FUNimation Entertainment Announces New Acquisitions at Sakuracon

April 6, 2012 by J!-ENT · Leave a Comment

Flower Mound, TX – April 6, 2012 -FUNimation Entertainment announced today at Sakuracon it has acquired the broadcast, home entertainment, mobile, and streaming rights to 2 anime series: Sankarea, and Shangri-La. In addition, FUNimation has acquired the simulcasts rights for Sankarea. A brief synopsis for each show is listed below:

Sankarea- Furuya’s not interested in the living, he’s got zombies on the brain! When Furuya’s cat dies, he decides he’s going to try and bring it back to life. In the process, he stumbles across a girl whose failed attempted suicide has turned her into a real zombie! What’s Furuya going to do now that the thing he loves the most is right in front of his eyes? Watch what happens in this campy romantic comedy about the undead. The simulcast will begin on www.niconico.com/anime & www.funimation.com during spring 2012.

Shangri-La – A young woman fights for her life in the carbon dioxide infested jungles of a neo-futuristic Tokyo. When she uncovers a government plot to suppress the less fortunate, a battle for humanity’s future begins.

About NicoNico

Launched in April 2011, niconico.com is the ultimate social media network with more than 25 million customers worldwide. By making it possible for viewers to overlay comments directly on a video stream, niconico offers the best of both worlds – real time audience interaction plus video. Considered one of the top 10 most visited websites in Japan, niconico offers a breadth of services and programming including video uploading, live user video broadcasting, live official content, and Anime simulcasting. NicoNico is currently the only consumer online network to offer the comment overlay feature.

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 .

Filed Under: Anime Related News

The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part 2 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

April 6, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

“The Legend of the Legendary Heroes” has turned out to be a wonderful, complex and addictive anime series! And there is no doubt that once this first season is complete, you will be wanting even more. But for those who are looking for a deeper and entertaining anime series on Blu-ray, I highly recommend giving “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes” a chance! Recommended!

TITLE: The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part 2

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2010

DURATION: Episodes 14-25 (300 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: April 17, 2012

Originally created by Takaya Kagami

Original Character Designs by Saori Toyota

Directed by Itsuro Kawasaki

Series Composition by Kiyoko Yoshimura

Music by Miyu Nakamura

Character Design by Noriko Shimazawa

Produced by Hyun Ah Jeong, Tomoko Iwasaki, Yoshiyuki Ito

Anime Production: ZEXCS

Featuring the following voice talent:

Ayahi Takagaki/Luci Christian as Feris Eris

Daisuke Ono/Eric Vale as Shion Astarl

Jun Fukuyama/Ian Synclair as Lyner (Ryner)Lute

Akiko Yajima/Leah Clark as Arua

Atsushi Imaruoka/Mike McFarland as Kurau (Claugh) Chrome

Ayana Taketatsu/Alexis Tipton as Ethrina (Eslina Folkel) Forkle

Fuyuka Oura/Brina Palencia as Kifa (Kiefer) Knowles

Junichi Suwabe/J. Michael Tatum as Milan (Miran) Froward

Mariya Ise/Cherami Leigh as Kuu Orla

Mikako Takahashi/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Noah En

Miyuki Sawashiro as Carne Kywell

Nobuhiko Okamoto as Lilay Wrinkle

Saki Fujita/Jami Marchi as Milk Colored

Satoshi Hino/Michael Turner II as Luke Stockart

Takuma Terashima/John Burgmeier as Sui Orla

Tomokazu Sugita as Lucille Eris

Tomosa Murata as Iris Eris

Yasunori Masutani/Christopher R. Sabat as Rahel Miller

A war between bordering lands Roland and Estabul has begun. At the King of Roland’s command, Ryner Lute, a bearer of a cursed, extremely lethal power called the Alpha Stigma, and his beautiful comrade Ferris set out on a search for the Heroic Relics – artifacts that contain enormous supernatural powers and can be devastating if placed in the wrong hands. War tactics, bloody magical battles, and political intrigue ensue!

Adventure, political intrigue, action…all this and more can be found in FUNimation’s Blu-ray release of “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes” (Densetsu no Yusha no Densetsu), an anime adaptation of Takaya Kagami’s popular Japanese light novel series.

Originally featured in Dragon Magazine and presented with illustrations by Saori Toyota from 2002-2005, “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes” has received a light novel sequel, plus two spin-off series (a collection of short stories) plus drama CD’s and a Sony PSP video game.

A 24-episode anime TV series was produced by ZEXCS and both parts will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment in April 2012.

The anime series was directed by Itsuro Kawasaki (“arc the Lad”, “Noir”, “Venus to Mamoru”), screenplay by Kiyoko Yoshimura (“Chocolate Underground”, “Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing”, “Gravion”), character designs by Noriko Shimazawa (“Final Approach”, “Otoboku”, “Bleach”) and music by Miyu Nakamura (“Utawarerumono”, “Manyu Hiken-cho”).

“The Legend of the Legendary Heroes” is a complex anime series as it is set during a time when countries are fearing of war, magical knights are killing anyone who possesses magical talents and political corruption broods within each country.

In part two of “Legend of the Legendary Heroes”, the second half focuses on Ryner Lute. Having done all he can to help King Sion of the Roland Empire, while trying to live a normal life, unfortunately in order to accomplish peace, Sion must do things that he does not want to do. For one, conducting inhumane experiments on those who have the Alpha Stigma and that means, for the greater good, he must kill his best friend, Ryner.

What will happen when the Roland Empire finds out that Ryner Lute has the Alpha Stigma and what happens when a mysterious other with the eyes of the Alpha Stigma tries to reach out to Ryner and have him join their group?

The series focuses on plots of several key individuals:

The Roland Empire Storyline

Sion Astal – The son of a previous king and a lowly commoner. Hated by Nobles and bullied at a young age (by his noble relatives and half brothers), Sion desires for peace into the land and that the land is not all about the nobles but there is support for the commoners as well. If anything, to stop the corruption in the Roland Empire.

As a member of the Roland Royal Special Military Academy, the intelligent Sion Astal met Ryner and Kiefer, two people who became part of his team. One day, his team was massacred by Magical Knights and only he, Ryner and Kiefer survived. While Ryner was responsible for defeating all the Magical Knights through his Alpha Stigma powers, as leader of the team, he was given credit as the Hero of Roland and through political ties, he would become the king of the Roland Empire.

Unfortunately, in order to become the King of Roland, Sion has joined forces with Lucile Eris, who has now triggered “The Mad Hero” in Sion’s body.

Miran Froaude – The Lgt. General of the Roland Imperial Army and the adopted son of the Marquis Karlal Froaude. He is dressed in all black, emotionless and will often carry out missions (which include many people getting murdered) without permission from Sion. He has his own agenda and it is not known what he is up to.

Miran feels that Sion has been weak because of his friendships to Ryner and feels that the only way to get Sion on the path to being the right king is to eliminate Ryner Lute.

Lucile Eris – The head son of the Eris Swords-Clan and he mysteriously hides behind the shadows after getting Sion to become the king of the Roland Empire. A man that has a strong demon within him. He is dead set on wanting to be the only man to protect his sister Ferris and unveils his power to Ryner, telling him that if he ever gets close to Ferris, he will kill him.

Claugh Klom – Sion’s right hand man. He does not trust Miran Froaude who appears to be doing his own work without permission of the King. He is also very close to the former princess of Estabul, Noa Ehn.

The Ryner/Ferris Storyline

Ryner Lute – Lazy and always wanting to take a nap, Ryner is also talented in magic, combat and more. He is also the bearer of the Alpha Stigma, an ability that grants him powerful demon magic that wants to cause only destruction and misery. But Ryner’s Alpha Stigma is different from others and he is sent by Sion along with Ferris Eris to find magic relics. When it is revealed to the Roland Empire that Sion’s best friend bears the eyes of the Alpha Stigma, Ryner knows that he may not be able to stay in the Roland Empire for very long. But when he finds out that Sion has given orders to have him killed, Ryner knows he must leave his friends.

Ferris Eris – A member of the famous Swords clan, she is given the mission to accompany Ryner Lute in finding magic relics. She is a no-nonsense woman who is passionate about dango. Most of the time she is inflicting pain on Ryner. During the second half of the series, we start to learn that Ferris may have feelings towards Ryner and always wants to be by his side.

Milk Callaud – Captain of the Roland taboo hunter team. When she was younger and in an orphanage with Ryner, he promised he would marry her. Ryner has no recollection of this. She has been hired to lead a team in tracking down Ryner and Ferris, thinking that Ferris is forcing Ryner to break rules. She is not sure what King Sion is up to but because she is a Captain, it is her duty to lead the taboo hunter team.

Gastalk Empire Storyline:

Kiefer Knolles – A good friend of Ryner and a woman who has always loved him despite how he may behave. She is from Estabul and she witnessed the death of her elder sister and kidnapping of her younger sister by the Roland mage knights. Using her young sister as a hostage, the Roland Empire has used Kiefer as a spy for Estabul and made her a double agent for her younger sister’s safety. Kiefer has since been aligning herself with Refal Edia, the ruler of the Gastark Empire but when Sui Oria returns without an arm and badly injured, Sui Oria mentions the name “Ryner Lute” and because of Kiefer’s relationship with Ryner, she is considered a traitor to the Gastalk Empire.

Refal Edia – The ruler of the Gastark Empire who is fighting for peace for his land but at the same time, wants everyone, adult and children born with the Alpha Stigma to be killed. He is smitten with Kiefer and posses the Rule Fragment Glouvil, a large, powerful sword in which it can be used only if he sacrifices something from his body. Having used the sword to fight against other countries, he has sacrificed his right leg, his sense of smell and his left eye.

Ril Oriea – The eldest of the Oria family and wields the Rule Fragment, “The Ring of Thunder Beats”. Similar to Miran who has control of the dark beasts, Ril has a ring that controls the magic beats of light. He is the primary person who has murdered anyone who is Alpha Stigma and extracts crystals from them which he uses as weapons.

Sui Oria and Kuu Oria – Brother and sister who are after fragments that Ryner and Ferris are looking for. But also known like their older brother to hunt and kill people who have Alpha Stigma.

Alpha Stigma Storyline

Tiir Rumibul – The featured “devourer of flesh”, this person who fights using his Alpha Stigma also consumes flesh. He is also the one responsible for devouring Claugh’s arm. Seen as a murderer, he befriends Ryner Lute and has him join his team. It is learned that Tiir has a camp in which he is protecting children with Alpha Stigma. He has seen his kind massacred by the Gastalk Empire and wants Ryner to join his people and help protect the young ones from being murdered.

