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

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

Image courtesy of © Lagrange Project. All Rights Reserved.

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

YEAR: 2012

DURATION: Episodes 1-12 Minutes (275 Minutes)

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

COMPANY: Viz Media

RATED: TV-MA

Release Date: June 11, 2013

Chief Director: Tatsuo Sato

Director: Toshimasa Suzuki

Series Composition by Shotaro Suga

Original Character Design by Haruyuki Morisawa

Character Design by Chizuru Kobayashi, Takushige Norita

Art Setting: Michie Watanabe

Music by Saeko Suzuki, TOMISIRO

Anime Production: Xebec, Production I.G.

Featuring the following voice talent:

Kaori Ishihara/Kira Buckland as Madoka Kyono

Ai Kayano/Karen Strassman as Muginami

Asami Seto/Sophie Roberts as Lan

Ayumi Fujimura/Erika Harlacher as Ayane Iwa/Haruka Uehara

Azumi Asakura/Midge Mayes as Machiko Iwabuchi

Hiroyuki Yoshino/Ben Diskin as Izo

Hisako Kanemoto/Saki Shin as Asteria Lizamarie De Roschefall

Iori Nomizu/Erika Harlacher as Shōko Igarashi

Kazuyuki Okitsu/Vic Mignogna as Moid

Kenji Hamada/Bubba Chow as Hiroshi Nakaizumi

Kenji Nojima/Johnny Yong Bosch as Kirius

Makoto Yasumura/Patrick Seitz as Shōzō Tadokoro

Mamiko Noto/Wendee Lee as Yōko Nakaizumi

Megumi Nakajima/Cristina Vee as Grania

Rie Tanaka/Laura Post as Eri Watabe

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIDEO:

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

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

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

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

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Image courtesy of © 2013 FUNimation. All Rights Reserved.

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

YEAR: 2010

DURATION: Episodes 1-12 Minutes (300 Minutes)

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

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV-MA

Release Date: June 25, 2013

Originally created by Suu Minazuki

Directed by Hisashi Saito

Series Composition by Yuuko Kakihara

Character Design by Yoshihiro Watanabe

Art Setting: Hiromasa Ogura, Hiroshi Gouroku

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

Featuring the following voice talent:

Saori Hayami/Brittney Karbowski as Ikaros

Souichiro Hoshi/Greg Ayres as Tomoki Sakurai

Ayahi Takagaki/Jamie Marchi as Mikako Satsukitane

Iori Nomizu/Kara Edwards as Nymph

Mina/Trina Nishimura as Sohara Mitsuki

Tatsuhisa Suzuki/Eric Vale as Eishirō Sugata

Kaori Fukuhara/Carli Mosier as Astrea

Aki Toyosaki as Chaos

Asuka Ogame as Daidalos

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIDEO:

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

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

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

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

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

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

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

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TITLE: Tiger & Bunny: Blu-ray Set 2

YEAR: 2011

DURATION: Episodes 14-25 (280 Minutes)

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

COMPANY: Viz Media

RATED: TV 14

Release Date: February 19, 2013

Directed by Keiichi Satou

Series Composition by Masafumi Nishida

Music by Yoshihiro Ike

Original Character Design by Masakazu Katsura

Character Design by Kenji Hayama, Masaki Yamada

Art Direction by Kinichi Okubo

Mechanical Design by Kenji Andou

3D Director: Yoshikazu Kon

Anime Production: Sunrise

Featuring the following voice talent:

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

Masakazu Morita/Yuri Lowenthal as Barnaby Brooks Jr.

Go Inoue/Patrick Seitz as Keith Goodman/Sky High

Hiroshi Iwasaki/Dave Wittenberg as Doc Saito

Katsuhisa Houki/Beau Billingslea as Ben Jackson

Keiji Fujiwara/Steven Blum as Jake Martinez

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

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

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

Michiko Neya/Stephanie Sheh as Kriem

Minako Kotobuki/Kari Wahlgren as Karina Lyle/Blue Rose

Nobuaki Fukuda/Jamieson Price as Albert Maverick

Nobuhiko Okamoto/Michael Sinterniklaas as Ivan Karelin/Origami Cyclone

Rina Hidaka/Een Riegel as Kaede Kaburagi

Taiten Kusunoki/Travis Willingham as Antonio Lopez/Rock Bison

Wataru Yokojima/Daran Norris as Alexander Lloyds

Yuko Kaida/Tara Platt as Agnes Joubert

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is “Tiger & Bunny”?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIDEO:

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

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

“Tiger & Bunny” looks magnificent in HD!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

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

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TITLE: K-ON!: The Movie

DURATION: 110 Minutes

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

RATED: TV 14

COMPANY: TBS Animation/Sentai Filmworks

RELEASE DATE: May 21, 2013

Originally Created by kakifly

Directed by Naoko Yamada

Screenplay by Reiko Yoshida

Music by Hajime Hyakkoku

Character Design by Yukiko Horiguchi

Art Director: Seiki Tamura

Chief Animation Director: Yukiko Horiguchi

Animation Production: Kyoto Animation

Production: TBS

Featuring the voices of:

Aki Toyosaki/Stephanie Sheh as Yui Hirasawa

Asami Sanada/Karen Strassman as Sawako Yamanaka

Ayana Taketatsu/Christine Marie Cabanos as Azusa Nakano

Chika Fujitō/Laura Bailey as Nodoka Manabe

Madoka Yonezawa/Xanthe Huynh as Ui Hirasawa

Minako Kotobuki/Shelby Lindley as Tsumugi Kotobuki

Satomi Satou/Cassandra Lee as Ritsu Tainaka

Yōko Hikasa/Cristina Vee as Mio Akiyama

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is “K-ON!”?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“K-ON!: The Movie”….

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

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

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

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

Find out in “K-ON!: The Movie”!

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

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

OTHER CHARACTERS:

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

VIDEO:

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

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

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

AUDIO:

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

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

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2010

DURATION: 13 episodes (325 Minutes)

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

RATED: TV 14

COMPANY: Viz Media

RELEASE DATE: January 8, 2013

Original Creator: Hiroshi Shiibashi

Directed by Junji Nishimura

Series Composition by Natsuko Takahashi

Music by Kouhei Tanaka

Character Design by Mariko Oka

Anime Production: Studio DEEN

Featuring the voices of:

Aya Hirano/Mela Lee as Kana Ienaga

Jun Fukuyama/Darrel Guilbeau as Rikuo Nura

Jun Fukuyama/Grant George as Rikuo Night

Ai Maeda/Sophie Roberts as Yura Keikain

Akira Ishida/Vic Mignogna as Tamazuki

Ami Koshimizu/Julie Ann Taylor as Sasami

Chikao Ohtsuka/William Frederick as Nurarihyon

Hiro Shimono/Doug Erholtz as Kurōmaru

Hiroki Yasumoto/Kyle Herbert as Aotabō

Hiroyuki Yoshino/Jason Wishnov as Gozumaru

Jouji Nakata/Taylor Henry as Gyūki

Junji Majima/Spike Spencer as Karasu Tengu

Kana Asumi/Wendee Lee as Saori Maki

Kishô Taniyama/Sam Regal as Kiyotsugu Kiyojūji

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIDEO:

