Aniplex of America Announces Schedule of Events for New York Comic Con/ New York Anime Festival 2011

SANTA MONICA, CA (October 10, 2011) – Aniplex of America has just announced their schedule of events for New York Comic Con/New York Anime Festival 2011. Times and availabilities are subject to change without notice.

Friday, October 14
 12:00-1:00 PM @ 1A03-1A05 > Aniplex of America Industry Panel. Come join Aniplex as they show what’s new, now available and coming soon from Aniplex of America. Featuring special guests the President of Aniplex Koichiro Natsume and the Executive Producer of Blue Exorcist Hideo Katsumata. There will also be announcements about the Dubbing cast for Madoka Magica. There will also be some very rare and special giveaways at the Panel.
 4:15 – 5:15 PM @ Room 1A18 > Blue Exorcist Screening Event. The hit anime series Blue Exorcist will be shown at New York Anime Festival. Screening the first two episodes subtitled, the screening will also feature a special greeting from the Executive Producer of Blue Exorcist Hideo Katsumata as well as prize giveaways.
 6:00 – 7:00 PM @ Aniplex/Bandai Booth #1712 > Madoka Magica Cosplay Gathering. Kyubey is looking for as many Magical People as possible. Would you like to make a contract? This is a perfect opportunity for all the Madoka Magica Cosplayers and fans to get together and take photos in front of the large Madoka Magica Banner at this official Madoka Magica Cosplay Gathering.
 7:45-9:45 PM @ 1A06-1A08 > Madoka Magica Screening Event. Aniplex of America presents the hit anime series Madoka Magica. This screening features the first 3 episodes of the series subtitled. Before the screening, there will be a special greeting by the President of Aniplex Koichiro Natsume. There will also be special prize giveaways of Madoka Items.
Saturday, October 15th
 11:00 AM – 12:00 PM @ 1A18 > Fate/Zero Screening Event. Exclusively screening at New York Anime Fest, Aniplex of America presents their latest Anime airing in Japan, Fate/Zero. This screening will feature the first episode in English Subtitles.
 2:00 – 3:00 PM @ Aniplex/Bandai Booth #1712 > Blue Exorcist Cosplay Gathering. Calling all Exorcists! We’re looking for all the Blue Exorcists fans to gather so we can be “ready for the take off!”
 3:30 – 4:30 PM @ NYCC Stage > Anime Counseling: Blue Exorcist Edition Watch as our hosts try to find the solutions between the Blue Exorcist cast members and see what happens when different Anime personalities collide. The audience will get a chance to participate in the show with the opportunity for prizes
 6:30 – 7:30 PM @ 1A18 > Guilty Crown Premiere Screening Join Funimation at this special screening event for a introduction and world premiere of the first two episodes of the hot new original anime series from the director of DEATH NOTE and HIGH SCHOOL OF THE DEAD, GUILTY CROWN.
Sunday, July 3
 11:15AM – 1:15 PM @ 1A18 > Guilty Crown Screening with Q&A Session. Hosted by Funimation, following an encore screening of the first two episodes of the most anticipated anime series of the Fall season, members of the GUILTY CROWN production team from ANIPLEX, PRODUCTION I.G and FUJI TV from Japan will be on hand to answer fan questions and talk about what it’s like to bring this complex and exciting series to fruition. Come see what it’s like behind the scenes and see exclusive content before anyone else!
Throughout New York Anime Fest/New York Comic Con there will be plenty of activities including our Blue Exorcist Scavenger Hunt, Cosplay Photo Ops and more! Visit booth #1712 for more details.

Blue Exorcist Vol. 1 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

An interesting take on exorcist-based storyline, “Blue Exorcist” has a good balance of humor, action and an interesting concept in balance with awesome animation and beautiful art backgrounds.  I’m definitely enjoying this series thus far!  Definitely recommended!

PLEASE PURCHASE THIS ANIME SERIES FROM RIGHTSTUF or BANDAI ENT. ONLINE STORE

Image courtesy of © 2009 by Kazue Kato/SHUEISHA, Blue Exorcist Committee, MBS. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Blue Exorcist Vol. 1

DURATION: Episodes 1-7 (175 minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0, 16:9 LB, Dolby Digital

COMPANY: Aniplex Inc.

RATED: Suggested 13 and Up

RELEASE DATE: October 18, 2011

Based on the manga by Kazue Kato

Directed by Tensai Okamura

Series Composition by Ryota Yamaguchi

Music by Hiroyuki Sawano

Character Design by Keigo Sasaki

Art Director: Masatoshi Kai

Chief Animation Director: Keigo Sasaki

Anime Production: A-1 Pictures

Featuring the following voice talent:

Jun Fukuyama as Yukio Okumura

Kana Hanazawa as Shiemi Moriyama

Kazuya Nakai as Ryūji Suguro

Nobuhiko Okamoto as Rin Okumura

Ayahi Takagaki as Kuro

Eri Kitamura as Izumo Kamiki

Hiroshi Kamiya as Mephisto Pheles

Keiji Fujiwara as Shirō Fujimoto

Koji Yusa as Renzō Shima

Rina Satou as Shura Kirigakure

Tetsuya Kakihara as Amaimon

Yuuki Kaji as Konekomaru Miwa

“Assiah, the realm of humans, and Gehenna, the realm of demons. Normally, these two dimensions would never intersect, but having possessed all material substances, the demons are now intruding on the material world. But among the human race, there are those who can exorcise such demons.”
- the Exorcists.

Rin Okumura and his twin brother Yukio have been raised by Shiro Fujimoto, an eminent priest, so it comes as a shock when Rin discovers their biological father is actually Satan! As the border between “Assiah” (the human world) and “Gehenna” (the demon world) is crossed by evil, Rin vows to become the ultimate exorcist and defeat his own father. To hone his raw skills, Rin enters True Cross Academy to train with other exorcist candidates.

An interesting take on exorcist-based storyline, “Blue Exorcist” has a good balance of humor, action and an interesting concept that definitely shows us the potential of this anime series!

“Ao no Exorcist” (Blue Exorcist) is an anime adaptation of a manga series written and illustrated by Kazue Kato, who won a Tenkaichi Manga Award back in 1999 at the age of 19 and won a Tezuka Award in 2000 for his manga “The Witch and the Rabbit” and is known for his 2006 manga series “Robot Usakichi” (Space Traveler Robo & Usakichi).

“Blue Exorcist” was serialized on Jump Square Magazine by Shueisha since April 2009 and is still an ongoing manga series (as of April 2011, there have been 24 chapters released).  As for the anime series, the series began back in April 2011 and 25-episodes have aired in Japan (the final 25th episode just aired last week, October 2nd).

The anime series revolves around a hotheaded teenager named Rin Okumura.  Both he and his brother Yukio have been raised by Father Fujimoto at the Cross Academy Town – Southern Cross Boys Monastery.  While Yuki shows great intelligence and is attending school at True Cross Academy to become a doctor, Rin is quite the opposite.  He tends to get himself in trouble, fights a lot and is continually told by Father Fujimoto to find a job.

Unfortunately for Rin, finding and holding onto a job is difficult.  But one day, while working at a supermarket, he sees a monster in a girl’s scarf.  He tells Father Fujimoto of what he has seen and Father Fujimoto starts to fear that something is happening.  One day, Rin encounters a group of thugs and its leader that he had beaten up earlier and suddenly sees him turn into a demon.  The demon tells Rin that satan is waiting for him and immediately, Father Fujimoto is there to save him and exorcise the demon.  Fortunately, Father Fujimoto is there to help but it is all revealed to Rin about why he can see monsters.

It’s the fact that he is not truly human.  He is the son of a human woman and satan.  And the monsters he have seen, it is explained to Rin that in the world, there is Assiah, the realm of humans, and Gehenna, the realm of demons.  Both are not supposed to come in contact with each other but they have and as an exorcist, it is his duty to send the demons back to where they belong.  And satan wants to reunite with his son.

To protect Rin, Father Fujimoto gives him the Kamkakushi key, so he can hide anything.  And he is also given the Koma Sword, a magic sword passed down from generation to generation and a sword where Rin’s powers have been sealed since birth.  Rin’s flame resides inside the sword and is sealed by the scabbard.  If he draws it, he will assume his demonic nature and will never be able to live as a human again.

One day, he and Father Fujimoto try to prepare for an imminent attack and tells Rin that he must seek shelter where satan can’t get to him but Rin takes it as his father trying to get rid of him forever.  In return,  Rin said some hurtful things to Father Fujimoto and the pain that Father Fujimoto felt was enough for satan, the demon to possess him.

Satan shows up to claim his son and attacks Father Fujimoto. Satan reveals that he created Rin from a human woman in order to create a container that would be powerful enough to hold him.

But it’s something that Father Fujimoto will not let happen to the boy, he looked at as a son.  In order to save Rin, Father Fujimoto risks his own life to keep satan away and is killed in the process.

Now Rin mourns for the one person he knew as his father and when Mephisto Pheles, a friend of Father Fujimoto comes to visit, he tells him that they represent the Knights of the True Cross and they exorcise demons. And Rin has two choices, they will kill him, or he kills the demons.  Instead, Rin tells him that he could care less about being human or a demon, he wants to become an exorcist like Father Fujimoto and avenge him and that means defeating his own father.

So, from that point on, Rin must be trained to become an exorcist and will have to follow special rules (which includes not revealing his true nature).  But the first thing that he will need to do is enroll at the same school that his brother Yukio attends.  When Rin sees his brother, Yukio is in the top of the class and that he is a special leader that people follow at the school and he is no longer the scrawny younger brother he once knew.

But as Rin must keep his secrets in order to become an exorcist, meanwhile Rin is unaware that his brother Yukio also has secrets of his known.

“Blue Exorcist Vol. 1″ features episodes 1-7 on one DVD.  Here is a spoiler-less summary of each episode:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 1 – The Devil Resides in Human Souls  - An introduction to Rin, Yukio and Father Fujimoto. Also, Rin finding out about his true nature.
• EPISODE 2 – Gehenna Gate – Father Fujimoto and his companions try to protect Rin from the demons especially from satan.
• EPISODE 3 – Brothers – Rin is enrolled at True Cross Academy and Rin confronts his brother in regards to his true nature.
• EPISODE 4 – The Garden of Amahara – Yuko and Rin go to visit the owner of an exorcist-only shop, but the owner’s daughter Shiemi Moriyama has a demon within her.
• EPISODE 5 – A Boy from the Cursed Temple – As Rin is a flake when it comes to school, it angers his classmate Bon, who has a lot in common with Rin.
• EPISODE 6 – The Phantom Chef – Rin and Yuko find out who is really cooking the food at the academy.
• EPISODE 7 – A Flock of Plovers – Shiemi tries to make new friends at school and befriends Izumo Kamiko, a girl who may be using her instead.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Blue Exorcist” is presented in 16:9 lb and Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 with English subtitles.  The anime production is well-done.  The surrounding environments are well-detailed, painted nicely, while the character designs are vibrant, clear and I wouldn’t be surprised if this series is given the Blu-ray treatment in the near future because it looks very good on DVD.

If anything, character designer Keigo Sasaki (“Night Raid 1931″, “Sengoku Basara”) does a great job of bringing the characters from Kazue Kato’s manga series to life, while art director Masatoshi Kai (“Akira”, “Dead Girls”, “Earthian”, “Red Garden”) did a wonderful job in bringing the series to life with the scenery and painted backgrounds.

I’m pretty impressed of how this anime looks visually.

As for audio, audio is clear coming from the front channels.  I personally had my receiver set to stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundtrack.  But dialogue is understandable and English subtitles are easy to read.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Blue Exorcist, Vol. 1″ features the following special features:

• URA-EX (Bonus Short Movies) – Featuring three short omake anime stories (about 1:20 per omake) that are shown after an episode is completed.
• Web Previews – Featuring the “next episode” previews voiced by various demon characters (about 17 seconds each).
• Textless OP – Blue Exorcist opening theme without text.
• Textless ED - Blue Exorcist ending theme without text.
  
• Credits – Text based credits
• Aniplex Trailers

EXTRAS:

“Blue Exorcist” Vol. 1 comes with an exclusive 2-sided poster, 2-sided reversible covr and an O-sleeve with key visual art.

So far, “Blue Exorcist” has turned out to be an enjoyable anime series thus far.  If anything, this first volume is more to establish how Rin became an exorcist but also to show his relationship with Father Fujimoto and his brother Yukio.  If anything, the series does have a little in common with “Naruto”, in the fact that Naruto has the 9-tailed fox sealed inside him and the character is not exactly the smartest, the same can be said with Rin, as he is a character that is a demon but tries to do all he can to use his powers for good.

While it’s too early to tell how this anime series will be as it progresses, for the first volume on its own, it has been an fun, comedy anime series and I have to say that the anime actually is very impressive because of its visuals over its manga counterpart.  Especially when Rin gets a job at the supermarket, those little mannerisms and the trouble he gets into, you don’t get to see those things in the manga, so it’s great to see how the anime series builds those character-driven situations.  Especially, his relationship with his brother Yukio.