VIDEO

“The Legend of Legendary Heroes” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1). The anime series does feature beautifully painted backgrounds (as one would expect from an adventure-based series) primarily trees, clouds, surroundings areas, while the series does focus a lot on closeups of the characters. There is CG use when the characters display their magical powers but for the most part, the series looks good on Blu-ray.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

As for the lossless audio, you get a English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix. The English dub has a better dynamic range (considering it’s a 5.1 lossless track, while the Japanese version is a 2.0 lossless track) and due to the complexity and many characters featured in this anime series alone, FUNimation Entertainment brought out their top guns to provide the voices of the characters.

The Japanese soundtrack is also very well done especially when it comes to the more emotional moments, the voice acting is stellar. But the English dub has the advantage because of it’s 5.1 mix but if you prefer to watch it in Japanese or English, both soundtracks are excellent and should appeal to Sub/Dub anime fans.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part 2″ comes with the following special features:

Episode 21 Commentary - Featuring audio commentary by Joel McDonald ADR Director and Eric Vale (voice of Sion).
Episode 24 Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Ian Sinclair (voice of Ryner) and Luci Christian (voice of Ferris).
Textless Opening Song – Featuring the opening theme “Last Inferno” by Ceui.
Textless Ending Theme Song – Featuring the ending theme “Filament of Light” Takagi Ayahi.
FUNimation Entertainment trailers

Who’s side will you choose?

This is the storyline of the second half of “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes”. Where the first half featured various branching storylines of various characters of the fantasy/adventure series, the second half now focuses on protagonist Ryner Lute.

Ryner has pretty much aligned himself with Sion because of his fight for peace but when Sion’s own staff and also Sion himself knows that in order to accomplish peace, you must take out those who can cause trouble to the land and that includes those who are possessed with the Alpha Stigma, that includes his best friend, Ryner Lute.

The second half of the series actually becomes quite exciting as we see so many things working against Ryner, may it be Sion (who is constantly battling himself due to “The Mad Hero” of whether or not he should kill Sion), Lucile Eris (who wants Ryner dead because he sees his sister starting to develop emotions for Ryner), Miran Froaude (who wants Ryner dead because he feels Ryner is what makes Sion to week and compassionate) and the list goes on.

So, for fans wanting something deeper and a bit more complexity with their anime series may enjoy “Legend of the Legendary Heroes”, a storyline about warring kingdoms, political corruptness, action/fantasy/adventure, etc.

“Legend of the Legendary Heroes” incorporates lot of fantasy elements that people are used to seeing in an anime series, sword fighting, magic-use and in the case of this series, plenty of violence. While watching the series, while there are protagonists and people who seem they are evil, every characters has their flaws. For example, Sion wants to fight for peace, but in order to achieve peace, one must do the unthinkable in showing people that you have great power. And in the greater good, he must eliminate even his best friend Ryner. Ryner is a person who hates war but when his Alpha Stigma is used, he becomes a killing machine. No one is perfect in this anime series.

“The Legend of the Legendary Heroes” is a series that viewers will want to watch without any distractions because of the amount of characters featured in the series. Granted, with each branching storyline, there is a good amount of character development that allows the viewers to understand motivations and why things are happening like they are.

Despite the complexities of this anime series, you get a bit of seriousness and humor. For example, storylines that related to Sion are often serious and emotional, while storylines revolved around Ryner and Ferris (non-battle sequences) are often comedic as the two are like a ranting couple and despite the pain that Ferris puts Ryner through, the relationship between these two characters are hilarious, until you get to the battles and things can get very serious.

As for the Blu-ray release, the series looks absolutely wonderful in HD but I wish the series was self contained as a complete collection instead of two separate parts. As for special features, you do get a few audio commentary from the English dub voice actors.

“The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part 2″ turned out to be a wonderful second half. While it did focus primarily on Ryner Lute, it’s no surprise as his storyline is quite centric to the other branching storylines in the series. But if there is one problem I have is why hasn’t there been a continuation of this intriguing anime series?

After watching “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes”, you can’t help but want to watch more because the series ends when everything is starting to become so exciting and so good!

The fact that “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes” in Japan has continued to exist via 11 volumes, followed by another 9 volumes for “The Great Legend of the Legendary Heroes” and another 11 volumes for “The Legend of Legendary Heroes Anyway” and five volumes for “The Legend of the Black Fallen Hero”, not to mention a web radio series and video game, it would be a shame if in America, our introduction to this anime series begins and ends with this anime series. It’s like watching “Lord of the Rings” and the two films after were never created. So, I really do hope a second season is created!

Overall, “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes” has turned out to be a wonderful, complex and addictive anime series! And there is no doubt that once this first season is complete, you will be wanting even more. But for those who are looking for a deeper and entertaining anime series on Blu-ray, I highly recommend giving “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes” a chance! Recommended!

Filed Under: Anime on Blu-ray

The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part 1 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

April 5, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

One of the more complex fantasy and action anime series to come out on Blu-ray in the U.S., “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part 1″ is definitely recommended!

TITLE: The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part 1

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2010

DURATION: 13 episodes (325 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: April 17, 2012

Originally created by Takaya Kagami

Original Character Designs by Saori Toyota

Directed by Itsuro Kawasaki

Series Composition by Kiyoko Yoshimura

Music by Miyu Nakamura

Character Design by Noriko Shimazawa

Produced by Hyun Ah Jeong, Tomoko Iwasaki, Yoshiyuki Ito

Anime Production: ZEXCS

Featuring the following voice talent:

Ayahi Takagaki/Luci Christian as Feris Eris

Daisuke Ono/Eric Vale as Shion Astarl

Jun Fukuyama/Ian Synclair as Lyner (Ryner)Lute

Akiko Yajima/Leah Clark as Arua

Atsushi Imaruoka/Mike McFarland as Kurau (Claugh) Chrome

Ayana Taketatsu/Alexis Tipton as Ethrina (Eslina Folkel) Forkle

Fuyuka Oura/Brina Palencia as Kifa (Kiefer) Knowles

Junichi Suwabe/J. Michael Tatum as Milan (Miran) Froward

Mariya Ise/Cherami Leigh as Kuu Orla

Mikako Takahashi/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Noah En

Miyuki Sawashiro as Carne Kywell

Nobuhiko Okamoto as Lilay Wrinkle

Saki Fujita/Jami Marchi as Milk Colored

Satoshi Hino/Michael Turner II as Luke Stockart

Takuma Terashima/John Burgmeier as Sui Orla

Tomokazu Sugita as Lucille Eris

Tomosa Murata as Iris Eris

Yasunori Masutani/Christopher R. Sabat as Rahel Miller

A 24-episode anime TV series was produced by ZEXCS and both parts will be released on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment in April 2012.

The series focuses on plots of several key individuals:

The Roland Empire Storyline

Lucile Eris – The head son of the Eris Swords-Clan and he mysteriously hides behind the shadows after getting Sion to become the king of the Roland Empire. What is his true motivation?

Claugh Klom – Sion’s right hand man. He does not trust Miran Froaude who appears to be doing his own work without permission of the King.

The Ryner/Ferris Storyline

Branching Storyline:

VIDEO

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part 1″ comes with the following special features:

Episode 3 Commentary - Featuring audio commentary by Brina Palencia (voice of Kiefer) and J. Michael Tatum (voice of Miran).
Episode 9 Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by director/line producer Colleen Clinkenbeard (voice of Noa) and Monica Rial (voice of Iris).
Textless Opening Song – Featuring the opening theme “Lament (Yagate Yorokobi Wo)” by Aira Yuuki.
Textless Ending Theme Song – Featuring the ending theme “Truth of My Destiny” by Ceui.
FUNimation Entertainment trailers

Back in the ’80s and ’90s, adventure-based anime series that typically captures kingdoms and political corruptness were storyline banalities. But from 2000 and on, once in awhile you come across these complex anime series and can only hope that more of these will be made.

“Legend of the Legendary Heroes” incorporates lot of fantasy elements that people are used to seeing in an anime series, sword fighting, magic-use and in the case of this series, plenty of violence. While watching the series, while there are protagonists and people who seem they are evil, every characters has their flaws. For example, Sion wants to fight for peace, but in order to achieve peace, one must do the unthinkable in showing people that you have great power. Ryner is a person who hates war but when his Alpha Stigma is used, he becomes a killing machine. Kiefer is a person similar to Sion who wants peace but because the Roland Empire was using her as a double spy, she was involved with the massacre of her teammates.

So far, the first half of the series has been entertaining but it will be interesting to see how this series resolves itself by the second half. It seems that the more Sion wants to attain peace, Miran does something unthinkable and Sion is powerless to do anything about it. If anything, despite being a king, he is a puppet. Also, things are heating up in the Ryner/Merris storyline as they are constantly being hunted by Gastark Empire’s Sui Oria and Kuu Oria. So, this series is definitely has a lot of potential going into the second half.

While the series was given 24-episodes, having not read the light novels, I don’t know if everything made it into the series but I do know that the series was quite favorable by viewers in Japan.

Overall, “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part 1″ is a deep, complex anime series that will appeal to fans of the fantasy anime genre. There is a lot of action but there are also branching storylines that deal with drama, action and political strategy, and because of that, I found the series to be entertaining and enjoyable.

If you are looking for a fantasy anime series on Blu-ray, definitely give “The Legend of the Legendary Heroes: Part 1″ a try!

Filed Under: Anime on Blu-ray

Black Butler: The Complete First Season (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

April 3, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

If you are looking for an anime series that is dark, violent but also has enough humor and craziness… “Black Butler: The Complete First Season” is definitely an anime Blu-ray that is recommended!

TITLE: Black Butler: The Complete First Season

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2008

DURATION: 24 episodes (600 Minutes)

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

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: April 3, 2012

Originally created by Yana Toboso

Directed by Toshiya Shinohara

Series Composition by Mari Okada

Music by Taku Iwasaki

Character Design by Minako Shiba

Art Direction by Hiromasa Ogura

Anime Productions by A-1 Pictures Inc.

Featuring the following voice talent:

Daisuke Ono/J. Michael Tatum as Sebastian Michaelis

Maaya Sakamoto/Brina Palencia as Ciel Phantomhive

Akiko Yajima/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Angela

Emiri Katou/Monica Rial as Meirin (Mei Lin)

Hiroki Touchi/Ian Sinclair as Bard (Bardroy)

Hisayoshi Suganuma/Jonathan Brooks as Fred Abberline

Jun Fukuyama/Daniel Fredrick as Grell

Junichi Suwabe as/John Swasey Undertaker

Koji Yusa/Jerry Jewell as Lau

Romi Park/Lydia Mackay as Madam Red

Shunji Fujimura/R. Bruce Elliot as Tanaka

Yukari Tamura/Cherami Leigh as Elizabeth Ethel Cordelia Midford

Yuuki Kaji/Jason Liebrecht as Finny (Finnian)

Ciel Phantomhive is the most powerful boy in all of England, but he bears the scars of unspeakable suffering. Forced to watch as his beloved parents were brutally murdered, Ciel was subsequently abducted and violently tortured. Desperate to end his suffering, the boy traded his own soul for a chance at vengeance, casting his lot with the one person on whom he could depend: Sebastian, a demon Butler summoned from the very pits of hell.