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

AUDIO:

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

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

TITLE: Kids on the Slope: Complete Collection

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2012

DURATION: 12 episodes (300 Minutes)

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

RATED: TV 14 LD

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RELEASE DATE: May 7, 2013

Original Creator: Yuki Kodama

Directed by Shinichiro Watanabe

Script by Ayako Katoh, Yuuko Kakihara

Music by Yoko Kanno

Character Design by Nobuteru Yuki

Art Director: Shinichi Uehara

Anime Production by Mappa, Tezuka Productions

Featuring the voices of:

Ryohei Kimura/Chris Patton as Kaoru Nishimi

Yoshimasa Hosoya/Andrew Love as Sentarō Kawabuchi

Aya Endo/Maggie Flecknoe as Yurika Fukahori

Junichi Suwabe/David Matranga as Junichi Katsuragi

Yuuka Nanri/Rebeka Stevens as Ritsuko Mukae

Nobuhiko Okamoto/Blake Shepard as Seiji Matsuoka

Nozomi Furuki/Chris Martinez as Taichi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Kids on the Slope” features the following characters:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIDEO:

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

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

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

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

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Why is this anime series so captivating?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Highly recommended!

Bodacious Space Pirates: Collection 1 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

“Bodacious Space Pirates” is a fun, humorous and entertaining sci-fi anime series! A coming-of-age story about a teenager who must take over her deceased father’ job of being a Captain of a pirate ship.  Can she do it?  Find out in “Bodacious Space Pirates: Collection 1″!

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

TITLE: Bodacious Space Pirates Collection 1

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2011

DURATION: 13 episodes (325 Minutes)

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

RATED: TV 14 VD

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RELEASE DATE: January 8, 2013

Original Creator: Yuichi Sasamoto

Original Character Design: Noriyuki Matsumoto

Directed by Tatsuo Sato

Series Composition by Tatsuo Sato

Music by Elements Garden, Hitoshi Fujima, Junpei Fujita, Noriyasu Agematsu

Art Director: Akira Ito

Chief Animation Director: Hiroshi Takeuchi

Animation Character Design: Akira Yasuda, Hiroshi Takeuchi

Art Design by Masahiro Sato, Stanislas Brunet, Thomas Romain, Yann Le Gall

Anime Production by Satelight

Featuring the voices of:

Kana Hanazawa/Caitlynn French as Chiaki Kurihara

Masaya Matsukaze/Christopher Patton as Kane MacDougall

Mikako Komatsu/Luci Christian as Marika Kato

Shizuka Itou/Carli Mosier as Misa Grandwood

Ai Kayano/Margaret McDonald as Ai Hoshimiya

Asuka Nishi/Emily Neves as Ursula Abramov

Atsushi Ono as Jotoff Sief Sydow

Chiaki Omigawa/Brittney Karbowski as Mami Endō

Chinatsu Akasaki as Maki Harada

Haruka Tomatsu/Monica Rial as Princess Gruier Serenity

Hiroki Yasumoto as Shō

Hisako Kanemoto/Kalin Coates as Grunhilde Serenity

Kanako Nomura/Allison Sumrall as Shōko Kobayashimaru

Kaoru Mizuhara/Monica Rial as Luka

Keiji Fujiwara/Kalob Martinez as Hyakume

Kenta Miyake/George Manley as Schnitzer

Kiyono Yasuno as Aster Aruhanko

Maaya Uchida/Tiffany Grant as Izumi Yunomoto

Mariya Ise/Elizabeth Bannor as Natalia Grennorth

Natsumi Takamori/Tiffany Terrell as Sasha Staple

Rikiya Koyama as Narrator

Rina Satou/Shannon Emerick as Jenny Dolittle

Satomi Satou as Lilly Bell

Suzuko Mimori as Belinda Percy

Yōko Hikasa as Lynn Lambretta

Yoshino Nanjou as Yayoi Yoshitomi

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka/Greg Ayres as San-Daime

Yui Horie/Hilary Haag as Coorie

Yuiko Tatsumi/Hayley Adams as April

Yuko Kaida/Shelley Calene-Black as Ririka Katō

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

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

Yuichi Sasamoto’s 2008 light novel series “Miniskirt Space Pirates” is among the few light novels that received an anime adaptation.

Produced by Satelight, the anime series known as “Moretsu Pirates” (“Bodacious Space Pirates”) was aired in Japan between January through June 2012.  And with the announcement of an animated film scheduled for release in February 2014, “Bodacious Space Pirates” will be released in the U.S. on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sentai Filmworks in two parts, the first feature episodes 1-13.

“Bodacious Space Pirates” is an anime series written and directed by Tatsuo Sato (“Lagrange – The flower of Rin-ne”, “Cat Soup”, “Stellvia”), featuring art direction by Hiroshi Takeuchi (“AKB0048″, “Elfen Lied”, “Durara!!”), character designs by Hiroshi Takeuchi (“Shutsugeki! Machine Robo Rescue”, “Idolm@ster: Xenoglassia”, “Big O”) and music by Elements Garden, Hitoshi Fujima, Junpei Fujita and Noriyasu Agematsu.

“Bodacious Space Pirates” is an anime series that revolves around a happy teenager named Marika Kato.  She is someone that loves being part of the space yacht club at Hakuho Academy and working at the Retro-Maid Cafe with  her good friend Mami.

One day while coming home, she meets Misa Grandwood and Kane McDougal who has important business with her mother Ririka.  And that business pertains to her.

With Marika now an older teenager, the three reveal to her that her father was a famous space pirate and that both of her parents were space pirates.  And in order to continue the Kato lineage of captains of the Bentenmaru, she must become the Captain of the Bentenmaru.

At first Marika is not sure if she wants that responsibility but one day while working on a space ship for the yacht club, working alongside new student Chiaki Kurihara, both were put into a situation where they had to captain a ship and prevent problems from happening.  With Marika becoming successful, she decides to become the Captain of the Bentenmaru but relies on the crew in helping her with the job.

While on the outside, Marika may seem like a regular teenager, Bentenmaru medic Misa Grandwood and helmsman Kane McDougal observe and evaluate to see if Marika is up to the job.

With part one of “Bodacious Space Pirates”, the series focuses on Marika’s training as the new Captain of the Bentenmaru but also being hired by Princess Gruier Serenity of the Serenity Royal Family to find a Golden Ghost Ship, a first-generation colony transport ship whose descendants became the first settlers of Serenity.  But most importantly to find the Artificial Womb room, a lab that genetically creates and births children for the Serenity Royal Family.  But due to political turmoil in her country, Princess Gruier wants to destroy the Artificial Womb.

But wanting to stop her is her youngest sister, Princess Brunhilde.

Will Marika succeed in her first major job as the Captain of the Bentenmaru?

