha anime series on Blu-ray!  Definitely recommended!

Images courtesy of ©BONES/STAR DRIVER COMMITTEE, MBS. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Star Driver Vol. 2

DURATION: Episodes 14-25 (300 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16:9 Widescreen), Japanese Linear PCM 2.0, English Subtitles

RATED: Suggested 13 and Up

COMPANY: Aniplex/Bandai Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: January 17, 2012

Directed by Takuya Igarashi

Series Composition by Yoji Enokido

Music by monaca, Satoru Kousaki

Original Character Design by Hiroka Mizuya, Misa Mizuya

Character Design by Yoshiyuki Ito

Art Director by Takeshi Waki

Anime Production by BONES

Featuring the voices of:

Jun Fukuyama as Sugata Shindou

Mamoru Miyano as Takuto Tsunashi

Saori Hayami as Wako Agemaki

Akira Ishida as Head

Ami Koshimizu as Keito Nichi

Ayana Taketatsu as Aragon Simone

Ayano Niina as Kanako Watanabe

Chiemi Chiba as Benio Shinada

Emiri Katou as Ruri Makina

Fumiko Orikasa as Sora

Haruka Tomatsu as Keta no Miko/Sakana-chan

Hiroko Ushida as Jaguar Yamasugata

Houko Kuwashima as Midori Okamoto

Kenichi Suzumura as Tsukihiko Bou/Stick Star

Kenji Akabane as Takashi Dai

Maaya Sakamoto as Sarina Endou

Mitsuki Saiga as Kou Atari

Nao Tōyama as Tiger Sugatame

Ooki Sugiyama as Tetsuya Gouda

Rina Hidaka as Mizuno You

Ryohei Kimura as Ginta Ryou/Camel Star

Ryou Hirohashi as Marino You/Manticore

Shinichiro Miki as Ryousuke Katashiro

Shun Takagi as George Honda

Yukana as Madoka Kei

Yuuki Kaji as Takeo Takumi/Sword Star

The Kiraboshi Order of Cross continues to search for the other shrine maidens using the cybody Ayingott’s special ability. One by one, the Western and Eastern Shrine Maidens are revealed and their seals are unlocked, bringing Vanishing Age closer to their ultimate goal, unleashing the king Cybody, Samekh, from zero time into the real world. In order to stop them, Takuto will have to finally confront his father and battle his own best friend!

The truth about the Kiraboshi is revealed and to save the planet, Takuto must continue to fight until the very end in this final second volume of “Star Driver”!

In Oct. 2010, the anime “Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto” began airing on Japanese television. Directed by Takuya Igarashi (“Ojamajo Doremi”, “Ashita no Nadia”, “Darker than Black”) and a screenplay by Yoji Enokido (“Neon Genesis Evangelion”, “Revolutionary Girl Utena”, “Ouran High School Host Club”), a total of 25 episodes were aired on TBS and now the second volume of the anime series will be released on Blu-ray in the United States courtesy of Bandai Entertainment.

“Star Driver” vol. 2 on Blu-ray features episodes 14-25 of the sci-fi action anime TV series.

A brief summary of what “Star Driver” is all about:

The story is set in Southern Cross Isle, an island in which Wako Agemaki and Sugata Shindo were on the beach one day. While talking to each other one night, they spot a teenager named Takuto who has washed up ashore.

Takuto happened to swim from the mainland to Southern Cross Isle to attend Southern Cross Island High School and all seems to be going well for the teenager as he makes new friends, especially with Wako and Sugata and is revealed to be the son of a famous painter (paintings which are featured throughout Sugata Shindo’s mansion).

Meanwhile, beneath the school is where Cybodies exist. These Cybodies are mecha that can be controlled by humans in an alternate dimension known as “Zero Time” and a mysterious group known as the “Kiraboshi Order of Cross” are currently trying to take possession of the island’s Cybodies for their own persona purposes and break the seal of the island’s four shrine maidens.

One day, as Takuto is trying to enter a private area (illegally), he notices that his friend Wako Agemaki has been taken hostage by the mysterious group. He tries to fight back but it appears that this group’s members are experienced fighters and it is revealed that some of these mysterious individuals are actual classmates and students of Southern Cross High School, people that Takuto have met and some he has befriended.

It is revealed that Wako is a one of the Shrine Maidens and she has the power to create the South Maiden Seal.

And as one of the members takes control of one of the Cybodies, the group is shocked that Takuto has managed to enter Zero Time and enter the seal. And he calls upon a Cybody known as Tauburn and reveals himself as a Star Driver or “Ginga Bishounen” (Galactic Pretty Boy).

He easily defeats one of the members of the Order of Glittering Stars and with each loss, each member must give up their badge and are literally lose their position of becoming leader of the Order. But they also realize that Takuto is not only a Star Driver with amazing power, he is also the biggest threat that stands in their way.

Now each member is willing to take on Takuto in order to see if they can defeat him with their special ability, while Takuto has dedicated himself into destroying every Cybody piloted by the Kiraboshi Order of Cross.

In the second volume of “Star Driver”, the Kiraboshi continue their quest to find the maidens in order to resurrect Samekh, meanwhile the fight continutes as the Vanishing Age and Glittering Star members of the Kiraboshi Order of Cross challenge Takuto.

Meanwhile, Marino Yo, a member of the Glittering Crux of the Kiraboshi Order is trying to hide her comrades that her sister Mizuno is the Western Maiden.  And the Kiraboshi try to enlist Sugata as their leader to go against Takuto.  Will they be successful?  Will Takuto stand a chance against the more powerful members of the Kiraboshi Order?

The main characters of “Star Driver” (featured in Volume 2) are:

• Takuto Tsunashi – The main character who is good friends with Wako Agemaki and Sugata Shindo. He is a member of the Night Flight drama club at Southern Cross Island High School and is also a pilot of the Cybody known as Tauburn and a Star Driver who plans to destroy every Cybody he fights against. He’s also popular among the ladies and many start to fall for him. He also loves to say words in English, is highly intelligent and has great athletic/fighting skills.
• Wako Agemaki – A shrine maiden and her powers and existence creates the South Maiden Seal. If the seal was to break, all Cybodies would be able to leave the island. She is forbidden to leave the island and is engaged to Sugata out of family tradition. She is often hungry and takes care of a yellow fox known as Vice. She is also a member of the Midnight Flight drama club at Southern Cross Island High School.
• Sugata Shindo – A member of the Midnight Flight drama club at Southern Cross Island High School, Sugata is from a very wealthy family and is engaged to Wako. He is calm, intelligent and a great fighter. He is able to use his First Phase powers to assist Takuto in battles. He has a mysterious side to him and an interest in Takuto for some reason.
• Benio Shimada – A Pink-haired girl who is the kendo champ and the Resident Advisor of the school dorms. She is also a member of the Kiraboshi Order of Cross and likes to control people, but has interest in those who are stronger than her. Her code name is Scarlett Kiss and leads the Filament Squad and pilots the Cybody known as Peshent.
• Kanako Watanabe – The green-haired promiscuous married student. Kanako is married to a 65-year-old tycoon named Leon Watanabe and lives in a a luxury cruise ship. She is a member of the Kiraboshi Order of Cross and wants her husband’s company to own all Cybodies on the island. She is an excellent fighter, but a very bored wife. Her code name is “The President and leads the fourth section, “Adult Bank” squad. Her Cybody is Betreida.
• Simone Aragon – Kanako’s assistant who despises her. She is also a member of the Kiraboshi Order of Cross and a Cybody pilot. She is actually named Pamela Watanabe, the daughter of Kanako’s husband and Kanako’s step-daughter who lost her memory after an accident. A member of the “Adult Bank” squad, her Cybody is Daletos.
• Takashi Dai – Kanako’s employee and a member of the Kiraboshi Order of Cross. A member of the “Adult Bank” squad, he is also a very good kendo swordsman and among the first to challenge Takuto via his Cybody Tzadikt.
• Mizuno Yo – The twin sister of Marino and is known as the “witch girl” because she is always talking about magical spells. She is able to talk to birds and falls for Takuto because he saves a bird for her. She is also the West Maiden of the island.
  
• Marino Yo – The twin sister of Mizuno. She is a member of the Kiraboshi Order of Cross and goes by the name of Manticore. But she uses her position to secretly hide the fact that her twin sister is the Western Maiden. She also has feelings for Takuto.
• Keito Nichi – A childhood friend of Wako and Sugata and is known for wearing eyeglasses. She is Ivrogne, a member of the Kiraboshi Order of Cross and leads the third section, “Bougainvilleae” squad and likes Sugata.  Unbeknown to the Kiraboshi, she is also the East Maiden.
• Reiji Miyabi – Leader of the Glittering Star’s second section “Vanishing Age” squad and had kept the North Maiden locked in a cage. He proposes that anyone in the group who can beat Takuto can be the order’s main leader. He pilots the Cybody, Reshbal.
• Tiger Sugatame – A student at Southern Cross High School who is a maid for Sugata (and secretly likes him) but she is also hired to keep watch on Sugata and kill him if he ever flees the island or joins the Kiraboshi Order.
• Jaguar Yamasugata – A student at Southern Cross High School and a maid for Sugata.  She is also hired to keep watch on Sugata and kill him if he ever flees the island or joins the Kiraboshi Order.

“Star Driver Vol. 2″ features the following episodes:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 14: Ayingot’s Eyes – The Kirboshi order tries to repair Manticore’s cybody with hopes to find out who the West maiden is.
  
• EPISODE 15: Shrine Maidens of the Seals – When Mizuno and Marino’s mother returns back to the island, since Mizuno is a maiden, will she be able to leave the island?  Meanwhile, Marino’s true identity is revealed.
• EPISODE 16: Takuto’s Emblem – The Kiraboshi Order has captured Mizuno and break her seal to begin the Third Phase.
• EPISODE 17: Vanishing Age – Head becomes the leader of Glittering Star and the Kiraboshi try to break the remaining two seals.  Takuto takes on Madoka Kei.
• EPISODE 18: Kate’s Morning & Night – Takuto get sa job at the karaoke bar that Keito Nich works, unaware she is the Eastern maiden and a member of the Kiraboshi.
• EPISODE 19: The Trio’s Sunday – It’s Wako’s birthday and both Sugata and Takuto try to enjoy the day with her.  Meanwhile, Kou Atari of the Kiraboshi intervenes.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 20: The Rainbow Painted That Day -Ryousuke Katashiro, Vanishing Age’s second in command reminisces about his past with Reiji and his former fiance Sora.  Takuto vs. Ginta Ryo.
• EPISODE 21: The Libidinal Age – Madoka volunteers herself to be an experiment for the Kiraboshi.  But Takuto can’t fight back without hurting her.
• EPISODE 22: On the Eve of the Legend – The drama club’s big day, meanwhile Keito reveals her powers to Sugata.
• EPISODE 23: Emperor – Takuto must take on three members of the Kiraboshi.
• EPISODE 24: Easter Shrine Maiden – Takuto and Wako are shocked to find out that both Keito and Sugata are members of teh Kiraboshi and that Samekh has broken free.
• EPISODE 25: Our Apprivoiser  – Takuto, Wako and the Kiraboshi Order learn the true reason of why Reiji needed Samekh freed.

VIDEO:

“Star Driver” is presented in 1080p High Definition (16:9 widescreen). What I love about this series is the fact that it’s vibrant and full of colors. A lot of orange and reds are used and the anime series looks fantastic on Blu-ray. While it is a TV series and not an OVA and film, still…the character designs are well-done (especially for a series that incorporates many characters) and painted backgrounds are also well-done and very detailed.

The mech design is also pretty cool to look at but I did notice that they do reuse Takuto and Tauburn’s introduction before each battle in every episode (reminiscent of the magical girl transformations in older anime series) but for the most part, for an action-packed series, I enjoyed the character and mechanical designs. Colors are vibrant and didn’t notice any banding or compression artifacts during my viewing of the series.

AUDIO:

“Star Driver” is presented in Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 and is a front channel-driven lossless soundtrack. Dialogue and sound effects and music are clear, but it would have been great to hear this TV series as a more immersive 5.1 soundtrack (since there is so much action featured) but since it’s a TV series, not many anime series straight from Japan are created in 5.1.

But overall, the 2.0 lossless track is good but if you have a receiver that can play stereo on all channels, choosing that setting may be to your liking.

It’s important to note that this anime release on Blu-ray does not come with an English dub track.

Subtitles are in English and are easy to read.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Star Driver Vol. 2″ comes with the following special features:

• Textless Opening and Ending Themes – Featuring the opening plus two endings via “Mizuno” and “Kate” versions.
• Bandai Previews – Bandai Entertainment trailers

The release of “Star Driver Vol. 2″ is an exciting conclusion to the anime series but also is quite bittersweet as Bandai Entertainment has announced that they are no longer releasing anime on Blu-ray and DVD (or manga) after February and will remained focused on licensing rights, especially in digital distribution and merchandising.

So, in essence, “Star Driver” will be the final mecha anime series and final TV anime series released on Blu-ray from Bandai Entertaiment in the United States.

But I suppose, if you have to go out in a bang, I will say that “Star Driver” was an anime series I have wanted to come to the United States and now that it’s over, I can easily let mecha fans know that this 25-episode series was definitely worth watching on Blu!

An anime series featuring all-out mecha action, “Star Driver” has a little bit of everything.  Mecha action, a little harem plot but one teenager’s quest to defeat a mysterious group! “Star Driver” is an exciting anime TV series on Blu-ray.