Together, they’ll prowl the darkest alleys of London on a mission to snuff out those who would do evil. They’re a rare sight, these two: the Butler who dismembers with dazzling cutlery and the Young Master who carries the devil’s marking. Rest assured that wherever they may be headed, it’ll be one hell of a ride.

In 2006, mangaka Yana Toboso (“Rust Blaster”) began working on his second manga that year for Square Enix’s “Monthly GFantasy” magazine. The series nown as “Kuroshitsuji” (Black Butler) would receive a large fanbase due to its bishounen characters.

By 2008, “Black Butler” would receive an anime adaptation featuring production by A-1 Pictures (“Tetsuwan Birdy: Decode”, “El Cazador de la Bruja”, “Valkyria Chronicles”) directed by Shinohara Toshiya (“Lupin III: Crisis in Tokyo”, “Gurren Lagann”, “Samurai Deeper Kyo”), a screenplay by Mari Okada “CANAAN”, “Aria the Natural”, “Red Garden”, “PoPoLoCrois”), music by Taku Iwasaki (“Angel Heart”, “R.O.D. – The TV”, “Soul Eater”), character designs by Minako Shiba (“.Hack/Sign”, “Letter Bee”, “Madlax”) and art direction by “Hiromasa Ogura” (“Ghost Hound”, “Aquarian Age”, “Appleseed”). The opening theme “Monochrome Kiss” is by SID and the ending theme “I’m Alive” is by BECCA.

And since the release of the original manga series and anime series, the popularity of “Black Butler” has led to a musical, drama CD’s, a video game and books have been released in Japan.

While the manga is still ongoing in Japan, the anime series has continued with two full seasons at 48 episodes long and now both seasons are being released on Blu-ray/DVD courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment.

“Black Butler” takes place in London (during the Victorian Era) and revolves around a 12-year-old named Ciel Phantomhive, who is from the Phantomhive noble family who is known for their toy and candy empire. A long time ago, Ciel used to be a happy boy but his happiness was destroyed when someone murdered his family.

Now Ciel wants to find the killers of his family and makes an exchange with a demon for his soul. He wants vengeance on those who disgraced him or the Phantomhive name and to find and kill the murderers of his family.

The demon approves and to stay close with Ciel, the demon Sebastian Michaelis will become his butler and protect him. But once Ciel’s duties are done as upon their agreement, Sebastian will be able to take his soul and kill him.

The main characters of “Black Butler” are:

Sebastian Michaelis – The butler for Ciel Phantomhive and also a demon who will protect Ciel until he accomplishes his task to help Ciel find who murdered his parents and avenge the Phantomhive name. When all tasks are accomplished, as agreed by his contract with Ciel Phantomhive, he will take his soul and kill him. Sebastian has taken the form of the previous Earl, Vincent Phantomhive. Although he protects Ciel, the two have an uneasy relationship as they don’t care for each other all that much.
Ciel Phantomhive – Once a happy boy who’s life was changed when his family was murdered. Now that he is older, he tries to avenge his family’s name and search for his parent’s killer by taking part in a contract with a demon (Sebastian). The demon will protect Ciel by pretending to be a butler, but once all duties are accomplished, he will consume Ciel’s soul. Ciel has lost his eye when he was a slave and was used as a sacrifice in a cult ritual. He has become a cold person since his family’s death.
Bardroy (Bard) – The American cook who uses weaponry to make the food for the household, despite not making anything edible.
Finnian (Finny) – The clumsy gardener who has superhuman strength.
Mey-Rin – The clumsy maid who wears cracked glasses because it’s the first gift Ciel had purchased for her. She has a big crush on Sebastian.
Tanaka - The steward who has served under Ciel’s parents and now serves Ciel. When his parents were murdered, Tanaka was there and was stabbed in the back.
Madame Red – The aunt of Ciel, she is a doctor who practices at Royal London Hospital. But when she was pregnant, she was in an accident in which her husband was killed and the baby died. So now she feels hatred towards those she performs abortions on and kills them along with the grim reaper named Grell Sutcliffe. Together, they are known as Jack the Ripper.
Grell Sutcliffe – A grim reaper who decides if a dying sould should be allowed to continue living, Grell is a gay man who calls himself a woman and is infatuated with Sebastian. He murders people alongside Madame Red.

VIDEO

“Black Butler” is a violently, dark and bloody anime. Anime production by A-1 Pictures, Inc. is well done as artistic backgrounds of London during the Victorian Era is painted with great shadowing and the action sequences are also well-done as we get several styles which include a serious to more fun and hilarious style of animation.

What I enjoy about the series are the overall character designs and the costume designs. The series is very bishounen-driven but its combination of themes that are dark and hilarious actually work quite well for “Black Butler”. Last year, when I reviewed the DVD version, I mentioned that I would not be surprised if this series received a Blu-ray release. The colors look very good, as do the art backgrounds. Granted, this is a TV series, so you will have a bit of softness but compared to the DVD release, “Black Butler” looks very good with better line detail and vibrant colors.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

As for the lossless audio, you get a English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix. Typically, I listen to the Japanese soundtrack but in this case, because it takes place in the Victorian era, the English voice dub and accents are done very well. The voice talent for the English dub have said that “Black Butler” is one of the most challenging anime series as the voice talent had to perfect their spoken dialect and it does give the series its own personal feel and for the most part, it works. There is also a bit more of a dynamic range when it comes to the English lossless track.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Black Butler: The Complete First Season” comes with the following special features:

Episode 1 Commentary - Featuring audio commentary by Colleen Clinkenbeard (Director/Line Producer/voice of Angela), Brina Palencia (voice of Ciel).
Episode 7 Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Ian Sinclair (Director/voice of Bardroy) and J. Michael Tatum (voice of Sebastian).
Episode 16 Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Josh Grelle (voice of Edward) and Kevin Leasure, ADR Engineer.
Episode 21 Commentary – Featuring English dub voice talents Ian Sinclair, Monica Rial and Jason Liebrecht.
“The Story Thus Far” – (23:58) A summary of what has taken place on “Black Butler” feat. narration by Tanaka (the steward who worked for Ciel’s parents).
His Butler, Performer – (26:38) A special OVA which aired at the end of the first season of “Black Butler”. Due to a shipwreck, Sebastian must stage a performance of “Hamlet” to celebrate the third anniversary of the PhantomHive Company.
Becca Musician Profile – A text info. on BECCA
Textless Opening Song – Featuring the opening theme “Monochrome Kiss” by SID.
Textless Ending Theme Song – Featuring the ending theme “I’m Alive” by BECCA and “Lacrimosa” by Kalafina.

It’s great to finally have this anime series released on Blu-ray in the US!

There is no doubt that “Black Butler” has a strong fan following and is a different kind of anime series that most people are used to watching. For one, it deals with the occult and it does have its share of dark, violent moments but the series itself thrives on its darkness and humor. And for many of the female fans, it’s strong bishounen character designs.

The storyline for “Black Butler” is quite dark and there is plenty of violence and blood featured. But interesting enough, to help balance this darkness and make it more appealing to anime fans, you get the Bishounen style, you get the characters who are fun and hilarious (some who are clumsy and dumbwitted) and you have anime character designs that tend to change from more serious to crazy/hilarious.

The character designs, the art design are very well-done for “Black Butler” and you can tell that the first half of this season focused more on character development. Showing us the somewhat belligerent relationship that Ciel and Sebastian have but also their crazy staff that work at the Phantomhive mansion. The second season starts to show more serious and emotional storylines but because the manga is still ongoing, this is a series that manages to resolve Ciel’s storyline but also continuing the adventures of both Ciel and Sebastian for season two. And if you thought the first season was intriguing, the second season also has some surprises in store.

Overall, “Black Butler” is a pretty fun, exciting, dark and violent anime series. It’s actually a refreshing series because of the time period and the situation of the characters, especially Ciel. While I enjoyed “Black Butler” for its darker overtone, the series also has its fair share of humor and also emotional episodes. The last three episodes alone are wonderful and definitely sets things up for the second season.

As for the Blu-ray release, you do get the four audio commentary tracks plus the OVA for the first season. And as mentioned, the video quality for the Blu-ray release of “Black Butler” is definitely much improved compared to the DVD release. And as far as acting is concerned, the Japanese soundtrack is very good but I really have to commend the voice talent of “Black Butler” for pulling off the dialects, as I have seen many anime series that tend to fail. So, fortunately, the English dub was well-done.

If you are looking for an anime series on Blu-ray that is a bit dark and has it’s crazy moments and is also a lot of fun to watch, “Black Butler: The Complete First Season” may be what you are looking for.

Recommended!

Filed Under: Anime on Blu-ray

Princess Jellyfish: The Complete Collection (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

April 3, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

“Princess Jellyfish” is a crazy, fun but also captivating anime series that I enjoyed from beginning to end. You rarely see an anime with an odd storyline like this but that’s what makes “Princess Jellyfish” so enjoyable and addictive. It’s definitely one of the better anime series to be released on Blu-ray in America in 2012 and an anime series I highly recommend!

TITLE: Princess Jellyfish: The Complete Collection

DURATION: 11 Episodes (275 Minutes)

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

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: February 28, 2012

Originally created by Akiko Higashimura

Directed by Takahiro Omori

Series Composition by Jukki Hanada

Music by Makoto Yoshimori

Character Design by Kenji Hayama

Art Director: Mio Isshiki

Anime Production: Brains Base

Featuring the following voice talent:

Kana Hanazawa/Maxey Whitehead as Tsukimi Kurashita

Mitsuki Saiga/Josh Grelle as Kuranosuke Koibuchi

Akemi Okamura/Monica Rial as Mayaya

Junichi Suwabe/Ian Sinclair as Shū Koibuchi

Junko Kitanishi/Jamie Marchi as Shōko Inari

Kentarou Itou/Cris George as Sugimotchan

Kimiko Saito/Cynthia Cranz as Chieko

Mamiko Noto/Leah Clark as Jiji-sama

Motoko Kumai/Mariela Ortiz as Banba-san

Mugihito/Charles Campbell as Keiichirō Koibuchi

Shigeru Chiba/Jerry Russell as Prime Minister Saburōta Negishi

Sumire Morohoshi/Lara Woodhull as Kurara (Clara)

Takehito Koyasu/Christopher Bevins as Hanamori-san

Yasuhiko Kawazu/Christopher R. Sabat as Mr. Popo

Plain, timid and obsessed with jellyfish, Tsukimi is a far cry from her idea of a princess. Her tepid life as a jobless illustrator comes complete with roommates who harbor diehard hobbies that solidify their status as hopeless social rejects. These wallflowers run a tight, nun-like ship, but their no-men-allowed-not-no-one-not-no-how bubble is unwittingly burst after Tsukimi brings home a rescued sea jelly and a beauty queen… who’s actually a guy.