“Bodacious Space Pirates” features the following characters:

Marika Kato – A student and member of the space yacht club at Hakuho Academy and also works a part-time job as a waitress.  Marika lives with her mother Ririko, who she refers to her with her first name.  Marika suddenly learns that her deceased father Gonzemon Kato was a pirate and since she is the descendant, she is the new captain of the pirate sop, the Bentenmaru.  Trying to divide time with school, her job and her duties as a pirate, Marika must train and continue her father’s legacy.

Chiaki Kurihara - A mysterious girl who transfers to Marika’s school and sees herself as a rival to Marika.  She may seem cold and not wanting to be near Marika, but she is deciding if she wants to become a space pirate as she is the heir to the Barbaroosa.

Misa Grandwood – The sexy medic of the Bentenmaru and the doctor at Hakuho Academy. She is responsible for watching over Marika’s progress as Captain of the Bentenmaru.

Kane McDougal – The helmsman at Hakuho Academy and the adviser of the space yacht club but also Marika and Chiaki’s teacher.

Hyakume – The Bentenmaru’s radar and sensor specialist.

Coorie – The Bentenmaru’s electronic warfare specialist.

Schnitzer – The Bentenmaru’s tactical officer and a cyborg.  A good friend of Marika’s mother, Ririka.

San-Daime - The Bentenmaru’s engineer who has an obsession with teddy bears.

Luca – The Bentenmaru’s navigator and psychic.

Ririka Sato – A former pirate of the Bentenmaru and mother of Marika.

Mami Endo – Marika’s best friend and co-worker at the retro-maid cafe.

Jenny Doolittle – President of the space yacht club and heir to a major space shipping conglomerate.

Lynn Lambretta – The vice-president of the space yacht club and a skilled hacker, also Jenny’s girlfriend.

Gruier Serenity – The Seventh Princess of the Serenity Royal Family of the Serenity Star System who’s father was good friends with Marika’s father.  She hires the Bentenmaru pirates to find the Golden Ghost Ship.

Grunhilde Serenity – The eighth Princess of the Serenity Royal Family of the Serenity Star System.  She and her sister Gruier have conflicted feelings of finding the legendary Golden Ghost Ship and is trying to prevent her sister and the Bentenmaru pirates from achieving their goal.

VIDEO:

“Bodacious Space Pirates” is presented in 1080p High Definition.  While a series that displays a lot of color (primarily when they are in Earth), there are some noticeable banding with areas with a lot of red, in space.  While character design and mechanical design look very good and sharp, for the most part, this is is a colorful anime series.

AUDIO:

The lossless soundtrack for “Bodacious Space Pirates” features an English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack. While the series is front-channel driven, both are equal when it comes to the use of the front channels. As for voice acting, both are also well-done and acting from both the Japanese and American talent will satisfy viewers.  If there were two key difference between soundtracks is the audio presentation for Misa Grandwood and Chiaki Kurihara.  For the English dub, Misa’s presentation has that raspy sexy adult voice which fits the style of the character, while the English dub version of Chiaki features more of a monotone direction, as opposed to a more livelier version in the Japaneese soundtrack.  But for the most part, fans should be happy with both lossless soundtracks.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Bodacious Space Pirates: Part One” comes with the clean opening and closing animation.

I am a big fan of sci-fi anime especially if driven with an all-female cast.

In the ’90s, probably the best known anime series to feature all-female characters and the concept of space pirates was Katsuhito Akiyama’s “Sol Bianca” series.

While “Sol Bianca” is old school anime and a more serious storyline, “Bodacious Space Pirates” is spunkier, humorous and fun thanks to its high school characters.  You have Marika Kato, a regular teenager just wanting to have fun and be with her friends but now her life has changed drastically when she finds out that her parents were space pirates and as a descendant, she must continue the Kato line of being Captain of the Bentenmaru.

And we watch as this teenager who has a smart but spunky, yet vibrant side to her as opposed to another teenager, Chiaki Kurihara who is the opposite.  More cold, more observing and just nothing like Marika.  But yet both must fulfill their duty as captains of space pirates for their own ship.

From learning the basics of combat and teamwork, to reading a script and playing a part like an actor of trying to steal jewels from innocent civilians, but also a kindness that makes her different from other pirates, but her willingness and passion to be in space.

The first half of the anime series focuses on Marika’s training as the Captain of the Bentenmaru but also working together with Chiaki.  While the first half features episodes that deal with Marika’s first major job as she is hired by a princess to find a mysterious ghost ship.

Like most sci-fi anime series, there are many characters but in this case, the crew of the Bentenmaru are not as focused on as other series tries to integrate many crew members.  If anything, your mind is focused primarily on Marika and a few key characters who are trying to make sure their new Captain does the right thing, or try to support her as best as they can.

As for the Blu-ray release, the series looks vibrant on Blu-ray.  There are a few banding issues but nothing terrible.  The soundtrack is primarily a lossless 2.0 front-channel driven soundtrack but dialogue is clear and it’s an interesting direction in which the English dub does something different than its Japanese counterpart.  As for special features, you get the usual clean opening and ending animations.

Overall, “Bodacious Space Pirates” is a fun, humorous and entertaining sci-fi anime series! A coming-of-age story about a teenager who must take over her deceased father’ job of being a Captain of a pirate ship.  Can she do it?  Find out in “Bodacious Space Pirates: Collection 1″!

Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

“Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” is an action-packed, thrilling animated film featuring one of Marvel Comics’ iconic characters, Iron Man plus appearances by a few other well-known names from the Marvel Universe.  The Japanese treatment of the series from Madhouse looks and sounds wonderful on Blu-ray.  If you love Iron Man and love anime, “Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” is definitely recommended!

Image courtesy of © 2013 SH DTV Partners. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore

YEAR: 2013

DURATION: 88 minutes total

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1 aspect ratio), English, French and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital,  Subtitles: English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin Simplified), Chinese (Mandarin Traditional), Korean, Thai

COMPANY: Marvel/Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

RATED: PG-13 (For Some Intense Sequences of Violence and Action)

Release Date: April 16, 2013

Directed by Hiroshi Hamazaki

Story by Brandon Auman

Screenplay by Kengo Kaji

Character Design by Masanori Shino

Mechanical Animation Director: Hiroki Mutaguchi

Music by Tetsuya Takahashi

Anime Production: Madhouse Inc.

Featuring the following voice talent:

Keiji Fujiwara/Matthew Mercer as Iron Man/Tony Stark

Tessho Genda/Norman Reedus as Frank Castle/The Punisher

Miyuki Sawashiro/Clare Grant as Black Widow/Natalia Romanova

Hiroki Yasumoto as War Machine/James Rupert “Rhodey” Rhodes

Miyu Irino as Ezikiel Stane

Billionaire Tony Stark, in his Iron Man armor, prevents an attack from a mysterious new foe, but innocent bystanders are killed, including his best friend War Machine, Lt. Colonel James Rhodes. Detained for questioning by S.H.I.E.L.D., Iron Man escapes, determined to find the mastermind behind the attack. Pursued by Black Widow and Hawkeye, Iron Man enlists the help of the ruthless vigilante The Punisher. But can the Armored Avenger handle what he finds when he catches the person responsible and is forced to face his deadliest weapon, a biotechnology called Technovore that could wipe out all life on the planet?