My first introduction to “Star Driver” was through an iPhone app on iTunes Japan and because because it was being promoted along with a Gundam app, I looked at a few trailers online to learn more about the series and noticed the mecha action involved and also learning that the series has a pretty significant following Japan. Needless to say, I was hoping someday the series would be released in the U.S. and now it’s here on Blu-ray courtesy of Bandai Entertainment!

What’s cool about this Blu-ray release of “Star Driver” is that Bandai Entertainment included 12 episodes, which is definitely a major plus as their Blu-ray releases tend to have only 4-5 episodes per volume. So, that’s definitely great for anime fans who have been wanting Bandai Blu-ray releases with more episodes included!

The second volume has now gone past the introductory phase for its characters and now focuses on storyline arcs, specifically with the Yo sisters and also the Kiraboshi’s quest to revive Samekh.  While the harem aspect is not as evident as it was in the first half of the series, this time around it focuses on Wako being confused if she likes her long-time friend and fiance Sugata or Takuto.  And if anything, there was this sense that Sugata would emerge from his shell.  We know the guy’s powerful and the writers would unleash him by the second half of the series.

What I enjoyed about “Star Driver” thus far, is the characters. A good variety of them with their own style and presentation.  But most importantly, it’s a mecha anime series that tends to distinguish itself from various “Gundam” series, especially “Code Geass Lelouch” which deals with the student life but is far more darker than “Star Driver”.  If anything, “Star Driver” is an easily accessible anime series that doesn’t try to become too deep or violent.  It’s a bit free flowing and focuses a lot more on character development for the primary characters and then the action.  So, writers typically had to divide the episode from focusing on the student life of Takuto, Sugata and Wako in the beginning and then the final half on the actual battle.

But definitely, “Star Driver” has a fresh storyline that distinguishes itself from the many mecha anime series that have been released in Japan within the last two decades.

So, overall… I’m quite content with the way the series had ended but it does leave things open for a second season which wouldn’t surprise me if “Star Driver” continues.

The Blu-ray release is beautiful as the animation is well-done, especially the character designs and also the painted backgrounds are full of detail. If anything, colors are vibrant and look great on Blu-ray. While the audio is only Japanese linear PCM 2.0, I wish it was 5.1 but most anime TV series are typically stereo straight from Japan. As for special features, you get the textless opening and endings along with Bandai Entertainment trailers.

Overall, “Star Driver” is an anime series full of mecha action, cool characters and vibrant presentation, “Star Driver” is definitely recommended!

B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time – Complete Series (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

A sexually-charged, sexual comedy anime series with plenty of  fan service, perverted humor and all out fun!   Trust me…you’re not going to find anime series like “B Gata H Kei”.  Typically, sexual teen comedy anime series tend to focus on a male character, but what happens when the roles are reversed?  I absolutely enjoyed this series and”B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time” is definitely recommended!

Image courtesy of © Yoko Sanri/SHUEISHA INC. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time – Complete Series

DURATION: EPISODES 1-12 (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 PG

Release Date: January 31, 2012

Originally created by Yoko Sanri

Directed by Yusuke Yamamoto

Series Composition by Satoru Nishizono

Character Design by Yuuko Yahiro

Art Director: Michiyo Miki

Chief Animation Director: Yuuko Yahiro

Anime Production: Hal Film Maker

Featuring the following voice talent:

Atsushi Abe/Scott Freeman as Takashi Kosuda

Yukari Tamura/Brittney Karbowski as Yamada

Asami Shimoda/Emerick Jade as Chika Yamada

Kana Hanazawa/Jad Saxton as Mayu Miyano

Mamiko Noto/Martha Harms as Kazuki Kosuda

Rumi Shishido/Alexis Tipton as Erogamisama

Tomoaki Maeno as Keiichi Kanejō

Yu Kobayashi/Kristi Kang as Kyōka Kanejō

Yui Horie/Cherami Leigh as Miharu Takeshita

OMG! There’s this girl at school, Yamada, who wants to make like a hundred sex friends. She totally thinks she can devirginize one hundred different boys! Can you believe that? That’s like every boy in the school. Who does she think she is? I heard from my friend’s neighbor’s cousin’s lab partner that Yamada’s never even been kissed. Oh. My. God. I would totally die. That’s like burn all your makeup and shave off your eyebrows embarrassing. I can’t even think about it.

Today at lunch I saw Yamada flirting, like for reals flirting, with that geek Kosuda. You know the guy. Photography club, no muscles, boring face, kind of reminds you of a black-and-white movie. Super lame. If Yamada can’t even make the sex with him, she’ll never score a hundred cherry boys. She needs to take like Sex Ed or something because I heard she can’t give it away!

 

In 2004, Yoko Sanri created a four-panel sexual teen comedy manga series known as “B Gata H Kei” which was published by Shueisha and in 2010, given an anime adaptation courtesy of Hal Film Maker (“Angels Sanctuary”, “Macross 7 the Movie”, “Princess Tutu”).

And now, “B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time” receives its HD release on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment in Jan. 2012.

The series is directed by Yusuke Yamamoto (“Aquarion Evol”, “Masquerade” “Ranma 1/2″, “Sakura Taisen”), screenplay by Satoru Nishizono (“.hack//Legend Twilight”, “Dr. Slump”, “IDOLM@STER: Live For you!”), character designs by Yuuko Yahiro (“Battle Girls – Time Paradox”, “Basilisk”, “Is This a Zombie?”) and art direction by Michiyo Miki (“Kamisama Kazoku”, “Halo Legends”, “Shining Tears x Wind”).

Continuing FUNimation Entertainment’s month grown-up comedy releases (ie. a lot of fan service and sexual humor) with “Sekirei: Pure Engagement”, “Rosario+Vampire”, “Sora no OToshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property”, “B Gata H Kei” this time focuses on a female 15-year-old teen who’s goal is to have sex with an honest guy, in order to accomplish a goal of having sex with 100 guys.

The series focuses on Yamada, a popular high school teenager who is now entering high school and all she can think about is having sex.  She has decided that she wants to have sex with 100 different men but she first she must lose her virginity (an idea that she may have picked up from reading women’s sex magazines).  And so, Yamada decides that she wants to lose it to someone who doesn’t have experience and while at the bookstore with her friend Miharu, while looking for a dictionary (that describes sexual acts), she spots a teenager who looks very innocent – Takashi Kosuda.

Immediately, Yamada becomes fixated on him because of his pureness and the fact that she can sense he is a virgin.  So, while at the bookstore, while trying to retrieve the dictionary, she accidentally falls on top of Kosuda and in her mind, she tries to think up ways of how to initiate contact.

While at her new class, she realizes that sitting next to her is Kosuda and immediately, she begins to think of ways to get him interested in her.  May it be going out with him on dates, to even doing risky things while they are alone in order to get him to notice her and her body and want him to have sex with her.  But being the inexperienced good guy, while Kosuda is thrilled that a beautiful girl such as Yamada acknowledges him, he can’t interpret the signals that she is sending him and is not sure what to do when around her.

And because Yamada is just as inexperienced as Kosuda, the fact that it’s a challenge, she wonders if he’s not interested in her and tries all that she can do get him to notice her…may it be to show her cleavage, wear no panties around him, etc.

But the longer that Yamada tries to get Kosuda to have sex with her in order to advance on her goal of having 100 sexual encounters, she begins to realize that perhaps…she may be developing feelings for him.

Here is a brief  non-spoiler synopsis of “B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time – Complete Series”:

• EPISODE 1 - “Boy Meets Girl.  Let Me Have your “First Time!” – Yamada has decided that Kosuda will be the first guy she must have sex with because of his inexperience.
• EPISODE 2 – “Oh, yeah! Let’s go to a pool! You wanna see me in a swimsuit, right?!” – Yamada asks Kosuda to join her and go with her friend Miharu and her boyfriend Daisuke.  Yamada hopes that wearing a sexy swimsuit may entice Kosuda to have sex with her.
• EPISODE 3 – “Suddenly so close in the darkroom! Kinda dangerous club activities?!” – Yamada learns that Kosuda is in the photography club, so she comes up with a plan to seduce him in the dark room.
• EPISODE 4 – “Romantic Christmas Eve! What does the first kiss taste like?” – Yamada is jealous of her younger sister Chika (who is good at bringing home guys), so Yamada tries to get Kosuda to ask her out on a date on Christmas Eve.
• EPISODE 5 – “Yamada’s level increased! She learned how to deep kiss!” – Kosuda’s childhood friend Mayu Miyano wants to give Kosuda the perfect Valentine’s Date, jealous…Yamada tries to entice Kosuda by not wearing any panties.
• EPISODE 6 – “Kanejo is coming! I can’t stand that sparkle!” – It’s a new school year and this time Yamada feels that she has a new rival when Kyouka Kanejo, the girl who nearly beat her in last year’s beauty contest has transferred to her school.  And Kyouka has caught every guy’s interest, perhaps even Kosuda.
• EPISODE 7 – “Major duel in school swimsuits! I’m not gonna lose against you!” – Yamada declares war on Kanejo and both compete in a battle of swimsuits.  Meanwhile, Yamada is jealous when she finds out that Kosuda  is going on vacation with Mayu Miyano and her family.
• EPISODE 8 – “Yay! It’s a school trip! No chance to be alone…” – Class 2 H goes on vacation to Kyoto and both Yamada and Kosuda want to confess their feelings for each other.
• EPISODE 9 – “Oh no! In front of everyone…I Never said I don’t like you…Autumn” – Kosuda acidentally declares his love for Yamada in front of the whole class.  Meanwhile, Kanejo’s brother shows up and falls for Yamada.
• EPISODE 10  – “The Kanejo Family! Richy brother’s sparkling secret!”- Yamada and Kosuda are planning to go on a date but Keiichi ends up joining them and also confesses to Yamada that he is a virgin.  Does that mean she will bypass Kosuda for him?
• EPISODE 11 – “Year 2 Class H’s Christmas Eve! Take me to Bed!” – It’s Christmas time and Kanejo is holding a Christmas party at her mansion and Keiichi sees it as a chance to get close to Yamada, meanwhile, Yamada ooks at it as a chance to have sex with Kosuda.
• EPISODE 12 - “The World Revolves for us! Goodbye…B Gata H Kei” – What happens when Kosuda and Yamada enter a love hotel?

VIDEO:

“B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time – Complete Series” is presented in 1080p High Definition.  It’s important to note that this is a TV series and not an OVA or film, so hardcore videophiles should know that TV series tend to not have the same production budget as an OVA or film.  But in the case of “B Gata H Kei, the series is not uber-vibrant (although there are some colorful scenes with hot pinks, reds, blues, purples and greens) and at times, may look a bit saturated but that is typically expected from an anime TV series.  But there is good use of colors, especially the emphasis on eye color, hair and other colors that can bring out the vibrancy of this series.

While the backgrounds are not as varied or super-detailed, it’s the close-ups and the emotions that probably become more evident in this series.  From the emotions displayed, sadness, jealousy, anger or both Yamada or Kosuda looking horny, it’s probably what the animators focused on the most.  I didn’t see any artifacting, banding or any major problems while watching this series.

For an anime on Blu-ray release, “B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time” is a colorful anime series which does look good on HD.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time – Complete Series” is presented in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0.  I did watch a few episodes in Japanese (which is typically my preference) but with a series that delves into sexual comedy, especially in the case of “B Gata H Kei”, I had to hear what FUNimation Entertainment had planned for the English dub and how far they would go in making this series appealing but also fun for the American viewers.  And sure enough, the director and the writers die a fantastic job.  Casting was spot on and the writing for the English dub was absolutely hilarious!  Suffice to say, they hit a home run with the English dub!

Overall, the series is dialogue-driven but there moments when ambiance plays a part in surround channel use.  But for the most part, this is a center and front-channel driven series, dialogue is crystal clear and hear no audio problems

Subtitles are in English!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time – Complete Series” features the following special features:

DISC 1

• EPISODE 1 COMMENTARY – Featuring a hilarious commentary by ADR Director Zach Bolton and Brittany Karbowski (voice of Yamada) and Scott Freeman (voice of Kosuda).

DISC 2

• EPISODE 11 COMMENTARY – Featuring commentary by writers (and voice talent) Jami Marchi and Leah Clark who talk about writing for the show and more.
• Outtakes - (2:55) Featuring outtakes featuring the English dub voice actors.
  
• Textless Opening Song – “Oshiete A to Z”
• Textless Closing Song – “Hadashi No Princess”
• Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment Trailers

EXTRAS:

“B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time” comes with a slipcase and also the DVD version of the series.

Sure, we know there are plenty of anime series focusing on guys who are perverted and are always looking for ways to hook up with a girl or see them nude.  But what happens when the roles are reversed and the main female character is the one wanting to get laid?

I have to admit that this is the first TV anime series, a sexual comedy, that I have seen in which the protagonist is a horny female character and the first thing that came to my mind was… “This has to be written by some guy with major fantasy issues!” but surprisingly, the series is by a female manga writer/artist Yoko Sanri and to help define these female emotions, FUNimation Entertainment went with two female writers Jami Marchi and Leah Clark to continue that female perspective of a female character wanting to lose their virginity and  doing whatever she can to get laid.

I have to admit that part of me was a bit shocked about the series because anime storylines never ever feature a female character like this, unless it’s hentai.  But no… this is not anime porn, this is a teenager who has read too many Japanese women’s magazines (having dated Japanese women and having many Japanese female friends and discussing sex, I can easily say that the women’s magazines are just as sexually-driven as the male magazines) and suffice to say, for anyone who has been to Japan, sex is something that is not usually hidden as you are sure to see something while walking by a bookstore, used manga shop to vending machines.