When the threat of losing their cozy convent inspires this glamour boy to turn the neurotic entourage into a portrait of success, will Tsukimi take her chance to bloom, or will she end up a hot mess?

In Nov. 2008, Akiko Higashimura’s josei manga “Princess Jellyfish” was serialized in Kodansha manga magazine “Kiss”. Two years later, an 11-episode anime TV series was produced by Brain’s Base and aired on television as part of Fuji TV’s “Noitamina” programming block.

To test the market in the United States, FUNimation Entertainment simulcast the series online as part of a deal with Fuji TV and received positive feedback from viewers on Facebook and sure enough, “Princess Jellyfish: The Complete Collection”, the Blu-ray/DVD collection was released in Feb. 2012.

The series was directed by Takahiro Omori (“Gakuen Alice”, “Fancy Lala”, “Hell Girl”), screenplay by Jukki Hanada (“CODE-E”, “Chobits”, “Gakuen Alice”, “K-ON!”), music by Makoto Yoshimori (“Baccano!”, “Durara!!”, “Gakuen Alice”), character designs by Kenji Hayama (“MazinKaiser”, “Nghtmare Campus”, “Getter Robo: Armageddon”) and art direction by Mio Isshiki (“Death Note”, “Dragon Ball Z”, “Kaze no Yojimbo”).

“Princess Jellyfish” is a series that revolves around an otaku 18-year-old girl named Tsukimi Kurashita who moved to Tokyo to become an illustrator.

When she was younger, her late mother would take her to see jellyfish at an aquarium and tell her that when she gets older, she will blossom and become beautiful like the jellyfish.

But Tsukimi didn’t blossom into a beautiful young woman, she’s just an otaku girl, who knows nothing about style, constantly wearing sweats and not wearing any makeup.

Tsukimi lives with four other women otaku at the Amamizukan:

Chieko – Chieko is the manager and an otaku obsessed with dolls dressed in traditional Japanese clothes. She runs Amamizukan in place of her mother who owns the building and is a groupie of Korean actor Bae Yong Joon.
Mayaya – A woman always wearing track clothes and is obsessed with the “Record of Three Kingdoms”.
Banba – A young woman with a large natural afro who is obsessed with trains and has the ability to spot good meat at the grocery store.
Jiji – A woman who is obsessed with mature, old men.

Together these five women form the Sisterhood of Amamizukan and they are currently looking for a roommate. But no matter who applies, the women vote against applicants because they are too pretty or cool and wouldn’t blend with the otaku women.

One day while walking to the pet store, Tsukimi spots two different kind of jellyfish that are not supposed to be put in the tank together. Unfortunately, because Tsukimi is not used to talking to men, part of her is too shy to tell the manager the problem but another side tells her that if she doesn’t do anything, the jelly fish will die.

So, Tsukimi tries to talk to the store employee during closing hours and thinking that she is a weirdo, the store employee pushes her down. And out of nowhere, a beautiful and stylish woman comes to defend her and goes as far as to save the jellyfish and buy it as a present for Tsukimi. Tsukimi names the jellyfish, “Clara”.

The woman walks with Tsukimi to her home at Amamizukan but Tsukimi knows bringing in a “beautiful woman” is something her roommate will not allow. So, she tries to kick the woman out but instead, the woman crashes in Tsukimi’s bedroom.

The following morning Tsukimi finds out the stylish woman is actually a guy named Kuranosuke Koibuchi and from that moment, the two develop a friendship and Tsukimi tries to hide his secret that he is a crossdresser.

We learn that Kuranosuke Koibuchi (aka “Kurako”) enjoys cross-dressing despite being a son of a rich and popular political family. We learn that Kuranosuke’s mother had introduce him to fashion at a young age and his life long dream is to work in the fashion industry. And despite having many girlfriends and any girl that he has wanted, he is drawn by challenges and his current challenge in life is to make Tsukimi (and her roommates) into beautiful princesses.

But while hanging out with the odd otaku’s, Kuranosuke finds himself possibly attracted to Tsukimi, who is unlike the beautiful women he has already been with. What is it about Tsukimi that makes him care about her?

VIDEO:

“Princess Jellyfish” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1). The anime series is vibrant and what I enjoyed the most about this series is that despite it being a TV anime series, there are a lot of scenery as we see Tsukimi and others entering various stylish parts of Tokyo. So, we get to see various shops and locations, something that most anime series tend to stay away from for TV series. Also, the character designs tend to showcase a lot of emotion, may it be Tsukimi’s various emotional moods to the wild and crazy faces that her roommates tend to give.

If anything, there is a beautiful look that “Princess Jellyfish” has and it’s a series that does look gorgeous on Blu-ray.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Princess Jellyfish” is presented in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 with English subtitles. As one would expect, the English 5.1 lossless track has a bit more of a dynamic range than the 2.0 Japanese lossless track. But with that being said, there was something about the voice acting of the Japanese version that I enjoyed more. Perhaps mainly because I understood the Japanese jokes for example, when Tsukimi reacts and sings when Mayaya refers himself to a boy. But the English 5.1 lossless track does have better dynamic range but whichever version you prefer, I can easily say that both soundtracks are well-done. The English version for the most part is very good but it does try to add some jokes that may go over the heads of younger audiences such as a reference made by Mayaya about a situation being like the women of “Facts of Life” (an ’80s TV series).

It’s important to note that I couldn’t select audio or subtitles on my Blu-ray remote, I would have to bring up the menu and select Japanese with English subtitles.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Princess Jellyfish: The Complete Collection” comes with the following special features:

EPISODE 1 – Audio Commentary: Featuring voice director Christopher Bevins (voice of Hanamori) with Maxey Whtiehead (Tsukimi) and Josh Grelle (Kuranosuke).
EPISODE 11 – Audio Commentary: Featuring voice director Christopher Bevins with Cynthia Cranz (voice of Chieko), Monica Rial (vice of Mayaya), Leah Clark (voice of Jiji) and Mariela Ortiz (voice of Banba).
Princess Jellyfish Heroes – Featuring the following shorts: Part 1: Mayaya Chapter (5:05), Part 2: Banba and Jiji Chapter (6:01), Part 3: Chieko Chapter (5:21) and Part 4: Shu-Shu and Mr. Hanamori Chapter (6:01).
Go, Sisterhood Explorers! – More six shorts (about thirty seconds each) featuring the Sisterhood Expeditionary Party.
Tsukimi and Jiji’s Jellyfish Tour – (21:33) Voice actresses Kana Hanazawa (voice of Tsukimi) and Mamiko Noto (voice of Jiji) go to the Enoshima Aquarium for the jellyfish tour.
The Princess Jellyfish Field Guide – A text based feature about jellyfish and the characters of the series.
Promotional Video – (:34) The Japanese promotional video for “Princess Jellyfish”.
U.S. Trailer – (1:47) The FUNimation Entertainment “Princess Jellyfish” trailer.
Textless Opening Song “Kokodake no Hanashi” by CHATMONCHY
Textless Closing Song “Kimino Kireini Kizuiteokure” by SAMBOMASTER.
FUNimation Entertainment Trailers

EXTRAS:

“Princess Jellyfish: The Complete Collection” comes with a slipcase plus a DVD version of the series.

Once in awhile, you encounter anime series that are unique and unlike any other anime series that you have watched before. Anime series that when you watch one episode, you can’t help but watch all of them in a row.

That’s how I feel about “Princess Jellyfish”, an anime series that contains a lot of humor but also a lot of heart.

Afterall, who doesn’t enjoy a storyline about underdogs. In this case, a young woman who never knew her true beauty until she meets the son of a wealth and popular politician who happens to be a cross-dresser.

It’s definitely an odd storyline but it works! You can’t help but laugh and enjoy “Princess Jellyfish” because of it’s otaku characters but also root for them because they are usually seen as outsiders and fear the “pretty people”. But when they are befriended by one (and aren’t aware that “she” is actually a “he”), and the main protagonist Tsukimi trying to keep Kuranosuke’s secret is fun!

“Princess Jellyfish” has a lot going for it, despite it only being an 11-episode series. Fun characters, enjoyable storyline but also a storyline that may lead to a possible love triangle? Needless to say, after the series ended, I went online and hoping to see that there was a second season in the works. I enjoyed this series that much!

As for the Blu-ray release, the animation and art backgrounds for “Princess Jellyfish” is artistic, creative and just beautiful too look at. I love the character designs and the emotional expressions on the character’s faces, especially the use of colors. The voice acting was also well-done for both Japanese and English soundtracks. And fortunately, this is a series that does contain a good amount of special features as well.

Overall, “Princess Jellyfish” is a crazy, fun but also captivating anime series that I enjoyed from beginning to end. You rarely see an anime with an odd storyline like this but that’s what makes “Princess Jellyfish” so enjoyable and addictive. It’s definitely one of the better anime series to be released on Blu-ray in America in 2012 and an anime series I highly recommend!

Filed Under: Anime on Blu-ray

Okami-san and Her Seven Companions: The Complete Series (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

March 24, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

A lot of fun, original and outright addictive! “Okami-san and Her Seven Companions” has become one of my favorite anime series on Blu-ray for 2012. Highly recommended!

TITLE: Okami-san and Her Seven Companions: The Complete Series

DURATION: 12 Episodes (300 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV PG

Release Date: April 3, 2012

Originally created by Masashi Okita

Directed by Yoshiaki Iwasaki

Series Composition by Michiko Itou

Music by Megumi Oohashi

Original Character Design: Haruko Iizuka

Art Director: Teruhiko Niida

Cheif Animation Director: Haruko Iizuka

Sound Director: Jin Aketagawa

Director of Photography: Tomokazu Nakanish

Anime Production: J.C. Staff

Featuring the following voice talent:

Miyu Irino/Joel McDonald as Ryōshi Morino

Shizuka Itou/Brina Palencia as Ryōko Ōkami

Kanae Itō/Monica Rial as Ringo Akai

Aki Toyosaki/Caitlin Glass as Otohime Ryūgū

Ayako Kawasumi/Colleen Clinkebeard as Otsuu Tsurugaya

Hirofumi Nojima/Micah Solusod as Liszt Kiriki

Junichi Suwabe/Ian Sinclair as Shirō Hitsujikai

Kimiko Koyama/Lindsay Seidel as Majolica le Fay

Rie Kugimiya/Jad Saxton as Mimi Usami

Satomi Arai/Luci Christian as Narrator

Shintarō Asanuma/Todd Haberkorn as Tarō Urashima

Yui Horie/Terri Doty as Alice Kiriki

Yuko Kaida/Stephanie Young as Momoko Kibitsu

Ryoko Okami, the “wolf,” and her BFF Ringo, also known as Little Red Riding Hood, are members of Otogi Bank – a high school club that helps classmates out of grim situations. One day, a meek young man proclaims his love to Ryoko, who does nothing but bite him in return. “You’re much too weak for me,” she huffs. So the boy joins Otogi Bank to prove he has the stuff to protect his beloved – even if it means taking a blow to the head with a lead pipe. He’s no Prince Charming, but will Ryoko allow herself to have her own happily ever after?