With the success of the 2010 “Iron Man” anime series featuring a collaboration between Marvel Studios and Japanese animation studio Madhouse Inc.  The two companies collaborated once again for an direct-to-video animated film featuring Iron Man titled “Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore”.

Featuring characters from the Marvel Universe such as Iron Man, War Machine, Black Widow, The Punisher, Hawkeye and S.H.I.E.L.D., the animated film will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in April 2013.

“Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” begins with Tony Stark/Iron Man and James “Rhodey” Rhodes/War Machine on a race against each other in their armor.  But immediately out of nowhere, unknown beings in armor begin attacking them.  Are they human?  Are they with a terrorist organization?

But when Tony Stark sees a boy being able to manipulate his armor, it’s high technology which Tony Stark has never seen before.

And as the fight continues, both Tony and Rhodey are separated.  As Rhodey goes to look for Tony, a blast blows up the building that Rhodey was inside of.  And Tony fears that his friend may be dead.

As S.H.I.E.L.D. arrives to interrogate Tony and find out what caused all the destruction, Tony is unsure what caused the problem, but he knows that he saw a kid who has taken over high-technology or alien technology that surpasses his own technology.  But who is the arrogant boy that he confronted?

Needing some answers, Tony knows he must leave S.H.I.E.L.D. but Nick Fury tells Tony Stark that because he is the sole witness to what happened, it’s important they keep him safe. But Tony, refuses to be a prisoner of S.H.I.E.L.D. and flies out to get some answers.

Angry at Tony for escaping, Nick Fury sends Black Widow and Hawkeye to retrieve Tony Stark, as well as his many soldiers at S.H.I.E.L.D.

But as Tony tries to get some answers of who may be involved…whether it was the terrorist organization A.I.M or someone else, while trying to get information in the Middle East, a well-known individual known as The Punisher is trying to eliminate them.

Needing to find answers quickly, before S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Widow and Hawkeye try to capture him, will the Frank Castle (The Punisher) help Tony Stark? And will he find out how this boy is possessing incredible power and why is he targeting Iron Man?

Find out in “Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore”!

VIDEO:

“Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1).  As one can expect from animation studio Madhouse Inc.  Art backgrounds look fantastic, CG rocks look very good but also the city landscape looks well-detailed.  Animation is well-shaded and the character designs are very awesome.  Colors are vibrant and sharp, I detected no banding issues or artifacts during my viewing of the film.

If anything, you do notice the quality differences from the previous TV series vs. an animated film.  “Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” looks great on Blu-ray!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” is presented in English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1.  the film is also presented in Spanish, Portuguese and Thai 5.1 Dolby Digital.   First, let me discuss the lossless audio.  As one can expect from a Marvel animated release, each film I have watched, has utilized the surround channels effectively and with this film, a great use of surround channels from Iron Man and War Machine flying, to the various destruction and weapons utilized in the film…the soundtrack is rather active.  Good amount of LFE and for the most part, a solid lossless soundtrack.

Both are well-acted but there are differences in translation between the Japanese and English release.    If anything, the English dubbed version reflects a style that captures how the characters are in the comic book, while the Japanese version is slightly changed in dialogue.  Both work well, it’s just when Frank Castle makes a sarcastic remark to Tony Stark, you expect that sadistic humor from Castle, while in the Japanese version, it’s more subdued and not as violent.

As for subtitles, subtitles are provided in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese (Mandarin Simplified), Chinese (Mandarin Traditional), Korean, Thai/

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” comes with the following special features:

• Concept Art Gallery – A Blu-ray exclusive, you can view concept art for “Iron Man: Rose of the Technovore”.
• Tale of Technovore – (8:26) A featurette about Marvel Studios working with Mad House Studios and creating an anime film, the characters featured in the film and more.
• S.H.I.E.L.D.: Protecting the Marvel Universe – (8:19) A featurette about what S.H.I.E.L.D. is, the characters of Nick Fury, Maria Hill and more.

EXTRAS:

The Blu-ray for “Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” comes with an UltraViolet code to allow people to download to their computer and select Apple and Android devices and stream to computers, tablets or smartphones.  Also, the Blu-ray release comes with an embossed slipcover.

As a long time reader of Marvel Comics and an anime fan, “Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” is a storyline that appeals to both old school and new school Marvel fans who love the character of Iron Man but also anime fans who appreciate the quality that comes from a major anime studio such as Mad House.

The partnership between both Marvel and Madhouse have been fantastic as I really like how much mature and darker, the anime series have been.

First, the storyline.  The storyline centers around the antagonist known as the Technovore which was first featured in 1993 in “Iron Man” issue #294.  In the original comic book series, Tony Stark was the creator of Technovore, which was intended to be a virus.  The computer program combined with nanobots and would eventually become an antagonist towards Iron Man and also War machine.

In the animated film, Ezekiel Stane (the estranged son of Tony Stark antagonist, Obadiah Stane), has found a way to combine with the Technovore and create a suit that incorporates technology that is far advanced from the technology that Stark Enterprises uses.

After the Technovore levels the city, S.H.I.E.L.D. wants to protect Tony Stark because he is the only witness to who was the cause of the destruction.  Tony being the person who does things his way, flies out to get some answers, while S.H.I.E.L.D. is not too thrilled with Tony Stark escaping.  So, S.H.I.E.L.D. sends the Black Widow and Hawkeye to retrieve Tony Stark.

As Tony tries to find out if the terrorist organization A.I.M. is being used, he eventually has an uneasy alliance with The Punisher.  And the fact that you get quite a few kick butt characters like War Machine, Black Widow and Hawkeye is a major plus.  Also, throw in a storyline that incorporates Pepper (Tony Stark’s assistant and girlfriend) a bit more as well as members of S.H.I.E.L.D. including Nicky Fury, you know that you’re going to get a lot of action and battles.

But as a fan of the characters, it was great to see a fresh storyline but also cool characters including cool character designs.  The fighting is well-animated but Madhouse did a great job for the art backgrounds.  Beautifully painted backgrounds, as well as CG backgrounds, well-shaded characters, great mechanical design…there is a lot of things going on in this series that looks very good and it’s fascinating to see how the Japanese did with the character designs of Black Widow (which are fantastic), The Punisher and also Hawkeye (kind of reminds me of “G.I. Joe” leader Duke), but from the design of Iron Man, War Machine and the other robots and attack planes, I thought everything came together very well and for an animated film, Marvel did a great thing by working with Madhouse!

Voice acting is well-done for both Japanese and English, but as mentioned, if you watch both, you will notice a slight difference in dialogue.  The Japanese is slightly subdued when compared to its more in-your-face dialogue that is featured on the English dub.  But with awesome picture quality, lossless audio is immersive and definitely an active soundtrack which was very cool.  You also get three special features included on the Blu-ray release.

