Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos Premiere – Photos from the Red Carpet by J!-ENT’s Nergene Arquelada (January 25, 2012) (J!-ENT Interviews and Articles)

“Fullmetal Alchemist” excitement took place on January 25th as FUNimation Entertainment in conjunction with Aniplex, Inc. and Eleven Arts Inc. held a red carpet premiere for “Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos”.

The film is produced by BONES and the premiere was held at the Downtown Independent Theater in Los Angeles.

J!-ENT’s Nergene Arquelada attended the red carpet premiere which featured director Kazuya Murata, BONES Studio President Masahiko Minami, FUNimation Entertainment US director Mike McFarland, voice actor Vic Mignogna, singer Alana Lee, rapper Soulja Boy and more.

Here are a few photos from the event:

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

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

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

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

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2011

DURATION: 3 Episodes: (75 Minutes)

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

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

Release Date: February 14, 2012

Directed by Masaki Tachibana

Written by Tatsuya Hamazaki

Music by Ko Otani

Original Character Design: Atsushi Hasebe

Art Director: Yusuke Takeda

Mechanical Design: Takeshi Takakura

3D Director: Eiji Inomoto

Sound Director: Kazuya Tanaka

Director of Photography: Toshiya Kimura

Anime Production: Kinema Citrus

Featuring the following voice talent:

Kana Hanazawa/Trina Nishimura as Sakuya

Miyuki Sawashiro/Anastasia Munoz as Tobias

Ayumi Fujimura/Lara Woodhull as Mary

Masami Iwasaki/J. Michael Tatum as Smith

Sanae Kobayashi/Stephanie Young as Shamrock

Yui Ogura/Lindsay Seidel as Hermit

Daisuke Namikawa/Brandon Potter as Iyoten

Youko Honna/Kara Edwards as Asta

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIDEO:

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

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

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

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

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

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

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

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

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

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

EXTRAS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

FUNimation Entertainment Acquires Additional Rights to HAGANAI

lower Mound, TX – January 28, 2012 – FUNimation Entertainment announced today at Ohayocon that it has acquired the broadcast, home entertainment, merchandising, mobile and streaming rights to the anime series, HAGANAI (Boku wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai). FUNimation plans to release the HAGANAI series on DVD and Blu-ray. Watch full episodes on www.funimation.com.

Series synopsis:
Kodaka Hasegawa has just transferred to St. Chronica’s Academy and he’s having a hard time making friends. With his naturally blond hair and fierce looking eyes, people constantly mistake him for a delinquent. One day, he runs into his bad-tempered loner of a classmate, Yozora, while she’s talking to her imaginary friend, Tomo. Since neither of them have any friends, they decide to form a club and start recruiting some. Little by little, lonely classmates join their club to learn how to build friendships through cooking together, playing games, and other group activities. But, with so many misfits, will the club members really be able to get along?
Additional information may be found at: http://www.funimation.com/haganai

About FUNimation® Entertainment
FUNimation® Entertainment is the leading anime company in North America. FUNimation has a proven formula for launching and advancing brands. They manage a full spectrum of rights for most of their brands including broadcasting, licensing, production, internet, and home video sales and distribution. For more information about FUNimation Entertainment and its brands, visit www.funimation.com.

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

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

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

TITLE: Fairy Tail Vol. 3

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2009

DURATION: (Episodes 25-36) 300 Minutes

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

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

Release Date: January 31, 2012

Originally created by Hiro Mashima

Directed by Shinji Ishihara

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

Music by Yasuharu Takanashi

Character Design by Aoi Yamamoto

Art Director: Junko Shimizu

Chief Animation Director: Takao Sano

Anime Production: A-1 Pictures, Satelight

Featuring the following voice talent:

Aya Hirano/Cherami Leigh as Lucy Heartfilia

Tetsuya Kakihara/Todd Haberkorn as Natsu Dragneel

Rie Kugimiya/Tia Ballard as Happy

Sayaka Ohara/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Erza Scarlet

Yūichi Nakamura/Newton Pittman as Gray Fullbuster

Shinichi Kotani/R. Bruce Elliot as Makarov

Akira Ishida as Zeref

Daisuke Kishio/Eric Vale as Loki/Loke

Daisuke Namikawa as Jeral/Mystogan

Eri Kitamura/Jamie Marchi as Kana Alberona

Hiroki Touchi as Pantherlily

Hiroki Yasumoto as Elfman

Kazuhiko Inoue as Gildarts Clive

Mai Nakahara as Juvia Loxar

Mariya Ise as Levi Macgarden

Miyuki Sawashiro/Lydia Mackay as Ultear Milkovich

Ryoko Ono/Monica Rial as Mirajane

Satomi Satou as Wendy

Sayaka Narita as Aries

Wataru Hatano as Gajeel Redfox

Yui Horie as Charle

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DISC 1:

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

DISC 2:

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

VIDEO:

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

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

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

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

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

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

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

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

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

DISC 1:

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

DISC 2:

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

EXTRAS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Definitely recommended!

Hetalia Axis Powers: Season Three (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

This series is totally insane! And if you thought season two was crazy, this third season is even crazier!  “Hetalia Axis Powers: Season Three” features 24 five-minute episodes plus the Japanese fan event interviews, English dub commentaries and outtakes and more! If you have an open mind, are not politically correct, have a pretty good sense of humor, then “Hetalia Axis Powers: Season Three” may be for you. Definitely worth checking out!