Pleasantly original and outright addictive! “Okami-san and Her Seven Companions” has become one of my favorite anime series on Blu-ray for 2012. Highly recommended!

“Okami-San and her Seven Companions” is the title of the anime series based on the Japanese light novels “Okami-san” by Masashi Okita (feat. illustrations by Unaji). Released in 2006 and published by ASCII Media Works, the sereis received a TV series anime adaptation in 2010 courtesy of J.C. Staff.

The anime series was directed by Yoshiaki Iwasaki (“Best Student Council”, “Hayate the Combat Butler!!”, “Love Hina”), a screenplay by Michiko Itou (“Queen’s Blade 2: The Evil Eye”, “Bodacious Space Pirates”), music by Megumi Oohashi (“Blue Dragon”, “Transformers: Cybertron”, “Uta~Kata”), character designs by Haruko Iizuka (“Karin”, “Love Hina”, “Black Butler”) and art direction by Teruhiko Niida (“Doki Doki School Hours”, “Hayate the Combat Butler”, “Toaru Kagaku no Railgun”).

And now the 12-episode anime series will be released in the U.S. as a complete series on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment in April 2012.

“Okami-san and Her Seven Companions” is a series that revolves primarily around two characters, Ryo Okami and Ryoshi Morino. Both are high school students at Otogi High School and a member of the trading club in high school known as the “Otogi High School Bank”.

The club which begins with seven people are known for taking on projects in which students request for their help and hire the club, after completion, the student is not indebted by money but must pay the favor back when the club requests for it.

Ryoko Okami is the fierce and violent fighter, but the truth is that it’s all a facade. Deep inside, Ryoko is scared but due to something bad that happened to her earlier as a teenager, it changed her life forever and she went from innocent and happy to not so happy and always willing to fight kind of person. She carries two Neko Neko Knuckles made by club member Majolica that function as boxing gloves and a stun gun. Her best friend and roommate is Ringo Akai.

The other character Ryoshi Morino is Ryoko’s secret admirer. He is from the country and has always admired Ryoko from a distance. Unfortunately, Ryoshi is very shy and he has a phobia of people staring at him. But Ryoshi has declared his love for Ryoko and promised to be by her side no matter what. So, Ringo brings Ryoshi to the members of Otogi High School Bank to become a new member and prove his love to Ryoko and prove he can be strong enough to be his girlfriend.

The two are joined by Otogi Bank Club members Ringo Akai (petite and short and dresses like red riding hood), Liszt Kiriki (the president of Otogi bank who is great at research and cross dressing), Alice Kiriki (Liszt’s cousin and club secretary, equally good at obtaining research), Otsu Tsurugaya (the maid), Taro Urashima (the playboy), Otohime Ryugu (the girl that has a crush on Taro) and Majolica le Fay (the mad scientist).

The series focuses on the Otogi Bank Club members taking on various missions but we find out that a lot of the trouble is caused by a rival school, Onigashima High School which is led by their student council president Shiro Hitsujikai. And Shiro is tied to Okami through an incident that changed her life forever.

And throughout each episode and through different missions, we see how the shy Ryoshi Morino has a lot of positive features within him and how he eventually gains the respect of the Otogi Bank club members but also starting to capture the heart of the one girl he loves the most, Ryoko Okami. But because Okami is not good with her emotions and because of her past, can she ever fall in love with anyone ever again?

VIDEO:

“Okami-san and Her Seven Companions: The Complete Series” is presented in 1080p High Definition (1:78:1) and is what one would expect from a TV anime series in terms of softness. The series also features a colorful palette as well as vibrant and detailed art backgrounds. This is a series that focuses on a lot of closeups but also action sequences. I didn’t notice any banding or artifact issues with this anime series.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Okami-san and Her Seven Companions: The Complete Series” is presented in Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1. I watched the series in both Japanese and English and felt that there was good use of surround through the English 5.1 soundtrack but in terms of voice acting, both are well done. But although there is quite a bit of action in this series, for the most part, a lot of the series is focused around dialogue. Dialogue is crystal clear and heard no problems on both soundtracks whatsoever.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Okami-san and Her Seven Companions: The Complete Series” comes with the following special features:

Episode 1 Commentary - Featuring Colleen Clinkenbeard (director) and Chuck Huber (writer) for the English dub.
Episode 6 Commentary - Featuring voice actresses Brina Polencia (Ryoko) and Monica Rial (Ringo).
Tokyo International Anime Fair Promotional Video – (2:47) Specialized TIAF promo for “Okami-san and Her Seven Companions”.
Promotional Video – (1:44) Promotional video for “”Okami-san and Her Seven Companions”.
Original TV Commercials – (1:08) The Japanese commercials for “Okami-san and Her Seven Companions”.
U.S. Trailer – (:59) FUNimation Entertainment theatrical trailer.
Textless Opening Song
Textless Closing Song
Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment trailers.

EXTRAS:

“Okami-san and Her Seven Companions: The Complete Series” comes with a DVD version of the series.

I have to admit that when I first began watching “Okami-san and Her Seven Companions”, I was thinking that this anime series was going to be the usual banal anime series about a club of friends kicking the butt of other rival high schools, etc. But it turns out I was wrong. In fact, “Okami-san and Her Seven Companions” features an original storyline that you just don’t find in other anime series and I found myself quite addicted to this anime series to the point that I couldn’t stop watching. I wanted more when it was all done!

You can’t help but want to support the underdog Ryoshi and hoping he can capture the heart of Ryoko Okami! And the anime series is so captivating because you have a group of characters that are just so odd, crazy and unusual but for this anime series, it somehow works in the overall efficacy of the series.

Yes, you get action, you get drama, you get a lot of comedy and you get a little fan service but the series is focuses on the dramatic portion of the series between Ryoshi and Ryoko but also the action/comedy segments as the group take on various missions to help these individuals with their requests. But what happens when a rival school of delinquents tries to get involved with Otogi Bank’s business.

So, while the series tends to focus on both Ryoko and Ryoshi, because of the involvement of the other bank members, you get to learn about each of them as there is a storyline-centric episode involving each or all of them.

Also, unlike other anime series, “Okami-san and Her Seven Companions” features an interesting type of narration that usually explains a scene, a character or just pokes fun of the characters in general. It was rather interesting, especially to see how things differ between the Japanese and English dub.

If there was one thing about “Okami-san and Her Seven Companions” that I was not expecting was how deep things got near the second half of the series as it is revealed to Ryoshi of what happened to Ryoko and why she changed long ago from this happy student to this colder, violent person (which both Ringo and Ryoshi can tell its a facade).

While the first half of the series can be seen as fun and more character development building episodes, the last four episodes alone are quite deep and action-packed. But most of all, the series focuses on its characters and builds a solid storyline around them. Too often these days, we see beautiful looking animation and backgrounds but the storyline is so-so.

“Okami-san and Her Seven Companions” was quite a surprise and was much better than I expected. In fact, I would go as far to say that the series is possibly one of the best anime series on Blu-ray in 2012 that I have seen so far!

While picture quality is what is expected from a TV series, the overall anime series does look good and the voice acting is also well-done in Japan and English. You also get two audio commentary tracks for the English dub and also promotional videos and original commercials in Japanese (with English subtitles).

Overall, If you are looking for an anime series that has it all…drama, action, cool characters, cool animation and a captivating and entertaining storyline, you definitely want to give “Okami-san and Her Seven Companions” a try! Especially for those who don’t want a long series, this is only 12-episodes long, so it’ll be easy to follow!

Definitely recommended!

Filed Under: Anime on Blu-ray

Dragon Ball Z Kai – Part Seven (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

March 11, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

All-out action! “Dragon Ball Z Kai” is DBZ in HD and this series looks absolutely wonderful on Blu-ray! In this seventh volume of DBZ Kai, the Z Warriors take on their most powerful adversary yet, Perfect Cell. If you are wanting an action anime series, I definitely recommend “Dragon Ball Z Kai”!

TITLE: Dragon Ball Z Kai – Part Seven

DURATION: (Episodes 78-88) 300 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: September 13, 2011

Originally created by Akira Toriyama

Directed by Yasuhiro Nowatari

Produced by Kazuya Watanabe, Kohei Obara, Kyotaro Kimura, Makoto Seino

Music by Kenji Yamamoto

Theme Song Arrangement: Seiichi Kyouda

Anime Production: Toei Animation

Featuring the following voice talent:

Masako Nozawa/Colleen Clinkenbeard as Son Gohan

Masako Nozawa/Sean Schemmel as Son Goku

Hikaru Midorikawa/John Burgmeier as Tenshinhan (Tien)

Hiromi Tsuru/Monica Rial as Bulma

Masaharu Satou/Mike McFarland as Kame-sennin

Mayumi Tanaka/Sonny Strait as Krillin (Kuririn)

Naoki Tatsuta/Bryan Massey as Oolong

Naoko Watanabe/Cynthia Cranz as Chi-Chi

Ryo Horikawa/Christopher R. Sabat as Vegeta

Brina Palencia as Chiaotzu/Puar

Tohru Furuya/Christopher R. Sabat as Yamcha

Toshio Furukawa/Christopher R. Sabat as Piccolo

Shigeru Chiba/Justin Cook as Raditz

Tetsu Inada/Phil Parsons as Nappa

Yasuhiko Kawazu/Christopher R. Sabat as Mr. Popo

The legendary Z reborn!

For the first time in history, experience the legendary Z as the master intended with this manga-centric, fresh take on Akira Toriyama’s original vision!

The last descendants of an evil race of warriors known as the Saiyans are on a collision course with Earth, and Goku – the strongest fighter on the planet – is all that stands between humanity and extinction. To save his friends and the world he loves, Goku must travel to a realm from which few return, but should he survive, he’ll discover the power to face the villainous Saiyan warlord – Prince Vegeta.