Whereas I felt the manga series was fun, hilarious and rather dark, I feel the anime series is much more accessible.  It does have its share of violence but nothing too bloody.

The character designs are actually pretty cool, especially the costume designs for the characters.  And as far as the students are concerned, while the first volume focuses on Rin and Yukio, you can tell that we are going to see much more of the other students in the next DVD volume.

As far as the DVD is concerned, it’s pretty cool that we are getting a release that is not so far off when the anime series aired in Japan.   The series began in April of this year and just ended last week, so to have the series first seven episodes now on DVD, released in the U.S., I have to applause Aniplex for releasing the series.  And keeping their dedication to quality releases with a poster, reversible cover and O-sleeve with key visual art.

An interesting take on exorcist-based storyline, “Blue Exorcist” has a good balance of humor, action and an interesting concept in balance with awesome animation and beautiful art backgrounds.  I’m definitely enjoying this series thus far!  Definitely recommended!

PLEASE PURCHASE THIS ANIME SERIES FROM RIGHTSTUF or BANDAI ENT. ONLINE STORE

FUNimation Entertainment Acquires Aniplex Anime Guilty Crown

Flower Mound, TX (October 1, 2011) – FUNimation® Entertainment today announced that it has acquired the simulcast, home entertainment, broadcast, digital, mobile, and merchandise rights to the sci-fi series “Guilty Crown” debuting on Fuji TV’s late night noitaminA block in October.
The Production I.G. produced series is directed by Tetsuro Araki (“Death Note,” “High School of the Dead”).  The series script supervisor is Hiroyuki Yoshino (“Macross Frontier”), while original character designs are created by redjuice, the artist best known as the illustrator for the music group, Supercell. Supercell’s musician, Ryo, is composing the music.
The anime is set in Japan in 2039, 10 years after the “Apocalypse Virus” devastated the land. A multinational orgnization known as GHQ brings the lawless country under control, but at the price of Japan’s sovereignty. One day, an unsociable 17-year-old high school student named Shū encounters Inori Yuzuriha, a female singer who is part of the resistance to liberate Japan. Together with Gai Tsutsugami (Shū’s 17-year-old rival who is a young “Jiikundō” pilot in the resistance), Shū and Inori fight with mysterious innate abilities known as “imperial powers.”
New York Anime Fest will screen the first two episodes of “Guilty Crown” on Saturday, October 15. The screening marks the world premiere of the series’ second episode, which won’t air in Japan until October 20. The convention will host an additional screening of the first two episodes of “Guilty Crown” along with a Q&A/focus panel on Sunday, October 16.
FUNimation will also simulcast the series starting the same date as its Japanese broadcast debut.
For more information, please visit http://www.funimation.com/guilty-crown

Oreimo: Limited Edition Complete Box Set (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

Hilarious, fun and highly entertaining!  ”Oreimo” is an anime series that showcases otaku lifestyle with a twist and I have no doubt that fans wanting an upbeat, fun anime series will enjoy this DVD release.  Especially for the swag that Aniplex has included with this limited edition box set.  How cool is that?  ”Oreimo” is an awesome release that is highly recommended!

PURCHASE THIS DVD FROM RIGHTSTUF or BANDAI STORE

Image courtesy of © 2011 Aniplex, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Oreimo: Limited Edition Complete Box Set

DURATION: 16 Episodes

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 Letterboxed, Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0

COMPANY: Aniplex

RATED: 13 and Up

RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2011

Directed by Hiroyuki Kanbe

Originally created by Tsukasa Fushimi

Original Character Designs by Hiro Kanzaki

Series Composition by Hideyuki Kurata

Music by Satoru Kousaki

Character Designs by Hiroyuki Oda

Art Director: Koji Eto

Anime Production: AIC/AIC Build

Featuring the following voice talent:

Ayana Taketatsu as Kirino Kōsaka

Yūichi Nakamura as Kyōsuke Kōsaka

Akeno Watanabe as Yoshino Kōsaka

Fumihiko Tachiki as Daisuke Kōsaka

Hitomi Nabatame as Saori Bajiina

Kana Hanazawa as Ruri Gokou (Kuroneko)

Saori Hayami as Ayase Aragaki

Satomi Satou as Manami Tamura

Yukari Tamura as Kanako Kurusu/ Meruru / Kurara Hoshino

For the past seven years, Kyousuke Kousaka’s relationship with his younger sister Kirino has been nothing but cold. It’s gotten the the point where the only talking the siblings do is to exchange greetings with each other. But one day, Kyousuke finds a moe anime DVD lying in the entrance hall of his house. His interest piqued, Kyousuke looks for the owner – only to discover it belongs to his very own sister Kirino. Shocked as Kyousuke was, this is just the beginning of the surprises that lie ahead…

In addition to being smart, pretty, and popular, Kirino Kousaka is also an obsessive consumer of anime and eroge. After Kyousuke promies not to mock her and keep this concealed from their parents, she starts to share a bit of her world with him. Kirino faces several problems as she tries to keep up appearances and balance her exemplary school life with her hobbies. Her brother becomes a crucial ally while dealing with all the difficulties that lie ahead.

Sis-Con.  The shortened word for “Sister Complex” and is typically showcased in anime as a strong brother and sister bond and of course, in extremes, it can be showcased as incestual relationships.

But “Sister Complex” has been featured in anime and while the most extreme form is usually reserved towards hentai anime, writer Tsukasa Fushimi along with illustrator Hiro Kanzaki decided to give a comedic, upbeat spin to the whole topic in their 2008 light novel series “Ore no Imōto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai” (shortened name: “Oreimo”).

A manga adaptation of the light novel was featured on ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki G’s Magazine and in 2010, the 12-episode anime TV series received its anime adaptation, with four additional episodes streamed on the official website and on video streaming sites in the Spring of 2011.

Now, Aniplex is bringing the complete series of “Oreimo” out on DVD in the U.S. featuring a limited edition complete box set featuring all 16-episodes, 16 postcards, 24-page booklet, poster and 2-sided DVD cover.

“Oreimo” is a series that takes place in Chiba and focuses on a 17-year-old named Kyosuke Kosaka.

Kyosuke and his 14-year-old sister Kirino have not gotten along for years and often wonders why he never is treated with kindness like other younger sisters and their brothers.  In fact, each time she looks at him, it’s as if she is repulsed by him.

And the more he hears about younger sisters, it starts to tick him off.

But one day, while Kirino was leaving to join some friends, she accidentally drops a DVD of an anime series and inside the DVD is an eroge (erotic/adult) video game.  This can’t possibly be Kirino’s DVD.  Afterall, she is the top of her class, she is popular in school, she’s a track star, she’s a model and she has no connection to anime/video games at all.

But it does interest him to see if there is a possibility that the anime or game can be hers.  So, when he starts to tease about the situation in front of Kirino, Kirino tries to pretend its not hers.  So, when he asks if Kirino can throw it in the trash, she is unable to.  And for the first time, Kyosuke’s little sister reveals her double life.  She’s an otaku.

She loves a magical girl anime series and she is also an otaku that owns a lot of eroge and moe (hardcore fan of younger girl style of characters in anime, manga and video game series).

Afraid that her brother would blab about her secret otaku life, she is surprised that Kyosuke accepts her the way she is and has no problems with it.   And because he is open to her sister’s hobby, it opens things up for a true brother and sister relationship that Kyosuke had wanted (as well as what Kirino has wanted).

So, Kyosuke tries to help his sister with her hobby by finding otaku friends which includes the mecha fan and “Anime Girls Unite!” club leader, Saori Makishima and Kuroneko, a girl who is a tsundere-type (a cold attitude) that dresses up in gothic lolita outfits and the complete opposite of Kirino (thus the two having a not-so-friendly relationship).  Meanwhile, trying to balance her life with her real friends, fellow models Ayase Aragaki and Kanako Kurusu.

And for older brother, Kyosuke will do whatever it takes to have this strong relationship with his sister, but this relationship tends to freak Kirino’s friends who joke around that the two have a “Sis-Con” type of relationship.

The main characters of “Oreimo” are:

• Kyousuke Kosaka – The main character. A 17-year-old who lives a normal life and wants to have a real brother and sister relationship with his younger sister Kirino, but for years, she has acted as if she is repulsed by him.  But now that he has discovered Kirino’s secret, he becomes her biggest confidante and supporter.
• Kirino Kosaka – Kyousuke’s younger sister.  She is mature for her age but acts very cold and even repulsed towards her older brother.  She is a model, top student in her class, track star and is popular but she has a secret double life and that is that she is an otaku who is passionate towards a children’s anime series “Stardust Witch Meruru” and loves moe and eroge games.  She often uses her modeling money to fund her hobby and tries her best to keep her hobbies secret from her friends.  She is easily frustrated when Kysouke is around other girls, especially towards Manami.
• Manami Tamura – Kyousuke’s childhood friend. Manami is a girl with glasses and is described as being a plain, normal girl.  She likes Kyousuke and her family tries to do all they can to get Kyousuke and Mani together alone.  Kyousuke thinks that Manami’s mannerisms are like an older lady.
• Saori Makishima – The leader of “Anime Girls Unite!”.  A big Gundam fan, big otaku with big glasses and has a great body.  Always trying to keep the balance between Kirino and Kuroneko.
• Ruri Goko/Kuroneko – The complete opposite of Kirino.  She loves dark things, can’t stand sugary magical girl anime and it leads her to be at odds with Kirino.  She is also the older sister two two younger sisters and envy’s Kirino of having an older brother who takes care of her.  So, she starts calling Kyousuke “nii-san” (brother).
• Ayase Aragaki – Kirino’s best friend, classmate and a fellow model.  She’s rather quiet but when someone lies at her, she gets very upset and violent.  She dislikes Kyousuke, thinking that he is responsible for Kirino being an otaku.
• Kanako Kurusu – Kirino’s friend, classmate and fellow model.  She has a photographic memory when it comes to memorizing songs.  She also has a bratty attitude.
• Daisuke Kosaka/Yoshino Kosaka – Daisuke is Kyousuke and Kirino’s strict father and Yoshino is their loving mother.
• Kohei Akagi – Kyousuke’s classmate who also tries to support his sister’s otaku hobby.
• Sena Akagi – Kohei’s younger sister who is a brainiac when it comes to programming and fixing glitches in games.  She’s also hardcore into yaoi (guy and guy action) and often has dreams of her guy friends doing yaoi things to each other.

“Oreimo: Limited Edition Complete Box Set” comes with the following episodes (spoiler-free summary):

DISC 1

• EPISODE 1 – My Little Sister Can’t Be My Love – What happens when Kyousuke learns about Kirino’s secret hobby.
• EPISODE 2 – My Little Sister Can’t Bring Me to an IRL Meet – What happens when Kyousuke joins Kirino to meet other female otaku.
• EPISODE 3 – My Little Sister Can’t Be This Cute – What happens when Kirino’s strict father discovers her secret.
• EPISODE 4 – My Little Sister Can’t Be Going to Summerket – What happens when Kirino’s best friend Ayase finds Kirino coming out of Summerket (manga festival).
• EPISODE 5 – My Little Sister’s Best Freind Can’t Be This XX – What happens when Ayase no longer wants to have Kirino as her friend because she is an otaku.
• EPISODE 6 – My Childhood Friend Can’t Be This Cute – What happens when Minami invites Kyousuke to her home.

DISC 2

• EPISODE 7 – My Little Sister Can’t Be a Novelist – What happens when Kirino puts her effort in creating a light novel.
• EPISODE 8 – My Little Sister Can’t Be Animated – What happens when a company wants to create an anime adaptation of Kirino’s light novel.
• EPISODE 9 – My Little Sister Can’t Be This Absorbed into Eroge – What happens when Kirino gets to absorbed playing eroge games.
• EPISODE 10 – My Little Sister Can’t Be Cosplaying Like This – What happens when Ayase wants to buy Kirino a special present.
• EPISODE 11 – My Little Sister Can’t Be This Maid – What happens when Kirino wants to do something special for her older brother.
• EPISODE 12 – My Little Sister’s Advice Can’t End Here (Good End) – What happens when Kirino wants Kyousuke to purchase her two ero games, and what happens when Kirino tells Kyousuke that she will be leaving to Los Angeles for track training?

DISC 3

• EPISODE 12 – My Little Sister’s Advice Can’t End Here (True Route) – The true ending of what happens when Kirino tells Kyousuke that she will be leaving to Los Angeles for track training?
• EPISODE 13 – My Kouhai Can’t Be This Rotten – What happens when Kuroneko starts going to Kyousuke’s school?
• EPISODE 14 – My Kouhai Can’t Be This Cute – What happens when Kyousuke starts helping out Kuroneko with a computer game.
• EPISODE 15 – My Little Sister Can’t Have a Finale Like This – What happens when Kyousuke receives a text message from Kirino (staying in Los Angeles) telling him to trash her collection.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Oreimo” is presented in 16:9 LB and Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0.

AIC has done a solid job with the animation for “Oreimo” in the fact that it’s one of those series that doesn’t reuse scenes constantly over and over again.  Each scene, it’s like there is something new for the characters and the colors are vibrant and for the most part, the characters are often mobile, going outdoors, going to events, so it’s a pretty cool series when it comes to the overall look.