Image courtesy of © 2008-2010 Hidekaz Himaruya, Gentosha Comics/Italia Project. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Hetalia Axis Powers – Season Three

TV EPISODE RELEASE: 2009-2010

DURATION: Episodes 53-76 (120 minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Japanese 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: 13 and Up

RELEASED: January 17, 2012

Directed by Bob Shirohata

Series Composition by Takuya Hiramitsu

Original Creator: Hidekaz Himaruya

Character Design by Masaaki Kannan

Animation Producer: Keiichi Matsuda

Anime Production: Studio DEEN

Featuring the following voice talent:

Daisuke Namikawa/Todd Haberkorn as Italy

Hiroki Takahashi/Christopher Bevins as Japan

Hiroki Yasumoto/Patrick Seitz as Germany

Katsuyuki Konishi/Eric Vale as America

Masaya Onosaka/J. Michael Tatum as France

Noriaki Sugiyama/Scott Freeman as United Kingdom

Yasuhiro Takato/Jerry Jewell as Russia

Yuki Kaida/Clarine Harp as China

Scott Freeman as England

Atsushi Kousaka/Mike McFarland as Estonia

Urara Takano/Monica Rial as Belarus

R. Bruce Elliott as Bishop

Kazutada Tanaka/Ryan Bijan as Poland

Katzutada Tanaka/Ryan Reynolds as Latvia

Scott Sager as Egypt

Atsushi Kousaka/Jonathan Brooks as Prussia

Atsushi Kousaka/Vic Mignona as Greece

The awesome international incidents never stop in Hetalia World Series! All your fave Allied and Axis boys are back, and they’ve brought a bunch of new guys to the party. You like to party, right? Duh.

 

Feel the tension build as Prussia plots an invasion of Austria’s happy little place. Try on a codpiece! Share in Spain’s pain as he does his best to look after little Romano. Run with stampeding kittens! Swoon at the awkward new bromance blossoming between Japan and Greece. Eat a yummy churro! Listen and learn as France teaches Italy about the birds and the bees. Avoid Sealand! Cheer as America befriends space aliens and whales. Truly, no matter whose flag you fly, it’s about to get all SQUEE up in here. Like, big time.

This limited edition comes with a purple bandana featuring Prussia.

Contains episodes 1-24.

Have you been looking for a unique and hilarious anime series? If so, “Hetalia Axis Powers” may be the series you are looking for.

Based on a comic and later adapted to a manga and anime series by Hidekaz Himaruya, “Hetalia Axis Powers” is an web-based anime series in which each episode is five minutes long. It also happens to be an allegorical interpretation of political and historical events during World War II. But instead of focusing on military leaders and watching countries at war, the series focuses on single men who represent their countries.

The term Hetalia is a portmanteau combining the words “hetare” (Japanese for “incompetent”) and “Italia” (Italy) and is meant to make light of Italy’s cowardice during World War II.

As of 2012, “Hetalia Axis Powers” is 103-episodes long (each episodes last 5-minutes long) and is directed by Bob Shirohata (“Gravitation”, “Let’s Dance with Papa”, “Diamond Daydreams”), series composition by Takuya Hiramitsu (“Hunter x Hunter”, “The Prince of Tennis”, “Read or Die”) and character designs by Masaaki Kannan (“Initial D: Third Stage, “Oishinbo”, “Urusei Yatsura”). Anime Production is by Studio DEEN (“07-Ghost”, “DNA^2″, “Ranma 1/2″, “Rurouni Kenshin”).

The first two seasons and the animated film were released by FUNimation Entertainment in 2010-2011 and now, the third season was released on DVD in Jan. 2012.

This time around, Romano is upset with Germany for being with his younger brother.  Greece wants to get closer with Japan, Poland and Lithuania working on a pact, China is getting tired of being pushed around, England captures Italy, Tony the alien lands in Roswell and Spain tries to rescue Romano from Turkey.

The series revolves around a group of characters that represent a nation which belongs to the Axis Powers or the Allied Forces and for the most part, a series that makes light on a country and focuses on The Axis Powers (N. Italy, Germany and Japan) who are the protagonists of the series.  Since season two, the series is now introducing more characters (countries):

N. Italy – A nation who is naive and always cheerful to the point that he annoys the others. He loves Italian culture and because he is always cute, the women love him. He represents the North while his brother represents the South (and he’s more of a jerk). Many of the episodes revolves around Italy. Also, very addicted to pasta and Italian food.

Germany – The serious nation who feels he is strong and not good with relationships but he is a by-the-book man who wants to make sure he trains Italy and Japan well because he has discovered friendship.

Japan – The hardworking, technology driven and business-like nation. Not used to being around with Westerners. He is not sure why these countries want to be buddy buddy and give him hugs. He doesn’t like hugs all that much. Also, eating food that is not Japanese.

In this anime series, the antagonists are the Allied Forces which include:

America - The hero who is full of energy and strength. He was raised by England but wants independence from him and also has a brother named Canada who is always silent. Also, lives with a gray alien.

England (Britain) – Irritable, can’t cook and foul mouth. Also, has the ability to see supernatural things. He can’t stand France and has a rivalry with America.

France – The romantic and likes to flirt with everyone. His older brother is Spain.