The action-packed anime series “Dragon Ball Z” is back with another HD version of “Dragon Ball Z Kai” (volume seven) as the Z-Warriors take on their most powerful adversary yet, Cell!

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.

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 (plus a bonus 98th episode or extra which was included in the Japanese release).

Needless to say, “Dragon Ball Z Kai” received rave reviews from fans in Japan, while some hardcore DBZ fans had a hard time watching a new interpretation of the series (especially with newer music) but when it was announced that the series would be released in the USA on Blu-ray and DVD, fans were happy and with the first volume, needless to say, I was quite happy with the first Blu-ray release of “Dragon Ball Z Kai” and if you enjoyed the past six volumes, there is no doubt that you are going to enjoy “Dragon Ball Z Kai – Part Seven”.

For my review of this Blu-ray release, I’m going to assume that many of the people reading this are familiar with the series. If you aren’t, if you want to experience the full “Dragon Ball Z” 291 episodes, FUNimation Entertainment currently has the full series of “Dragon Ball” and “Dragon Ball Z” available on DVD but at the same time, it is not imperative to watch the original “Dragon Ball” series to understand “Dragon Ball Z Kai”. But watching it completely is important if you want to know the relationships of each character.

As mentioned, currently available from FUNimation Entertainment is “Dragon Ball” which covers the younger years of Goku. “Dragon Ball Z” covers the adults years of Goku and have been released in nine volumes (seasons) via an “orange box release”. All nine volumes covers all 291 episodes and were remastered by FUNimation Entertainment but presented in 16×9 and utilizes both English and Japanese dub but caters to the English audience crowd who watched the series on television.

FUNimation Entertainment have also released the “Dragon Box Z” DVD box set releases (all eight volumes of “Dragon Box Z” have been released). These releases are to satisfy the hardcore Dragon Ball Z fans who wanted the original Japanese uncut episodes, original Japanese music score but most importantly, the series being presented in its original aspect ratio of 4×3.

Also, released from FUNimation Entertainment were the movies and specials (on Blu-ray and DVD) and also the next story arc known as “Dragon Ball GT” (which “Dragon Ball” manga creator Akira Toriyama had nothing to do with until the final episode) which follows the Z-Warriors ten years later and focuses on Goku, an adult Trunks and Goku’s granddaughter Pai. This series was released on DVD in 2009 by FUNimation.

So, here were are in 2012 with the seventh volume release of “Dragon Ball Z Kai” presented in HD. These episodes are without the non-essential scenes or filler episodes and instead of 291 episodes, “Dragon Ball Z Kai” has a duration of 98 episodes and with this latest volume, you have 11 episodes (Episodes 78-88).

It’s important to note that this is not a remake of the series, nor is it a new HD recreation of the animated version of the series. The series uses the original 1989 animation but is cleaned up of all damaged cels and blemishes. Only the opening, ending and commercial cut scenes feature new animation.

Here is a basic summary of “Dragon Ball Z Kai – Part Seven” (episodes 78-88) on the two Blu-ray discs:

Disc 1:

EPISODE 78 – Cell on the Verge of Defeat! Krillin, Destroy Android 18! – Goku trains Gohan while Cell tries to absorb Android 18.
EPISODE 79 – The Battle Turns For the Worst! Cell Attacks Android 18! – Trunk vs. Cell, Cell continues to try and absorb 18 to become a perfect Cell.
EPISODE 80 – The Tables are Turned! Witness the Power of Perfection! – Krillin and Vegeta vs. Cell.
EPISODE 81 – Vegeta’s Final Push! Defeat the Invincible Cell! – Vegeta vs. Cell.
EPISODE 82 – The Strongest Super Saiyan! Trunks Power Unleashed! – Trunks vs. Cell
EPISODE 83 – Cell Invades the Airwaves! Announcing “The Cell Games” – Cell arranges a tournament in anticipation to fight Goku.
EPISODE 84 – Training Complete! Goku Sizes up the Competition! – Goku and Gohan complete their training and plan to participate in the Cell Games.

DISC 2:

EPISODE 85 – The Truce is Broken! The Defense Force Strikes Back at Cell! – Piccolo and Vegeta train in the Hyperbolic chamber.
EPISODE 86 – A New Guardian! The Return of the Dragon Balls! – A new Kami and Mr. Satan challenges Cell.
EPISODE 87 – Mr. Satan Takes the Stage! The Curtain Rises on the Cell Games! – Mr. Satan tries to intimidate Cell.
EPISODE 88 – Showdown! Cell vs. Goku – Goku vs. Cell

VIDEO:

I always find it interesting when it comes to “Dragon Ball Z” because each review, I’ve always mentioned how things look much better when I saw the series especially comparing to my old Japanese TV recordings. But with the release of the series via the orange box season sets and then the Dragon Box Z releases, although they look good…nothing compares to how gorgeous “Dragon Ball Z Kai” looks. The picture quality is clean, no spotting, no blemishes, no dust, no speckles… Colors are absolutely vibrant, blacks are nice and deep and the series looks absolutely fantastic on Blu-ray.

Presented in 1080p High Definition and 4×3. As mentioned earlier, “Dragon Ball Z Kai” is not a remaking of the series in HD. The most noticeable addition is the opening and ending sequence and also the commercial cut scenes which use new animation and featured in HD. But ow awesome would it be if a “Dragon Ball” related series was re-created to look like those digital HD scenes? That would have been amazing.

But once the series begins, for those who have been watching “Dragon Ball Z” long enough or multiple times will just in awe of how beautiful and how clean the anime series looks in HD on Blu-ray. You’ll also notice scenes that you have never seen before.

First, lets discuss the picture quality. Not one blemish can be seen in these episodes. With the sketches and animation cels having since been discarded and anime series back in the ’80s and early ’90s not really being taken care of, Toei animation had new frames produced for this series and it was a laborious job of digitally tracing over still frames from existing footage and filling them with softer colors. Some scenes were cropped and new scenes were added.

But watching this series on Blu-ray, I can say that “Dragon Ball Z Kai” does not look like a series that came from 1989. Tohei Animation did a wonderful job with this animated TV series, editing these episodes and choosing what scenes to include and what new scenes to add to ensure that the pacing works out fine. In terms of picture quality, those ugly dust, speckles and blemishes are gone, I did not see any major edge enhancement or compression artifacts. I have no doubt that fans will enjoy this HD presentation of “Dragon Ball Z Kai”.

Of course, for those wanting the true anime on HD treatment, this is probably not the series one should look for as you do get the original late ’80s animation and this series was created long before animators considered HD let alone were making the series digitally. But it all comes down to how it looks compared to the original series released on DVD and I have to say that this is the best looking version of the series available despite it being a modified and shortened version of the “Dragon Ball Z” series.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

This is where “Dragon Ball Z Kai” shines on Blu-ray and its the lossless audio. The series is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (English) and Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (Japanese).

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.

There are online stores showing that the Japanese is Dolby Digital 2.0 but this is incorrect, it is indeed a lossless Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 soundtrack. And both soundtracks sound great!

But here is the lowdown on the lossless audio. Sound effects are now heavily utilized on the surround channels. Obviously, the more noticeable uses of the surround channels are the music and whenever the Z Warriors are in flight. But the biggest and most noticeable difference when it comes to “Dragon Ball Z Kai” and its previous “Dragon Ball Z” releases on video is the music. As a hero like Superman or Batman will have its own musical orchestra driven theme song in a film, Goku now has a theme, the enemies have their theme and when a Z-Warrior passes away, there is a theme. Music is used to full effect in the series and the majority of it is orchestra driven and also utilized in the surround channels. You will hear the strings or brass playing through the surrounds and its done rather nicely. Some people may have an issue with the battle music as the music tends to incorporate the style that you hear from the most recent video games and transitions from jazz/funk to synthrock.

But these effects and music sound so delightful via lossless, its hard not to be impressed by it. Again, the English soundtrack is much more immersive because it utilizes a 5.1 lossless soundtrack versus the Japanese 2.0 lossless track. But I know fans who have wanted anime on Blu-ray with Japanese lossless should be happy. It’s important to note that this is a TV series and not an OVA or film, so the fact that there is so much going on with this TV series audio-wise is pretty awesome.

Granted, I know there are hardcore fans who will tell me that they loved the original Japanese music and I’m sure there will be fans including myself who love the new music, but of course, this is all subjective. And with that being said, for those who liked the Falcouner music, then buy the orange season box sets. If you want the original Japanese BGM, then the “Dragon Box Z” sets is for you. If you want a lossless soundtrack with outstanding music that is fully utilized with your home theater setup, “Dragon Ball Z Kai” is fantastic.

As for the dubwork, the voice acting has also been revamped with Colleen Clinkenbeard now providing the voice for Son Gohan, Monica Rial for Bulma and Brina Palencia for Chiaotzu and Puar. In Japan, the most noticeable difference is for Kame Sen’nin (Master Roshi) as Kohei Miayuchi passed away during the final season of “Dragon Ball Z” back in 1995 and for DBZ Kai is voiced by Masaharu Satou.

For the most part, both voice acting for the English and Japanese were very good. Of course, listening to both soundtracks voices are much different from each other especially the voice of the main character Goku. But depending on your preference, both Masako Nozawa and Sean Schemmel do a fantastic job as Goku. For those who watched the English dub and have played all the DBZ video games will probably see the most noticeable different with the character of young Gohan.

Overall, because of the clarity of the audio and how much it plays in the part of enhancing the enjoyment of the anime series, the lossless soundtrack for “Dragon Ball Z” is awesome! I enjoy the new BGM and if you have a 5.1 or 7.2 setup, you’re going to enjoy the soundtrack of this series.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Dragon Ball Z Kai – Part Seven” comes with the following special features:

Textless Opening Song
Textless Closing Song
Trailers – Trailers for upcoming or currently available titles from FUNimation Entertainment.

EXTRAS:

“Dragon Ball Z Kai” Part Seven comes with a slipcover case.

For many Dragon Ball Z enthusiasts, many have ranked the Cell saga as the best in the “Dragon Ball Z” series. There was no doubt that Cell was the most destructive adversary the Z-Warriors have taken on and I can easily remember how many episodes it took until we finally saw the matchup between Goku and Cell.

For anyone who has watched the original “Dragon Ball Z” series, it’s not a surprise of how much this battle was dragged out for a long period of time in Japan and even for “Dragon Ball Z Kai”, it’s taken quite a bit of episodes, even when shortened without the filler to get to this ultimate matchup and the buildup to this match has been exciting and quite riveting thus far!

All that went through my mind when I was watching “Dragon Ball Z Kai” 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.

“Dragon Ball Z – Part Seven” features Krillin trying to save a woman that he has fallen for, Vegeta’s ego getting in the way and thus playing into the plans of Cell and of course, the heavily anticipated matchup between Goku and Cell.