And from my experience alone, it really doesn’t take too long for the topics of sex to come up with new Japanese friends.  But still… anime series to variety shows shown in Japan, it’s always the guys who are showcased as the perverts wanting to have sexual encounters or some perverted thought going through their mind.  So, I’m not easy easily phased when it comes to sexual comedies but in this case, I really did not know what to expect from “B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time” because the roles were reversed.

Granted, even back in the early ’90s, there are glimpses of female sexual flirting with a Cherry Boy (ie. virgin) in anime series such as “Video Girl Ai” and even DNA2″ (both created by Masakazu Katsura) but it was never the main focus, these were just scenes added for comedy purposes.  In this case, every episode is about Yamada wanting to lose her virginity and the ways of going about it are surprising.

From locking herself in a photo developing room with Kosuda and taking off her clothes, to not wearing panties at school in hopes that he will get the hint and want to have sex with her, to another scene where the two go into the park and she sits on is lap and puts his hand on her breasts.  Problem is that both are virgins, inexperienced and not sure what to do in those moments.

The awkwardness of Kosuda when his hand is on Yamada’s breast and not knowing if she should squeeze it or just leave his hand there and many times where you know that Kosuda has the opportunity to score but since he is not too familiar with sex or the act of it, I wouldn’t be surprised if male viewers would pull their hair out and knowing how the opportunity is presented to him but yet, he doesn’t know what to do or actually doesn’t have a clue.  But in a way, that’s what I liked about Kosuda’s character is the fact that despite him being a guy with typical fears of losing his virginity, he is respectful and kind.

There are also some interesting things that are featured in the series that some may find a bit taboo.  For example, Kosuda’s sister Kazuki walks around the house with no clothes.  Granted, Kosuda doesn’t want to look at his sister in such a manner but then you have a character such as Kyoka Kanejo who has a brother complex and is infatuated with her brother, despite her being popular and beautiful.

But because of how awkward and quarky “B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time” is, I found it to be quite enjoyable and fun!  It’s not going to be for everyone, especially those who may throw fits about Yamada’s quest to have sex with 100 different guys, but bare in mind, that is her virgin mind speaking…and what she has been influenced from reading women’s magazines.   The story is about Yamada wanting to have sex and finding a kind virgin to lose her virginity too, but it’s also a story about maturity and how she falls in love for the first time, vice versa with Kosuda as the longer they have this sexual chemistry or sexual craving for each other, they are too innocent to know what it is…and what it is…it’s love.

As for this Blu-ray release, I have to say that there are two things that I enjoyed about this series.  One, I loved the fact that the American side, for the English dubbing, made this series to be much more crazier but yet respectful to the original Japanese version.  As mentioned, I typically watch the Japanese versions of these series but when it comes to storylines that are best adapted for the West because of its sexual comedy, in the case of “B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time”, the writers and the director have done a wonderful job in adapting this series for American viewers.

The second thing that I loved about this release is the fact that even the people who took part in this series were shocked by the content.  Listening to the audio commentary, even the voice actress Brittney Karbowski was shocked about the things that she had to say that she had to take a picture of the script.  But the fact is because these voice talents have done something so different in their voice acting career, especially in this point of time of working on many series, it’s great to hear the voice talent being shocked by the content but yet having fun with it.  And hearing their performance, you can sense that enthusiasm!  I dig that!

And last, what I loved about this series and it’s what I mentioned before…it goes beyond the typical banality of anime series with the perverted male character wanting to get laid.  This time, it’s the female character who wants to lose her virginity and just to see how far she will go is quite intriguing.

Overall, I had such a wonderful time watching this series and while I know the subject matter may be a bit touchy for some viewers, for those who are looking for something different, something fun and crazy and yes, something a bit raunchy in sexual humor will enjoy “B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time”.

I don’t think you will find many anime series like this and for that…I definitely recommend this anime series!

Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

Funny, perverse and just all out crazy!  “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1″ is an anime series for fans who love harem anime with a sci-fi element and a dose of raunchiness.  If you want to spice up your anime Blu-ray collection, this anime series is for you!

Image courtesy of © Yoko Sanri/SHUEISHA INC. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1

DURATION: EPISODES 1-14 (350 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: December 20, 2011

Originally created by Suu Minazuki

Directed by Hisashi Saito

Series Composition by Yuuko Kakihara

Character Design by Yoshihiro Watanabe

Art Director: Hiromasa Ogura

Chief Animation Director: Hiromasa Ogura

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

Tomoki’s life was normal until a wish-granting angelic android named Ikaros fell from the sky and started calling him master! Of course, thanks to his raging teenage hormones, most of Tomoki’s wishes have something to do with panties. And that makes things pretty complicated, because one simple wish can lead to a rampaging robot made out of frilly undergarments or turn bloomers into bombs capable of blowing up entire neighborhoods!

If Tomoki doesn’t learn to control his impulses around Ikaros and be more careful with his wishes, the chaos will only get crazier. Luckily, even with such a dirty mind, Tomoki’s heart is in the right place. His hands, however, are a completely different story.

In 2007, mangaka Suu Minazuki created teh 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.

Now, “Sora no Otoshimono” has received its anime debut in the U.S. courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment with a hybrid Blu-ray/DVD release in Dec. 2011.

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”), music by Motoyoshi Iwasaki (“Hamtaro”, “Geobreeders 2″, “Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat”), character design by Yoshiro Watanabe (“Bamboo Blade”, “Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai”, “Onegai Teacher!”) and art direction by Hiromasa Ogura (“Jin-Roh – The Wolf Brigade”, “Ashita no Joe 2″, “Spirited Away”).

The series continues with FUNimation’s more mature-themed anime series along with “Sekirei: Pure Engagement”, “Rosario+Vampire”, “B Gata H Kei: Yamada’s First Time” featuring perverse humor, fan service and sexual themes.

“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.

As the Master of Synapse plans his scheme against humanity, will Ikaros and Nymph follow his evil orders?  Or will they follow their heart and emotions which they have become aware of because of Tomoki?

VIDEO:

“Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1″ is presented in 1:78:1 and one has to remember that this is a TV series not an OVA or film, so production is standard for what you would expected for a television anime series.  But I have to admit that this series does offer a bit more when it comes to detail and shading.  The fact that there are so many locations featured, the characters are featured in various outfits, hanging out all over town and the artistic backgrounds are well-painted.  For the most part, this anime series is well-animated.

Also, there is a good amount of lighting effects, especially when featuring the Angeloid’s in battle or Ikaros wings come out.  If anything, I found “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1″ to be a series that looks better than most anime TV series and AIC A.S.T.A. did a pretty good job with it!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1″ is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese DolbyTrue HD 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, primarily for the dynamic range of the lossless 5.1 soundtrack but mostly because FUNimation Entertainment really enhanced the perverseness of the series through its dialogue.  From Tomoki’s lyrics for his hard nips song to Nohara joking around with Tomoki of sniffing her underwear, there is this boldness when it comes to perverse dialogue than the Japanese version.  It’s much calmer than extreme and because of that, it worked for the English dub.

Dialogue for the most part was crystal clear as was special effects, but I didn’t notice too many use of the surround channels until you reach the confrontation between Ikaros and Nymph and what takes place at the end of the first season.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

It’s important to note that while “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1″ does not sport the FUNimation Entertainment dub voice actors audio commentary (which I was hoping to hear), we do get many of the textless ending theme songs.  But this is probably what I enjoyed with every episode, the voice talent singing songs via anime theme songs from the ’70s, ’80′s and modern-style themes.  For anyone who has watched classic anime, will definitely enjoy the different ending themes featured in this series.

• Textless Opening Song: “Ring My Bell”
• Textless Closing Song: “Soba Ni Irareru Dake De”
• Textless Closing Song: “Misaki Meguri”
• Textless Closing Song: “Taiyou Ga Kureta Kisetsu”
• Textless Closing Song: “Senshi No Kyusoku”
• Textless Closing Song: “Yukei Yukei Kawaguchi Hiroshi”
• Textless Closing Song: “Natsuiro No Nanshii”
• Textless Closing Song: “Furimuku Na Kimi Wa Utsukishii”
• Textless Closing Song: “Wild Seven”
• Textless Closing Song: “Hatsukoi”
• Textless Closing Song: “Bokura No Daiarii”
• Textless Closing Song “Champion”
• Textless Closing Song “Akai Hana Shiroi Hana”
• Textless Closing Song: “Haru Ichiban”
• Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment trailers
  

Intriguingly perverse, reminiscent of “Urusei Yatsura” and “Chobits”, “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property” is an anime series that will appeal to harem anime series fans, especially those who love fan service.

It’s actually an interesting month for FUNimation Entertainment as there have been quite a few of these mature anime series with sexual themes, but with series such as “Sekirei: Pure Engagement” and even “Rosario + Vampire”, the male protagonist is typically reserved and not much of a pervert.  But with “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property”, the character of Tomoki is a total pervert constantly thinking about panties and what FUNimation Entertainment has done, especially with the English dub is further enhance the perversion.

While the series tends to focus on Ikaros trying to become more human and obviously developing feelings towards her master, part of the absurdity and perverted comedy is Tomoki’s way of using both Ikaros and Nymph to make his perverted dreams come true.

For example, when Tomoki wishes that Nohara would stop wearing her teddy bear panties, Ikaros uses her magic to make Nohara wear no panties at all (when panties are rejected, they fly out the window like a bird) because she wants to make her master’s dreams come true.  So, one episode focuses on the group trying to find panties that Tomoki can wear, while Nohara tries her best not to let Tomoki see her naked.

Another episode features Tomoki using the angeloid’s magical cards by changing his physical form to a woman, so he can enter the public baths and give Sohara and Mikako a scrub while they are naked.

And of course, being the perverted guy he is, when Ikaros and Nymph discover his stash of naughty videos, they start wondering if that is how women should be acting towards men.

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 and Nymph 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 get a bit serious and emotional towards the end.

As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is good but it’s a TV Series and one should not expect anything near OVA or film quality.  The lossless audio is good but it’s the English dub that actually makes this series even more perverse and for special features, while no audio commentary, you do get plenty of ending themes.

Overall, “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1″ was a fun, 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 with a bit of raunchiness as well.

If you are into that… then “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1″ is for you!

Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

A wonderful, cleaned-up remaster of one of the most awesome anime series ever created!  “Dragon Ball Z” looks and sounds so much better on Blu-ray and for those who have upgraded to HD and have wanted a classic anime series that delivers in storyline, characters and all-out action, “Dragon Ball Level 1.2″ is highly recommended!

Image courtesy of © Bird Studio/Shuiesha/Toei Animation. 2009 Toei Animation. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2

DURATION: (Episodes 8-34) 425 Minutes

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (4×3), English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Toei Animation/FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: December 13, 2011

Originally created by Akira Toriyama

Directed by Daisuke Nishio

Series Composition: Takao Koyama

Character Design by Yuji Ikeda

Music by Shunsuke Kikuchi

Screenplay: Aya Matsui, Hiroshi Toda, Jun Maekawa, Katsuyuki Sumisawa, Keiji Terui, Masashi Kubota, Reiko Yoshida, Satoru Akahori, Sumio Uetaka, Takao Koyama, Toshiki Inoue, Yoshiyuki Suga

Episode director: Atsutoshi Umezawa, Daisuke Nishio, Hidehiko Kadoda, Hiroki Shibata, Johei Matsuura, Junichi Fujise, Kazuhisa Takenouchi, Kazuhito Kikuchi, Masahiro Hosoda, Minoru Okazaki, Mitsuo Hashimoto, Osamu Kasai, Shigeyasu Yamauchi, Takahiro Imamura, Tatsuya Orime, Yoshihiro Ueda

Featuring the following voice talent:

Masako Nozawa/Zoe Slusar as Son Goku

Masako Nozawa/Hyle Herbert as Son Gohan

Ryo Horikawa/Christopher R. Sabat as Vegeta

Hiromi Tsuru/Tiffany Volmer as Bulma

Naoko Watanabe/Cynthia Cranz as Chichi

Mayumi Tanaka/Sonny Strait as Kuririn

Ryo Horikawa/Christopher R. Sabat as Piccolo

Hirotaka Suzuoki – Tinshinhan

Tohru Furuya – Yamucha

Daisuke Gouri/Don Brown as Mr. Satan (Hercule)

Michael Dobson as Supreme Kai

Fear the sinister Saiyan onslaught! Celebrate the heroic return of Goku! And prepare for an epic showdown with Vegeta!

The last survivors of a cruel, warrior race, the Saiyans have carved a path of destruction across the galaxy, an now they have set their sights on Earth! They will stop at nothing until they have the wish-granting powers of the seven magic Dragon Balls for their very own.

With the fate of his family, friends, and the entire human race hanging in the balance, Goku, the Earth’s greatest hero, must rise to meet the approaching threat. As he prepares for the fight of his life, Goku embarks on an epic journey that will take him to other worlds, pit him against new and old enemies alike, and force him to confront the dark secrets of his own past. At the end of this path, the most powerful opponent he has ever faced awaits: the evil Saiyan Prince Vegeta!

For the past few years, I have been raving about FUNimation Entertainment’s releases of “Dragon Ball Z” from the original orange box collections to the recent Dragon Box Z DVD box set releases (Japanese version of the series uncut). And afterward, raved about the “Dragon Ball Z Kai” series on Blu-ray.

Having grown up with “Dragon Ball Z” and during my teenage years visiting the local Japanese video rental store and always in heavy anticipation of what was being shown on television in Japan that week and waiting the two weeks it would arrive in the US and watching it in Japanese, despite not knowing what was being said, I enjoyed the series tremendously.