China – Distrusts Russia and loves Hello Kitty. He is also an immortal and always with pandas.

Russia – The tallest of the nations and can be innocent and cruel. Many nations are terrified of him.

VIDEO:

“Hetalia Axis Powers: Season Three” is presented in 4:3. Character designs are good but it’s a series that is driven by its characters and not surroundings. Because it’s a web-based series, it’s not an anime series where you are going to see a lot of significant time for the painted artistic backgrounds. If anything, the focus of the series is primarily on its characters (the nations) and the expressions they give towards each others. More or less, focusing on the relationship of the nations.

There are some scenes that do show 3D such as water effects, some nicely detailed scenes when showing weapons and closeups on the weapons and there are some nicely painted watercolor like scenes during the Chibitalia scenes as well.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

As for audio, “Hetalia Axis Powers: Season Three” is presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1 and Japanese Stereo 2.0. It’s important to note that the series is not action driven but is primarily dialogue driven and is quite clear through the front and center channels. There are a few scenes that uses sound on the surround channels but these scenes are very few.

As for the English and Japanese vocal tracks, if there is one major difference is how the dialogue is handled. The English dub utilizes profanity and takes liberty with some of the dialogue and story to make it more humorous for the American viewer. The English dub is quite hilarious!

A few key things I do want to note that the accents worked for this series. By no means are the accents perfect or right spot on but within the context of comedy, it works.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Hetalia Axis Powers: Season Three” includes the following special features:

DISC 1:

• Episode 1 (53) – “Prussia and Romano are Roomies” Audio Commentary – Audio commentary featuring ADR director/writer Jami Marchi (narrator), Jonathan Brooks (Prussia) and Ian Sinclair (Romano)
• Episode 4 (56) – “Eastern Block Party” Audio Commentary - Audio commentary featuring ADR director/writer Jami Marchi (narrator), Joel McDonald (Poland) and Josh Grelle (Lithuania).
• Episode 6 (58) – “Revolutionary Brothers” Audio Commentary – Audio commentary featuring ADR director/writer Jami Marchi (narrator), Scott Freeman (Britain), Eric Vale (America/Canada) and J. Michael Tatum (France).

DISC 2:

• The Hidden History Hidden within Hetalia – A text based information segment that explains the historical connection of each episode.
  
• Hetalia Fan Event at the Tokyo International, Anime Fair 2010 - (37:24) In celebration of the third season of “Hetalia”, a special fan event was held at Anime Fair 2010.  Featuring Hiroki Takahashi (Japan), Daisuke Namikawa (Italy) and Hiroki Yasumoto (Germany).
• Hetalia Event in Tokushima, Part 1 - (18:25) Masaya Onosaka (France) and Katsuya Koshi (America) arriving at JR. Tokushima Station.
• Hetalia Event in Tokushima, Part 2 - (16:01) A few of the voice actors: Masaya Onosaka (France) and Katsuya Konishi (America) on a tour of Tokushima and arriving for a live special talk show held at Shimachi-Bashi East Park.
• Fan Event – (19:45) Featuring interviews with Hiroki Takashi (Japan) and Noriaki Sugiyama (England) in front of an all-female Japanese audience (4700 who were selected to attend the event) at the Sunshine 60 Observatory.
• Outtakes – (6:50) English dub outtakes
• U.S. Trailer – (1:02) Hetalia Axis Powers trailer.
• Textless Closing Song “Marukite Chikyuu”
• Textless Closing Song “Hata Futte Parade”

“Hetalia Axis Powers” is one of those series is fun, hilarious and quite crazy and it’s important to note that it does mock a lot of the things that happened during World War II and also the customs of certain countries in the characters (nations) as portrayed. Definitely not politically correct, not historically accurate and if anything, it’s more or less making light of how countries were towards each other but using a character to embody that nation.

The series is also immensely popular in Japan and around the world.  Not bad considering that this series is streamed digitally and each episode is only five minutes long.

The third season still focuses on various storylines which involve Hungary, Prussia, Greece, France, America, Japan and Germany.  If anything, the third season focuses on a variety of characters but this time around, the storylines are definitely appealing to a demographic who love to see the guys get closer together.  For example, the very unusual Greece tries to find ways to get closer to Japan (who is seen as angry) and talks about his love of cats and tries to get Japan to admit he likes cats and then Greece putting on cat ears and hoping Japan would rub his belly.

But the storyline for season three is less about Italy and Germany this time around but showcases Greece and Japan, Poland and Lithuania, Finland and Sweden visiting Poland and of course, we get to see how things strengthen between Germany and Italy (who fears that Germany hates his guts).

If anything, for me, I just found the series quite interesting to see how it would reinterpret certain situations from World War II within the characters and to see how wacky things would get. But most of all, It was also easy to watch since it’s only five minutes long. By saying that, it’s also a series that I wasn’t able to watch in a full sitting, it’s one of those series that you may want to watch a few episodes at a time but not at one sitting because in my case, I felt the antics were getting quite old and repetitive. So, I didn’t want to get burned out.

As for the DVD release, I will say that in terms of special features, this third season really delivers with the Japanese fan event and interviews.  So, those who love the Japanese voice acting or want to see how packed these events are, can definitely see it with their own eyes.  And for those who are fans of the English dub, there is three audio commentary tracks (the third commentary track was possibly the wildest English dub commentary that I have ever heard) and outtakes.