I also like the creative endings shown after each series and showcasing various artistic styles.  And the styles are featured in the included postcards that come with the “Oreimo” limited edition box set.

As for the audio, the audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo.  For me, I chose to have stereo on all channels in order to have a more immersive soundtrack but for the most part, audio is crystal clear and the optional English subtitles are easy to read.

So, for the most part, I was pleased with the anime series and I hope that maybe Aniplex considers this title for a future Blu-ray release.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Oreimo” comes with the textless opening and textless endings of all 16-episodes.

EXTRAS:

And this is where Aniplex really went all out! Included in the “Oreimo: Limited Edition Complete Box Set” are the following items: 16 postcards of “Ending Cards” of all 16-episodes, 24-page booklet of character designs and original DVD/BD cover gallery, 2-Sided Original Poster, 2-Sided DVD Cover.

Fun, hilarious and highly entertaining… “Oreimo” is an anime series that takes on otaku lifestyle and makes you laugh and wish there were more anime like this!

At first, I was a bit hesitant in watching “Oreimo” because I thought this was going to be the taboo anime series featuring brother and sister romance.  I’m not into that but there is no doubt that incestual romance has its following in Japan, especially with hentai fans and personally, I’m not into that type of anime.

But what “Oreimo” ended up being is a fun and hilarious take on an otaku lifestyle and one brother wanting to reconnect with his younger sister and have that brother and sister bond that he had desperately wanted for years.   And when big brother Kyousuke discovers younger sister, Kirino’s secret otaku lifestyle, it ends up bringing the two together and possibly helping build that bond between brother and sister that had been lost for years.

In anime series, you often see the younger sister taking care of the older sibling when it comes to waking them up for school, serving them food and it’s a part of Japanese pop culture that I have seen in dramas, anime and manga series.  Where there is a bit more family support as opposed to the individual perspective that we see in America.

When I think about it…sure, we used to see brother and sister bonding on ’70s and ’80s shows such as “The Brady Bunch”, “Diff’rent Strokes”, “Mr. Belvedere” and “Growing Pains” but the more I think about it today, those type of series have disappeared from American television.  But in Japan, television still tries to show the connection between family especially between brothers and sisters and “Oreimo” tries to incorporate that.

And because these two are constantly arguing with each other, they do want to very much have a brother and sister relationship and because it seems anything but normal, their friends wonder what is up with these two and thus the “sister complex” jokes come up, especially since Kirino is into those type of video games that are moe and eroge.

And despite those games not being so “cool” or even disturbing for Kyousuke, he is open to playing them with his sister because it’s a big step in creating that brother and sister bond.

And of course, there is that otaku-lifestyle that the anime series tends to touch upon.  We have seen it on series such as “Genshiken” and the otaku-lifestyle, especially one having a cool and popular lifestyle but then having otaku inspired tastes. Sure, there are stereotypes that all otaku are nerds but even I know a few people who try not to have those interests hidden and keep it a secret.

But it’s the way the stories are handles that makes it quite fun.  And once the episodes are over, the four never-seen-on-TV bonus episodes are actually quite interesting as well as the writers touch upon things that are not appropriate on television.  From Sena Akagi’s hardcore yaoi addiction, Kuroneko’s feelings towards Kyousuke and Kyousuke’s true feelings about Kirino.

Granted, one should not worry about any brother and sister action, this is not that type of series.  Granted, there are moments where the two seem like they are going to engage into something unusual but the writers make sure that they tease the viewer than actually having the characters go through with any action.  There is no sister complex scenes but possibly one when Kyousuke is holding a package that Kirino wants and the two fight over it that they fall.  And of course, we get the fan service panty shot and Kyousuke landing on top of his sister while his hand happens to be on her breast while her friends look in shock.

That is probably the only scene where brother and sister get into any certain situations but outside of that, it’s a pretty tame anime series but it does have some mature language and a few fan service moments.  But for the most part, for those wondering if it’s a sister complex anime series, “Oreimo” is not that type of series.  The writers joke around the topic it but never gets serious.

As mentioned, you get all 12-episodes of the TV series, plus the four episodes that were only shown on the Website.  But with this limited edition complete box set, you also get postcards, a booklet and poster and an irreversible cover.

While I did enjoy this series, if I had to think up of some negatives, it’s the fact that the series does not come with an English dub soundtrack.  For me, I’m more biased towards watching anime in Japanese but I know a lot who are biased towards English dubs. The other thing that I can think of is for those who are wanting an HD release of this series.  It’s out in Japan and I wouldn’t be surprised if Aniplex does consider this series for Blu-ray in the near future.  I hope they do because there are not too many upbeat series like this out on Blu-ray in the U.S.

Overall, there’s nothing I can complain about this box set or the anime series.  It was very entertaining and fun to watch and it’s probably one of the more fun anime comedies I have seen in recent years, especially one that is presented with so much fan swag.  How awesome is that?

If you are wanting an upbeat, fun and hilarious anime series… “Oreimo: Limited Edition Complete Box Set” is highly recommended!

“Oreimo: Limited Edition Complete Box Set” will no doubt make fans of the series happy and others to have this in their anime collection.  For one, Aniplex has included a good amount of swag to come with this limited edition DVD release that I’m quite impressed with all that comes included with this release.

 

PURCHASE THIS DVD FROM RIGHTSTUF or BANDAI STORE

Mardock Scramble: The First Compression (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

A gritty, dark and violent film adaptation of Tow Ubukata’s light novels.  “Mardock Scramble: The First Compression” is the first film of the trilogy and will no doubt entertain those who have been craving anime with an edge.

DVD TITLE: Mardock Scramble

MOVIE RELEASE DATE: 2010

DURATION: 60 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen, Audio: English 5.1/Japanese 5.1, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks/Aniplex

RATED: TV MA VD

RELEASE DATE: September 27, 2011

Directed by Susumu Kudo

Screenplay by Tow Ubukata

Music by Conisch

Original Creator: Tow Ubukata

Art Direction by Masanobu Nomura

Animation Director: Jun Nakai, Shingo Suzuki

CGI Director: Tetsuro Kodama

Director of Photography: Toru Fukushi

Anime Production: GoHands

Featuring the following voice talent:

Megumi Hayashibara/Hilary Haag as Rune Balot

Norito Yashima/Andy McAvin as Œufcoque Penteano

Hiroki Touchi/David Matranga as Dr. Easter

Kazuya Nakai/Kalob Martinez as Shell Septinos

Tsutomu Isobe/David Wald as Dimsdale Boiled

Kenta Miyake/Andrew Love as Mincemeat the Wink

Masahiko Tanaka/Chris Ayres as Welldone the Pussyhand

Mika Kanai/Luci Christian as Rare the Hair

Norio Wakamoto/Chris Ayres as Medium the Fingernail

Tomohiro Waki/Rob Mungle as Fresh (Flesh) the Pike

To stop the unstoppable you need the irresistible. To kill the unkillable, you need someone for whom death no longer has a meaning. And to catch the perfect serial killer, you need the one person who knows his methods the best… his last victim!

Murdered and reborn, no longer human, the female cyborg Balot exists for only one reason: to track down the man who killed her and bring him to justice. But can even the ultimate hybrid between ghost and machine take down a monster who wipes his own memory… especially when his partner already has her in his sights? The future will be painted blood red as vengeance hit the streets!

In 2003, Japanese sci-fi light novel, manga and anime creator, Tow Ubukata created the light novel “Mardock Scramble”.

Known for creating hits such as “Le Chevalier D’Eon”, “Sokyu no Fafner” and the series composition for “Heroic Age”, he is also known for creating the novel “Chaos Legion” which would go on to become a video game.

For Ubukata’s “Mardock Scramble”, originally the series was planned for an OVA series release but  would later receive a manga adaptation and was released as an anime film trilogy courtesy of GoHands Studio and produced by Aniplex.  And now the first film “Mardock Scramble: The First Compression” would be released on DVD in Sept. 2011 courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.

“Mardock Scramble” is directed by Susumu Kudo (“Mizuiro Jidai”, “Hoop Days”, “Captain Tsubasa J”) and features creator Tow Ubukata as the screenwriter of the anime films.  Character designs are by Jun Nakai (“Tokyo Majin”, “Samurai 7″) and Shingo Suzuki (“Shanghai Dragon”, “Witchblade”, “Baccano!”).

“Mardock Scramble” is a series that takes place in Mardock City and focuses on a girl named Rune Ballot who was taken by a renown gambler named Shell Septinous, notorious for using girls for slavery.

One day, Rune has his bodyguard Dimsdale Boiled take her out in the middle of nowhere and murders her in a poisonous gas explosion and also in the process, Shell’s memory was erased, so he can’t be arrested.  But not far away is Dr. Easter who saves her life, rebuilds her as a killer cyborg and together he and a robotic ouse named Oefcoque help Rune with the latest in cyborg technology to defeat the man who killed her and the man who happens to be Dr. Easter’s enemy.

But when Shell and Dimsdale find out that Rune is still alive, they will do anything to stop her from testifying against him.

 

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Mardock Scramble: The First Compression” is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen and is presented in English and Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1.

First, let’s talk about the picture quality.  It is said that there plans for a Blu-ray release of this film in 2012 and ideally, if you want the best representation of this film, you would go HD but for now, it’s only available on DVD and one thing that “Mardock Scramble: The First Compression” has going for it is its grittiness.  A good use of blues and greens and also blacks to set the landscape of a dingy city. In fact, there was a good amount of grain purposely added to the animation to add to the grittiness.

The character designs are cool as you have the main character Rune looking the most purest character in the whole film while everyone else look disgusting or evil.   Also, this is a bloody anime series with a lot of violence and at times seeing body parts and blood being seen quite a bit.

As for the audio, both vocal tracks are well done but I felt that the English dub was made to cater to the grittiness with profanity and all.  So, for a Westerner, the dialogue seemed much more appropriate for this anime series and so I preferred the English dub over the Japanese soundtrack.

And there is a good amount of violence and gun shots galore, so this is not a dialogue driven front and center channel type of anime series. There is a good amount of audio coming from the surround channels due to the action sequences but if this film is being planned for Blu-ray, it would be great to listen to a lossless soundtrack of this film.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Mardock Scramble: The First Compression” does not come with any special features but Sentai Filmworks trailers.

“Mardock Scramble: The First Compression” is possibly one of the grittiest, darkest, violent anime film I have seen in a long while.

Typically, a lot of anime films are based on anime television series and if they are violent, they are typically set in the feudal era of Japan.  But that is not the case with this film, “Mardock Scramble: The First Compression” is an intriguing film because its main protagonist is a dead woman.  Granted, a resurrected woman turned cyborg but this is not your usual cheerful character, in fact, this lead character Rune Ballot has not had the best life.

Sexually abused by her father and later becoming a whore for one of the most notorious gamblers in Mardock City, these characters are typically the type who are usually killed in the film.  So, Tow Ubukata puts that twist in the film of “what if?”.  What if the woman killed can suddenly come back and bring her killer to justice?

And that’s just part of the story.  Add in a talking mouse who can transform into a gun and the most grotesque characters to be seen in an anime film, you have a tale of revenge and justice.

Needless to say, the first film in the trilogy has its share of twists and it’s a continuing story that continues its dark, violent edge and doesn’t stray far from it.

And I have to say that its an interesting visceral type of anime series with how the city is portrayed as dirty, gritty, rundown in the painted backgrounds and having this character who probably looks the purest of them all, and then you have these characters that are just evil and vile looking things that are trying to kill her.

Definitely not for the timid, this is a violent, bloody anime that shows body parts, nudity and all.  And I know that for certain anime fans, this film is a longtime coming and many have wanted a more bloody and violent anime series. While, this is not an OVA series, it is a film, so one can at least know there are two films left in the trilogy and that Sentai Filmworks is dedicated to bringing these films over to the U.S.

As for the DVD, there are no special features but Sentai Filmworks trailers and for those wanting better PQ, “Mardock Scramble: The First Compression” is being planned for a Blu-ray release next year.

But overall, a film with this visceral style and violent tale is not as common these days in terms of Blu-ray or DVD releases.  To tell you the truth, I think it’s been awhile since I have seen an anime series set in a modern city where there was so much blood and body parts.

A gritty, dark and violent film adaptation of Tow Ubukata’s light novels.  “Mardock Scramble: The First Compression” is the first film of the trilogy and will no doubt entertain those who have been craving darker anime with an edge.

 

Night Raid 1931 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

A refreshing anime series that has a good balance of drama and action.  Definitely one of the most controversial anime series to come out in some time due to it taking place during Japan’s occupation of China.  If you are looking for a series that is refreshing and different, definitely give “Night Raid 1931″ a chance!