Granted, you are losing a lot of the android saga especially the training episodes in the hyberbolic chamber in preparation for the fight against Cell in “Dragon Ball Z Kai”. So, I do emphasize that if you do want to watch the Android and Cell Saga, try to find the DVD release of the anime series (the awesome orange box series or even the Japanese uncut “Dragon Box Z” series).

As a person who has followed the series for nearly 20 years, watching “Dragon Ball Z Kai” was a bit surreal because everything looked so clean. Especially comparing with how it looks to the first movie on Blu-ray which had dust and scratches galore and HD enhancing those defects, it was great to see a blemish-free DBZ series.

Now does “Dragon Ball Z Kai” replace my feelings towards the original series? Of course not. But I can tell you right now that when watching “Dragon Ball Z” many years ago and even watching it again and again, part of the experience at the time was being kept at the edge of your seat because each saga lasted so long. We would literally have to wait weeks as it would come out to our Japanese video rental store and each VHS tape in bad quality would contain maybe two to four episodes. And this really tested your patience especially with each saga or battle lasting like 30 episodes or more.

If you were an original DVD purchaser of “Dragon Ball Z” when it was released per volume, not only was it an excruciating wait, it was expensive to collect all volumes. Sure, the DVD box set releases definitely have fixed the problem and is much cheaper than how things were back then. But what “Dragon Ball Z Kai” does is cut down all non-essential scenes, all filler episodes and focusing on the more important scenes of the story including the action sequences. Footage was re-edited to closely follow the manga and the action is now a more faster pace and I found the pacing for this series to be quite enjoyable and for those watching anything Dragon Ball related for the first time, especially on television, “Dragon Ball Z” makes it much easier for those viewers, especially those with a short attention span.

For long-time fans, this new revision of the series maintains the heart and soul of “Dragon Ball Z” but gives us the best looking and best sound version of the series. It’s not meant to replace the previous “Dragon Ball Z” series that we have enjoyed (and for many, have spent money for via the box sets) but to compliment it and also to bring the series to HD and now on Blu-ray.

“Dragon Ball Z” has been such a part of the lives of many people for two decades and with this release, hopefully will entertain a new generation of DBZ fans or hook fans who have been curious about the series for a long time. Because the series only lasts 98 episodes, part seven continues with the Cell saga and will conclude in the eight volume (note: “Dragon Ball Z Kai does not showcase the Majin Buu storyline).

Overall, “Dragon Ball Z Kai” is easily a must-own anime on Blu-ray series. Granted, I’m sure that many of us are quite biased towards the “Dragon Ball” series but for those who have always been curious about “Dragon Ball Z” and have no intention watching every episode made, then “Dragon Ball Z Kai” is definitely recommended, especially now that it’s in HD!

Filed Under: Anime on Blu-ray

Fairy Tail Vol. 4 (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Review)

March 2, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

The most intense, action-packed volume of “Fairy Tail” yet, volume 4 of this awesome series is highly recommended!

TITLE: Fairy Tail Vol. 4

ANIME RELEASE DATE: 2009

DURATION: (Episodes 37-48) 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: March 20, 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

Forced to face her demons at the Tower of Heaven, Erza is in real danger of becoming a live sacrifice in Jellal’s demented plan – which spells disaster for Fairy Tail’s strongest team! As the Council prepares to wipe out the island with the Etherion beam, Erza’s allies endure a heart-wrenching battle to get her back!

Big surprises await the comrades as they return for Magnolia’s annual Harvest Festival. But the celebrations are cut short when Master Makarov’s grandson hotwires a contest to determine who’s the fiercest wizard in a supercharged scheme to take over the guild!

The past of Erza Scarlet revealed and what happens when several members of Fairy Tail try to assemble a coup in order for Makarov’s grandson, Laxus Dreyar to become the new leader of the Fairy Tail guild?

Plenty of action and kick ass battles await you in the latest volume 4 of the popular anime series “Fairy Tail”!

For those who are not familiar with “Fairy Tail”, let’s just say that it’s one of the most exciting, long running anime magic/adventure series to be released in the U.S. on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of FUNimation Entertainment.

In Japan, “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!

With the fourth Blu-ray release of “Fairy Tail”, this latest volume features episodes 37-48.

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!

In “Fairy Tail Vol. 4″, the storyline of Erza’s past continues as the revolt against Jellal continues. Siegrain plans to resurrect Zeref in order to gain the Magic Council’s support in firing Etherion. But can Erza stop him? Meanwhile, Juvia has been possessed by Vidaldus and is being controlled against her will to fight against Lucy. Meanwhile, did the Fairy Tail guild lose a major member through tragic circumstances?

For the final storyline arc for season one of “Fairy Tail”, as the group is celebrating Magnolia’s annual harvest festival, the festival is interrupted by Laxus and his bodyguards of the Raijin Tribe. This pits members of Fairy Tail who support Laxus becoming the new leader of Fairy Tail versus those who are still loyal to their longtime leader Makarov (the grandfather of Laxus).

In the end, who shall be victorious?

“Fairy Tail” Vol. 4 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.
Juvia Lockser – Originally a member of the Phantom Lord Guild and now a member of Fairy Tail and is obsessed with Gray. She becomes great friends of Lucy but also her rival (thinking that Lucy is interested in Gray).
Gajeel Redfox – Originally a member of the Phantom Lord Guild, Gajeel is similar to Natsu in the fact that he is a Dragon Slayer raised by the dragon Metalicana. He can transform his body into metal weapons.

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. 4″ features the following special features:

DISC 1:

Episode 39 Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Tyler Walker (Director/Line Producer/Adapted Script Writer) with Rob McCollum (voice of Seagrain, Jalal and Mystigen).

DISC 2:

Episode 45 Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by Tyler Walker (ADR Director/Line Producer/Adapted Script Writer) with John Burgmeier (head writer/voice actor) and Monica Rial (lead writer/voice actress).
Textless Opening Songs: “R.P.G. ~Rockin’ Playing Game”
Textless Closing Songs: “Kimi Ga Iru Kara”
Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment trailers

EXTRAS:

“Fairy Tail” vol. 4 Blu-ray also comes with the DVD version.

The most intense and action-packed volume of “Fairy Tail” yet!

For those who have invested their time in watching this anime series, the series has been building its character development around Lucy, Grey and now Erza. But Erza’s past is still a mystery and with this latest volume, we learn about her past and what kind of woman and person she was before she became a member of Fairy Tail.

Suffice to say, there are some major surprises in store for viewers because there were situations where, you just don’t know who will live and who will survive.

The latest volume also features the addition of former Phantom Lord members Juvia Lockser and Gajeel Redfox, who are now becoming part of the core group that the series is focusing on. Juvia as the girl who never had friends, discovering new friends who believe in her in Fairy Tail and the same can be said about the hardened Dragon Slayer Gajeel Redfox. Who like Gray is somewhat a friend/rival to Natsu, and the same can be said about Juvia and Lucy. So, their differences tend to be a bit hilarious at times, but with the addition of these two members, Fairy Tail no doubt has added two powerhouse characters to the guild.

And they are definitely going to need it as the final storyline arc for the first season concludes with a coup attempt by Fairy Tail guild members loyal to Laxus Dreyar, the arrogant grandson of current leader Makarov. And like his grandfather, for a 23-year-old guy, he’s very powerful and together with the other members of Fairy Tail loyal to him, will Natsu, Erza, Gray and friends be able to defeat them and prevent the coup attempt?

And despite the guild’s members going at each other, this battle is intense! There is no taking it easy just because they were friends now rivals.

“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 fourth volume, you really get to see how these characters have grown since the first episode but also how dedicate they are to each other and think of each other as family members. In fact, this is probably one of the more dramatic episodes featured in a volume as one of the major members of Fairy Tail may or may not have died? You’ll have to watch and see for yourself.

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 the opening and ending theme song.

Overall, the fourth volume of “Fairy Tail” was intense, exciting and this series just continues to get better and better. If you are looking for a series on Blu-ray to watching in the long-run, definitely give “Fairy Tail” a try. Highly recommended!

Filed Under: Anime on Blu-ray

Confucius (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

March 1, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

An intriguing film about China’s greatest philosopher and idealist, Hu Mei’s “Confucius” is a film that can introduce his teachings to an international audience or a new generation who may not be familiar with the great thinker. “Confucius” is entertaining!

TITLE: Confucius (Kong Zi)

FILM RELEASE: 2010

DURATION: 125 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (2:35:1 aspect ratio), Mandarin and English, Dolby TrueHD 5.1

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: Not Rated

Release Date: March 27, 2012

Directed by Hu Mei

Written by Chan Khan , Jiang Quitao , He Yanjiang , Hu Mei

Produced by Po Chu Chui

Executive Producer: Sanping Han, Rachel Liu, John Sham, Punhoi Yu

Music by Jiping Zhao

Cinematography by Peter Pau

Art Direction: Chaoxiang Lin, Huaiqing Mao

Costume Design by Chung Man Yee

Starring:

Chow Yun-fat as Confucius

Zhou Xun as Nanzi

Lu Yi as Ji Sunfei

Chen Jianbin as Sunsi Ji

Ren Quan as Yan Hui

Yao Lu as Lu Jun

Ban Wang as Shu Sunwu

Zhenyu Quiao as Son of Confucius

Chow Yun-fat stars as Confucius in the inspiring, action-packed saga of a leader whose wisdom and cunning were more powerful than any sword.

In this sweeping battlefield epic, Confucius finds his lands threatened by the fires of war. After leading the nation’s most powerful army to victory against hordes of invaders, the new hero finds even greater danger in the jealous eyes of the aristocrats he fought to protect.

“What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others.” – The Golden Rule by Confucius

He is known as the greatest sage of all ages, the idealist and educator who was known for being one of the greatest Chinese thinkers and philosophers.

It is also through the teaching of Confucius’ principles that is strongly intertwined into Chinese tradition and belief such as one’s loyalty to family, worship of ancestry, the young must respect their elders and the family as a basis for an ideal government.

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China and the 2,560th birthday of Confucius, a film was made to honor Confucius, also in the hopes to remind Chinese of his teaching, introduce the younger generation to Confucius as well as those around the world.

“Confucius” would be interesting in the fact that action-star Chow Yun-Fat was cast to play the role of Confucius. But because the film would feature Confucius at the age of 55, the same age of Chow Yun-Fat and his strong worth ethic, filmmaker Hu Mei gave Yun-Fat the opportunity.

The film would also star Zhou Xun (“Suzhou River”, “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress”) and feature the return of Chinese pop star Fei Wong (who had been on hiatus since 2005) who sung the theme song for the film.