The main protagonist Son Goku was Japan’s equivalent to America’s Superman. I’m sure the juxtaposition of both Superman and Dragonball can be seen as a baby from other planet comes to Earth, the baby growing up to becoming a boy with tremendous strength and abilities and raised by a loving person who instilled good in his heart.

Granted, Goku’s original mission when landing on Earth was to destroy humanity but learning kindness towards people, nature and animals, he became a hero that protected all that he loved from any evil. But most importantly, Goku was a character that was far from perfect. He was a character that was always learning about people, enjoying life but most of all, setting a goal to becoming stronger and developing his skills in order to protect the people and the planet that he loves.

And now this beloved, action anime series receives its latest release from FUNimation Entertainment, restored specifically for Blu-ray known as “Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2″ featuring episodes 18-34.

“Dragon Ball Z” begins five years after the finale on “Dragon Ball”, after Goku defeated King Piccolo. “Dragon Ball Z” begins with Goku introducing his friends to his young son Gohan. But while things seem peaceful, unfortunately things are going to go from peaceful to downright terrible when Goku’s brother from the planet Saiyan, Raditz, goes to check and see if Goku has destroyed the planet Earth. But Goku, who was raised by the peaceful Gohan when he was a baby grew up compassionate towards the living life on Earth and swore to protect it.

Needless, to say Raditz is disappointed and decides to kidnap Gohan and gives Goku an ultimatum, he must slaughter 100 of Earth’s people and has a day to consider joining him in destroying Earth. Or else, Goku must fight against him.

With Raditz being the most powerful nemesis by far, Goku and his former nemesis Piccolo decide to work together in order to beat Raditz and rescue Gohan.

The main characters during this part of the series are:

Goku – Now an adult, married to Chichi and has a son named Gohan. Constantly training in order to become stronger. Still naive and hungry as he was when he was younger.

Gohan - Goku’s young four year old son who may have some unknown power like his father. Due to his mother Chichi’s strictness, he has never been trained to fight. Just study.

Piccolo – Still a rival to Goku but during these dire circumstances, the two form an alliance. Also, becomes Gohan’s guardian and trainer.

Chichi – Goku’s wife, Gohan’s mother who is very strict. She does not want Gohan to be like his father.

Bulma – A woman still developing products at her father’s company, Capsule Corp. and uses her intelligence to help the Z Warriors under dire circumstances.

Yamcha – Ex-boyfriend of Bulma who once joined Goku and Bulma during their adventures to find the Dragon Ball.

Master Roshi – A trained martial artists who was friends with Goku’s adopted grandfather, Gohan. Despite his old age, he can still fight and also a big pervert.

Kami – One of the Kings who trains Goku on how to fight with gravity ten times greater than Earth at Kaio’s world.

Tien and Chiaotzu – Former rivals of Goku for the 23rd Martial Arts Tournament and now his good friends.

The main enemy:

Vegeta - The prince of the Planet Saiyan who has come to the planet with Nappa after the death of Raditz but also to search for the Dragon Balls which he wants for immortality.

Nappa – An elite Saiyan warrior who has accompanied Vegeta to search for the Dragon Balls.

“Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2″ features episodes 18-34 of the series. Here is a brief synopsis of each episode:

DISC 1

• EPISODE 18 – Gohan’s tail grows back and sees a full moon.  That can only mean…
• EPISODE 19 – Goku’s training from King Kai begins.
• EPISODE 20 – Goku’s training continues with the grasshopper Gregory.
• EPISODE 21 – Goku’s training is complete.
• EPISODE 22 – Vegeta and Nappa arrive on Earth and Nappa causes destruction in East City.
• EPISODE 23 – Vegeta and Nappa send Saibamen after the Z-Warriors.  And a hero is killed.
• EPISODE 24 – After the death of a Z-Warrior, an enraged Krilling takes on the Saibamen.
• EPISODE 25 – Tien, Piccolo and Krillin vs. Nappa.  Another Z-Warrior is killed.
• EPISODE 26 – Vegeta delays the fight in order to wait for Goku to arrive, meanwhile Nappa causes more destruction. Another Z-Warrior is killed in battle.

DISC 2

• EPISODE 27 – Piccolo, Krillin and Gohan tries to pull off Nappa’s tail.
• EPISODE 28 – Another Z-Warrior is killed and Goku arrives.
• EPISODE 29 – Goku vs. Nappa
• EPISODE 30 – Goku vs. the powerful Vegeta.
• EPISODE 31 – The battle between Goku and Vegeta continues.
• EPISODE 32 – The fight between Goku and Vegeta continues.  But Goku has exhausted his power.
• EPISODE 33 – Gohan and Krillin arrive on the battlefield in hopes of helping Goku.
• EPISODE 34 – Gohan and Krillin vs. Vegeta.

VIDEO:

As mentioned earlier, this is not the same “Dragon Ball Z” featured in the orange DVD box sets or the “Dragon Box Z” box sets that were just enhanced for Blu-ray. This 1080p High Definition version of the series is a new digital transfer by FUNimation Entertainment and ANDTRANSFER for restoration.

In the past, I would notice the scratches and white speckles. In fact, years before the release of “Dragon Ball Z Kai”, when FUNimation Entertainment released the first two “Dragon Ball Z” movies on blu-ray, it was littered with dust and white speckles and I felt that if DBZ ever made it to Blu-ray, it may suffer from the same quality.

In fact, I have dreamed that they would restore the series but at 291 episodes, I figured that it would be too expensive for them to pursue it, even if “Dragon Ball Z” was FUNimation Entertainment’s flagship series. But sure enough, they did do it in 2011 and they took the original Japanese 16mm film frame and made it to 1080p. The FUNimation Entertainment team cleaned up the episodes frame by frame (note: you do see a few white speckles but only a very few times) and the picture quality is much more vibrant, clearer and you do see the grain a bit more. Colors and line art is more pronounced as with the artistic background.

So, FUNimation Entertainment did something which I thought was never going to happen and literally give American fans the best looking version of the “Dragon Ball Z” series to date. Yes, “Dragon Ball Z Kai” looks great but it’s not the entire series. So, I’m pretty ecstatic about this release and quite happy that FUNimation Entertainment decided to go through with the restoration.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2” is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English) with the original Japanese music, English Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (broadcast version) and Dolby TrueHD Monaural for the Japanese track with Japanese music.

Because the English is mixed and utilizes more channels, there is a dramatic difference in sound, although for those with a modern receiver and have a solid 5.1 or 7.2 setup, can easily switch their receiver to stereo on all channels for the Japanese soundtrack for a more immersive soundscape.

But here is the lowdown on the lossless audio. Sound effects are now heavily utilized on the surround channels.  When a person is screaming, the surround channels are used as well. I didn’t notice major activity via LFE but felt the series was more front, center and surround channel driven.  A lot of cool sound effects utilized this time around for the battle sequences (and there are so many of them in these episodes in “Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2″).

The Japanese soundtrack is probably the best that we’re ever going to hear it. Remember that this is an older series made back in 1989. While “Dragon Ball Z Kai”, the Japanese brought in voice actors to re-record the soundtrack, this is not Kai, this is the original series. And as much as I want to say the hardcore fans of the Japanese version would be happy, fortunately for these hardcore fans, FUNimation Entertainment released the “Dragon Box Z” DVD box sets.

With that being said, I grew up watching the Japanese audio and typically, I prefer to watch anime in Japanese BUT with “Dragon Ball Z”, I have always felt that the English dub was among the best out there and the voices just sound right for the characters.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2″ features the following special features:

• Textless Opening Song – (1:52)
• Textless Closing Song - (1:39)
  
• An Engineer and a Pen: Autograph Collection Part 1 – (2:10) Featuring autographed photos of the English dub cast.
• The Many Faces of Christopher R. Sabat – (1:00) Photos of voice actor Christopher R. Sabat (voice actor of Goku) being made-over.

EXTRAS:

“Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2″ comes with a slipcover case.

All that went through my mind when I was watching “Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2″ was how awesome an experience it was to see this series finally in HD and how fantastic it looked and how incredible the lossless audio track was.

With Level 1.2, you get several arcs for the first season.    The second arc continues as Piccolo is training Gohan to become stronger while Goku trains at Kaio-sama’s world and the arrival of the two Saiyans: Vegeta and Nappa leads to a battle against Earth’s toughest warriors which include Yamucha, Tenshinhan, Krillin, Piccolo and Gohan.

But these episodes were quite significant back then as it would feature the major deaths of four major characters that fans have grew up watching from the original “Dragon Ball” series.  And eventually leading up to the first of many continuing battles between Goku and Vegeta.  But this volume does feature that first battle between the two Saiyans.

As a person who has followed the series for over 20 years, watching “Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2″ was fun, especially to see it so cool in HD! I didn’t think it would happen because there were so many episodes in the series, but FUNimation Entertainment did it and I’m quite happy.

I was captivated by the original “Dragon Ball” series (which featured Goku as a child) and later with “Dragon Ball Z” featuring Goku as an adult. The series would bring back the characters that were seen on the original “Dragon Ball” series but this time around, the series took on more of a serious tone as the enemies became more deadly and Goku and his friends were put into grave situations that they have never had to face before. “Dragon Ball Z” would feature wonderful character development, intense action sequences and most of all, knowing how to extend the series to tease fans and keep people in high anticipation of what would be happening next.

Since then, I have had the opportunity to see this DBZ fandom grow in the US from the very early ’90s and seeing “Dragon Ball Z” viewing parties at the early anime conventions and then seeing how the series exploded into American pop culture once the series began airing on television in the US and with its DVD releases. It’s hard to believe that this series I have followed for years and began in 1989 has celebrated its 20th Anniversary celebration in 2009.

But the celebration was fantastic news for fans as this time, “Dragon Ball Z” would be remastered for HD TV and would be called “Dragon Ball Z Kai” which would include a brand new opening and ending sequence, commercial cut scenes, new frames produced digitally, re-recording of the voice talent, new music and most importantly, focusing on the main story arcs and reducing the series 291 episodes to a total of 97 episodes.

With that being said, while I enjoyed watching “Dragon Ball Z Kai” as it looks even better in HD, if you are a big fan of the series, you know that so much was cut out. Especially since Kai only covered part of the series to the Cell Saga and leaving the Buu saga in the dust.

There are so many episodes that people would miss out on but the problem is that those orange box DVD sets which contained 30+ episodes… well, either they are hard to find or many people have moved on to Blu-ray and wouldn’t think about going back to DVD.

But let’s assume that you have purchased the orange DVD box sets of “Dragon Ball Z” which were remastered for 16:9, gave the option of listening to English with Japanese music, it’s original English presentation or watching it in Japanese. Needless to say, some fans complained because it was 16:9 and not the original presentation. So, to appease the hardcore fans, FUNimation Entertainment released the “Dragon Box Z” DVD Box Sets.

But now with “Dragon Ball Z Kai” coming to a close on Blu-ray and many fans wondering “Will the complete ‘Dragon Ball Z’ series ever come out on Blu-ray?”. Well, FUNimation Entertainment has answered that question with a big “YES!” by its announcement to release “Dragon Ball Z” on Blu-ray and in 2011, fans were able to get two volumes and await Level 1.3 which will conclude the first season (episode 39 is the final episode of season 1), before going into the next major story arc which introduces another action-packed storyline with an even stronger enemy named Frieza.

Now, some of you with those orange DVD Box Sets wonder…”is it worth purchasing all over again?”. Well, yes and no. First, let me explain why I say “yes”. Yes, in the fact that FUNimation Entertainment redid the visuals to make it in its original 4:3, similar to major cinema on Blu-ray and DVD, ran it through the Spirit Datacine in order to make the series ready for HD and went as far as to clean up all the white speckles and do what they can to make it presentable in HD. In other words, this is not the same release that fans received with the orange DVD box set. This release is specifically for fans who want “Dragon Ball Z” on Blu-ray. Cleaned up and given the best presentation and literally looking better than its previous DVD counterparts.

But I also mentioned “No”. Unless you are a hardcore fan, bare in mind that this release is also unlike the orange DVD Box Sets that came with 30+ episodes and took about nine volumes. The first Blu-ray for the “Dragon Ball Z Level 1.1″ release will only contain the first 17-episodes and if this will be the average, you can expect 17 or 18 volumes of “Dragon Ball Z” on Blu-ray. But by saying that, restoration for films or any type of media is very expensive, so it’s not surprising to me that for a long series such as “Dragon Ball Z”, there are only 17-episodes featured.

Once again, I never expected this series to receive restoration because it is 291-episodes long and that would be expensive. But FUNimation Entertainment did it and all I can say is that this is the best looking version of the anime series to date.

The original orange DVD box sets were fantastic and many fans should be fine with that. That is unless you are now focusing on anime on Blu-ray, then yes, these new “Dragon Ball Z” Blu-ray releases and the upgrade of its visuals make it a series worth purchasing.

Overall, “Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2″ is an impressive release from FUNimation Entertainment but definitely will make fans of “Dragon Ball Z” excitied.  One, because this project has showed us how much of an improvement can be made to a classic anime series and two, with what FUNimation was able to accomplish, one can only hope that they do the same and give a remastered treatment to the original “Dragon Ball” and also “Dragon Ball GT” series.  And also other classic anime series that FUNimation Entertainment is able to license.