DVD TITLE: Night Raid 1931

DURATION: Episodes 1-13 + + 1 Special + 2 OVA (400 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 Anamorphic, English and Japanese 2.0 Stereo

COMPANY: Sentai Filmworks

RATED: TV MA VD

RELEASE DATE: August 16, 2011

Directed by Jun Matsumoto

Series Composition by Shinsuke Onishi

Music by Satoshi Kadokura, Taro Hakase

Original Character Design by Keigo Sasaki

Art Director: Yoshio Tanioka

Mechanical Design: Shinobu Tsuneki

Sound Director: Minoru Yamada

Director of Photography: Shinji Nasu

Anime Production: A-1 Pictures

Featuring the following voice talent:

Daisuke Namikawa/John Gremillion as Kazura Iha

Hiroyuki Yoshino/Greg Ayres as Aoi Miyoshi

Ayako Kawasumi as Shizune Yusa (The Oracle)

Hiroaki Hirata/Andrew Love as Isao Takachiho

Ryusuke Oobayashi/John Kaiser as Shin’ichirō Sakurai

Saki Fujita/Luci Christian as Fūran (Feng Lan)

Takanori Hoshino/David Wald as Natsume Kagiya

Yoshiko Ikuta/Brittney Karbowski as Yukina Sonogi

The year is 1931. The city is Shanghai. Ten years before America will enter World War II, the hydra’s teeth planted by the first great global conflict are beginning to germinate. Hatching like spiders, they weave the complex web of plots and conspiracies destined to inevitably draw entire nations against their will to the brink of destruction once more.

Caught in the heart of these webs, desperately seeking to separate lies from truth, is “Sakurai Kikan,” an ultra-secret intelligence agency staffed by extraordinarily talented individuals with abilities far beyond those of normal humans. Their duty: to stop the darkest plots and eliminate the greatest threats. But in a city built on intrigue, can even a team of clairvoyants, telepaths and espers stand against the ultimate forces of destiny?

Contains episodes 1-13 plus two OVA episodes.

Back in 2009, Japanese TV network TV Tokyo and anime production company Aniplex formed a joint project known as Anime no Chikara to create original anime series.

Their first anime series was “So Ra no Wo To” which aired in January 2010 and their second anime series was “Senko no Night Raid” (Night Raid 1931) which aired in April 2010 and now, the series plus the two OAV episodes will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Sentai Filmworks.  It is important to note that because of the sensitivity of Japan’s occupation of China during the war (and continues today) and because this series does showcase an alternate revision of what took place during the war,  an episode of the series was streamed and not aired on television.  It is important to also mention that the series was broadcast with information that the series is fictional.

The series also tackles the concept of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, a concept created by the Japanese government and military of the Empire of Japan and the goal for Japanese occupation was to control Asian nations and to be free of Western power.

The series is directed by Jun Matsumoto (“Persona – Trinity Soul-”, “Blood+”), series composition by Shinsuke Onishi (“009-1″, “Kikaider”, “Persona -Trinity Soul-”), character design by Keigo Sasaki (“Blue Exorcist”, “Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations”), art direction by Yoshio Tanaka (“Gurren Lagann”, “My Santa”, “Valkyria Chronicles”) and mechanical design by Shirobu Tsuneki (“Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex”, “Magician’s Academy”, “Crest of the Stars”).

“Night Raid 1931″ is set in Shanghai during a time when the Imperial Japanese Army is dispatched to mainland China after the First Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War and also World War I.

The series focuses on four characters.

Aoi Miyoshi is a young man who is actually a spy.  He hides his identity by pretending to run a  photo studio with Kazura Iha.  He has special abilities which allows him to telekinetically manipulate the speed of objects.  If he sees it, he can either deflect them or use them as weapons but he has only a short time to control his ability.  He is also a positive young man who knows several languages.

Kazura Iha is a prideful man who is very strict in his way. Unlike Aoi who is liberal, Kazura is conservative and his ancestors are samurai.  Kazura has the special ability to teleport but doesn’t use them unless it is necessary because he feels that having the ability gives him an unfair advantage.  But he can only transport if he knows the location and envisions it.  Kazura plans to enter the Imperial Japanese Army but is made to join the Sakura Kikan for his ability.  Similar to Aoi, he also is fluent in several languages and knows aikido.

Natsume Kagiya is a bumbling man who grew up from a poor farming family.  His ability is clairvoyance and can survey during night missions.  He is also a sniper.

Yukina Sonogi is a young woman that is known to have an attitude.  She is also a telepath with psychometric abilities that can be used with Natsume and Aoi’s abilities.  Her abilities are heightened by the smell of flowers.  Yukina is also searching for her older brother, a member of the Japanese military who disappeared.

But what she doesn’t know is that the enemy that she and her friends are working to fight is her brother, also a spy, who happens to be quite powerful.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Night Raid 1931″ is presented in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen and English and Japanese 2.0.

The character design for “Night Raid 1931″ is reminiscent of a series like “BACCANO” and has a good balance of beautifully painted art backgrounds.  Very good use of colors and for the most part, this series looks great!

It’s important to note that the series is also available on Blu-ray and if you are wanting better picture quality and lossless audio, definitely go for the Blu-ray release.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Night Raid 1931″ features the following extra episodes (note: these are placed between certain episodes and not all on Disc 3):

DISC 2

• Special Episode: The Prophecy (24:43) A recap episode.
• Clean Closing Animations (4:36)  Clean closing animation featuring music by Himeka.
• OVA: Demon of the Opium Den (22:40) Featured after episode 7.  Features Yukina having issues with her power and meets a little girl who for some reason is familiar to her.

DISC 3

• OVA: Panther Atop the Snow (30:20) This OVA takes place several years after the final episode and also lets us know what happened to the characters since the final episode.

“Night Raid 1931″ is an intriguing, suspenseful anime series that has drama, action and also an interesting spin on historic events.

First, let me talk about the good.

What I did like about “Night Raid 1931″ is the fact that the series is serious and not farcical or comedic.  A lot of anime series coming out in the U.S. on Blu-ray or DVD tend to be science fiction, comedy or action-adventure and rarely do you see more serious driven plots.

“Night Raid 1931″ tries to take on the theme of Imperial Japan making its conquest in Asia, specially China and then of course adding a supernatural element to it.  By the end of the series, the story eventually gets better as it does start out a bit slow and the series ends quite well, granted…you have an OVA added that kind of changes how you feel about the TV series ending a bit, but for the most part, plot-wise and its balance with action and drama worked out quite well.

The animation was good and in some ways, it kind of reminded me of the series “BACCANO” as it tries to feature more on closeups of the characters and also having similar character design.  And the art backgrounds were well-done, well-painted and looks great!

With that being said, now I need to touch upon the negative, because “Night Raid 1931″ is an anime series that has infuriated because of the era its covering.

I’m going to be truthful with you about my feelings towards this anime series prior to watching it…  When I first heard that the setting took place during Japanese occupation of China, I didn’t want to watch it.

I’m not going to get into the politics of it, but I know how sensitive the issue is between Japan and China and I know that many Chinese, especially younger Chinese who continue the grudge that some of their family members have had towards Japan because of the past.  At the same opposite spectrum, I know Japanese who feel that it is messed up that the Japanese government still doesn’t acknowledge some of the atrocities that took place during that time in China but at the same time, for the newer generation of Japanese, they have no association to the past and what happened then, they have no connection to it.

So, without becoming polemic, the fact that I know of people, primarily Chinese and even Korean who have issues towards Japan of the past and even the older members of Japan’s current government, there are those who find any discussion of the past, to be sensitive.

Granted, we have seen Japan, Korea and China work together when it comes to entertainment and pop culture and most recently, we have seen quite a few Chinese productions such as the popular film “Ip Man” showcase their take on Japanese occupation.

But when it comes to the Japanese side of focusing on such issues, you just hope that they handle things with great care.  Especially if an anime series written by a Japanese is going to revise Japanese history based on “Co-Prosperity Sphere”.  And sure enough, there was an episode that was not broadcast and was instead streamed because of the nature of the series and that Chinese and Koreans objected to this series.

With that being said, it probably is more of a moot point because if the series is shown in U.S., France, Brazil or any other country, anime fans have been good to separate the politics and just take the anime for what it is.  But in this case, you can do a search on various anime forums on “Night Raid 1931″ and you will see people really get into the nature of debating on how Japan treated the Chinese and the crimes of Imperial Japan.

I chose to give this series the benefit of the doubt and as mentioned, the good of this series is that it’s a series that has positive elements of action and drama but at the same time, part of me felt, if the anime series was about some alternate war instead of the Imperial Japan’s occupation of China, would I have enjoyed it more?

If anything, by no means is Imperial Japan portrayed in a positive light in this anime series.  When it comes to the “Co-Prosperity Sphere”, Japan wanted to dominate Asia and become a superpower controlled by Japanese interests.  It was what the Japanese government and military wanted and unfortunately, like any country who has seeked domination in world history, there are always atrocities committed, there are a lot of negative things that took place.

The difference is, it still affects relations between East Asia today…politically.  We have seen major strives in relations via pop culture but still, there is a lot of pain that still remains in East Asia because of the past.

For many of you, these issues are probably nil and won’t affect or even disturb you.

But I will say that if you are wanting a serious anime on Blu-ray or DVD, you can’t go wrong with “Night Raid 1931″.  You get 13 episodes plus the special and two OVA’s and it’s a very good series overall.  Taking the series for what it is, the story from beginning to how it ends,  it works.

While I can’t comment on the differences between the DVD or Blu-ray in terms of how much better the Blu-ray is picture quality or via lossless, I will say that the DVD is a solid buy for those wanting something different from the norm.  It’s actually quite refreshing to see an anime like this released in the US and sometimes, these type of series don’t get released in the US.

Overall, if you are wanting something different when it comes to anime series, “Night Raid 1931″ is recommended.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Part Five (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” ends with part 5 and what a thrilling, pulse-pounding finale it came to be!  Action-packed, battles galore, the ending is much better than the previous series!  Highly recommended!

Images courtesy of ©Hiromu Arakawa/FA Project, MBS. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood Part Five

DURATION: Episodes 53-64 (300 Minutes)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition 16×9 HD Native, Dolby TrueHD English 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD Japanese 2.0, Subtitles: English

RATED: TV 14

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: August 2, 2011

 

Originally Created by Hiromu Arakawa

Directed by Yasuhiro Irie

Series Composition by Hiroshi Ohnogi

Music by Akira Senju

Character Design by Hiroki Kanno

Art Director: Takeshi Satou

Art Design: Kazushige Kanehira

Anime Production by BONES

Featuring the voices of:

Rie Kugimiya/Maxey Whitehead as Alphonse Elric

Romi Paku/Vic Mignogna as Edward Elric

Iemasa Kayumi/Kent Williams as Father

Megumi Takamoto/Caitlin Glass as Winry Rockbell

Shinichiro Miki/Travis Willingham as Roy Mustang

Unshou Ishizuka/Aaron Dismuke as Van Hohenheim

Ai Satou/Brittney Karbowski as Mrs. Bradley

Akemi Okamura/Cynthia Cranz as Paninya

Anri Katsu/John Burgmeier as Dolcetto

Atsuki Tani as Berthold Hawkeye

Chika Fujimura/Gwendolyn Lau as Sheska

J. Michael Tatum as Scar

Fumihiko Tachiki as Sloth

Fumiko Orikasa/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Risa (Riza) Hawkeye

Go Shinomiya as Storch

Kikuko Inoue/Laura Bailey as Lust

Wendy Powell as Envy

The Flame Alchemist’s rebel army pushes the forces of Central to the brink of collapse – until the enemy’s fallen leader returns to take control. As mortals and monsters wage war, young Edward and Alphonse Elric must face a cruel being with the unholy power of a god. After endless adventures and countless struggles, the boys find the fate of the world in their weary hands. When the Gateway closes and the circle is complete, who will be left alive to celebrate the astonishing sacrifices made?

“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” ends with part 5 and what a thrilling, pulse-pounding finale it came to be!  Action-packed, battles galore, the ending is much better than the previous series!  Highly recommended!

In Japan, “Fullmetal Alchemist” (Hagane no Renkinjutushi) has been a popular long running anime and manga series created by mangaka Hiromu Arakawa. The original manga series was serialized in Square Enix’s “Shonen Gangan” since 2001, while the 51-episode TV series created by BONES was shown on television in 2004 and was followed by a film to conclude the series.

The popularity of “Fullmetal Alchemist” has led to many novels, OVA’s, drama CD’s, soundtracks and video games and a lot of these releases have been distributed in various countries and its popularity is a testament of how people have come to love the series which has won many awards in Japan including being voted for the #1 most popular anime series of all time.

Despite it’s popularity, the series could have gone on longer but because the anime series was created when the manga was only several years old, the anime series only lasted 51-episodes and there were differences between what the director featured on the anime series and what Arakawa had in the manga.

So, in 2009, a new series titled “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” (Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Furumetaru Arukemisuto) was created by BONES and this time around, the series would follow the manga much more closely. Currently there are over 60 episodes that have aired in Japan and the series is still ongoing. Also, unlike the previous anime series, this series would be created in HD (540p). The first 13 episodes of “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” would feature its first 13-episodes covering the first 26-episodes from the original anime series but from that point on, the series becomes a whole new storyline which features more characters and for the most part, something new and different for the viewers, especially fans of the original series.