So, overall… “Hetalia Axis Powers: Season Three” was a pretty awesome DVD release!

“Hetalia Axis Powers” is a unique, bizarre, quirky anime series. I liked how FUNimation Entertainment worked it’s “Crayon Shin-Chan” like humor into the development of the dialogue but because Hetalia does deal with how nations are with each other and its quirky interpretation of war and history (while Crayon Shin Chan dealt with perverseness and modern pop culture).  For the English dub, I like the fact that Jami Marchi was brought in to write for season three, she brought a hilarious element to the season and unlike past episodes which got old really quick with humor, she and the other writers did a pretty cool job with this season!  I know there are some who will enjoy this crazy humor and that every episode is five minutes long, but I can see others who may feel that this series is not their cup of tea.

If you have an open mind, are not politically correct, have a pretty good sense of humor, then “Hetalia Axis Powers: Season Three” may be for you. Definitely worth checking out!

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

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

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

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

DURATION: EPISODES 1-12 (300 Minutes)

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

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: January 31, 2012

Originally created by Yoko Sanri

Directed by Yusuke Yamamoto

Series Composition by Satoru Nishizono

Character Design by Yuuko Yahiro

Art Director: Michiyo Miki

Chief Animation Director: Yuuko Yahiro

Anime Production: Hal Film Maker

Featuring the following voice talent:

Atsushi Abe/Scott Freeman as Takashi Kosuda

Yukari Tamura/Brittney Karbowski as Yamada

Asami Shimoda/Emerick Jade as Chika Yamada

Kana Hanazawa/Jad Saxton as Mayu Miyano

Mamiko Noto/Martha Harms as Kazuki Kosuda

Rumi Shishido/Alexis Tipton as Erogamisama

Tomoaki Maeno as Keiichi Kanejō

Yu Kobayashi/Kristi Kang as Kyōka Kanejō

Yui Horie/Cherami Leigh as Miharu Takeshita

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIDEO:

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

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

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

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

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

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

Subtitles are in English!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

DISC 1

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

DISC 2

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

EXTRAS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DURATION: EPISODES 1-14 (350 Minutes)

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

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV-MA

Release Date: December 20, 2011

Originally created by Suu Minazuki

Directed by Hisashi Saito

Series Composition by Yuuko Kakihara

Character Design by Yoshihiro Watanabe

Art Director: Hiromasa Ogura

Chief Animation Director: Hiromasa Ogura

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

Featuring the following voice talent:

Saori Hayami/Brittney Karbowski as Ikaros

Souichiro Hoshi/Greg Ayres as Tomoki Sakurai

Ayahi Takagaki/Jamie Marchi as Mikako Satsukitane

Iori Nomizu/Kara Edwards as Nymph

Mina/Trina Nishimura as Sohara Mitsuki

Tatsuhisa Suzuki/Eric Vale as Eishirō Sugata

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

VIDEO:

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

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

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1″ is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese DolbyTrue HD 2.0.  It’s important to note that despite me typically watching anime series in Japanese, I chose to watch this series with an English dub, primarily for the dynamic range of the lossless 5.1 soundtrack but mostly because FUNimation Entertainment really enhanced the perverseness of the series through its dialogue.  From Tomoki’s lyrics for his hard nips song to Nohara joking around with Tomoki of sniffing her underwear, there is this boldness when it comes to perverse dialogue than the Japanese version.  It’s much calmer than extreme and because of that, it worked for the English dub.

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

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

As mentioned, the series does have some of that “Urusei Yatsura” craziness but also the “Chobits” style of an angeloid who acts almost like an emotionless android but overtime, her emotions start to come into play through more exposure to Tomoki and friends.

So, while the majority of the series does feature more lighthearted to crazy, wacky plots…it does get a bit serious and emotional towards the end.

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

Overall, “Sora no Otoshimono: Heaven’s Lost Property – Season 1″ was a fun, perverse anime series.  There is no doubt that this will surely entertain anime fans who enjoy harem anime series especially with that sci-fi element with a bit of raunchiness as well.

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

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

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

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

TITLE: Dragon Ball Z Level 1.2

DURATION: (Episodes 8-34) 425 Minutes

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

COMPANY: Toei Animation/FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: December 13, 2011

Originally created by Akira Toriyama

Directed by Daisuke Nishio

Series Composition: Takao Koyama

Character Design by Yuji Ikeda

Music by Shunsuke Kikuchi

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

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

Featuring the following voice talent:

Masako Nozawa/Zoe Slusar as Son Goku

Masako Nozawa/Hyle Herbert as Son Gohan

Ryo Horikawa/Christopher R. Sabat as Vegeta

Hiromi Tsuru/Tiffany Volmer as Bulma

Naoko Watanabe/Cynthia Cranz as Chichi

Mayumi Tanaka/Sonny Strait as Kuririn

Ryo Horikawa/Christopher R. Sabat as Piccolo

Hirotaka Suzuoki – Tinshinhan

Tohru Furuya – Yamucha

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

Michael Dobson as Supreme Kai

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The main characters during this part of the series are:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The main enemy:

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

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

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

DISC 1

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

DISC 2

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

VIDEO:

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

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

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

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

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

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

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

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

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

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

SPECIAL FEATURES:

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

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

EXTRAS:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fairy Tail Vol. 2 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Review)

Fun, action-packed adventures featuring the most destructive wizard guild in the planet! If you are looking for an enjoyable anime series that is not too dark or violent and has its fair share of humorous moments, definitely give “Fairy Tail” Vol. 2 a chance!