Sure, there may be a few hardcore fans will complain that the series is not like the manga (and I agree with you) and I know hardcore fans will complain that it’s not the same as the Japanese TV airing (which FUNimation Entertainment went on to release the ‘Dragon Box Z’ box sets) and those who have forked money over before will complain of having to rebuy it again (but this is for Blu-ray not DVD). But that’s the nature of media and you have to expect upgrading. But as mentioned before, those original orange “Dragon Ball Z” DVD Box sets were fantastic and if you own them already, you should be fine with those releases. Unless you want it in HD, then yes, you will have to upgrade.

And if you are a DBZ fan and own the DVD’s but are also watching your anime on Blu, this is too awesome of an anime series to pass up and is definitely worth the upgrade.

So, for those who want to experience the complete “Dragon Ball Z” series looking its best via HD, now you have your chance. If you don’t want to watch the 291 episodes, then you also have a choice of watching “Dragon Ball Z Kai” (although you do miss out on the “Buu” storyline and many other episodes).

But once again, this volume is pretty awesome as you get the first major battle between Goku and Vegeta and the deaths of several Z-Warriors.  Definitely an exciting, action-packed volume of “Dragon Ball Z”!

In conclusion, “Dragon Ball Z” on Blu-ray is fantastic for the fans of the series but also for those who have been craving for a wonderful, action-packed anime series that truly delivers in story, cool characters and action.  “Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2″ is highly recommended!

Bleach the Movie 3: Fade to Black (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

For fans of “Bleach”, “Bleach the Movie 3: Fade to Black” is an interesting storyline that does take things back to Ichigo and Rukia, but also features quite a bit of surprises and plenty of action!  As the first of two films from Viz Media for its entry of anime on Blu-ray, this is an awesome Blu-ray release if you are a “Bleach” fan and one can only hope that Viz Media continues to release more “Bleach” on Blu-ray in the near future!

Image courtesy of Image courtesy of © Tite Kubo/Shueisha. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Bleach the Movie 3: Fade to Black

MOVIE RELEASE DATE: 2008

DURATION: 90 Minutes

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

COMPANY: Warner Bros./Viz Media

RATED: 13+

Release Date: November 15, 2011

Originally created by Kubotite

Directed by Noriyuki Abe

Screenplay by Masahiro Okubo, Natsuko Takahashi

Music by Shiro Sagisu

Character Design by Masashi Kudo

Art Director: Sawako Takagi

Director of Photography: Toshiyuki Fukushima

Producer: Ken Hagino, Mikihiko Fukazawa, Shunji Aoki

Anime Production: Studio Pierrot

Featuring the following voice talent:

Fumiko Orikasa/Michelle Ruff as Rukia Kuchiki

Masakazu Morita/Johnny Yong Bosch as Ichigo Kurosaki

Hiroki Yasumoto/Jamieson Price as Sado “Chad” Yasutora

Kentarou Itou/Wally Wingert as Abarai Renji

Masakazu Morita/Johnny Yong Bosch as Hollow Ichigo

Noriaki Sugiyama/Derek Stephen Prince as Ishida Uryuu

Satsuki Yukino/Wendee Lee as Shihouin Yoruichi (human form)

Shinichiro Miki/Michael Lindsay as Urahara Kisuke

Yuki Matsuoka/Stephanie Sheh as Inoue Orihime

Kaya Matsutani/Megan Hollingshead as Rangiku Matsumoto

Nobuyuki Hiyama/Vic Mignogna as Ikkaku Madarame

Jun Fukuyama/Brian Beacock as Yumichika Ayasegawa

Romi Paku/Steve Staley as Toshiro Hitsugaya

A mysterious figure has broken into Mayuri Kurotsuchi’s laboratory in the Seireitei. Rukia witnesses this catastrophe, and the intruders abduct Rukia as she feels something inside of her fade away.

Meanwhile, in the World of the Living, Ichigo and Kon experience a strange disturbance and head to Kisuke Urahara’s shop for some answers. When Kisuke informs them about the destruction of the Seireitei, the two set out for the Soul Society.

What awaits Ichigo in the devastated Seireitei, however, are Soul Reapers who seem to have lost all memory related to both him and Rukia. Ichigo must find out what happened to Rukia and try to save her before the two are forced to part ways forever!

[Note: I am reviewing a Blu-ray screener and will not be able to comment on packaging.]

In Dec. 2008, the third “Bleach” movie was released in theaters.

With an anime production by Studio Pierrot, the film is directed by Noriyuki Abe (“Bleach”, “Ninku”, “Ghost Stories”, “Flame of Recca”) and a screenplay by Masahiro Okubo (“Sugar Sugar Rune”, “Tantei Gakuen Q”) and Natsuko Takahashi (“Bleach”, “Prince of Tennis”, “School Rumble”).

The film would be more notable to fans as it would feature Kon taking part in the action and also Kisuke Urahara returning to the Soul Society.  Also, none of Ichigo’s friends from the world of the living appear in this film.

“Bleach the Movie 3: Fade to Black” begins with soul reaper/scientist Mayuri Kurotsuchi working in his laboratory.  He senses an intruder which slashes him with a scythe and immediately, he has forgotten his entire memory.  As his assistant Nemu goes to check on him, he thinks that Nemu is an intruder and doesn’t understand what is happening.

The mysterious intruder activates something inside the laboratory and Mayuri unleashes his Ashisogi Jizo.

The mechanism that was triggered immediately produces huge snakes which wreaks havoc in Seiretei and many of the Soul Reapers try to evacuate or fight it to no avail.  Meanwhile Rukia who sees this, tries to go to Seireitei, but a girl takes her and tells her that she will erase her existence.  A male attacker comes and slashes her with his scythe, which deals no damage but Rukia becomes unconscious.

Meanwhile, back in the world of the living, Kon is reading a note from Rukia but as Ichigo goes to check on the note…he doesn’t know who Rukia is, which surprises Kon.

When Ichigo goes to sleep, he has dreams of Rukia, sensing that she is in trouble.  He is able to remember Rukia once again and looks at the note and learns that Rukia has went back to the Soul Society.

Concerned that he has forgotten Rukia, he goes to visit Kisuke Urahara, who has also forgotten Rukia.  But Urahara wonders if forgetting Rukia is because of news that he has received that there is chaos in Seireitei.

Fearing the worse, Ichigo takes Kon with him to the Soul Society to find Rukia and when they arrive, Seireitei looks as if it was destroyed.  He sees a familiar face, Shuhei Hisagi and asks him what has happened to Rukia.  But the two who have taken Rukia unleash a snake on Ichigo, Shuhei and the soul reapers.

Ichigo is then confronted by Shuhei and the other soul reapers who have no idea who he is and begin attacking him.  Renji shows up and also tries to attack Ichigo and Ichigo does all he can to make him remember but is unsuccessful and escapes.  But what is troubling to the soul reapers captains is why does this mysterious guy (Ichigo) seem to talk to them as he knows him and he knows the area quite well?

Meanwhile, Rukia comes to her senses and realizes she is in Rukongai, where she grew up.  She is greeted by the two people (who kidnapped her) and they discuss the past and how Rukia was to name both of them but hasn’t done so.  Rukia remembers meeting the two when they were children and promising to name them.  But with no memories, she wonders what has happened all this time.

 

VIDEO:

“Bleach the Movie 3: Fade to Black” is presented in 1080p High Definition and “Bleach” looks fantastic on Blu-ray!  Granted, it helps that this is a film and not the TV series, as there is much more detail in the actual character designs, more emphasis on fluidity on the action sequences, especially during the “bankai” segments.  But this is what I enjoy about seeing the transition of popular TV series for film, a higher production and also the fact that animators have more time in production and quality of the animation and art backgrounds than the typical quick turn around that they are expected to do on a TV series.

Once again, I am reviewing from a screener Blu-ray disc but I didn’t notice compression artifacts or banding during my viewing of the film.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

For “Bleach the Movie 3: Fade to Black “, the menus don’t say if it’s a lossless track and since I am reviewing from a screener disc, I don’t have packaging that says what kind of audio is featured.  But according to the details that my receiver is providing and also testing on another Blu-ray player, the information provided for me is that the lossless audio is both DTS-HD MA 5.1 English and Japanese.

While I was watching the film, I was pretty impressed because it’s the best I have heard from a “Bleach” soundtrack.  I also noticed that there was a good amount of surround channel use with explosions and action sequences, during those battles, the sound was quite immersive at times.  And also moments of LFE.

But if anything, I’ve never heard “Bleach” sound this good and for the film to be on Blu-ray, I can only hope that Viz Media continues their plan to release more “Bleach” films in HD!

Subtitles are provided as English optional during the English soundtrack and also featured in the Japanese soundtrack of the film.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Bleach the Movie 3: Fade to Black” comes with the following special features:

• Movie Trailers - Featuring the Japanese and English trailers for “Bleach the Movie 3: Fade to Black”.
• Production Art Gallery  - Using your remote (or mouse and keyboard), you can cycle through various production art.
  
• More from Viz Media
  

For any fans of anime series, especially those that have a long duration, you come to realize that the films are typically out of the canon of the series.  Did the story actually happen in the timeline?  Is it a one-shot story just created for the kids during the winter?  Who knows.

But will say that “Bleach” fans will come to find this series to be exciting, action-packed and also different in some ways than other films and the series itself, for the fact that Ichigo’s usual friends that accompany him to the Soul Society, are not in this series.  No Orihime, no Chad, no Uryuu…instead, we get Kon.

And this rather intriguing, because as we know…when it comes to the anime series, Kon is just the comedy character that shows up for a brief time and Ichigo rarely has the patience to deal with him.  But in this case, Ichigo accompanies Kon to the Soul Society.

But perhaps the most intriguing part of this film is the fact that no one remembers Ichigo and look at him as an intruder to the Soul Society and everyone tries to take him down.  And of course, by this time that the film was released, this Ichigo is quite powerful, even if he is a “substitute” soul reaper.

But in some way, one of the finest things about this film is that it is a return to basics.  And what I mean by that is, it’s about Ichigo and Rukia.  The way things were in the beginning and the way things will be played out in this film.  Two individuals have manipulated Rukia’s memories and she doesn’t not remember Ichigo.

So, for those who have been wanting a return to those simpler times of Ichigo and Rukia, this film does feature a storyline focusing on both individuals.

And of course, there is that surprise element of Kisuke Uruhara returning to the Soul Society.  We know he left…leaving his old-self behind and never returning as a Soul Reaper, but in this case, he returns to set things right with the damage caused by the two assailants.

While “Bleach the Movie 3: Fade to Black” doesn’t come with much special features, my review copy of the screener disc does feature very good PQ (which one would expect from a film) and lossless audio via DTS-HD MA (English and Japanese).

Overall, if you are a “Bleach” fan, more than likely you will be watching this film as it is part of the debut entry of Viz Media to anime on Blu-ray (the other release was the “Naruto Shippuden” film, “Bonds”).  It’s an exciting, action-packed film featuring plenty of characters and of course, an Ichigo and Rukia storyline that fans will definitely be entertained by.

Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete Fourth Season (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

The classic action anime TV series “Yu Yu Hakusho” comes to a close in this final fourth volume.  The best Blu-ray  volume of the series featuring the deadly battle between Yusuke vs. Sensui, the final tournament in the Demon World plus a Blu-ray release featuring improved PQ, AQ plus special features including many audio commentary tracks.  Overall, a fantastic Blu-ray release to conclude this classic anime series.  Definitely recommended for classic and action anime fans!

Image courtesy of © Yoshihiro Togashi 1990-1994

TITLE: Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete Fourth Season

DURATION: Episodes 85-112 (600 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (4×3, HD Native), Dolby TrueHD English 5.1, Dolby TrueHD Japanese 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: November 29, 2011

Original Story by Yoshihiro Togashi

Directed by Noriyuki Abe

Series Composition by Yukiyoshi Ohashi

Script by Hiroshi Hashimoto, Katsuyuki Sumisawa, Shikichi Ohashi, Sukehiro Tomita, Yukiyoshi Ohashi

Music by Yusuke Honma

Character Design by Mari Kitayama, Masaya Onishi, Minoru Yamazawa

Art Director: Shigenori Takada, Yuji Ikeda

Anime Production: Pierrot

Featuring the following voice talent:

Megumi Ogata/Christopher R. Sabat as Kurama

Nobuyuki Hiyama/Chuck Huber as Hiei

Nozomu Sasaki/Darren Pleavin as Yuusuke Urameshi

Shigeru Chiba/John Burgmeier as Kazuma Kuwabara

Hisako Kyouda/Linda Young as Genkai

Katsumi Suzuki/Bill Townsley as Toguro Ani

Mayumi Tanaka/Sean Teague as Koenma

Rokuro Naya/Robert McCollum as Sensui

Sanae Miyuki/Cynthia Cranz as Botan

Tomomichi Nishimura/Kent Williams as Jorge Saotome

Toshiyuki Morikawa/Christopher Bevins as Shishiwaka Maru

Yuri Amano as Keiko Yukimura

Ai Orikasa/Amber Cotton as Koto

Ai Orikasa as Shizuru Kuwabara

Akio Nojima as Inmaki

The gateway between worlds lies open and past must battle present, but with Yusuke’s final death his friends rush onward. Risen once more with the blood of ages coursing through his veins, the young man sheds humanity as the war shifts realms to the land of demons. Three legendary kings seek power where only one can rule, and friends are enlisted as champions to become foes in the final struggle for control. From troubled teen to royalty, Yusuke’s final chapter unfolds.

“Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files” marks the final volume of the anime series and one more last tournament to see Yusuke and friends in battle in another action-packed fourth season on Blu-ray!