To make sure that there is a difference between this series aside from the storyline differences compared to the original, the staff is different this time around as well as the character designs. The director for “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” would be Yasuhiro Irie (who worked on RahXephon”, “Cowboy Bebop”, “Macross Plus”, “Gunparade March”), series composition by Hiroshi Ohnogi (“Eureka Seven”, “Area 88, “Aquarion”, “RahXephon”, “RIN”, “Skullman”), music by Akira Senju (“Red Garden”, “Mobile Suit Victory Gundam”, “Silent Service”), character designs by Hiroki Kanno (“Angelic Layer”, “Eureka Seven”, “Ninja Scroll”, “RahXephon”) and art design by Takeshi Satou (“Mobile Suit Gundam 00″, “Ghost Slayers Ayashi”, “Please Twins!”).

“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” is a series about two young alchemist brothers named Edward and his younger brother Alphonse Eric (aka “Al”). Their father left them and several months after their father left, an epidemic hit their village and killed their mother. Grieving and alone without their mother, the two quickly tried to hone their alchemist skills and hope to bring their mother back alive by using a human transmutation (this is illegal and considered taboo by alchemist).

While performing the transmutation, a dark shadow comes and literally breaks apart the body of Alphonse and as for Edward, he is shown “the truth” but in return for doing the transmutation, there is a toll and in this case, he loses his legs and feet and his right arm. And the transmutation to bring their mother fails as Edward was only able to revive a disembodied figure. In a short time allowed before the dark shadow leaves, Edward was able to bond Al’s soul to a suit of armor but there are some consequences. And these consequences and guilt have plunged Edward to the lowest he had ever been.

Meanwhile, a military figure named Roy Mustang has come and is shocked to see that Edward was able to survive a human transmutation and also anchoring his brother’s soul and thus gives Edward a chance to join the military to fight with them but at the same time, gaining access that may give Edward a chance to bring his brother back to life and also his own body as well.

With this opportunity, this gives Edward a chance to repair what he did wrong and help his brother. But as they investigate on how they can get their bodies back and investigating what is known as a “Philosopher’s Stone”, an unknown group is out there, observing his every move and willing to kill in order to get to Edward.

In part two of “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”, we learn that Bradley is a homunculus and that the homunculus may have infiltrated the State Military.

In part three, Ed and Al continue their search of how to get their bodies back but meanwhile, Scar tries to find out the truth of why the Ishvalans were massacred. Meanwhile, Ed and Al find themselves in the North needing Olivier’s help but can they divulge the information about Bradley, the Fuhrer is a homunculus? Meanwhile, Ed and Al find themselves teaming up with the people they have been against.

In part four of “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” and division in the State military have been drawn as information of Bradley being a homunculus is now known and a war between the rebellious members of the State Military led by Mustang take on the homunculus.

And here we are with the final volume of “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”.  It’s an explosive finale as we get to see Mustang vs. Envy, Scar vs. Bradley, Armstrong vs. Sloth and a whole slew of surprises that will definitely be quite exciting for the fans who have stuck with this series since the beginning.

Will Elric get Al’s body back?  Will Elric get his limbs back?  Will the military be able to defeat the Homunculus?

This is the way that Hiromu Arakawa had wanted “Fullmetal Alchemist” to be, how it was meant to end and what a thrilling conclusion right to the final episode!

“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” features the following characters:

• Edward Elric – The oldest of the Elric brothers who manage to survive a transmutation and managed to bond his brother to a suit of armor just in time. In the process, he lost his legs and his right arm in which his childhood friend Winry has created metal prosthetics known as “automail”. He is also quite short but also very destructive as he is skillful with alchemy and the fact he survived a transmutation shocks the military. Working as a State Alchemist in order to find a way to bring his brother’s body back and possibly getting his own body back.
• Alphonse Elric – Al is the youngest brother of Edward who was bonded to a suit of armor. Almost invulnerable and very strong. Often mistaken as the eldest because of his size.
• Roy Mustang – The Lt. Colonel of the State Military who wants to become the next Fuhrer of Amestris. He is the one who discovered Edward and Alphonse.
• Winry Rockbell - A childhood friend of Edward and Alphonse. She is also very gifted in technical and mechanical things. Often is the person who repairs Edward’s automail (metal prosthetic limbs). And always arguing with Edward, but its quite obvious that she cares about him.
• Alex Louis Armstrong – A strong arm alchemist who is extremely strong and hulking in size but also very sensitive.
• Izumi Curtis - The teacher of Ed and Alphonse Eric who helped them hone their alchemy right after their mother died.
• Maes Hughes – An old friend of Roy Mustang’s who tries to help him with his goal to become a Fuhrer. He works in military intelligence and has a loving wife and young daughter. A family man, he lets Winry stay with them when she is in town.
• King Bradley – The head of the State Military and King of Amestris who has a major secret.
• Riza Hawkeye – Roy Mustang’s most trusted subordinate. The voice of reason and excellent in using firearms.
• Jean Havoc - One of Roy Mustang’s subordinates who is exceptionally trained in firearms.
• Lin Yao – A prince of Xing who is trying to find ways of immortality in order to prepare for his goal as Xing’s future emperor. An excellent swordsman.
• Lan Fan – Lin Yao’s bodyguard and a skilled fighter willing to protect her boss at all costs.
• May Chang – A young princess of Xing who goes to Amestris with her panda Xiao Mei. She has the power to heal and also manipulate energy.
• Olivier Mira Armstrong – The older sister of Alex Louis Armstrong who leads the Brigs Fortress and protects the country from Drachma. She is cold, distrusts people and inpatient. She believes in “Survival of the fittest”.
• Miles - A man who is quarter Ishvalan and wants to change the country’s perception towards Ishval.
• Buccaneer – A huge man who has two different pieces of automail (the latest type of automail which makes Winry so excited when she is around him).

The Homunculi

The main antagonists which consist of artificial humans who are trying to create the philosopher’s stone and has become a major thorn in the military’s side. They are hard to defeat as they can regenerate.

• Father – The main antagonist who is the creator of all homunculi. For some reason, he looks like Hohenheim and has interest in Ed and Al.
• Lust – A homunculi who is a sexy woman who can use her fingers to become weapons and grow to larger lengths and cut through anything.
• Gluttony – A homunculi who likes to eat people or anything. He has powerful jaws with acidic saliva.
• Envy – A homunculi who can assume any appearance and makes him infiltrate the military HQ quite easily and is known to create and instigate major problems.
• Greed – A homunculi that craves money, women and worldy possessions. After being killed by Wrath, Lin Yao who is searching for immortality wants to become the new Greed.
• Sloth – A large muscular man who has great speed and strength for his size. He has been digging beneath Amestris and ends up inside the Briggs Fortress.
• Pride – A homunculus using the body of Selim Bradley, the adoptive son of King Bradley, He uses his shadows to kill.

VIDEO:

“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Part Part Five” is presented in 1080p HD 16×9 via a HD native source. It’s important to note that although the conversion was made to 1080p, I’ve read that the actual Japanese original masters were created in 540p. With that being said, this is a TV series and one can’t expect OVA or film quality but I manage to compare the DVD and Blu-ray version and the Blu-ray looks much more colorful, much more detailed and looked much better and more colorful than its DVD counterpart.

I did notice edge enhancement and I’m sure the conversion of a 540p source to 1080p possibly led to the jaggies that can be seen at times. Granted, I’m a bit picky when it comes to video quality but the fact that this is created by BONES (a busy anime production company) and the fact that this is not an OVA or film, for a TV series, “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” looks very good. Granted, it’s not uber-vibrant but there is a good amount of shading, detail, blacks are deep and overall, I felt the Blu-ray looked much better than its DVD counterpart.

AUDIO:

“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Part Part Five” is presented in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and in Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0. Overall, the 5.1 lossless soundtrack sounds very good and there is a good amount of surround usage and its much more immersive than its Japanese lossless counterpart. There is quite a bit of action in this second volume, plenty of battles are featured and many episodes that utilize the surround channels.

The Japanese lossless soundtrack is still good, especially if you have a receiver in which you can change the setting to stereo on all channels. I do prefer the Japanese lossless soundtrack in terms of acting especially during the more emotional moments in this second volume (which there are many). But I’ve watched the series in both Japanese and English and for the most part, both are well done and similar to “Dragon Ball Z” and “One Piece”, the English dub has caught my attention and this time around, I was watching many of the episodes in English. But both voice acting are well done.

Subtitles are in English.

NOTE: You can not use your audio button to switch from Japanese to English and vice versa while watching the series. You will need to press your guide button to switch to another audio. Also, you can not optionally remove English subtitles unless you choose the English lossless soundtrack. So, for those who want to watch the series in Japanese with no English subtitles may be disappointed by this.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood – Part Five” comes with the following special features:

• EPISODE 64 Commentary – Audio commentary by Mike McFarland (ADR Director/Line Producer and voice of Havoc) and Maxi Whitehead (voice of Alfonse) and Vic Mignona (voice of Elric).
• Outtakes – (7:33) Outtakes by the English dub voice talents from the entire series (Note: there is profanity in the outtakes).
• Textless Opening and Closing Songs – The textless opening and two ending theme songs.
• Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment trailers.

The final episodes of “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” is finally here.

And what an explosive final volume it turned out to be!

If there were two words that came to mind after watching “Part Five” it would be the words “Kick Ass”.  Because there is a lot off butt-kicking in this series.  You want to see Mustang go all out, oh..well, wait until you see the battle between Mustang vs. Envy.  And you can learn how his anger has to be tempered but also getting to see that caring side that he has towards Risa.

Another butt-kicking moment was to see Armstrong vs. Sloth but also seeing who else comes to the rescue to battle Sloth.  One of the coolest and also more hilarious moments of the series.

You get to see one of the coolest fighting moments in the series as Scar takes on Bradley.  And of course, it doesn’t end there.  Every character gets into the action and the battles are pretty significant, bloody but also…as mentioned, “Kick Ass”.

But most importantly, unlike the previous series, we do get a conclusion to what happens to Elric and Alfonse.  And for me, this is how Hiromu Arakawa ended it, had wanted it and I would take this ending over the original series anyday.  It was well-done, well-written and from beginning to end, I felt the series was much better executed.

As for the Blu-ray release, PQ and AQ is good and voice acting for both lossless soundtracks are well-done.  This time around, I found myself more comfortable listening to the English dub track and this is coming from a guy who prefers to watch anime in Japanese most of the time.  But both are well-acted and fans should not have a problem with either.  As for the special features, we get an audio commentary with English voice talent Maxi Whitehead (Al) and Vic Mignona (Elric) to discuss their feeling of working on the series and how they felt about the series vs. the original version.  And we also get a gag reel of all the outtakes during the making of the series.  Plus the usual trailers and textless opening and ending themes.

I was able to compare the DVD and the Blu-ray release of “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” and the artistic backgrounds and its details are much better looking on Blu, the colors are more cleaner, sharper and more colorful on Blu and for the most part, for a TV series, I’m quite content with the PQ. I felt the black levels were good and again, for a TV Series released in 2009, the picture quality is good not great (it’s not 1080p) and there is a hint of edge enhancement but it’s still pretty good. And in this part four, you also get two audio commentary as well.

Overall, “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” was fantastic from beginning to end.  But this final part V pretty much validated for me that I preferred this version over the original.  The story and battle sequences were intense but for the most part, I felt that “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” story-wise was very appealing, exciting and addictive.

I know there are some who are very hooked on the original that they didn’t want to try “Brotherhood” but I highly recommend giving this series a try since this series, an adaptation of the manga series that is very faithful to Arakawa’s work, unlike the previous series which creators had to come up with a different storyline because the manga was not completed at the time.

“Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood” ends with part 5 and what a thrilling, pulse-pounding finale it came to be!  Action-packed, battles galore, the ending is much better than the previous series!  Highly recommended!

Angel Beats! – Complete Collection (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

When you have Jun Maeda’s name tied to an anime series, you instantly know that you’re in for one hell of an emotional rollercoaster ride  for an anime series!  Filled with humor and action + episodes that may make you shed a tear or two, “Angel Beats!” is another wonderful anime series on Blu-ray that I definitely recommended!

Image courtesy of © VisualArt’s/Key/Angel Beats! Project. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Angel Beats! Complete Series

DURATION: 13 Episodes + OVA (350 Minutes)

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

COMPANY: Aniplex/Sentai Filmworks

RATED: TV 14V

Release Date: July 26, 2011

 

Originally created by Jun Maeda

Directed by Seiji Kishi

Series Composition/Script by Jun Maeda

Music by ANANT-GARDE EYES/June Maeda

Original Character Design by Na-Ga

Character Design by Katsuzo Hirata

Art Director – Kazuki Higashiji

Anime Production: P.A. Works/Aniplex

Featuring the following voice talent:

Harumi Sakurai/Brittney Karbowski as Yuri Nakamura

Hiroshi Kamiya/Blake Shepard as Yuzuru Otonashi

Kana Hanazawa/Angel as Tenshi/Kanade Tachibana

Chie Matsuura/Elizabeth Bunch as Hisako

Eiichirō Tokumoto/Rob Mungle as Matsushita

Emiri Katou as Shiori Sekine

Eri Kitamura/Hilary Haag as Yui

Fuko Saito/Melissa Davis as Shiina

Kana Asumi as Irie

Megumi Ogata/Greg Ayres as Ayato Naoi

Michael Rivas/Adam Van Wagoner as TK

Mitsuhiro Ichiki/Dylan Godwin as Takeyama

Miyuki Sawashiro/Luci Christian as Iwasawa

Ryohei Kimura/David Matranga as Hideki Hinata

Shun Takagi/Leraldo Anzaldua as Noda

Takahiro Mizushima/Kalob Martinez as Takamatsu

Yui Makino/Serena Varghese as Yusa

Yumiko Kobayashi/Corey Hartzong as Ōyama

Yuuki Masuda/Andrew Love as Fujimaki

It sucks being dead. It sucks even more to be trapped in a surreal afterlife where you’re caught between the living and the dead – where a mysterious, violent Angel is trying to pull you over to… somewhere. What do you do? Well, if you’re this group of rough-and-tumble teens, you grab every weapon you can get your hands on and give Heaven hell!