Overall, “Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” is an action-packed, thrilling animated film featuring one of Marvel Comics’ iconic characters, Iron Man plus appearances by a few other well-known names from the Marvel Universe.  The Japanese treatment of the series from Madhouse looks and sounds wonderful on Blu-ray.  If you love Iron Man and love anime, “Iron Man: Rise of the Technovore” is definitely recommended!

Heaven’s Memo Pad – Complete Collection (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

“Heaven’s Memo Pad” is  a fascinating series from beginning to end, I can only hope that we see another season of the series because I’m hooked!  Beautiful animation, fun yet compelling story and fascinating characters! “Heaven’s Memo Pad” is recommended!

Image courtesy of © Hikaru Sugii/ASCIIMEDIAWORKS/”Heaven’s Memo Pad”. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Heaven’s Memo Pad

YEAR OF RELEASE: 2011

DURATION: 12 episodes (325 Minutes)

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

RATED: TV 14 VD

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2013

Originally created by Hikaru Sugii

Directed by Katsushi Sakurabi

Series Composition by Seishi Minakami

Music by Taku Iwasaki

Original Character Design by Mel Kishida

Character Design by Keiichi Sano

Art Director: Yutaka Onishi (bic-studio)

Chief Animation Director: Keiichi Sano

Sound Director: Jin Aketagawa

Anime Production: J.C. Staff

Featuring the voices of:

Yoshitsugu Matsuoka/Blake Shepard as Narumi Fujishima

Yui Ogura/Hilary Haag as Alice

Ai Kayano/Brittney Karbowski as Ayaka Shinozaki

Daisuke Ono/Illich Guardiola as Sōichirō “The Fourth” Hinamura

Hitomi Nabatame/Shelley Calene-Black as Min-san

Kouki Miyata/Greg Ayres as Major

Masaya Matsukaze/Adam Gibbs as Tetsu

Saki Ogasawara/Cynthia Martinez as Charuni “Meo” Kusakabe

Takahiro Sakurai/David Matranga as Hiro

Narumi Fujishima isn’t your typical high school student; he’s never really fit in and has been becoming increasingly more isolated from his fellow classmates. But he’s not alone, and when Ayaka, the sole member of the Gardening Club, introduces him to the reclusive girl who lives above the ramen shop, Narumi enters a whole new secret world. Alice is a NEET, someone who is Not Employed, being Educated or in Training, but as Narumi quickly discovers, that doesn’t mean that she does nothing all day. In between tending to her small army of stuffed bears, Alice is an expert hacker and very exclusive, private detective. To his surprise, Narumi finds himself drafted as one of the strange, but elite team of associates that Alice has assembled from her NEET acquaintances. Together they’ll battle gangs, thieves, murderers and drug lords. And in the middle of it all, Narumi will find his life changing forever in Heaven’s Memo Pad!

In Japan, the acronym NEET (which stands for not in education, employment, or training) tends to describe people who are shut-ins who avoid real life.  But also describing an otaku culture of people who are addicted to anime, video games and just don’t want to assimilate with society and rather stay inside the home without finding a job or pursuing any education.

But for light novel writer Hikaru Sugii and illustrator Mel Kishida, the two created a series known as “Kami-sama no Memo-cho” (God’s Memo Pad) to show a different side of NEET’s.

In 2007 and a total of eight volumes would be printed by ASCII Media Works.  In 2010, a manga adaptation of the series was illustrated by Tiv and featured in ASCII Media Wroks’ “Dengeki Daioh” magazine.

The anime adaptation was created in July through September 2011 and was produced by J.C. Staff.  And now the anime series, named “Heaven’s Memo Pad” has made its way to America on Blu-ray courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.

The series is directed by Katsushi Sakurabi (“Lunar Legend Tsukihime”, “Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru”, “Melody of Oblivion”, series composition by Seishi Minakami (“G-On Riders”, “Master Keaton”, “Kemonozume”, “Gunparade March”, “Toaru Kagaku no Railgun”), music by Taku Iwasaki (“Read or Die”, “Jojo’s bizarre Adventure”, “Gurren Lagann”, “Black Butler”), character design by Keiichi Sano (“A Certain Magical Index”, “A Certain Scientific Railgun”) and art backgrounds by Yutaka Onishi (“Girls und Panzer”).

The story centers around a not-so-involved high school student named Narumi Fujishima.   He is often wondering about the existence of humans and comparing them to pixels.

One day, while Narumi was walking by an area, he hears a woman scream and jumping out of a window and word of a guy who has been injured.  At first, a group comes to the rescue but think that Narumi is the assailant but they realize later that someone else is responsible.

The following day at school, his classmate Ayaka Shinozaki tries to have a conversation with him but since he’s not a social person, he is unaware of who she is.  And she tries to get him involved, primarily with the Garden Club, which now he and Ayaka are the only members.  She also has her visiting a group of friends that she wants to hook him up with.

When he arrives, he realizes that the group is the same people that accused him as an assailant the day before.  He learns that they are members of NEET, an amateur detective agency featuring unemployed people who solve cases.  And the NEED agency is led by a girl named Alice, a no-nonsense, anti-social NEET who has the appearance of a young girl and has stuffed animals around her plus a fridge full of her favorite soda, “Dokupe” (a pun on “Dr. Pepper”).  But inside her room are high-end monitors and computer equipment and video surveillance that allows her to see what is going on in the city but also top notch hacking skills, but also a high intelligence, especially when it comes to deductive skills.

She explains to Narumi that she is not a detective that investigates but uses her skills to help bring solace to those who have been killed and defends their cause.

And all of a sudden, Narumi becomes a member of NEET, working on various cases happening in the city.

“Heaven’s Memo Pad” features the following characters:

Narumi Fujishima – An introvert who lives with his sister, while his father doesn’t live with them as he tries to raise money for the family to survive.  He has nothing going on with life, until he meets his new friends who are NEET’s.

Alice - A mysterious girl that acts childish, but has high intellect, high level of deductive reasoning and is a hacker.  She is extremely introverted and is a NEET that is anti-social, lives with her stuffed animals and is constantly drinking her favorite soda “Dokupe”.  She likes to stay in the dark and often, Ayaka has to get her to take care of her hygiene.  Not much is known about how she has so much top notch equipment and what made her become the leader of the NEET Detective Team.

Ayaka Shinozaki – Always cheerful, Ayaka works part-time at a ramen shop known as Hanamaru.  She is a member of the Garden Club which she gets Narumi to join her.  She lives with her brother Toshi, a drug-addict (which she doesn’t know about but everyone else does).

Tetsu – An ex-boxer and loves to gamble.  He is a NEET detective with connections with the local police department.

Shosa  – Looks young but he is a military otaku who loves guns and camouflage and loves to build things to spy on people. He help set Alice’s equipment up and is a NEET detective.  Shosa (which means “Major”) is his nickname.