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

TITLE: Fairy Tail Vol. 2

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2009

DURATION: (Episodes 13-24) 300 Minutes

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

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

Release Date: November 22, 2011

Originally created by Hiro Mashima

Directed by Shinji Ishihara

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

Music by Yasuharu Takanashi

Character Design by Aoi Yamamoto

Art Director: Junko Shimizu

Chief Animation Director: Takao Sano

Anime Production: A-1 Pictures, Satelight

Featuring the following voice talent:

Aya Hirano/Cherami Leigh as Lucy Heartfilia

Tetsuya Kakihara/Todd Haberkorn as Natsu Dragneel

Rie Kugimiya/Tia Ballard as Happy

Sayaka Ohara/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Erza Scarlet

Yūichi Nakamura/Newton Pittman as Gray Fullbuster

Shinichi Kotani/R. Bruce Elliot as Makarov

Akira Ishida as Zeref

Daisuke Kishio/Eric Vale as Loki/Loke

Daisuke Namikawa as Jeral/Mystogan

Eri Kitamura/Jamie Marchi as Kana Alberona

Hiroki Touchi as Pantherlily

Hiroki Yasumoto as Elfman

Kazuhiko Inoue as Gildarts Clive

Mai Nakahara as Juvia Loxar

Mariya Ise as Levi Macgarden

Miyuki Sawashiro/Lydia Mackay as Ultear Milkovich

Ryoko Ono/Monica Rial as Mirajane

Satomi Satou as Wendy

Sayaka Narita as Aries

Wataru Hatano as Gajeel Redfox

Yui Horie as Charle

Across the Fiore kingdom, wizards join guilds and make their pay by filling magical needs – but one guild has a reputation as the roughest, rowdiest, most dangerous of all: Fairy Tail!

In the midst of a mission to break the curse over Galuna Island, Natsu and the gang face a band of deranged mages trying to resurrect the monstrous demon Deliora. Gray’s determined to put the freeze on the sinister plan in a frigid battle with a rival from his past – even if it takes his own life!

Back in Magnolia, the city becomes a warzone after sorcerers known as Element 4 destroy Fairy Tail headquarters and kidnap their beloved rookie, Lucy. A bone-crunching, skin-charring fight between fire and iron erupts when Natsu squares off against another Dragon Slayer wizard!

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

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

And here we are with the second Blu-ray release of “Fairy Tail”.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In “Fairy Tail Vol. 2″, Natsu, Lucy and Gray take on an S-Class Ranked Mission without approval from the Fairy Tail guild and while the three are busy trying to take on a rival familiar to Gray, Erza goes to find them and taking them home for punishment.

Meanwhile, the Fairy Tail Guild is attacked by their rival, the Phantom Lord who plants to destroy Fairy Tail and also wipe out Magnolia.  Will the Fairy Tail guild survive the onslaught?

“Fairy Tail” Vol. 2 features the following characters:

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

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

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 13 – Gray vs. Lyon, meanwhile Lyon’s men destroy the village, while Natsu tries to protect everyone.
• EPISODE 14 – Lucy vs. Sherry and Erza arrives to Galuna Island and wants to bring Natsu, Lucy and Gray back to the guild for punishment for taking on an S-Class job without permission.
• EPISODE 15 – Gray reveals his past of how he was found by Ur and Lyon (and why he keeps taking off his clothes)
• EPISODE 16 – Gray vs. Lion Round 2.
• EPISODE 17 – Natsu and Gray try to stop Deliora
• EPISODE 18 – Natsu and Erza try to figure out how to life the curse on the village.
• EPISODE 19 – Natsu find a new job on the baord and chants the words written on it which switches him and other members of Fairy Tail’s own bodies with each other. 
  
• EPISODE 20 – Mirajane tells Lucy a story of how Natsu found Happy.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 21 – The Fairy Tail guildhall is under attack by the rival guild, Phantom Lord.
• EPISODE 22 – Makarov vs. Phantom Lord leader Jose.
• EPISODE 23 – Phantom Tail appears in Magnolia and intends to destroy Fairy Tail with a magic cannon and a member sacrifices themself to protect everyone from the attack.
• EPISODE 24 - The Phantom Lord’s attack continues as they try to wipe out Magnolia.

VIDEO:

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

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

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

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

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

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

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

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

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Fairy Tail Vol. 2″ features the following special features:

DISC 1:

• Episode 15 Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Tyler Walker (Director/Line Producer) with Newton Pittman (voice of Gray).

DISC 2:

• Episode 19 Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Tyler Walker (ADR Director/Line Producer/Writer) with Tia Ballard (voice of Happy), Monica Rial (Lead Writer/voice of actress for Mirajane), Colleen Clinkenbeard (voice of Erza).
• Textless Opening Songs: “S.O.W. Sense of Wonder” by Idoling!!
• Textless Closing Songs: “Tsuioku Merry-Go Round”
• Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment trailers

Fun, action-packed adventures featuring the most destructive wizard guild in the planet!