One day you woke up and found out that you are dead and in another world with others who have passed on.

But to survive each day, you have to fight an angel.

This is the concept of “Angel Beats!”, a 13-episode anime series (which aired in Japan from April-June 2010) created by Jun Maeda and character designer Na-Ga, both from the visual novel brand Key (known for “Kanon”, “Air” and “Clannad”).

Produced by P.A. Works and Aniplex, the series is directed by Seiji Kishi (“Tentai Senshi Sunred”, “My Bride is a Mermaid”, “Persona 4 the Animation”) and a screenplay by Jun Maeda.

Because of the popularity of previous Key-related anime series, “Angel Beats!” was a success in Japan via the weekly Blu-ray sales charts constantly making the top 3 in sales.  The series was also seen as recommended work by the awards jury of the 14th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2010.

Also, to show how popular the series became, the opening and ending theme “My Soul, Your Beats!/Brave Song” debuted at No. 3 on Japan’s music charts “Oricon Weekly Singles” and also being awarded by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for shipping over 100,000 copies.  The second single “Crow Song” by the band Girl Dead Monster’s (a band in the anime series) debuted in the top 10 of the singles charts, followed by another successful single titled “Thousand Enemies” and “Little Braver”.

“Angel Beats!” is an anime series about a young man named Yuzuru Otonashi.  He has amnesia and has no memory of why he is caught up in the world of the dead.  How did he die?   And why is he being recruited by the Afterlife Battlefront (Shinda Sekai Sensen-SSS) to fight against the angel?

According to the battlefront leader Yuri Nakamura, every day they must fight against the Angel in order to survive.  Of course, Otonashi can’t believe any of this and thinks that maybe its all a dream, so he goes to encounter Angel himself.  He asks her if she is an Angel and she replies that she is not.  He thinks its a joke that everyone is fighting her and that she would kill them and wants her to prove it, so she uses her knife and stabs him in the heart.

Otonashi wakes up in the school infirmary and instead of dying, he is alive?  Thinking that it’s all a dream, he is shocked to find his shirt covered in blood and then to see other members of the Battlefront who confirm that he is not dreaming.

It appears that Otonashi is among the afterlife and the world is separated by those who have died (lived a bad life) and are now caught up in the world.  The world which is pretty much a high school and a few locations.  In this world, there are those who fight the angel known as the Battlefront, then there are the NPC’s which are like non-essential characters of a video game…just a character in the world that are programmed to act like normal high school students that are programmed to study and do school-based activities and then there is the angel, the person who makes sure those in the afterlife follow the rules of being students, going to school and not breaking any rules.

Otonashi tries to understand why the Battlefront is fighting the angel and with each member of the Battlefront, he gets to learn more about their lives and how many of them had bad lives in their reality but something led to their deaths and now not having lived a complete life.

In the afterlife, the world or purgatory that they live now, they can choose to live together and create their own destiny or be obliterated which means, satisfying their lives in purgatory and being reincarnated.  But when they fight in the world and get murdered or hurt, they will return back to life in a short-time to continue living in that world.

But the more time Otonashi spends in the world, he starts to learn that maybe people satisfying their lives in this new world may not be a bad thing.  But can he convince the members of the Battlefront?

Meanwhile, is Angel even a threat?  Perhaps there is someone more sinister in the world that is pulling the strings of how things should be?

“Angel Beats!” features the following characters:

• Yuzuru Otonashi – The main protagonist.  Otonashi is the newest member of the world to join the Battlefront.  He has no memories of his past but he is a kind-hearted person that starts to learn about everyone’s past life.  What will happen when Yuzuru discovers his true past?
• Yuri Nakamura - The leader of the Battlefront.  She has made a vow to protect the human souls in the new world because in her real life, despite having a happy life with her family and three siblings, all came crashing, when burglars stormed her house and when they couldn’t find money, gave her 30-minutes to find the money or else all her young siblings would be executed.  They were all murdered and for Yuri, she has kept this hatred towards God for letting the murders happen that she has been unable to pass on.
• Angel – The student council president of the school in the afterlife and is seen as the antagonist.  Very powerful and has developed quite a bit of weapons, her job is to stop any delinquency by the human souls.  But is she a human soul or an evil person?
• Hideki Hinata – Otonashi’s friend, who at first wonders if Hinata is gay.  He is always at odds with Yui and in his past life, he lost an important baseball game when he dropped a catch.
• Yui – A big fan of Girls Dead Monster.  When lead vocalist Iwasawa moves on and disappears, she assumes the position of lead vocalist and rhythm guitar.  Always in odds with Hinata.  In Yui’s past life, she was handicap and unable to walk, so she tries to enjoy life in the new world.
• Iwasawa – The lead vocalist of Girls Dead Monster. She and her bandmembers hold concerts in order to get the NPC’s away from harm when the Battlefront plan to attack Angel.  In her previous life, she was a musician who was brought up in an abusive family.  Her father and mother were constantly fighting and one day, when trying to breakup the fight, she was accidentally hit in the head which led to brain trauma.
• Ayato Naoi – The vice-president of the student body who was assumed to take control of the school if anything happens to angel.  Has a deep connection with Otonashi.  In his past life, Ayato and his twin brother Hayato were sons of a famous potter.  Hayato was the person who excelled and Ayato just had fun and never looked at by his father.  But when Hayato died, he was forced to become Hayato and people were led to believe that Ayato died, so the family pottery legacy would continue.  And no matter how hard Ayato worked, he never received praise.  Ayato has the power of hypnotism.
• Takamatsu – Wears glasses and looks very smart but he is actually an idiot.  Likes to take off his shirt and show off his muscles.
• Noda – Carries a Halberd and is also an idiot.  Loves to fight and only listens to Yuri.
• Shiina – A female ninja who rarely talks.  She has a weakness for cute things.
• Fujimaki – Another weapon carrying Battlefront member who can’t swim.
• TK – Always dancing and saying something in English.  Great with artillery.
• Matsushita – The big man of the group.  Loves to eat.
• Oyama – A boy who helps the Battlefront.
• Takeyama  – The hacker who wants me people to call him by his username “Christ”, which no one cares to call him that.

VIDEO:

“Angel Beats!” is presented in 1080p High Definition and looks absolute vibrant and colorful on Blu-ray.  Because you have Aniplex’s involvement with the anime production, one thing I have learned is that Aniplex loves to focus on the details of background art.

So, even though “Angel Beats!” takes place at a high school, one would think that the scenery would get boring but there is a good amount of focus on colors, lighting but also crowds.  Also, a good number of characters are constantly on screen and for the most part, P.A. Works and Aniplex did a wonderful job!

I personally detected no problems, no banding, artifacting, anything negative.  This is a clear-cut anime series in HD and looks great on Blu-ray!

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Angel Beats!” is presented in English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.  The audio is front-channel driven but if you have a receiver capable of having stereo on all channels, that may be to one’s preference.  But for voice acting, both are well-done.  I am biased towards the original Japanese language but I did manage to watch a few episodes in English and for the most part, the English dubbing was made to give things a bit more of a Western feel.  In terms of sound effects, both had no major difference from each other in how they handled the action sequences but overall, a crystal clear 2.0 lossless soundtrack.

I also have to add that the music of “Angel Beats!” did very well in Japan and the music for this series is fantastic!

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Angel Beats! – Complete Collection” comes with the following special features:

DISC 2:

• Clean Opening Songs
• Clean Closing Songs
  
• Trailers – Trailers for Sentai Filmworks

I made my decision earlier on that if there is an anime series created by those involved with the visual novel brand Key, I would be watching the anime series!

“Kanon”, “Air” and “Clannad” especially latter, are among my favorite anime series and also a series that are known to make you laugh, pull you in and then suddenly yank your heart out and stomp on it and literally make you cry.  Jun Maeda knows how to capture people with a storyline and make you cry.

And at first, I couldn’t figure out how “Angel Beats!” would be like the other series, after all, it seemed more action-driven than previous series.  But I’ve watched all three previous Key-related anime series to know that the writers always have something in store for the viewers at the end.

For the most part, “Angel Beats!” turned out to be a fun, hilarious and action-packed anime series.  For a series that is only 13-episodes long, there is so many things that happened in the series, I was quite impressed of how much Maeda was able to include in the overall storyline.  And while, you will find yourself laughing and really enjoying this action anime series, there are some storylines that relate to a human soul that really tug on your heart.  Not necessarily yank it out and really make you go threw emotional withdrawal like “Clannad” but still, “Angel Beats!” may make viewers shed a tear or two.

I was a bit concerned that with 13-episodes, there were far too many characters but Maeda did a great job in focusing on a few people that one can get attached to via character development but also integrating the supporting characters well-enough to make viewers enjoy everyone in the Battlefront.   The pacing was well-done and it helps to have really good animation and production.  Character designer Katsuzo Hirata (“Ben-To”, “Hand Maid May”, “G-On Riders”) did a great job in capturing Na-Ga’s original character designs..

All 13-episodes of the TV series are included plus the OVA titled “Stairway to Heaven” which is more of a comedy-based OVA as Yuri comes up with “Operation High Tension” and everyone has to be wild for a week.

If there is one thing that I wish was included in the US release that is in the Japanese release is the inclusion of the “Another Epilogue” which was in the Japanese Blu-ray and DVD release.

Overall, “Angel Beats!” was another wonderful anime series from the folks of Key and another well-done anime series from P.A. Works and Aniplex.  Cool characters, cool storyline, vibrant animation, awesome music and overall, a worthy addition to your anime on Blu-ray collection!

Definitely recommended!

Durarara!! part 03 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

The final volume of “Durarara!!” is here!  All is revealed and nothing will be the same!  One of the most stylish anime TV series that I have seen in the last decade! “Durarara!!” is awesome and features one of the coolest, yet bizarre storyline and characters in an anime series! Highly recommended!

Image courtesy of © Ryohgo Narita/ASCII MEDIA WORKS/Ikebukuro Dollars/MBS. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Durarara Part 03

DURATION: Episodes 18-25 (200 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 LB, Japanese and English Dolby Digital 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Aniplex Inc.

RATED: Suggest 13 and up

Release Date: May 31, 2011

Originally created by Ryohgo Narita

Directed by Takahiro Omori

Series Composition by Noboru Takagi

Music by Makoto Yoshimori

Original Creator: Ryohgo Narita

Character Design by Takahiro Kishida

Art Director: Akira Ito

Produced by Akeko Yokoyama, Atsushi Wada, Hiro Maruyama, Kozue Kaneniwa, Yasuyo Ogisu

Anime Production: Brains Base

Featuring the following voice talent:

Miyuki Sawashiro/Kari Wahlgren as Celty Sturluson

Toshiyuki Toyonaga/Darrel Guilbeau as Mikado Ryūgamine

Akio Ohtsuka/ as Shingen Kishitani

Ayahi Takagaki/Mela Lee as Erika Karisawa

Daisuke Ono/Crispin Freeman as Shizuo Heiwajima

Hiroshi Kamiya/Johnny Yong Bosch as Izaya Orihara

Jun Fukuyama/Yuri Lowenthal as Shinra Kishitani

Kana Hanazawa/Michelle Ruff as Anri Sonohara

Kazuma Horie/David Earnest as Seiji Yagiri

Mamoru Miyano/Bryce Papenbrook as Masaomi Kida

Mariya Ise as Mika Harima

Sanae Kobayashi/Bridget Hoffman as Namie Yagiri

Takaya Kuroda/Patrick Seitz as Simon Brezhnev

Takuma Terashima/Spike Spencer as Saburou Togusa

Wataru Takagi/Kyle Hebert as Horada

Yuuichi Nakamura/Steven Blum as Kyōhei Kadota

Yuuki Kaji/Brian Beacock as Walker Yumasaki

A pitch-black headless motorcyclist who roams the city?! High tension, suspense, and action are taking over Tokyo’s Ikebukuro District! Warped romances and friendships – and plenty of hidden secrets – lie behind these big city walls.

Back in 2004, light novelist Ryohgo Narita, who won a Gold Prize in the 9th Dengeki Novel Prize for “Baccano!” returned with “Durarara!!” and teaming up with illustrator Suzuhito Yasuda (known for his video game work “Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor”).