Before there was “Bleach”, there was “Yu Yu Hakusho”, a popular manga series from 1990-1994 and a TV anime series form 1992-1995 written and illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi.

In the US. the series was featured on “Shonen Jump” from 2003-2010 and the anime series was shown on the Cartoon Network. The series has its share of a strong following worldwide as it is one of the few anime series that had been aired completely in Asia and Eastern Europe.

With the anime series, a total of 112 episodes were created, along with two films and several OVA’s but also including soundtracks, video games and other merchandise.

“Yu Yu Hakusho” is one of the most popular Japanese manga series as it has sold over 40 million copies in Japan and also a winner of the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Award in 1993, also earning the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize for 1994 and 1995. In 1993, it came second place to the immensely popular “Sailor Moon” series. Even a decade after its anime debut, in 2001, “Yu Yu Hakusho” was still listed as #53 in Animage’s top 100 anime listing of 2001 and for TV Asahi’s web poll in 2006, was voted #15 as “Best Anime of All time” and the series would eventually become popular in several countries.

While the series has been released on DVD in America, “Yu Yu Hakusho” was released in HD for the first time on Blu-ray courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment. The series was not only a port of the Japanese Blu-ray release, but FUNimation Entertainment also put a lot of man hours into creating the English lossless audio and making improvements, re-recording of various characters for this Blu-ray release.

And with the release of “Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete Fourth Season”, this release features the final episodes for the series.

“Yu Yu Hakusho” focuses on the character Yusuke Urameshi. Yusuke is literally your street punk. He has an alcoholic mother, no father and beats up other gang members, as well as missing school often. But despite his brash attitude, deep inside, Yusuke is a good guy. And people who believe in him is his childhood friend and classmate, Keiko Yukimura, who wants him to focus on his education and also wants to help him because she likes him. The other person who wants to help him is Kazuma Kuwabara, also a street punk who has set a goal to one day beat Yusuke but usually, Kazuma is the person who ends up getting beaten up.

But one day, as Yusuke leaves his high school, he sees a kid playing with a ball near the street. Yusuke tells him to not play that ball because it’s dangerous and that he can end up getting killed if he plays ball in busy traffic. And as the boy thinks that Yusuke is just wanting to play with him, the boy doesn’t listen to Yusuke’s warning and ends up kicking the ball towards the street and tries to get the ball during incoming traffic.

Seeing this, Yusuke saves the boy but ends up being hit by the car and getting killed. Next thing you know, Yusuke is in the spirit world, floating around and watching people and seeing how they react to his dead body, but also getting to see people who actually, genuinely miss him.

Yusuke is suddenly approached by the grim reaper, Botan who is shocked that Yusuke is in the spirit world because his death was not supposed to happen. So, there were no current plans to have him in Heaven or Hell. But Koenma, the son of the spirit realm ruler King Enma tells Yusuke that because he was not destined to go to either Heaven or Hell, he has a chance to earn the right to be revived and return back home. In fact, back on Earth, both Yusuke’s mother and Keiko realize that something is surprising in the fact that Yusuke is warm and not showing signs that he is actually dead, which gives the two hope that Yusuke may be alive.

But Yusuke learns that with good decisions that are used to help people, he may get a chance at life once again.

But also, being recognized by Koenma that perhaps Yusuke has a special purpose that is to be a spirit detective who can investigate supernatural phenomena in the human world and capture criminals dealing in underworld crime.

And through his adventures as a spirit detective, he will meet friends but also many foes.

The first season of “Yu Yu Hakusho” is broken down to three arcs. The first arc deals with Yusuke’s death and what is needed to bring him back. The second arc deals with Yusuke becoming a spirit detective and needing to find three artifacts and take on three demons (two who are Kurama and the other Heiei) and the third arc features Genkai’s fighting tournament.

The second season of “Yu Yu Hakusho” features the continuation of the Genkai fighting tournament and this time Urameshi and friends must defeat all their opponents or else they die.

The Third Complete season (which is the second and third season of “Yu Yu Hakusho” in Japan) continues the Genkai fighting tournament as Team Urameshi (Yusuke’s team) has made it to the finals and now must take on Team Toguro. The next storyline arc features a storyline in which the team tries to find a kidnapped Yusuke while the third arc features the team taking on the games of Tsukihito “Gamemaster” Amanuma.

The fourth season features the major battle between Yusuke and Sensui (a battle to the death) and also, we learn where Yusuke’s great power comes from!   This leads to the final tournament of the series featuring Yusuke and friends as they head back to the Demon World to take on powerful opponents.  Who will emerge victorious?

Here is a basic spoiler free summary of each episode featured in the fourth season of “Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files”:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 85 – Spirit Detectives Showdown – Yusuke vs. Sensui part 1
  
• EPISODE 86 – The Difference Maker – Yusuke vs. Sensui Part 2. Itsuki tells everyone that Sensui has seven split personalities.
  
• EPISODE 87 – Power Between the Teeth – Yusuke vs. Sensui Part 3.  Yusuke encounters Sensui’s personality named Shinobu.
  
• EPISODE 88 – The True Face of Sensui – Sensui reveals his sacred energy.
  
• EPISODE 89 – Death of a Spirit Detective – Sensui kills Yusuke.
  
• EPISODE 90 – Attempting Revenge – Sensui plans to kill Yusuke’s friends.
  
• EPISODE 91 – Waking the Lost – The spirit defense force is dispatched to seal the breach.  Yusuke’s lineage revealed.
  
• EPISODE 92 – The Proof – The birth of a newly-revived Yusuke vs. Sensui.
  
• EPISODE 93 – Sensui’s End – The conclusion of the Yusuke vs. Sensui battle.
  
• EPISODE 94 – Topside - Everyone returns back to their normal lives but Yusuke wonders who took over his body during the fight against Sensui.
  

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 95 – Yusuke’s Destiny – Yusuke finds out that Koenma is in hiding after disobey a director order.
• EPISODE 96 – Three Strangers, Three Kings – Three men who are on teh present of Raizen, one of the three kings of the Demon World, confronts Yusuke.
• EPISODE 97 – Departing Living World – Kurama and Hiei receive invitations from two kings of the Demon World, Yomi and Mukuro.
• EPISODE 98 – Return to Demon World – Yusuke, Kurama and Hiei head back to the Demon World.  Yusuke undergoes new training from Raizen.
• EPISODE 99 – Haunted by the Past – Hiei undergrows harsh training from Mukuro.
• EPISODE 100 – The Secret of the Jagan – Hieh remembers his past as a bandit and takes on Shigure.
• EPISODE 101 – Reunion of the Bandits – Kurama travels to the territory of Yomi, Kurama’s former second-in-command and also has a bone to pick with Kurama.
• EPISODE 102 – Torn Between Identities – Kurama thinks about Yomi’s offer and tries to gather allies for Yomi, those who survived the Dark Tournament.
• EPISODE 103 – Inheritance - Raizen tells Yusuke of his lineage and requests for him to stop the war from taking place in the Demon World.

DISC 3:

• EPISODE 104 – Every Demon For Himself – With Raizen’s death, Mukuro attacks Yomi with full force.  Meanwhile, a new tournament in Raizen’s honor is to be held.
• EPISODE 105 – The Preliminaries – Yusuke arrives for the tournament and meets with Kurama, Hieie, Yomi and Mukuro and former competitors from the Dark Tournament.
• EPISODE 106 – The Battle of Father and Son – Yomi vs. his son Shura in the preliminaries.
• EPISODE 107 – The Demon World Tournament Begins – More tournament matches continue.
• EPISODE 108 – Farewell, Kurama – Kurama vs. Shigure.
• EPISODE 109 – Love and War – Hiei vs. Mukuro.
• EPISODE 110 – A Reason to Fight – Yusuke vs. Yomi.
• EPISODE 111 – Closure – A new ruler of the Demon World is unveiled.
• EPISODE 112 – To the Future – The final episode of the series, two years later.

“Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete Third Season” focuses on the main characters:

• Yusuke Urameshi – The main protagonist who was a street punk that is constantly fighting, ditching school and not doing much with his life. But one day, he is killed when he is struck by a car while trying to save a young child who accidentally walked on to incoming traffic. The episodes feature Yusuke in the spirit world and giving a second chance at life as a Spirit Detective and growing his powers which includes a Spirit Gun which he can shoot from his right index finger.
• Kazuma Kuwabara – A person who sees himself as Yusuke’s rival and in some ways, Yusuke is a big inspiration to him because it makes him work harder and makes him become stronger. He also has a strong sixth sense of detecting spirits and is able to create a spirit sword (which is unpredictable).
• Kurama – A former fox demon thief who fused with the unborn child of Shiori Minamino and has made him care for humans. When Yusuke saves him and his mother, he decides to help Yusuke. He has the power to control plants and a rose. Also, great at analyzing opponents.
• Hiei – The son of an Ice Maiden who had sex with a male (Which is forbidden in their society). He is driven by the thirst to kill those who cast him out to die. His power is the Evil Eye (which grants him power to hypnotize, use telepathy and remote viewing) and is an expert with a Katana.
• Keiko Yukimura – Yusuke’s childhood friend who has always cared for him but also tried to push him to put more into his studies. She likes Yusuke a lot and is jealous when he sees him around Botan.
• Botan – The grim reaper who takes the souls of the deceased to the underworld. She is also the person who tries to guide Yusuke and joins him in human form occasionally.
• Koenma – King Enma Jr., son of spirit realm ruler King Enma, who looks like a toddler with a pacifier in his mouth but he is 700 years old. He is Yusuke’s boss and the person who hands him cases.
• Genkai – An elderly woman who is a martial arts expert who takes Yusuke as a student.

VIDEO:

“Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete Fourth Season” is presented in 1080p High Definition (4:3 HD Native).

It’s important to note that this series is old. This was not made during a time where anime was created in HD, nor was it created during a time when anime was created digitally. This series is literally old school and previously to watching this series on Blu-ray, I pulled out my old VHS copy that I recorded from Japanese TV to see how it looked and then to see how it looks on Blu-ray.

For one, I was expecting not the best picture quality considering that this anime series started airing back in 1992 and knowing how “Dragon Ball” and “Dragon Ball Z” looked, I was expecting dust, scratches and even faded colors. Also, its a TV series, not a film or OVA, so for one, I was not expecting it to look anything like a modern anime series and two, I was not expecting it to see considerable damage.

Well, “Yu Yu Hakusho” had none of that. The colors were vibrant, there was no massive dust or scratches on the print, if anything, this series looked absolutely awesome on Blu-ray, not bad for a 20-year-old anime series!

Granted, hardcore Blu-ray fans should not expect anything close to modern anime HD series but for those who grew up watching anime a long time ago, especially who have a familiarity with “Yu Yu Hakusho” will be happy to see how awesome this anime series looks on Blu-ray and even be excited to know the unlimited possibilities of hopefully seeing more classic titles on Blu-ray. If old school anime looks this good on Blu-ray, I can’t wait what’s coming next!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete Fourth Season” is presented in Dolby TrueHD English 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD Japanese 2.0. While, the English lossless soundtrack features more ambient and more punch when it comes to the action sequences and the music soundtrack, the Japanese stereo lossless soundtrack is quite clear and may not have the same punch, but if you have a modern receiver that is capable of playing stereo on all channels, for me, that was my preference.

Until the release of this fourth season Blu-ray, I had no idea how much work was done for the English lossless track until the mixing audio commentary (featured on disc 2).  Audio engineer Andrew Tipps explains that the music and sound effects were literally non-separated, so only so much could have been done with the sound effects.  So, what FUNimation Entertainment ended up doing is re-record several scenes featuring previous and newer voice talent but also adding special effects to the episodes that were not in the original TV release.

FUNimation Entertainment has always done a great job with their casting and with this Blu-ray release, while the voice casting for the main talents were well-done, they also went in and redid a few others in order to reach the quality that they are known for.  So, that’s major dedication especially for an old school anime series and as a fan, I’m quite proud that they put so much time into that.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete Fourth Season” comes with the following special features:

Disc 2:

• Episode 99 Commentary – Remixing Yu Yu Hakush – A 2011 audio commentary featuring Justin Cook (producer and line producer) with mix engineer, Andrew Tipps on the mixing of the series.  This commentary goes into great detail of what work was done for this 2011 U.S. release of all episodes.
  

Disc 3:

• Yu Yu Hakusho Trading Card Game Revisited – (29:23) A 2011 featurette the Yu Yu Hakusho trading card game.  Justin Cook and Scott Sager take on each other and show viewers how to play the card game.
• Episode 108 – Actor Commentary – Featuring a 2003 audio commentary with producer Justin Cook (also voice of Yusuke) and a few other talents.
• Episode 110 – ADR and Mixing Commentary – Featuring a 2003 ADR and mixing commentary with Justin Cook, Chris Bevens and Justin Pate.
• Episode 111 – Writer Commentary – Featuring a 2003 commentary about the writing of the series with Justin Cook, Jared Hedges, Jeremy Carlile and John Burgmeier.
• Episode 111 – Outtakes and Foul Ups – (10:20) Featuring Justin Cook (voice of Yusuke) hosting an audio gag reel.
• Episode 112 – Leading Cast Commentary – Featuring a 2003 all-talent commentary with Justin Cook (Yusuke), John Burgmeier (Kurama), Christopher Sabat (Kuwabara) and Chuck Huber (Hiei)
• Episode 112 – Memoirs of Yu Yu Hakusho – Justin Cook reminiscing of his time working on the “Yu Yu Hakusho” anime series.
• Textless Opening Song – “Smile Bomb”
• Textless Closing Song – “The Sun Will Shine Again”
• Textless Closing Song – Daydream Generation
• FUNimation Entertainment Trailers

EXTRAS:

“Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete Fourth Season” comes with a slipcover case.