The second volume of “Fairy Tail” features stories that explore the past of Fairy Tail guild member Gray but also features one of the most intense storylines in the series thus far as the guild are under attack by their rival guild, Phantom Lord.

If anything, fans of the first volume can expect the same amount of action but also several hilarious episodes including one in which the Fairy Tail guild members switch bodies with each other.

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

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

And with this second volume, Natsu and Lucy are tired of taking on low-paying jobs and thus they (along with Gray) take on an S-Class mission without guild approval and now Erza is sent to go after them and retrieve them for punishment.  But will this group have what it takes to complete an S-Class Ranked Mission and with the Fairy Tail guild being attacked by their rivals, can they survive the attacks?

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

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

As for special features, you do get the English voice actors providing commentary for two episodes. And speaking about the English voice actors, I felt that FUNimation Entertainment has done a magnificent job with the cast for this series! I’m usually listening to the Japanese soundtrack but this is one of the few series where I found myself watching with the English dubs because the voice acting was well-done.

Overall, the second volume of “Fairy Tail” definitely takes a step forward in character development but also battles which definitely have more impact on its characters and the overall guild. Love the artwork, the character designs and the balance between humor and action/adventure.

While the series definitely has some similarities to “One Piece” and “Slayers” in some sense, “Fairy Tail” is its own style of series with interesting adventures, plenty of action and also humor.  If you are looking for an anime series (especially one that is also watched by many children in Japan) that is not too dark or violent, definitely give “Fairy Tail” a chance!

Rosario + Vampire Capu2 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

Panties, vampires and monsters…Oh my!  If you are into anime harem series that are slightly perverted, full of action and all-out fun…”Rosario + Vampire Capu2″ is for you!

Image courtesy of © Akihisa Ikeda/Shueisha Rosario*Vampire Project. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Rosario + Vampire Capu2

ANIME SERIES AIR DATE: 2008

DURATION: Episodes 1-13

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9, Bilingual Japanese & English, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: 17+

Release Date: December 20, 2011

Originally created by Akihisa Ikeda

Directed by Hiroshi Yamaguchi

Screenplay by Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Ritsuko Hayasaka

Music by Kouhei Tanaka, Shiroh Hamaguchi

Character Design by Mariko Fujita

Art Director: Shigemi Ikeda

Chief Animation Director: Satoru Kiyomaru

Mechanical Design by Hiroyuki Kanbe

Sound Director: Takeshi Takadera

Director of Photography: Ayumi Ushijima

Anime Production: Gonzo

Featuring the following voice talent

Daisuke Kishio/Todd Haberkorn as Tsukune Aono

Nana Mizuki/Alexis Tipton as Moka Akashiya

Colleen Clinkenbeard as Inner Moka Akashiya

Kikuko Inoue/Jamie Marchi as Shizuka Nekonome

Kimiko Koyama/Monica Rial as Yukari Sendō

Misato Fukuen/Brina Palencia as Kurumu Kurono

Rie Kugimiya/Tia Ballard as Mizore Shirayuki

Saeko Chiba/Leah Clark as Rubi Tōjō

Shuuichi Ikeda/Jason Douglas as Kuyou

Takehito Koyasu as Nazo Koumori

Tomokazu Seki as Ginei Morioka

Tsukune, Moka and the rest of the gang return for another year at Yokai Academy – where the supernatural student body rules the school!

Tsukune’s a real slacker in the human world, but in the monster realm he scores an A+ as a high school heartthrob. Keeping up with a hellacious bunch of hot demon girls has its perks, but Moka’s bratty little sister could burst the love bubble. His pain is her pleasure – and if the tart has her way, Tsukune can kiss Moka’s sweet side goodbye. Family values take new meaning when a MILF fight breaks out on campus, too. So forget what you know about home-economics class, because these ghouls gone wild always cook up trouble!

In 2004, mangaka Akihisa Ikeda (creator of the 2002 fantasy series “Kiruto”) created a new series titled “Rosario to Vampire” published in “Weekly Shonen Jump” and lasted from through 2007, followed by a new series titled “Rosario to Vampire Capu2″ which is currently ongoing in Japan.

With the popularity of the manga series, in 2008 a 13-episode anime series was created and ran from January through March. “Rosario to Vampire Capu 2″ followed and aired in Japan from October through December that same year.

The series features anime production from GONZO and is directed by Takayuki Inagaki (“Desert Punk”, “”Indian Summer”, “Jewelpet Sunshine”), series composition by Hiroshi Yamaguchi (“Bastard!!”, “To Heart”, “Gatekeepers”), character design by Mariko Fujita (“Galaxy Angel”) and art direction by Shigemi Ikeda (“Ikki Tousen”, “Gantz”, “Inuyasha”).

And now both seasons of “Rosario+Vampire” (the American title) will be released by FUNimation Entertainment in Dec. 2011.

“Rosario+Vampire” is a harem anime series which focuses on protagonist Tsukune Aono, a normal high school freshman who is unable to get into any private school because of his bad grades. But his parents enroll him into a private school called “Yokai Academy”.

But when Tsukune arrives at his new school, he realizes that it’s a school for monsters disguised as humans and because it’s a top secret school in which humans are not to know about it, if he reveals that he is human and knows about the school, he will be killed.