With a total of eight volumes published in Japan by ASCII Media Works (ala their Dengeki Bunko imprint), a manga adaptation would be created by Akiyo Satorigi and published in the shonen magazine “Monthly GFantasy” in 2009. The popularity of Narita’s works, especially with “Baccano!” would lead to an animate adaptation of “Durarara!!” in January 2010. And now the series has been released in the USA courtesy of Aniplex, Inc.

The anime production for “Durarara!!” is by Brains Base (“Brave Story”, “Kure-nai”, “Spice and Wolf II”, “New Getter Robo”, “Akikan!”) and the series is directed by Takahiro Omori (“Aruna”, “Gakuen Alice”, “Kuragehime”, “Zoku Natsume Yujin-Cho”) with series composition/script by Noboru Takagi (“Baccano!”, “C”, “Koi Kaze”). Character design is by Takahiro Kishida (“Cheburashka Arere”, “Dragon Half”, “Ninja Cadets”) and art direction by Akira Ito (“Elfen Lied”, “Shadow Star Narutaru”, “Street Fighter Alpha”).

The series features an ensemble cast and their experience living in Ikebukuro, Tokyo but how their storylines are somewhat connected to each other.

Mikado Ryugamine is a young man who transfers to school from a small country town to the big city in Tokyo and his childhood friend Masaomi tries to show him the ropes of Ikebukuro, which can be dangerous as color gangs have corrupted the city.

Before the yellow scarves were the dominant gang and now on top of the gangs are a mysterious group known as the Dollars, with a leader that no one knows about, all that is known is that members are chosen and are hooked up through the Internet.

But recently, there have been several deaths causes by a murderer dubbed “The Slasher” and also rumors of a headless woman riding a motorcycle.

With the last volume revealing that Mikado Ryugamine is the leader of the dollars, Masaomi Kida is the leader of the yellow scarves and Anri Sonohara revealing that she is the possessor of the demon sword.  While these three friends do not know each other’s secret affiliation or backgrounds, information broker Izaya Orihara looks to instigate a major war.  What will happen when the three friends discover each other’s secret?

The main characters of “Durarara!!” are:

• Mikado Ryugamine – A first year high schooler who moves to Ikebukuro, Tokyo after his childhood friend Masaomi had invited him. A shy guy, Mikado is trying to learn the ropes and restart his life. He becomes a class rep and starts to follow for the female class rep, Anri and because his friend Masaomi also likes her, it becomes a bit of an interesting love triangle. Mikado just wants to change and not be normal.  Revealed to be the founder of the Dollars (no one but Celty and Izaya know).
• Masaomi Kida – Mikado’s childhood friend. He seems very over-confident with girls, when actually he is not good at it. Also, he has a mysterious backgrounds and something happened to a girl he knew… Like Mikado, he also likes Anri.  Revaled to be the leader of the Yellow Scarves (which only a few people know).
• Anri Sonohara – A girl who wears glasses and is a class rep. She is shy and timid and hangs out with Mikado and Masaomi.  Revealed to be the carrier of the demon sword that was used to cut off Celty’s head.
• Celty Sturluson – A headless rider who is looking for her lost head. Celty is a Dullahan from Ireland (a headless woman) who has black smoke coming out of her body. Despite being depicted as monster and killer during the old days, she has been taken in by doctor Shinra Kishitani and carries out missions. Despite not having true emotions, she feels love towards Shinra but unable to understand the feelings that she has due to not having any living DNA.
• Shinra Kishitani – A underground doctor who lives with Celty. His father was the first to operate on Celty (in exchange of giving her a place to stay) and even was given a chance to learn how to do surgery at the age of 4. He works for corporations underground in trying to help them remove memories from people. He is also in love with Celty and is able to understand her emotions despite her not having a head. He also a childhood friend of Shizuo and Kasuka.
• Izaya Orihara – Known as the information broker. He sells information and likes to start trouble or loves to examine human’s when they are conflicted. He is a master of using a knife and causes problems for Shizuo Heiwajima.
• Shizuo Heiwajima – A blonde guy with a very short temper who wears a bartender suit and has enormous power. He can take a lot of pain and it is not known how he is able to have enormous strength and to heal from major injuries. He is friends with Celty, his brother Kasuka (who goes by Yuuhei Hanejima) is a popular actor in Japan and if there is anything he hates more than anything, it is Izaya Orihara. Izaya’s presence makes his blood boil so much that he ends up destroying property around him.
• Simon Brezhnev – A Black Russian who works outside a Russian sushi restaurant. He is known for his great strength.
• Kyohei Kadota – Also, known as “Dotachin” (a nickname that he hates), he is a member of the Dollars and leader of his group of friends which include Walker, Eri and Saburo.
• Walker Yumasaki – A carefree otaku and manga fan who hangs out with Eri. A member of the Dollars and hangs out with Dotachin.
• Eri Karisawa – An otaku and close friend of Walker, a member of the Dollars and Kadota’s group.
• Saburo Togusa – A member of the Dollars and Kyohei’s driver.
• Seiji Yagiri – A classmate of Mikado’s. He quit school to be with Mika but in truth, he is obsessed with the severed head of Celty’s that was put on Mika.
• Namie Yagiri -The older sister of Seiji. A chief of Yagiri Pharmaceuticals and regrets introducing her younger brother to Celty’s head and for his obsession with it. She appears to also have feelings for her younger brother. She is also responsible for the human experimentation going on in the city.
• Mika Harima – Anri’s good friend who, for some reason, has Celty’s head. She was Seiji’s stalker and now lover. Namie wants to get her revenge on Mika because Seiji just wants to be with her fulltime. Meanwhile, Celty is looking for her (because she has her head).

Here is a brief spoilerless summary of episodes 18-25 for “Durarara!! part 03″ which is featured on two DVD’s:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 18 – Out of Your Control – Masaomi talks about his affiliation with the yellow scarves.
• EPISODE 19 – Anarchy – Izaya (using his secret identity online) tries to instigate a war between the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves.  Meanwhile, Anri finds out the truth about Masaomi.
• EPISODE 20 – A New King Will Arise – Masaomi tries to investigate more about the dollars and finds out shocking details about Mikado.
• EPISODE 21 – Everything Covered in Fog -  The Yellow Scarves disobey Masaomi’s orders and go after the Dollars, including Anri.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 22 – Declaration of Disbandment – As chaos continues, Mikado learns the truth about his friend Masaomi.
• EPISODE 23 – Complicated and Confused – As the Dollars all try to help out Anri, Masaomi confronts Anri about being the slasher.
• EPISODE 24 – Selfless Devotion – The final episode.  Mikado, Masaomi and Anri must make difficult decisions that may affect their friendship and their lives. Meanwhile, the Yellow Scarves reveal their true nature to Masaomi.
• EPISODE 25 – BONUS EPISODE – World at Peace – What took place days after the unrest between the Dollars and the Yellow Scarves.

VIDEO:

“Durarara!!” is presented in 16:9 LB.

I’m confident to say that “Durarara!!” has one of the best look animation and artist backgrounds that I have seen in years. In 2010, I felt that Production I.G. raised the bar for artistic backgrounds for televised anime series with “Eden of the East” and “Ghost Hound” but I have to really give credit to Stuio Base and art director Akira Ito for doing a magnificent job in capturing the look and feel of Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

Almost every scene is new. Rarely in this series do you see re-used art background scenes and every location featured in “Durarara!!”, there is magnificent detail, vibrant colors, deep blacks and literally I was impressed. Personally, “Durarara!!” would be best suited for an HD release on Blu-ray because it looks so fantastic! The animation and character designs are wonderful and the style of the character design and the art backgrounds have great balance.

This has to be one of the best looking anime series and you typically do not get this much effort for a televised anime series. It just doesn’t happen due to the tight schedules of anime production companies. So, “Durarara!!” was a pleasant surprise but literally left me in awe.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Durarara!!” is presented in Japanese and English Dolby Digital 2.0. Audio quality is very good for stereo tracks, dialogue and music is quite clear. While the Japanese voice acting was top-notch, I also gave the English dub a try and for the most part, it was well-done! The only thing I do wish that Bang Zoom had done for the English soundtrack was to give it a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround soundtrack instead of 2.0.

I chose to have my receiver set to Stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundtrack.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Durarara!! part 03″ comes with the following special features:

• Textless Opening and Ending Themes – The textless opening and ending themes.
• Trailers – Trailers for upcoming Aniplex Series.
• Credits – Credits for “Durarara!!”.

EXTRAS:

“Durarara!! part 03″ comes with a digipak with a plastic slipcase. Also, included are four postcards.

The final volume of “Durarara!!” is here!  And one a thrilling ride has this anime been.

Once in a while, you will find an anime series that just surprises you for its storyline, animation, art background and overall presentation. “Durarara!!” is an anime that literally surprised me by its quality and I have to say, this is one of the coolest anime series I have seen in awhile.

For anime series, you often seen the banality of reused storylines with slight changes and different animation and for the most part, while characters and storyline are different, things are much similar in concept. With “Durarara!!”, while not as dark as “Boogiepop Phantom”, and the fact it is created by “Baccano!” writer Ryohgo Narita, he still manages to craft a fresh, urban, fantasy, supernatural storyline.

And what makes it so fun is how certain scenes of different characters and storylines are interconnected.

You get the high school student element with characters like Mikado, Masaomi and Narita. Then you get the supernatural/action-based sequences typically with Celty, Izaya and Shizuo. But then you get this fantasy element with Celty who is a Dulahan from Ireland in search of her head. And as these characters are quite interesting, you throw in other characters such as Masaomi’s buddies, the Black Russian Simon and all these other mysterious characters that everything together leads to a fun time. These characters are interesting and each storyline has been well-written and planned.

And as the characters are a big part of “Durarara!!”, also is the city of Ikebukuro in Tokyo. How the city is featured in this anime series is fantastic! Every scene is new and showcasing areas from the city with so much detail, color and for the most part, the character and art design for this series is one of the best I have seen.

And with “Durarara!! Part 03″, all is revealed.  The three primary characters of Mikado, Masaomi and Andri and the secrets they hide are revealed to each other and there are major implications that take place and eventually will change their lives forever.

The anime series manages to wrap itself and giving very good closure to fans who have followed the series but also a bonus episode that treats you with an enjoyable, upbeat storyline.

One can only wonder if there are plans to have a more “Durarara!!” in the near future?  Personally, I hope so.  Even if it was not about the three teens, you can still get a lot of mileage with the character of Celty and Shizuo, the more action-driven characters of the series, especially the manipulating information broker Izaya.

When I first began writing about “Durarara!!” for the first volume, I mentioned how “East of Eden” and “Ghost Hound” were one of the best anime TV series I have seen and how I had to add Studio Base’s “Durarara!!” to that list. The only difference is that the other two have been released via HD on Blu-ray and for an anime series that looks this spectacular, one can only hope that Aniplex does consider this series for Blu-ray release in the near future.  The fact that Aniplex has released “Baccano!”, knock on wood, “Durarara!!” is considered.

As for the DVD release, once again, the English dub for “Durarara!!” is awesome and very well-done. I was enjoying the Japanese soundtrack but after watching the English dub track, everything fits and each voice actor that was cast is perfect for the role they play. So, another wonderful job by Bang Zoom!

But with the high of the animation and the overall series, the only low-point is the lack of special features. It would have been nice to have audio commentary from the voice talent (Japanese or English) but you get the usual textless opening and closing themes and you get four awesome postcards and of course, the cool digipack and plastic slipcase cover.

It would also have been nice to see Bang Zoom giving the English dub soundtrack a 5.1 Dolby Digital treatment than Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. But for those that own receivers capable of selecting stereo on all channels, that is probably the best selection to have more of an immersive soundtrack.

Overall, this series is fantastic! It’s one of the best looking, stylish and urban anime TV series ever created with a cool ensemble cast of characters, plenty of humor and action and an enjoyable conclusion to this anime series.

Highly recommended!

Durarara!! part 02 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

One of the most stylish anime TV series that I have seen in the last decade! “Durarara!!” is awesome and features one of the coolest, yet bizarre storyline and characters in an anime series! Highly recommended!

Image courtesy of © Ryohgo Narita/ASCII MEDIA WORKS/Ikebukuro Dollars/MBS. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Durarara Part 02

DURATION: Episodes 10-17 (225 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 LB, Japanese and English Dolby Digital 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: Aniplex Inc.