“Yu Yu Hakusho” is one of Japan’s most popular, beloved, action anime series of all time!

It has done well in polls, I can easily remember the plethora of Japanese anime magazines that showcased Yu Yu Hakusho every month because of its popularity.  But when it comes to dramatic battles, there was one storyline that stood out for “Yu Yu Hakusho” fans and that is the battle between Yusuke and Sensui.

I can easily remember the hype that was built into Newtype Magazine and Animage Magazine for this storyline… In fact, during that time, I remember the video game as well as the storyline being equated to the “Dragon Ball Z” Cell storyline in terms of popularity.  Not only had Yusuke found his match with his most powerful rival yet, but in a major shocker, Yusuke died and wow…I can remember the earlier years of the anime BBS message boards with people shocked about what had transpired and fans literally were in awe that a major character would be killed off.

Granted, this is “Yu Yu Hakusho” and Yusuke is the main protagonist, so you pretty much expected that his death wasn’t going to last all that long, especially with a storyline that centers around him.

I looked at the final fourth season of “Yu Yu Hakusho” and the return to the Demon World for a final tournament as a final goodbye to the series and for the most part, the series has ran its course and unlike “Dragon Ball Z” or today’s length anime series which would have arc after arc of major storylines, “Yu Yu Hakusho” was one of the few series that stayed true to its plot of four guys, facing insurmountable odds against demons and the strongest of the underworld.  While the first season focused a lot on character development, the next three seasons would focus on tournament and one-on-one battles.  It never strayed away from that and since it aired during the years of “Dragon Ball Z” and “Sailor Moon S”, it didn’t try to encroach those other anime series and remained true to itself.

And with the manga series ending in 2010, I expected a revisiting of the series with another season similar to what happened with “The Slayers” and even “Inuyasha”, starting where the series last left off.  And I figured with today’s technology and animation, “Yu Yu Hakusho” would look better than ever. But that remains to be seen if “Yu Yu Hakusho” will ever return.  Whether it does or not, the ending for the anime series thus far is still a worthwhile finale that does give closure.

So, for the most part, I’m quite happy with this release and for the most part, we are getting an old school anime series available on Blu-ray! The picture quality of this classic anime series was much better than I expected and I can’t wait for more!  As mentioned, by listening to the 2011 commentary, I was amazed about how much work went into the Blu-ray release of “Yu Yu Hakusho” and redoing a few things for the English lossless track in terms of re-recordings and also including the additional special effects.  And also surprising was the amount of special features included with this Blu-ray release.  Granted, many of them are from 2003, but still, it was the most special features featured than any of the previous Blu-ray volumes of “Yu Yu Hakusho”.

Overall, “Yu Yu Hakusho: Ghost Files – The Complete Fourth Season” is a wonderful final volume of this classic anime series.  I understand that some anime fans are not into all-action anime, long duration anime and most of all, old school anime series but “Yu Yu Hakusho” was considered high up there along with “Dragon Ball Z” and “Sailor Moon Super S” during the ’90s.  It’s more action-oriented and the latter three seasons focuses heavily on tournaments and one-on-one battles for anyone who appreciates well-done fighting anime series, this is one of the best out there!

So, if you’re willing to stay with this longer series for the long haul and knowing that all episodes are featured in four Blu-ray volumes, “Yu Yu Hakusho” is a classic anime series that is definitely recommended!

Star Driver Vol. 1 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

An anime series featuring all-out mecha action, a little harem plot but one teenager’s quest to defeat a mysterious group!  “Star Driver” is an exciting anime TV series on Blu-ray and by the last episode on volume 1, you’ll definitely be craving for more. Definitely one of my favorite anime TV series on Blu-ray for 2011!

Images courtesy of ©BONES/STAR DRIVER COMMITTEE, MBS. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Star Driver Vol. 1

DURATION: Episodes 1-13 (325 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (16:9 Widescreen), Japanese Linear PCM 2.0, English Subtitles

RATED: Suggested 13 and Up

COMPANY: Aniplex/Bandai Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: November 29, 2011

Directed by Takuya Igarashi

Series Composition by Yoji Enokido

Music by monaca, Satoru Kousaki

Original Character Design by Hiroka Mizuya, Misa Mizuya

Character Design by Yoshiyuki Ito

Art Director by Takeshi Waki

Anime Production by BONES

Featuring the voices of:

Jun Fukuyama as Sugata Shindou

Mamoru Miyano as Takuto Tsunashi

Saori Hayami as Wako Agemaki

Akira Ishida as Head

Ami Koshimizu as Keito Nichi

Ayana Taketatsu as Aragon Simone

Ayano Niina as Kanako Watanabe

Chiemi Chiba as Benio Shinada

Emiri Katou as Ruri Makina

Fumiko Orikasa as Sora

Haruka Tomatsu as Keta no Miko/Sakana-chan

Hiroko Ushida as Jaguar Yamasugata

Houko Kuwashima as Midori Okamoto

Kenichi Suzumura as Tsukihiko Bou/Stick Star

Kenji Akabane as Takashi Dai

Maaya Sakamoto as Sarina Endou

Mitsuki Saiga as Kou Atari

Nao Tōyama as Tiger Sugatame

Ooki Sugiyama as Tetsuya Gouda

Rina Hidaka as Mizuno You

Ryohei Kimura as Ginta Ryou/Camel Star

Ryou Hirohashi as Marino You/Manticore

Shinichiro Miki as Ryousuke Katashiro

Shun Takagi as George Honda

Yukana as Madoka Kei

Yuuki Kaji as Takeo Takumi/Sword Star

On the southern edge of Japan, the inhabitants of Southern Cross Island lead seemingly normal lives – but far beneath the surface of this quiet island lies an ancient secret that lays dormant until Takuto Tsunashi washes ashore one night…

Upon enrolling at Southern Cross Island High School, Takuto and his friends become embroiled in a conflict with a clandestine society to control giant machines, called Cybodies, sealed under the island whose powers are bound by special shrine maidens. What secrets will Takuto dig up, and how will he deal with the obstacles that lie ahead of him? This struggle will threaten to tear apart the entire island!

It’s one teenager taking on a mysterious group in the exciting mecha action anime series…”Star Driver”!

In Oct. 2010, the anime “Star Driver: Kagayaki no Takuto” began airing on Japanese television.  Directed by Takuya Igarashi (“Ojamajo Doremi”, “Ashita no Nadia”, “Darker than Black”) and a screenplay by Yoji Enokido (“Neon Genesis Evangelion”, “Revolutionary Girl Utena”, “Ouran High School Host Club”), a total of 25 episodes were aired on TBS and now the anime series will be released on Blu-ray in the United States courtesy of Bandai Entertainment.

“Star Driver” vol. 1 on Blu-ray features the first 13 episodes of the sci-fi action anime TV series.

The story is set in Southern Cross Isle, an island in which Wako Agemaki and Sugata Shindo were on the beach one day.  While talking to each other one night, they spot a teenager named Takuto who has washed up ashore.

Takuto happened to swim from the mainland to Southern Cross Isle to attend Southern Cross Island High School and all seems to be going well for the teenager as he makes new friends, especially with Wako and Sugata and is revealed to be the son of a famous painter (paintings which are featured throughout Sugata Shindo’s mansion).

Meanwhile, beneath the school is where Cybodies exist.  These Cybodies are mecha that can be controlled by humans in an alternate dimension known as “Zero Time” and a mysterious group known as the “Kiraboshi Order of Cross” are currently trying to take possession of the island’s Cybodies for their own persona purposes and break the seal of the island’s four shrine maidens.

One day, as Takuto is trying to enter a private area (illegally), he notices that his friend Wako Agemaki has been taken hostage by the mysterious group.  He tries to fight back but it appears that this group’s members are experienced fighters and it is revealed that some of these mysterious individuals are actual classmates and students of Southern Cross High School, people that Takuto have met and some he has befriended.

It is revealed that Wako is a one of the Shrine Maidens and she has the power to create the South Maiden Seal.

And as one of the members takes control of one of the Cybodies, the group is shocked that Takuto has managed to enter Zero Time and enter the seal.    And he calls upon a Cybody known as Tauburn and reveals himself as a Star Driver or “Ginga Bishounen” (Galactic Pretty Boy).

He easily defeats one of the members of the Order of Glittering Stars and with each loss, each member must give up their badge and are literally lose their position of becoming leader of the Order.  But they also realize that Takuto is not only a Star Driver with amazing power, he is also the biggest threat that stands in their way.

Now each member is willing to take on Takuto in order to see if they can defeat him with their special ability, while Takuto has dedicated himself into destroying every Cybody piloted by the Kiraboshi Order of Cross.

The main characters of “Star Driver” (featured in Volume 1) are:

• Takuto Tsunashi – The main character who is good friends with Wako Agemaki and Sugata Shindo.  He is a member of the Night Flight drama club at Southern Cross Island High School and is also a pilot of the Cybody known as Tauburn and a Star Driver who plans to destroy every Cybody he fights against.  He’s also popular among the ladies and many start to fall for him.  He also loves to say words in English, is highly intelligent and has great athletic/fighting skills.
• Wako Agemaki – A shrine maiden and her powers and existence creates the South Maiden Seal.  If the seal was to break, all Cybodies would be able to leave the island.  She is forbidden to leave the island and is engaged to Sugata out of family tradition.  She is often hungry and takes care of a yellow fox known as Vice.  She is also a member of the Midnight Flight drama club at Southern Cross Island High School.
• Sugata Shindo – A member of the Midnight Flight drama club at Southern Cross Island High School, Sugata is from a very wealthy family and is engaged to Wako.  He is calm, intelligent and a great fighter.  He is able to use his First Phase powers to assist Takuto in battles.  He has a mysterious side to him and an interest in Takuto for some reason.
• Benio Shimada – A Pink-haired girl who is the kendo champ and the Resident Advisor of the school dorms.  She is also a member of the Kiraboshi Order of Cross and likes to control people, but has interest in those who are stronger than her.  Her code name is Scarlett Kiss and leads the Filament Squad and pilots the Cybody known as Peshent.
• Kanako Watanabe – The green-haired promiscuous married student.  Kanako is married to a 65-year-old tycoon named Leon Watanabe and lives in a a luxury cruise ship. She is a member of the  Kiraboshi Order of Cross and wants her husband’s company to own all Cybodies on the island.  She is an excellent fighter, but a very bored wife.  Her code name is “The President and leads the fourth section, “Adult Bank” squad. Her Cybody is Betreida.
• Simone Aragon – Kanako’s assistant who despises her.  She is also a member of the  Kiraboshi Order of Cross and a Cybody pilot.  She is actually named Pamela Watanabe,  the daughter of Kanako’s husband and Kanako’s step-daughter who lost her memory after an accident.  A member of the “Adult Bank” squad, her Cybody is Daletos.
• Takashi Dai – Kanako’s employee and a member of the Kiraboshi Order of Cross.  A member of the “Adult Bank” squad, he is also a very good kendo swordsman and among the first to challenge Takuto via his Cybody Tzadikt.
• Mizuno Yo – The twin sister of Marino and is known as the “witch girl” because she is always talking about magical spells.  She is able to talk to birds and falls for Takuto because he saves a bird for her.  She is also the West Maiden of the island.
  
• Marino Yo – The twin sister of Mizuno.  She is a member of the  Kiraboshi Order of Cross and goes by the name of Manticore.  But she uses her position to secretly hide the fact that her twin sister is the Western Maiden.  She also has feelings for Takuto.
• Keito Nichi – A childhood friend of Wako and Sugata and is known for wearing eyeglasses.  She is a member of the  Kiraboshi Order of Cross and leads the third section, “Bougainvilleae” squad and likes Sugata.
• Reiji Miyabi – Leader of the Glittering Star’s second section “Vanishing Age” squad and had kept the North Maiden locked in a  cage.  He proposes that anyone in the group who can beat Takuto can be the order’s main leader.  He pilots the Cybody, Reshbal.
• George Honda – A member of the high school’s boxing club and a member of the  Kiraboshi Order of Cross “Filament” squad.  He is the first opponent to take on Takuto.

“Star Driver Vol. 1″ features the following episodes:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 1: The Ginga Bishounen – Introduction to Takato and his confrontation with the ” Kiraboshi Order of Cross”.
  
• EPISODE 2: Challenge of the Kiraboshi Order of Cross – Wako introduces Takuto to her drama club friends, meanwhile the Kiraboshi Order of Cross makes a plan that whoever defeats Takuto becomes the leader of the group.
• EPISODE 3: The Otona Bank – Kanako gives Takuto a chance to earn some money, meanwhile one of her employees challenges Takuto in a Cybody fight.
• EPISODE 4: Wako’s Song – Takuto learns about Wako’s duties as a Shrine maiden.
• EPISODE 5: The Meaning of Mandrake – Takuto vs. Professor Green in Zero Space.
• EPISODE 6: The King’s Pillar – It’s Sugata’s birthday and we learn that Sugata also has a Cybody and why he hates his birthday.
• EPISODE 7: Faraway World – Takuto is challenged by another member of the Kiraboshi Order of the Cross, meanwhile Sugata is unconscious.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 8: Always Like a Shooting Star – After Sugata’s incident, Takuto and Sugata begin to fight each other.  Meanwhile, Scarlet Kiss captures Sugata.
• EPISODE 9: That Mizuno’s First Love – The Order of Cross tries to search for the west maiden, meanwhile Mizuno begins to fall for Takuto.
• EPISODE 10: And Now Marino’s First Love for Personal Gain – After playing a baseball game against Takuto, is Marino developing feelings towards Takuto?
• EPISODE 12: A Kiss Through the Glass – Takuto vs. The President
• EPISODE 13: The Red Sword in Love – Takuto vs. Scarlet Kiss, fight #2.