One day, while thinking about leaving the school, he accidentally runs into a beautiful pink haired girl named Moka Akashiya. Moka turns out to be a sweet vampire and is attracted to the taste of his blood (she takes small nibbles instead of large bites). Moka had lived in the human world at one time and does not like them for some reason. She also wears cross that is fixed upon a collar and can not be removed.

But because she has made friends with Tsukune, she instantly bonds with him, not knowing he is human. And because this normal teenager is able to catch the attention of a beautiful girl at school, others become jealous and one decides to confront Moka of why she would be with a weakling like Tsukune.

And through circumstances, he reveals to Moka that he is actually a human and she is shocked to find out that someone so kind, is a human being. But one day, while trying to defend Moka from a male monster trying to make her be with him, somehow he is able to remove her cross from her collar which activates during a time of need and Moka transforms to a Class S vampire (the most powerful vampire) and the true inner Moka is revealed.

Needless to say, she defeats the male monster and from that point on, both begin to become great friends and fall for each other.

But along the way, other female students (supernatural) also begin to fall for Tsukune and all start to hang out as a group, but at the same time, each girl knows they are rivals in gaining Tsukune’s affection.

In season two, after finding out Tsukune is human but still cares for them despite these monsters not being human at all, each of them cares for Tsukune and wants him as their husband.  But in “Rosario + Vampire Capu 2″, it is quite obvious that Tsukune is falling for Moka, but also the interior Moka.  And actually, he cares for all the ladies close to him.

But it’s a new school year and Tsukune can’t wait to see Moka and the others.  And while hurrying to school, he accidentally runs into a violent, outspoken girl named Kokoa Shuzen and “accidentally” gropes her breast.  Needless to say, the first meeting between Tsukune and Kokoa, doesn’t go quite well.

Meanwhile, Tsukune reunites with Moka, Kurumu, Yukari and Mizore.  Including their lecherous newspaper president Ginei Morioka and even Ruby Tojo has found various jobs at Yokai Academy.

But just when everything seems to be going well,suddenly, Moka begins receiving threatening letters that some one is out to kill her.

Scared and devastated by the recurring letters, each wonders who may be after her…and we learn the person responsible is Kokoa Shuzen, the girl that Tsukune accidentally ran into but also the half-sister of Moka (interior Moka).  Kokoa has been emotionally scarred since her sister left her and she doesn’t understand why her real sister has been locked inside this other Moka.  And now, Kokoa has developed this hatred towards Moka, for not letting her sister be free.

“Rosario + Vampire Capu 2″ is a series that focuses on family.  As Moka has to deal with her half-sister Kokoa, what happens when she gives internal Moka the chance to be free?

Tsukune has to deal with his mother who has found out that he has become popular with a few girls at Yokai Academy, his cousin Kyoko who saw Tsukune’s friends fight with their supernatural powers and now wants to find out what kind of school that Tsukune is attending.

Also, we meet Mizore’s mother Tsurara Shirayuki and Kurumu’s mother Ageha Kurono and find out that like their daughters, these two were rivals in high school over a guy (who happens to be Yukari’s father).   But this time, both mothers insist in having their daughter win the affections of Tsukune.

The main characters of “Rosario + Vampire” are:

• Tsukune Aono – The main protagonist. A normal human teenager who is mistakenly enrolled into Yokai Academy. Because it is illegal for humans to attend a high school for the supernatural/monsters, Tsukune tries to keep his human existence a secret (only Moka knows he is a human). He really cares for Moka, but also cares for his other friends and tries to protect them. And because he is courageous and willing to befriend them, these female characters fall for him.
• Moka Akashiya – The first student that Tsukune befriends. She is a sweet and kind vampire with a rosario (cross) attached to her collar. It is sealed and no one can remove it but when things get tough, Tsukune is the only person can break off the rosario and reveal the cold “inner” Moka who is an S-Class monster. She cares for Tsukune deeply and loves the taste of his blood.
• Kurumu Kurono – She is a succubus who sees Moka as a rival because of the attention she gets from guys. Kurumu also has G-cup breasts that she tries to seduce Tsukune with and can use her hypnotizing spell on males. She chooses Tsukune to be the guy she will try to win over and marry.
• Yukari Sendo – The smartest student of Yokai Academy at young at age 11. She is a witch and because witches are seen as half human, she is discriminated against by her fellow schoolmates and has moved school to school because she didn’t not get along with anyone. But because both Tsukune and Moka accepted her and want to be friends with her, she has interests in both Moka and Tsukune.
• Mizora Shirayuki - A depressed girl with freezing supernatural powers. Because Tsukune became friends with her, she became infatuated with him. She is known to be quiet and always sucking a lollipop.
• Ginei Morioka – A werewolf and the president of the Newspaper Club. He is also a mega pervert and tried to get Tsukune in trouble at one time. But despite his pervertedness, he has helped the group at times when they are in a bind.
• Kokoa Shuzen – Moka Akashiya’s half sister and often angry.  She loves her sister to death and despises the current Moka where her sister is sealed inside.  She is often seen talking to her pet bats.
• Ruby Tojo – Introduced as a rival in the first season, she is now working at Yokai Academy under Mikogami but the truth is that she does so, because of her hidden infatuation with Tsukune.