RATED: Suggest 13 and up

Release Date: March 29, 2011

Originally created by Ryohgo Narita

Directed by Takahiro Omori

Series Composition by Noboru Takagi

Music by Makoto Yoshimori

Original Creator: Ryohgo Narita

Character Design by Takahiro Kishida

Art Director: Akira Ito

Produced by Akeko Yokoyama, Atsushi Wada, Hiro Maruyama, Kozue Kaneniwa, Yasuyo Ogisu

Anime Production: Brains Base

Featuring the following voice talent:

Miyuki Sawashiro/Kari Wahlgren as Celty Sturluson

Toshiyuki Toyonaga/Darrel Guilbeau as Mikado Ryūgamine

Akio Ohtsuka/ as Shingen Kishitani

Ayahi Takagaki/Mela Lee as Erika Karisawa

Daisuke Ono/Crispin Freeman as Shizuo Heiwajima

Hiroshi Kamiya/Johnny Yong Bosch as Izaya Orihara

Jun Fukuyama/Yuri Lowenthal as Shinra Kishitani

Kana Hanazawa/Michelle Ruff as Anri Sonohara

Kazuma Horie/David Earnest as Seiji Yagiri

Mamoru Miyano/Bryce Papenbrook as Masaomi Kida

Mariya Ise as Mika Harima

Sanae Kobayashi/Bridget Hoffman as Namie Yagiri

Takaya Kuroda/Patrick Seitz as Simon Brezhnev

Takuma Terashima/Spike Spencer as Saburou Togusa

Wataru Takagi/Kyle Hebert as Horada

Yuuichi Nakamura/Steven Blum as Kyōhei Kadota

Yuuki Kaji/Brian Beacock as Walker Yumasaki

A pitch-black headless motorcyclist who roams the city?! High tension, suspense, and action are taking over Tokyo’s Ikebukuro District! Warped romances and friendships – and plenty of hidden secrets – lie behind these big city walls.

Back in 2004, light novelist Ryohgo Narita, who won a Gold Prize in the 9th Dengeki Novel Prize for “Baccano!” returned with “Durarara!!” and teaming up with illustrator Suzuhito Yasuda (known for his video game work “Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor”).

With a total of eight volumes published in Japan by ASCII Media Works (ala their Dengeki Bunko imprint), a manga adaptation would be created by Akiyo Satorigi and published in the shonen magazine “Monthly GFantasy” in 2009. The popularity of Narita’s works, especially with “Baccano!” would lead to an animate adaptation of “Durarara!!” in January 2010. And now the series has been released in the USA courtesy of Aniplex, Inc.

The anime production for “Durarara!!” is by Brains Base (“Brave Story”, “Kure-nai”, “Spice and Wolf II”, “New Getter Robo”, “Akikan!”) and the series is directed by Takahiro Omori (“Aruna”, “Gakuen Alice”, “Kuragehime”, “Zoku Natsume Yujin-Cho”) with series composition/script by Noboru Takagi (“Baccano!”, “C”, “Koi Kaze”). Character design is by Takahiro Kishida (“Cheburashka Arere”, “Dragon Half”, “Ninja Cadets”) and art direction by Akira Ito (“Elfen Lied”, “Shadow Star Narutaru”, “Street Fighter Alpha”).

The series features an ensemble cast and their experience living in Ikebukuro, Tokyo but how their storylines are somewhat connected to each other.

Mikado Ryugamine is a young man who transfers to school from a small country town to the big city in Tokyo and his childhood friend Masaomi tries to show him the ropes of Ikebukuro, which can be dangerous as color gangs have corrupted the city.

Before the yellow scarves were the dominant gang and now on top of the gangs are a mysterious group known as the Dollars, with a leader that no one knows about, all that is known is that members are chosen and are hooked up through the Internet.

But recently, there have been several deaths causes by a murderer dubbed “The Slasher” and also rumors of a headless woman riding a motorcycle.

The main characters of “Durarara!!” are:

• Mikado Ryugamine – A first year high schooler who moves to Ikebukuro, Tokyo after his childhood friend Masaomi had invited him. A shy guy, Mikado is trying to learn the ropes and restart his life. He becomes a class rep and starts to follow for the female class rep, Anri and because his friend Masaomi also likes her, it becomes a bit of an interesting love triangle. Mikado just wants to change and not be normal.
• Masaomi Kida – Mikado’s childhood friend. He seems very over-confident with girls, when actually he is not good at it. Also, he has a mysterious backgrounds and something happened to a girl he knew… Like Mikado, he also likes Anri.
• Anri Sonohara – A girl who wears glasses and is a class rep. She is shy and timid and hangs out with Mikado and Masaomi.
• Celty Sturluson – A headless rider who is looking for her lost head. Celty is a Dullahan from Ireland (a headless woman) who has black smoke coming out of her body. Despite being depicted as monster and killer during the old days, she has been taken in by doctor Shinra Kishitani and carries out missions. Despite not having true emotions, she feels love towards Shinra but unable to understand the feelings that she has due to not having any living DNA.
• Shinra Kishitani – A underground doctor who lives with Celty. His father was the first to operate on Celty (in exchange of giving her a place to stay) and even was given a chance to learn how to do surgery at the age of 4. He works for corporations underground in trying to help them remove memories from people. He is also in love with Celty and is able to understand her emotions despite her not having a head. He also a childhood friend of Shizuo and Kasuka.
• Izaya Orihara – Known as the information broker. He sells information and likes to start trouble or loves to examine human’s when they are conflicted. He is a master of using a knife and causes problems for Shizuo Heiwajima.
• Shizuo Heiwajima – A blonde guy with a very short temper who wears a bartender suit and has enormous power. He can take a lot of pain and it is not known how he is able to have enormous strength and to heal from major injuries. He is friends with Celty, his brother Kasuka (who goes by Yuuhei Hanejima) is a popular actor in Japan and if there is anything he hates more than anything, it is Izaya Orihara. Izaya’s presence makes his blood boil so much that he ends up destroying property around him.
• Simon Brezhnev – A Black Russian who works outside a Russian sushi restaurant. He is known for his great strength.
• Kyohei Kadota – Also, known as “Dotachin” (a nickname that he hates), he is a member of the Dollars and leader of his group of friends which include Walker, Eri and Saburo.
• Walker Yumasaki – A carefree otaku and manga fan who hangs out with Eri. A member of the Dollars and hangs out with Dotachin.
• Eri Karisawa – An otaku and close friend of Walker, a member of the Dollars and Kadota’s group.
• Saburo Togusa – A member of the Dollars and Kyohei’s driver.
• Seiji Yagiri – A classmate of Mikado’s. He quit school to be with Mika but in truth, he is obsessed with the severed head of Celty’s that was put on Mika.
• Namie Yagiri -The older sister of Seiji. A chief of Yagiri Pharmaceuticals and regrets introducing her younger brother to Celty’s head and for his obsession with it. She appears to also have feelings for her younger brother. She is also responsible for the human experimentation going on in the city.
• Mika Harima – Anri’s good friend who, for some reason, has Celty’s head. She was Seiji’s stalker and now lover. Namie wants to get her revenge on Mika because Seiji just wants to be with her fulltime. Meanwhile, Celty is looking for her (because she has her head).

Here is a brief spoilerless summary of episodes 10-17 for “Durarara!! part 02″ included on two DVD’s:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 10 – Never Before Seen – Revelations unveiled in regards to high school student Mikado Ryugamine.
• EPISODE 11 – Storm and Stress – The leader of the Dollars is revealed and he meets with Namie.
• EPISODE 12 – Yin and Yang – The truth about Mika Harima and what happened to Celty’s head.
• EPISODE 12.5 – Heaven’s Vengeance (Bonus Episode) – Taking place between season 1 and season 2, why are mysterious glowing discs showing up through Ikebukuro.
• EPISODE 13 – Takes a Sudden Turn – Everyone fears the slasher.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 14 – Turmoil Reigns – Mikado worries that the slasher may be one of the Dollars and goes to Celty for help.
• EPISODE 15 – Dumb Like a Fox – Niekawa is attacked by the slasher and is possessed by the Slasher’s spirit.
• EPISODE 16 – Mutual Love – Nasujima is being chased by a possessed Haruna, Anri is attacked by multiple Saika-hosts.
• EPISODE 17 – Everything Changes – The leader of the Yellow Scarves is revealed and he wants revenge for what happened to Anri Sonohara.  Meanwhile, the true nature of Anri is revealed.

VIDEO:

“Durarara!!” is presented in 16:9 LB.

I’m confident to say that “Durarara!!” has one of the best look animation and artist backgrounds that I have seen in years. In 2010, I felt that Production I.G. raised the bar for artistic backgrounds for televised anime series with “Eden of the East” and “Ghost Hound” but I have to really give credit to Stuio Base and art director Akira Ito for doing a magnificent job in capturing the look and feel of Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

Almost every scene is new. Rarely in this series do you see re-used art background scenes and every location featured in “Durarara!!”, there is magnificent detail, vibrant colors, deep blacks and literally I was impressed. Personally, “Durarara!!” would be best suited for an HD release on Blu-ray because it looks so fantastic! The animation and character designs are wonderful and the style of the character design and the art backgrounds have great balance.

This has to be one of the best looking anime series and you typically do not get this much effort for a televised anime series. It just doesn’t happen due to the tight schedules of anime production companies. So, “Durarara!!” was a pleasant surprise but literally left me in awe.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Durarara!!” is presented in Japanese and English Dolby Digital 2.0. Audio quality is very good for stereo tracks, dialogue and music is quite clear. While the Japanese voice acting was top-notch, I also gave the English dub a try and for the most part, it was well-done! The only thing I do wish that Bang Zoom had done for the English soundtrack was to give it a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround soundtrack instead of 2.0.

I chose to have my receiver set to Stereo on all channels for a more immersive soundtrack.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Durarara!! part 02″ comes with the following special features:

• Uragiri no Yuyake – (3:34) Featuring the music video for “Uragiri no Yuyake” by Theatre Brook.
• Trust Me – (5:30) Featuring the music video “Trust Me” performed by Yuya Matsushita.
• Trailers – Trailers for upcoming Aniplex Series.
• Credits – Credits for “Durarara!!”.

EXTRAS:

“Durarara!! part 02″ comes with a digipak with a plastic slipcase. Also, included are four postcards.

Once in a while, you will find an anime series that just surprises you for its storyline, animation, art background and overall presentation. “Durarara!!” is an anime that literally surprised me by its quality and I have to say, this is one of the coolest anime series I have seen in awhile.

For anime series, you often seen the banality of reused storylines with slight changes and different animation and for the most part, while characters and storyline are different, things are much similar in concept. With “Durarara!!”, while not as dark as “Boogiepop Phantom”, and the fact it is created by “Baccano!” writer Ryohgo Narita, he still manages to craft a fresh, urban, fantasy, supernatural storyline.

And what makes it so fun is how certain scenes of different characters and storylines are interconnected.

You get the high school student element with characters like Mikado, Masaomi and Narita. Then you get the supernatural/action-based sequences typically with Celty, Izaya and Shizuo. But then you get this fantasy element with Celty who is a Dulahan from Ireland in search of her head. And as these characters are quite interesting, you throw in other characters such as Masaomi’s buddies, the Black Russian Simon and all these other mysterious characters that everything together leads to a fun time. These characters are interesting and each storyline has been well-written and planned.

And as the characters are a big part of “Durarara!!”, also is the city of Ikebukuro in Tokyo. How the city is featured in this anime series is fantastic! Every scene is new and showcasing areas from the city with so much detail, color and for the most part, the character and art design for this series is one of the best I have seen.

And with “Durarara!! Part 02″, the story continues to get even better as this volume can be called the revelation of Mikado, Masaomi and Anri.  For the last nine episodes, we were led to believe that these three high school students were just normal teenagers but each of these three individuals have a secret.  Suffice to say, if you have never seen the series before, these revelations will shock you.  And it’s probably best as I leave it to that without spoiling the series.

As for the other characters, We get to know more about Celty Surluson and despite her being a kick-ass character, we also get to know that she has a side to her that one would not expect.  Also, it’s quite interesting to see her relationship with Shinra Kishitani develop.

But things are starting to heat up for this series and for the three high school friends, you just wonder if they will manage to become friends if they discover each others secrets.  So, I look forward to the next volume of “Durarara!!”.

I’ve mentioned last fall of how I felt “East of Eden” and “Ghost Hound” were one of the best anime TV series I have seen and now I have to add Studio Base’s “Durarara!!” to that list. The only difference is that the other two have been released via HD on Blu-ray and for an anime series that looks this spectacular, one can only hope that Aniplex does consider this series for Blu-ray release in the near future.

As for the DVD release, once again, the English dub for “Durarara!!” is awesome and very well-done. I was enjoying the Japanese soundtrack but after watching the English dub track, everything fits and each voice actor that was cast is perfect for the role they play. So, another wonderful job by Bang Zoom!

But with the high of the animation and the overall series, the only low-point is the lack of special features. It would have been nice to have audio commentary from the voice talent (Japanese or English). For this second part, you do get the music videos by Theatre Brook and Yuya Matsushita.

It would also have been nice to see Bang Zoom giving the English dub soundtrack a 5.1 Dolby Digital treatment than Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. But for those that own receivers capable of selecting stereo on all channels, that is probably the best selection to have more of an immersive soundtrack.

But Aniplex does make things up with a pretty awesome digipack case with plastic slipcover and five postcards featuring artwork of the various characters of “Durarara!!”.

Overall, this series is fantastic! It’s one of the best looking, stylish anime TV series ever created. I’m always down for an Urban street culture type of anime series and “Durarara!!” was just fantastic, fresh and fun! I enjoyed this anime series immensely and I can’t wait for part 3.

Highly recommended!

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