VIDEO:

“Star Driver” is presented in 1080p High Definition (16:9 widescreen).  What I love about this series is the fact that it’s vibrant and full of colors.  A lot of orange and reds are used and the anime series looks fantastic on Blu-ray.  While it is a TV series and not an OVA and film, still…the character designs are well-done (especially for a series that incorporates many characters) and painted backgrounds are also well-done and very detailed.

The mech design is also pretty cool to look at but I did notice that they do reuse Takuto and Tauburn’s introduction before each battle in every episode (reminiscent of the magical girl transformations in older anime series) but for the most part, for an action-packed series, I enjoyed the character and mechanical designs.  Colors are vibrant and didn’t notice any banding or compression artifacts during my viewing of the series.

AUDIO:

“Star Driver” is presented in Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 and is a front channel-driven lossless soundtrack.  Dialogue and sound effects and music are clear, but it would have been great to hear this TV series as a more immersive 5.1 soundtrack (since there is so much action featured) but since it’s a TV series, not many anime series straight from Japan are created in 5.1.

But overall, the 2.0 lossless track is good but if you have a receiver that can play stereo on all channels, choosing that setting may be to your liking.

It’s important to note that this anime release on Blu-ray does not come with an English dub track.

Subtitles are in English and are easy to read.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Star Driver Vol. 1″ comes with the following special features:

• Textless Opening and Ending Themes  -  Featuring the opening plus two endings via “Sakana-chan” and “Mizuno” versions.
• Trailer – Original trailer for “Star Driver”.
• Bandai Previews – Bandai Entertainment trailers

An anime series featuring all-out mecha action, a little harem plot but one teenager’s quest to defeat a mysterious group!  “Star Driver” is an exciting anime TV series on Blu-ray and by the last episode on volume 1, you’ll definitely be craving for more. Definitely one of my favorite anime TV series on Blu-ray for 2011!

My first introduction to “Star Driver” was through an iPhone app on iTunes Japan and because because it was being promoted along with a Gundam app, I looked at a few trailers online to learn more about the series and noticed the mecha action involved and also learning that the series has a pretty significant following Japan.  Needless to say, I was hoping someday the series would be released in the U.S. and now it’s here on Blu-ray courtesy of Bandai Entertainment!

What’s cool about this Blu-ray release of “Star Driver” is that Bandai Entertainment included 13 episodes, which is definitely a major plus as their Blu-ray releases tend to have only 4-5 episodes per volume.  So, that’s definitely great for anime fans who have been wanting Bandai Blu-ray releases with more episodes included!

What I enjoyed about “Star Driver” thus far, is the characters.  A good variety of them with their own style and presentation.

The main protagonist Takuto is mysterious in his own right.  How did he become a Star Driver and what is his past?  We know he is gifted with heightened sense and intellect but he can also fight.  So, I’m sure the second half of the season will delve into his past.

But then you get a bunch of characters, many that are female and in harem fashion, slowly these women who hate Takuto at first, begin to like him.   One thing that I liked about this series is they made Takuto pretty brave, especially during the flirtation sequences made by these female characters.  Usually, in a banal way, most guys get scared or you see the typical blood flowing out of their nose when excited by a female character but for “Star Driver”, he’s a pretty direct and brave guy.  Cool and also very nice to the people that he meets.

Aside from Takuto’s supporting characters such as Wako and Sugata, you have the buxom green-haired student named Kanako, who could care less if she’s loud in class and wants to talk about her libido or what she wants to do to Takuto.  No one dares speak out against her because she’s so rich and powerful but also, it’s this fetish of hers of wanting to fool around, not 100% but letting guys kiss her through a window.

Then you have Benio Shinada, the kendo champ and Resident Advisor of the school dorms.  She is adamant to the students about the school rules but breaks them while entering the hot baths when Takuto is naked and alone or sneaking into his bedroom, before he is about to sleep.  For a sweet looking girl, she also has this dominant personality.

You also have Simone Aragon, an assistant of Kanako Watanabe who despises her boss.  The twins, Mizuno and Marino Yo who both are falling for Takuto.

And with all these women, they all happen to be members of the mysterious Kiraboshi Order of Cross, the group that Takuto wants to destroy.

Although obvious to the audience that these friends that Takuto has at school are members of the Order, you wonder if he is fully aware who they are and if he cares or not.

But so far, the series is an interesting mecha action anime series with plenty of humor and characters that are simply delightful to watch.

The Blu-ray release is beautiful as the animation is well-done, especially the character designs and also the painted backgrounds are full of detail.  If anything, colors are vibrant and look great on Blu-ray.  While the audio is only Japanese linear PCM 2.0, I wish it was 5.1 but most anime TV series are typically stereo straight from Japan.   As for special features, you get the textless opening and endings along with the trailer.

Overall, “Star Driver” is turning out to be among one of my favorite anime TV series to watch in 2011.

A series full of action, cool characters and vibrant presentation, “Star Driver” is definitely recommended!

K-ON!: Volume 4 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

Fun, exciting and all-out entertaining!  “K-ON!” is definitely one of my top three TV anime series on Blu-ray for 2011 and with volume 4, the episodes are the conclusion to season one and what an awesome way to close out the season!  This is too good of a series to pass up and if you are interested in watching a fun series about an all-female rock band…definitely give “K-ON!” a try!  Recommended!

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

TITLE: K-ON!: Volume 4

DURATION: Episodes 12-13+OAV (75 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen), Dolby Digital, Audio: Japanese 2.0 and English 2.0, Subtitles: English

RATED: Suggested 13 and Up

COMPANY: TBS Animation/Bandai Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: November 22, 2011

Originally Created by kakifly

Directed by Naoko Yamada

Series Composition by Reiko Yoshida

Screenplay by Jukki Hanada, Katsuhiko Muramoto, 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

Minako Kotobuki/Shelby Lindley as Tsumugi Kotobuki

Satomi Satou/Cassandra Lee as Ritsu Tainaka

Yōko Hikasa/Cristina Vee as Mio Akiyama

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

The school festival is here again, but Yui is out sick! The girls try to make do with Azusa on lead guitar when suddenly Yui shows up. But her guitar playing is just too perfect and she’s seems to be too polite to everyone. What has happened to Yui, and will she be make it to the performance in time?

Melancholy has set in on a cold winter day, as all the girls face some troubles doing their own thing. But a sudden text message from Yui cheers them up and they are all able to rally together and rock in the New Year at their first live house performance!

The hugely popular animated series “K-ON!” is back with its third volume on Blu-ray and DVD and this time, a new member named Azusa Nakano joins the band!

So, what is “K-ON!”? Well, it happens to be one of the hottest anime series in Japan that has not only dominated in the TV ratings but also on 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 now fans in Japan are awaiting for the film adaptation set for Dec. 3, 2011.

As for fans in the United States, there has been high anticipation for its anime release and the first two volumes are now available courtesy of Bandai Entertainment and in Sept. 2011, a third volume featuring episodes 9-11 is out on Blu-ray and DVD.

“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.

In the first volume, 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 second volume focuses on the club dynamics, having to find an advisor for the club in order for the club to exist and the band preparing for their very first live performances and preparing for another school year in which they hope to attract more members to the club.

The third volume is here and it focuses on the introduction of a new club member Azusa Nakano, a friend of Yui’s sister Ui and a guitarist and the group trying to make her feel comfortable around them.

The fourth volume of “K-ON!” marks the final volume for the first season and features the two final TV episodes plus the OVA.

With the band having practiced together for so long, especially with new member Azusa, it’s time once again for a new live performance at the school festival.  But unfortunately, Yui has caught a cold and is very sick.  The band wonders if Yui will be better before their live performance.

The final TV episode features a storyline that features a storyline of each member who have decided to do their own thing for winter vacation.  Everyone is keeping their lips sealed of what their plans are, but Yui wants to have a hotpot party.  Will the group eventually hang out before their winter break is over?

And the OVA features the band being invited to perform with other female bands for a live gig.  Will Hokago Tea Time be ready for their first live performance outside of a school function?

“K-ON!: Volume 4″ features the following episodes:

• EPISODE 12: Light Music! – The band has a new live performance but with Yui sick, will the band be ready to perform?
  
• EPISODE 13: Winter Days! – It’s winter vacation and Yui hopes to get everyone together but unfortunately, everyone is busy and are out doing their own thing during vacation.  Ritsu thinks she has a secret admirer, Mio travels in order to come up with inspiration to write lyrics, Azusa is taking care of a friend’s cat and Tsumugi takes a job at a fast food restaurant.
• EPISODE 14 (OVA): Live House! – When Hokago Team Time are invited to perform with other bands for their first live gig, how will their first experience performing outside of a school function be?

“K-ON!: Vol. 3″ 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 group’s newest member and the band’s guitarist. She tries to learn how to play 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 not sure if she wants to stay because the members do not appear to be taking their band practices that seriously.

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.
• Nodoka Manabe - Yui’s childhood friend and confidant. Smart and intelligent, despite how Yui is at times, Nodoka always supports her. She is also becoming good friends with Mio since they are in the same class.
• 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!” is 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, the colors are a bit saturated but for an anime TV series (which is expected) but the OVA does feature more vibrant colors and a bit more detail.

For the many decades I have watched Japanese animation, for anime series that are set in a modern Tokyo setting, I prefer anime series that focused on the smallest details, such as what is inside their bedrooms and home. What’s inside the stores when they go shopping, etc. I love seeing those details instead of the typical walls or trees that are part of the banality anime TV series.

“K-ON!” is one of those series where those little things matter and for me, those attention to small details enhanced my appreciation for the series.

AUDIO:

If there was a weak side of this Blu-ray release, I’m sure the audiophiles might be a bit cranky that the soundtrack is not Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA. What you get is an English and Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. What surprised me is the fact that even with the work for the English dub version, there was no change to make it a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack or to increase the bitrate for Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA. But for a Blu-ray release, those who expect lossless audio are going to fret about it, while those who have been waiting for this series to come out to the U.S. will be perfectly fine with the Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Personally, I chose to have my receiver play the anime series with stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundscape. But nevertheless, with the awesome music featured in the series, it would have been wonderful to hear that music via uncompressed lossless.

As for the voice acting, I am a bit biased to the Japanese voice acting but I did watch the series also with the English dub soundtrack and for the most part, the voice acting will appeal to both fans who prefer one over the other.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“K-ON!: Volume 4″ comes with the following special features:

• Brush Pen, Ballpoint Pen Music Video – The English dub music video for “Brush Pen, Ballpoint Pen”.
• Interview with Shelby Lindley – (6:00) English dub voice actress Shelby Lindley talks about how she got the part as Tsumugi Kotobuki but also her approach to voice acting and how different she is from the character.
• Trailers – Bandai Entertainment trailers

And the final volume of “K-ON!” is here and the first thing that comes to my mind is how I want more episodes of this awesome, fun and exciting rock n’ roll anime series.

I love this series!  And loved the progression of the Hokago Tea Time band and how each of these young ladies grew up together to become a band that can actually perform quite well and start playing their first major gig.

I love the fact that it focuses on normal high school life but also the formation of a band and the dynamics with each of the members as they go through their ups and downs but also the little cute quirks that come with each character.

I typically don’t go crazy over anime series, nor am I the hardcore fan that goes out and buys anything after I see a series but this is probably the first time since I watched an anime series such as “Ranma 1/2″ back in 1992, where I went out and started buying merchandise related to the series. In fact, I have purchased the PSP video game, the Figma figures and it has become one of my favorite series that I have really got into in a very long time in this manner.

The music is awesome! The characters are entertaining. The animation and art backgrounds were very good and for the most part, it has been a long time, possibly since “Azumanga Daioh” in which I really enjoyed gakusei-based anime series (student anime series – focused on a school setting).

If anything, while the episode “Light Music!” eventually shows us Azusa now playing live with the band, the growth is seen in the OVA episode “Live House!” as the band ventures out of the school setting and are performing with other bands who perform different styles of music.  You sense their fear when they started out but eventually learned along the way.

So, I look at these two performance episodes as growth episodes for each of these characters.  The final TV episode #13 was rather interesting because it is a story about individuals not relying on the group.  For the majority of all episodes, these teenagers are together.  But for “Winter Days!”, they are busy and want to do their own thing for winter vacation.  You would never think of a wealthy daughter such as Tsumugi wanting to work at a fast food restaurant, Azusa’s fear of cats, Ritsu finally removing the headband and showing us how she looks with bangs and of course, there is Mio…trying to create more music.

So, I’m quite happy that this episode was created because it gives us insight to the characters outside of the group and the band.

The final volume of “K-ON!” was absolutely fun and entertaining and now is the big question, will Bandai bring the 26-episode+OVA to Blu-ray?  I hope so!

But I’m loving “K-ON!” and if you are an anime fan who loves a straight-up, feel-good anime series with nothing dark, nothing to risque but something just all out-fun, give “K-ON!” a chance! It’s a wonderful anime series on Blu-ray and there is really nothing like it out there (although one may want to check out the live action film “Linda Linda” if they are interested in a storyline of all-girl rock bands).

Overall, another exciting, fun and entertaining volume of “K-ON!” and definitely one of my top three picks of must-own anime series on Blu-ray for 2011!

Definitely recommended!

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