Hiro – A NEET detective and the driver of the group.  He is popular with women and is very stylish.  Always texting women but uses his connections to his advantage.

Soichiro “The Fourth” Hinamura – The leader of the NEET yakuza group known as Hirasaka-gumi.  He can be violent and cold but he is often helping Alice and is responsible for repairing her stuff animals.

Meo - A Thai teenager who was one of the client’s of the NEET Detective Agency but later becomes their friend.

Minli Huang – The owner of the Hanamaru Soup shop where the NEET Detectives hangout.  She cooks ramen, can be mean at times and is seen wearing a sarashi instead of a bra.

Renji Hirasaka – A new friend of Narumi and a NEET who has a connection to “The Fourth”.

VIDEO:

“Heaven’s Memo Pad” is presented in 1080p High Definition.  As a fan of the work from J.C. Staff, the character designs for the anime series.  It’s important to remember that this is a TV series and not an OVA, so you are going to see a bit of softness at times.  But for the most part, this series is colorful, character designs are really well-done and are well-shaded.  Art backgrounds are well-detailed and while the series does utilize a lot of close-ups, the capturing of emotion and city surroundings is nicely done.

AUDIO:

The lossless soundtrack features an English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 soundtrack.  While the series is front-channel driven, both are equal when it comes to the use of the front channels.  As for voice acting, both are also well-done and acting from both the Japanese and American talent will satisfy viewers.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Heaven’s Memo Pad” comes with the clean opening and closing animation.  Plus Sentai trailers.

“Heaven’s Memo Pad” is an enjoyable anime series about an introverted teenager who makes new friends when he joins their NEET Detective Agency.

Part of the fascinating points of why people will enjoy this series are its characters.  While Narumi is the introvert, it’s hard to see how these others are NEET’s but they are.  Alice is an intelligent hacker, but one must wonder how this teenager is not in school, not living with parents and has access to this expensive hardware.  We don’t know too much about Alice but she is the key person that everyone tries to protect and works for.

You also have a group of characters that seem unlikely NEET’s, Ayaka, the happy teen; Tetsuo the boxer/gambler; Major the military otaku and Hiroaki the gigolo.  And then you have a yakuza leader known as “The Fourth” but he runs a group full of troglodyte members who thinks Narumi is a master for being able to do the most simplest things on the computer.

So, because of these characters, you can’t help but laugh and gigle at times.

Especially when it comes to Narumi and Alice.  Because Alice is anti-social and really doesn’t get out much, the group puts in her head that Narumi sniff’s her dolls, since she sleeps with them so closely.  So, she kind of thinks that Narumi is a pervert.  And quite often, Ayaka and even Meo try to give Alice a bath or hair treatment, but when she calls Narumi for help, by the time Narumi gets there, the girls think that Narumi is trying to get a sneak peak and is labeled a pervert.  So, there are some fun and crazy moments throughout the anime series.

But of course, each episode revolves around a case.  From a Thai girl named Meo’s who’s father is missing but all they have is a bag full of money.  Was her father connected to organized crime? Another features The Fourth going to Narumi to help with promotions for  band. Another situation revolving around a person once connected with “The Fourth”, to the group taking part in a baseball game against a yakuza leader who was once a star pitcher.  But the most emotional episodes relate to Narumi, as the return of Ayaka’s brother has led to trouble and with her in a coma.

Suffice to say, while the series has its share of laughs and serious moments, the final three episodes are my favorite because we get to see everyone really going all out to help their friend who nearly died from an attempted suicide.  And Narumi and Alice are intent on finding out why someone so cheerful, tried to end her life.

As for the Blu-ray release, picture quality is very good in HD, lossless stereo soundtrack is good but not too immersive since it’s more of a front-channel dialogue-driven series.  And for special features, it’s primarily the clean opening and ending animation.

Overall, “Heaven’s Memo Pad” is  a fascinating series from beginning to end, I can only hope that we see another season of the series because I’m hooked!  Beautiful animation, fun yet compelling story and fascinating characters!

“Heaven’s Memo Pad” is recommended!

InuYasha: The Movie the Complete Collection (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

Four “InuYasha” films for $21 on Blu-ray?  You better believe it!   Not only is it cheaper than the older DVD box set but all four films are presented with better picture and audio quality. You are definitely getting your money’s worth with this Blu-ray release!  “InuYasha: The Movie the Complete Collection” is highly recommended!

Image courtesy of © 1988 Akiyuki Nosaka/Shinchosa. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: InuYasha: The Movie the Complete Collection

YEAR OF RELEASE: InuYasha the Movie 1 (2001), InuYasha the Movie 2 (2002), InuYasha the Movie 3 (2003), InuYasha the Movie 4 (2004)

DURATION: InuYasha the Movie (100 Minutes), InuYasha the Movie 2 (100 Minutes), InuYasha the Movie 3 (98 Minutes), InuYasha the Movie 4 (86 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080i High Definition, English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, Subtitles: English

RATED: TV 14

COMPANY: Viz Media

RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2013

Originally created by Rumiko Takahashi

InuYasha the Movie: Affections Touching Across Time

Directed by Toshiya Shinohara

Scenario by Katsuyuki Sumisawa

Music by Kaoru Wada

Character Design by Hideyuki Motohashi, Yoshihito Hishinuma

Art Director: Tsutomu Ishigaki

Art: Hiroyuki Hasegawa

Chief Animation Director: Hideyuki Motohashi

Producer: Masuo Ueda, Michihiko Suwa, Mikihiro Iwata

Production by Kyoto Animation, NTV, Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd., Sunrise, TOHO, Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation

InuYasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass

Directed by Toshiya Shinohara

Scenario by Katsuyuki Sumisawa

Music by Kaoru Wada

Character Design by Hideyuki Motohashi, Yoshihito Hishinuma

Art Director: Tsutomu Ishigaki

Art: Hiroyuki Hasegawa

Chief Animation Director: Hideyuki Motohashi

Producer: Masuo Ueda, Michihiko Suwa, Mikihiro Iwata

Production by Avex Inc., Kyoto Animation, Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd., Sunrise, Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation

InuYasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler

Directed by Toshiya Shinohara

Scenario by Katsuyuki Sumisawa

Music by Kaoru Wada

Character Design by Hideyuki Motohashi, Yoshihito Hishinuma

Art Director: Tsutomu Ishigaki

Art: Hiroki Nomura

Chief Animation Director: Hideyuki Motohashi

Producer: Masuo Ueda, Michihiko Suwa, Mikihiro Iwata

Production by Kyoto Animation, Shogakukan Productions Co., Ltd., Sunrise, Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation

InuYasha the Movie 4: Fire on the Mystic Island

Directed by Toshiya Shinohara

Scenario by Katsuyuki Sumisawa

Music by Kaoru Wada

Character Design by Yoshihito Hishinuma

Art Director: Tsutomu Ishigaki

Chief Animation Director: Yoshihito Hishinuma

Producer: Masuo Ueda, Michihiko Suwa, Mikihiro Iwata

Production by Sunrise

Featuring the voices of:

Kappei Yamaguchi/Richard Ian Cox as Inuyasha

Satsuki Yukino/Kira Tozer as Kagome Higurashi

Kouji Tsujitani/Kirby Morrow as Miroku

Ken Narita/David Kaye as Sesshoumaru

Houko Kwashima/Kelly Sheridan as Sango

Kumiko Watanabe/Jillian Michaels as Shippo

Toshiyuki Morikawa/Paul Dobson as Naraku

Noriko Hidaka/Willow Johnson as Kikyo

Taiki Matsuno/Scott McNeil as Koga

Izumi Oogami/Janyse Jaud as Kagura

Yuuichi Nagashima/Don Brown as Jaken

Emi Motoi/Nicole Bouma as Ai

Fumiko Orikasa/Rebecca Shoichet as Asagi

Nobuo TobitaTed Cole as Kyora

Nobutoshi Canna/Kristian Ayre as Ryura

Tadahisa Saizen/Ward Perry as Gora

Takeshi Kusao/Jason Simpson as Jura

Yu Kobayashi/Gabe Khouth as Dai

Yuki Masuda/Justine Wong as Moegi

In a mystical version of feudal-era Japan modern-day schoolgirl Kagome and half-demon Inuyasha are drawn together across time to protect a land ravaged by demons! In these four feature films our heroes take on new challenges and strange foes. With their crew of demon-slaying friends Kagome and Inuyasha face the adventures of their lives!

Contains all 4 Inu Yasha movies:
Affections Touching Across Time
The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass
Swords of an Honorable Ruler
Fire on the Mystic Island

In Japan, there are few manga/anime series that have lasting power for more than ten years.  Let alone be created by a mangaka who has achieved it multiple times.

Rumiko Takashi, best known for anime TV series hits such as “Urusei Yatsura”, “Maison Ikkoku”, “Ranma 1/2″ began her manga series “InuYasha” in 1996, while in 2000 the animated series followed and a sequel to close the series was released in 2009-2010.  By the end of InuYasha, a total of 56 manga volumes were created, 167 episodes from 2000-2004 and the final 26 episodes from 2009-2010.

A very popular series that has captivated anime audiences for many years, with a franchise that led to video games, novels, soundtracks and a live action play, as customary for popular animated series, “InuYasha” also a total of four animated films created.

In 2001, “InuYasha the Movie 1: Affections Touching Across Time”; in 2002, “InuYasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass”; in 2003, “InuYasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler”; and in 2004, “InuYasha the Movie: Fire on the Mystic Island”.

While Viz Media released a DVD box set featuring all four films in 2007, Viz Media will be releasing a Blu-ray release with all four films in 2013 in HD with lossless audio.

“InuYasha” features the following characters:

InuYasha – The half demon/half human who drawn a liking towards the human Priestess Kikyo and has some feelings for Kagome but his ego prevents him from saying anything about his emotions.  Has the ability to leap far distances, has quite a few special attacks including claws that can cut through anything.  Also, wields his father’s sword, Tetsusaiga.  His goal is to take control of the Jewel of Four Souls to turn into a demon.  Wears necklace that forces him to listen to a single command from Kagome.  When Kagome says “sit”, he drops or literally is thrown down to the ground harshly.  He and Kagome are constantly bickering.  In the first day of each month, he resorts back to human form.

Kagome Higurashi - A high school student who is a reincarnation of Kikyo.  Carries a bow and arrow as a weapon but a human who has the ability to go back to her time period through a well in her home and a well in the feudal period.  Has conflicted emotions towards InuYasha but always caring for other people.  Has the ability to control InuYasha by a special bead necklace on InuYasha that forces him to listen.  She has the ability to sense and see the jewels and the shards from long distances or on a monster.

Shippo – A young orphan fox.  Human in appearance with a big fox tail.  His father was killed by a demon and eventually gets himself into trouble while trying to obtain the crystal shards to become powerful and get revenge on the demons that killed his father.    He has nowhere to go and is eventually taken in by InuYasha and Kagome.

Miroku – A Buddhist monk who travels the countryside and performs exorcisms.  He’s a bit lecherous and likes to take people’s belongings and sell them for a profit.  But his goal is to find the evil Naruku who has taken Miroku’s right hand and given him the power of “wind tunnel”, a powerful ability that can suck anything into a black hole like void in his hand.  The hole is growing and eventually he will be sucked into it unless he finds the person who cursed him with it and gets his life back.  He eventually travels with Kagome, InuYasha and Shippo in search of Naraku.

Sango – Sango is a demon slayer who’s family was slayed by demons.  The person responsible is Naraku, thus joins Kagome, InuYasha, Shippo and Miroku to go after him.  Her main weapon is a large boomerang that is powerful and able to cut monsters in half.

Sesshoumaru – The brother of InuYasha.  A demon who can’t stand InuYasha because he’s half demon and half human and blames their father for being so weak and trying to protect a human.  The two despise each other and twice in season one, he and InuYasha fight to the death.  Has the ability to turn into a white wolf and much stronger and ruthless than InuYasha.

Kikyo – The Priestess who used to wear the Jewel of Four Souls.  Cared for InuYasha but believed he is the one that fatally injured her.  In season 1, she is brought back to life as an undead and wants her revenge against InuYasha.

Kaede - The sister of Kikyo, she is shown in past clips of Kikyo as a young little girl but currently she is 50+ years older, wears an eye patch and assists InuYasha and Kagome with information in their missions when they need her.

Naraku – The main evil who has manipulated everyone in order to get his hands on the crystal shards.  Very evil demon and the main enemy everyone is after.

Kikyo: Continuing from the first season, we learn that Kikyo was brought back to life and driven by her hatred towards InuYasha for deceiving her.  Eventually she finds out the true facts about what took place the night she passed away and  learns that it was Naraku’s evil work in play to deceive both of them.  She vows to get her revenge on Naraku.  But to do that, she must stay close with him and thus she pretends to be on Naraku’s side.

Koga: Koga is the leader of the southern yokai-wolf tribe and has three shards that give him incredible speed and power.  He develops a crush on Kagome (especially since she can sense the jewel shards) and thus he and InuYasha are often fighting with each other.  Koga wants revenge on Naraku because his tribe was nearly all wiped out because of his deception.  Although he is there to help Kagome and even InuYasha, he is on no one side but is their ally.

Kohaku: The younger brother of Sango brought back to life by Naraku.  Has an impure jewel shard given to him by Naraku that keeps him alive but he has lost all memories of his sister and can easily be used by Naraku to fight against InuYasha and friends. He is part of Naraku’s crew.

Kagura: Naraku’s creation and second “detachment”.  She is a wind sorceress (introduced in episode 40) that is lethal and deadly and has killed many innocents but at the same time,  she hates Naraku and wishes to be free of him.  Thus she tries to play the hands of InuYasha and possibly use him to kill Naraku.