Here is a basic spoilerless summary of each episode included on the two DVD’s of “Rosario+Vampire Capu2″:

DISC 1

• EPISODE 1 – Tsukune returns for his second year at Yokai Academy but finds out someone has been threatening Moka
• EPISODE 2 – Moka reveals that the person sending her threatening letters is her sister Kokoa Shuzen.
• EPISODE 3 - It’s Parents’ Day at Yokai Academy and both Mizora and Kurumu have lied to their parents that Tsukune is their boyfriend.  But the daughters don’t know that their mothers were also friends/rivals back in high school.
• EPISODE 4 – Yukari is sad that she doesn’t have big breasts like her friends and goes to the school nurse, to make her an adult.
• EPISODE 5 – The young ladies try to win Tsukune’s affection by cooking curry for him.
• EPISODE 6 - A school trip to the human world but the “Alliance” takes Tsukune as their hostage and they will only release him if Kurumu, Mizore and Yukari defeat them.
• EPISODE 7 – Tsukune pays his mother a visit, but all the other girls secretly pay him a visit at his mom’s place as well.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 8 - Ruby makes a new rule at Yokai Academy requiring the Moka and friends to wear long skirts.
• EPISODE 9 – Tsukune and friends visit a ski resort in the human world, and learn that is run by Mizore’s mother Tsurara.  And once again, mother tries to get Mizore closer to Tsukune.
• EPISODE 10 – A new transfer student named Kotaro Ijuin joins Yokai Academy and uses his hypnotizing charms on all female students including Moka and friends.
• EPISODE 11 – Kyoko has decided to investigate Yokai Academy but in the process, she runs into Kokoa and both have identical parcels and Kyoko ends up with the Lilith Mirror that will turn monsters disguised as humans, into their true form.
• EPISODE 12 – Moka sacrficies her life by using her seal to stop the human/yokai worlds from crumbling.  But now she has gicen her life and is replaced by inner Moka.  How will Tsukune deal with the Moka he knew…gone.
• EPISODE 13 – With news that Tsukune can help free Outer Moka, he goes to the castle to confront the Dark Lord.

VIDEO:

“Rosario + Vampire Capu2″ is presented in 16:9 widescreen. As one would expect from a TV series, the picture quality on DVD is soft and there is more detail that can be seen on the art backgrounds which are well-painted. Character designs are good at times, while not as detailed for far shots, close-ups look good and there is good shading on the clothes and hair of the characters . But overall, the picture quality looks good on DVD and the fact that locations are constantly changing for the series, there is a good amount of background scenery used.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Rosario + Vampire Capu2″ is presented in English 5.1 surround and Japanese stereo. While the Japanese voice acting is very good, I found myself watching the English dub quite a bit because of the better spatial use of audio. The voice acting for the English dub is well-done and for the most part, fans of the series should enjoy both soundtracks. While those with home theater systems may prefer the English 5.1 for the better use of channels, you can also set your receiver to output stereo on all channels for the Japanese track for a more immersive soundtrack.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Rosario + Vampire Capu2″ comes with the following special features:

DISC 2

• Textless Opening Song – DISCOTEQUE
• Textless Closing Song – Trinity Cross
  
• Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment trailres

Like the original “Rosario + Vampire”, the second season returns with more crazy fun with this anime series with plenty of panty shots, jiggly boobs and monster action!

This time around, the storyline is more of a family affair as we watch stories that involve Moka’s half-sister Kokoa, Mizore and Kurumu’s parents and also Tsukune’s relatives as well.  And this is quite interesting because I mentioned of how the first season, “Rosario + Vampire” didn’t break anything new to the harem anime series aside from its characters going to a monster high school but with Tsukune being the lone human.

But what the second season does is try to show how much more complex things have gotten, now that family members have gotten involved in the lives of Tsukune and his lady friends.  With outer Moka, we know that she feels sad for Kokoa because inner Moka is sealed within her.  We know that Kurumu and Mizore’s parents want their daughter to win, in an extension of their own rivalry back in high school, both mothers wanting their daughters to become victors in winning Tsukune’s affection.

In some way, I was expecting the typical banal storyline of more female characters falling for Tsukune but instead, Akihisa Ikeda kept the storyline within these main female characters and instead of building problems of additional female admirers, instead…he brings in the family to cause problems.  So, that’s a pretty interesting take on this harem anime series.

And as far as fan service, just like the first season…plenty of panty shots for the lonely otaku who loves fan service, including a few scenes of nudity as well.  So, older siblings or people with kids, this is not a series to watch around the little ones.

While the majority of all episodes are upbeat, similar to the first season, with the secnd season finale, we do get a somewhat deeper storyline as Tsukune will go out of his way to save outer Moka.

As for DVD release of “Rosario + Vampire Capu2″, I was hoping to listen to audio commentary from FUNimation Entertainment aside from the typical textless opening and closing theme being the sole special feature. And the picture quality for the series, it’s good for DVD but because it is soft at times, not sure if this series would be upgraded and released in the near future on Blu-ray.

Overall, “Rosario + Vampire Capu2″ was an anime series that I enjoyed!  I love watching these frienemy/rival type of anime series that are built upon miscommunication or pretty much everyone wanting their moment with Tsukune.  Granted, the series is a bit perverted with all the panty shots and as mentioned, there is nudity in this sequel.  But if you are an anime fan craving for something a bit perverse, crazy but also a series that is full of action, you can’t go wrong with “Rosario + Vampire Capu2″!

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