RIN: An orphan girl who helps nurse Sesshomaru in the woods after he was badly injured in a fight against InuYasha (episode 34).  Rin’s family was killed by bandits and so, she has been living alone by having to steal food.  She’s mute and but communicates via hand gestures or facial emotions.  Because Sesshomaru wields the Tenseiga (which heals), he returns the favor back to the girl after she was killed by wolves.  Despite Sesshomaru’s uncaring attitude towards humans, he appears to tolerate her for some reason.  Rin shows a loyalty towards him and eventually becomes part of Sesshomaru’s group.

 

Here is a brief spoiler-free synopsis of each film:

In “InuYasha the Movie 1: Affections Touching Across Time”, we learn that 200 years ago, InuYasha’s father defeated the powerful Chinese moth yokai known as Hyoga.  With a Shikon Jewel fragment having freed Hyoga’s son, Menomaru, he now wants revenge on anything related to InuYasha’s father and that is by destroying InuYasha.

Along with his two minions, Ruri and Hari, the three attack InuYasha and friends.  Ruri duplicating Miroku’s Wind Tunnel, Hari possessing Kirara and Menomaru cursing Kagome, can the group find a way to beat Menomaru?

In “InuYasha the Movie 2: The Castle Beyond Looking Glass”, as the group continues their search for Shikon Jewel Shards, Kagura and Kanna continue on without Naraku (who is thought to be dead).  The two find a mirror inside the shrine and they awaken Kaguya, Princess of the Heavens. Kaguya promises Kagura her eternal freedom if she can recover five items that will free her from the mirror.

The two end up confronting InuYasha and friends and Kaguya ends up using her power to kidnap Kagome.  Now the group must try to rescue her.

For “InuYasha the Movie 3: Swords of an Honorable Ruler”, we see a past when InuYasha was about to be born.  We see Takemaru killing Lady Izayoi before InuYasha’s father arrives.  When InuYasha’s father arrives, he resurrects Izayoi with the Tenseiga and he tells her to escape with his son InuYasha and gives her the Cloth of the Fire Rat to protect them from the burning palace.  And the final image shows InuYasha dying in the fire as he tried to face Takemaru.

In the present time, Kagome’s grandfather finds a sword which is to be kept in the storehouse.  Kagome’s younger brother finds it and the sword reveals itself to be Saiya and is seeking out InuYasha.  But why does the sword want InuYasha?

For “InuYasha the Movei 4: Fire on the Mystic Island”, a small group of children on Horai Island watch a woman that looks like Kikyo in a green orb. Immediately, the Cauldron of Resonance comes to life and the mark of the Four War Gods (Ryuura, Juura, Kyoura and Goura) appear on all of the children’s backs except the youngest child, Ai.  Asagi, the oldest child tells ai to run and leave the island and the Four War Gods try to go after her.  But just in time, InuYasha and the others come to her rescue.  Which leads to a battle between InuYasha and friends and the Four War Gods.

VIDEO:

For picture quality, all four films are presented in 1080i 16×9 video.  Because these films were made between 2001-2004, the films are upconverted.  With that being said, the benefit of watching a film that has been upconverted is much better than a TV series because of the better production quality.  Even the 2001 film “Affections Touching Across Time” doesn’t look soft and looks better that a lot of the upconverted anime films that I have seen.  Of course, the more recent the film, the better production quality, so the fourth film “Fire on the Mystic Island” does have a slight edge compared to the older films.

But people should not worry as all four films that have been upconverted in HD looks amazing on Blu-ray!  Colors are vibrant, picture quality just looks better than it’s previous DVD counterpart.

AUDIO:

All four films are presented in English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. It’s important to note that if you want to watch with Japanese with English subtitles, you can’t select subtitles or audio but have to go through the setup menu to make the changes.

There is a significant difference between the English and Japanese lossless soundtrack.  The English has a better dynamic range and utilizes the surround channels for sound effects and music, while the Japanese lossless soundtrack is primarily front and center-channel driven.

With that being said, all films, especially the English lossless soundtracks sound very good.  I have to admit that I expected a similar dynamic range for the Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack to its English counterpart, but that’s not the case.  While the soundtrack is crisp and clear for the Japanese lossless track, the English track does get a nod for better use of the surround channels.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Inuyasha: The Movie the Complete Collection” comes with production art, English credits and trailers for each film (except the first).

As a long time fan of Rumiko Takahashi’s works, one thing that I have learned is that you really can’t go wrong with any of her longtime series.  While I grew up during the “Ranma 1/2″, “Urusei Yatsura” and “Maison Ikkoku” years, I have also been captivated by this ongoing storyline of “InuYasha” and the series’ characters.

While I enjoyed the TV series, the films are much more emotional, relevant to the series and of course, the production quality is much better than its TV series counterpart.

With the first film “Affections Touching Across Time”, I suppose what I found appealing for the first film is the fact that the storyline revisits InuYasha’s father, specifically an old enemy of his father and also the connection between InuYasha and Kagome.  The first time I watched the film, I thought it was a very touching and emotional film building the relationship and connection of these two characters.  You see a little of it in the TV series but the films really explore their bond.

By the second film “The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass”, this film brings back Kagura but also explores the fact that Naruku may be alive.  But for Kagura fans, it’s definitely one of the major battles featuring Kagura and InuYasha but it’s great to see the series’ antagonist show up for the second film (as most anime series tend to feature an enemy just created for the film version).

The third film is actually one of my favorites as it deals with InuYasha’s birth but also an enemy named Takemaru that is connected to the death of InuYasha’s mother and his father.  The third film was definitely one of the darkest films and a storyline in which we see both brothers, InuYasha and Sesshomaru actually working together.  Similar to the first film, we get to know more about InuYasha’s family but in this case, the death of his parents.

And for the final fourth film “Fire on the Mystic Island”, InuYasha and the others take on the Four War Gods and once again, everyone shows up in the film in battle.  Where this film focuses on children who have been possess by the Four War Gods, the film is not too childish and focuses on plenty of action.

As for the Blu-ray release, it’s important to remember that this is an upconvert of the animated films presented in 1080i.  I know there are people who try to shy away from upconverts but in this case, because of the higher production value put into animated films versus a TV series, each of the four films presented in “InuYasha: The Movie the Complete Collection” look very good!

The release of the four “InuYasha” films on Blu-ray for $20 is an excellent deal.  Considering that on DVD, these four films as a set used to be priced around $50-$60.  Also, with the upconvert to 1080i, colors are much more vibrant and overall picture quality looks so much better.  The same can be said with the lossless soundtrack, although the English dub soundtrack seems to sound much better and utilized more for the surround channels versus its Japanese lossless soundtrack.

Overall, four “InuYasha” films for $21 on Blu-ray?  You better believe it!   Not only is it cheaper than the older DVD box set but all four films are presented with better picture and audio quality. You are definitely getting your money’s worth with this Blu-ray release!

“InuYasha: The Movie the Complete Collection” is highly recommended!

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