“Confucius” begins with an elder Confucius looking back at this past. We are then taken around 20-years-earlier, Confucius (played by Chow Yun-Fat) who is in his 50′s has been promoted from Major to Minister of Law in his home state of Lu.

Confucius is a well-respected man and is considered a great thinker, but he is often tested.

One example involves a young boy who escaped a mass slave sacrifice for his deceased master (note: During this era in Chinese history, before statues of people and animals were used, slaves were sacrificed along with their masters). The young boy is being chased by the military but is found by Confucius’ disciples who hide the boy in the home of Confucius and they beg if he can help the boy from being killed.

This leads to a confrontation between the soldiers who want custody of the boy to be buried along with his master, but Confucius fights for the boy and speaks against the long-banned inhumane sacrifice ritual of human beings.

We see Confucius use philosophy and logic to prove his point and eventually secure the boy’s freedom.

The film also goes on to show how Confucius along with Duke Ding of the State of Lu, met with the duke of the State of Qi and bravely and successfully ask the State of Qi to return several cities that were taken from the State of Liu, to be returned.

The ability to accomplish such a big task without having to wage war, began to increase the popularity of Confucius, but also show how popularity can lead to trouble for the other leaders and thus, led to the exile of Confucius and his disciples.

While the first half of the film focuses on how Confucius helped the State of Lu, the second half of the film focuses on Confucius and his disciples who went on a 14-year journey, traveling to many states in order to instill their political ideology (Confucianism) on other people.

Eventually leading Confucius to the state of Wei, but also meeting Duke Ling and his concubine Nanzi (played by Zhou Xun). But through these long travels and encountering many who do not want Confucius in their area, the film also showcases the danger that Confucius and his disciples (including his son) had to face, may it be war or the elements of nature.

VIDEO:

“Confucius” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1 aspect ratio). For teh most part, the picture quality is very good. Cinematography of beautiful landscapes and costume design are expected, but there are some moments where the CG and the use of the green screen didn’t seem to look natural. Colors are saturated and there are moments where I saw some banding issues, but for the most part, the film looked good on Blu-ray.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Confucius” is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 via Mandarin and an English dub track. The film does utilize ambience especially the sounds of arrows during the action sequences, the sound of wind during the snow storm or the crackling of ice or even the breaking down of the city walls which sounded very good. But for the most part, the overall mix was adequate for this film. It’s not an immersive soundtrack but dialogue is crisp and clear, the musical soundtrack by Jiping Zhao was fantastic, but the film is primarily front and center channel driven.

As for the English dub, I prefer to watch Asian films in their original language but for those who are not into reading the English subtitles and prefer to listen to the English dub, the good news is FUNimation Entertainment are known for casting wonderful voice talent and the voice acting may please those who prefer in hearing the English dub.

SPECIAL FEATURES

“Confucius” comes with the following special features:

From Chow Yun-Fat to Confucius – (7:10) – Behind-the-scenes with Chow Yun-Fat and director Hu-Mei.
A Woman, A Bosom Friend – (7:04) A featurette on Zhou Xun and her preparation for her role.
Chaotic Period of Spring and Autumn – (6:59) Director Hu Mei talks about the creation of “Confucius” and the challenges she faced.
From Chow Yun-Fat to Confucius Special Edition – (6:59) The cast and crew talk about the hiring of Chow Yun-Fat to play Confucius and their thoughts about working with him, plus interviews with Chow.
The Politicians – (7:12) A looking into the politics of the film.
Animal Stars – (7:43) Behind-the-scenes footage of the animals in the film.
Progressing in the Snow – (6:26) Cinematographer Peter Pau talks about the snow scene.
The Warfare – (7:06) How the green screen segments of the battles were filmed.
Original Trailer – (1:43) The original theatrical trailer
Trailers – Funimation Entertainment trailers

EXTRAS:

“Confucius” comes with the Blu-ray and DVD edition of the film plus a slipcover case.

“Confucius” was an intriguing film for me, but because I am not a Confucius erudite, I must admit, I felt a bit unsettled because I wondered how can someone with a life that has created an impact on Chinese culture, be condensed in a two hour film.

Also, because the film was made to help introduce Confucius to a new audience, a younger audience, the film could not be cerebral or too philosophical and thus the film introduced many war elements into the film.

For me, “Confucius” intrigued me so much that I spent hours researching his contributions to Chinese society, going through philosophy blogs that debate his book or those who support his work but also to go through criticism and praise for the film. To find out what people liked and what made people ticked about the film.

Suffice to say, “Confucius” has received a lot of criticism even before the film was made into a reality. For one, the hiring of Chow Yun-Fat (a Hong Kong Cantonese-speaking actor) instead of a mainland Chinese actor who speaks Mandarin and also the fact that Chow Yun-Fat’s film career has been based on action.

Then there were rumors that drew the ire of many people. Mainly because of the film featuring Zhou Xun’s character of Nanzi and that Confucius will be having a romance with the actress in the film. It’s important to note that this never happens in the film but the rumors persisted especially due to misconceptions of the theatrical trailer that a descendent of Confucius filed a lawsuit in order to have certain scenes, especially anything intimate between Confucius and Nanzi to be removed.

And last, there were Chinese who were upset that Chinese authorities removed James Cameron’s “Avatar” from film theaters and replaced it with “Confucius” in order to prevent the sci-fi film from taking any money away from “Confucius”.

But regardless of the criticism of the film, “Confucius” was going to be a film that was not going to please everyone. As scholars and those who respect Confucius’ teachings may find the film blasphemous because it does not focus on the actual idealist and educator but more of the politician and military strategist.

It is quite obvious that the writers had to make concessions in order to win over a younger audience but quite possibly an international audience. From the hundreds of arrows being shot in the air and a brave Confucius beating on the drums as arrows come crashing all around him. It does make for great action, but I am aware that the use of action in a film about Confucius may be disconcerting for those who want more of the intellectual side of the well-known sage.

And for a man with a long career, to fit so much into a 2-hour film, there is only so much that can be done. I felt the writers tried to appease both sides by bringing in a plot around militaristic action and balance it with the use of philosophy and ideals without being too cerebral and I accept that.

As for Chow Yun-Fat, I felt he did a good job at playing Confucius. And no, for those wondering if Confucius engages in any martial arts or if he fights, the answer is no. This is a thinking man, a man who appreciates music, ethics, politics and social relationships with sincerity.

As for historical accuracy, while his teaching can be found in the “Analects of Confucius”, there were some instances that relate to his disciples that I was checking online for hours to see if these characters actually existed and if some of their demise was factual. I couldn’t really find anything to support if the demise of disciples as shown in the movie was fiction or non-fiction but through my research, the actual events that relate to the states and the war, especially the “meeting” with the State of Qi and the tearing of the walls, information relating to those scenes were easily found online.

As for the Blu-ray release of “Confucius”, the picture quality was very good but it did have some issues. Lossless audio was appropriate for this type of film, although it would have been even better to have a bit more of an immersive soundscape during the more action-intensive scenes. I am glad there were several special features that show the making of the film but also how passionate the writers, the crew and talent were in making this film a reality but also trying to be respectful to Confucius.

Granted, there is more to Confucius than what the writers could touch upon in 2 hours and anything delving too much into the idealist and philosophy may appeal to his followers and the intellectuals but that would have made the film too cerebral and would eventually turn off the younger viewers, especially many of its international viewers who are not too familiar with the respected philosopher. And because of its trailer, many people would expect war and a lot of battles.

Overall, “Confucius” was an intriguing film that was neither great, nor was it terrible. If anything, I was satisfied by the film to the point that it made me want to research all I can about Confucius for hours.

Prior to watching this film, I hardly knew anything about Confucius but now I find myself interested in reading the “Analects of Confucius” and discovering and learning more about his work.

For anyone who is curious about Confucius especially those who may be fans of Chow Yun-Fat or actress Zhou Xun, you may find “Confucius” to be intriguing, entertaining and a film worth their while.

Filed Under: Asian Cinema DVD/Blu-ray, Blu-ray Reviews

Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings – Season Two (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

February 14, 2012 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

The second season of “Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings” surpasses the first season in story, action, better character integration and for fans of the video game series, a much more enjoyably experience. So, for anyone who watched the first season of “Sengoku Basara” or for those just wanting a feudal Japan, action-packed, samurai fighting storyline that is “kick-ass” awesome! Definitely give “Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings – Season Two” a try!

TITLE: Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings – Season Two

DURATION: Episodes 1-13 (325 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English 5.1, Japanese 5.1, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: NOT RATED 14+

Release Date: February 7, 2012

Directed by Kazuya Nomura

Screenplay by Yasuyuki Muto

Music by Hiroyuki Sawano

Original Character Design by Makoto Tsuchibayashi (CAPCOM)

Character Design by Tooru Ookubo

Art Director: Shunichiro Yoshihara

Chief Animation Director: Tooru Ookubo

Anime Production by Studio I.G.

Featuring the following voice talent:

Kazuya Nakai/Robert McCollum as Date Masamune

Norio Wakamoto/John Swasey as Oda Nobunaga

Souichiro Hoshi/Johnny Yong Bosch as Sanada Yukimura

Akiria Ishida/Chris Casn as Takenaka Hanbei

Keiji Fujiwara as Matsunaga Hisahide

Masakazu Morita/Eric Vale as Maeda Keiji

Ryotaro Okiayu/Christopher R. Sabat as Toyotomi Hideyoshi

Ryuuzou Ishino/Patrick Seitz as Chosokabe Motochika

Shigeru Nakahara/Sam Regal as Mori Motonari

Hiroki Shimowada/Maxey Whitehead as Ranmaru Mori

Kouji Tsujitani/Christopher Bevins as Nagamasa Asai

Mamiko Noto/Laura Bailey as Oichi

Natsuko Kuwatani/Stephanie Sheh as Kasuga

Romi Park/Greg Ayres as Uesugi Kenshin

Sho Hayami/Vic Mignogna as Akechi Mitsuhide

Takehito Koyasu/Michael Sinterniklaas as Sarutobi Sasauke

Tessho Genda/Chris Ayres as Takeda Shingen

Toshiyuki Morikawa/Travis Willingham as Katakura Kojuro

Japan’s toughest warlords are on the move, leading massive armies against their rivals in a thrilling quest for total domination. Wielding insane weaponry and unleashing the elements to boost their already awesome power, these warrior generals roar into the fray atop turbo-charged stallions, slicing through the enemy with six blades at once.

They brandish explosive shotguns and swing swords the size of men. They crush the opposition with rolling battle fortresses and incinerate their foes with solar death rays. Hordes of ninja assassins and samurai fight to vanquish every adversary in their sight. As loyalties crumble and new alliances are forged in the scorching heat of battle, heroes become conquerors and conquerors become legends. This is war!

When it comes to video games that feature samurai’s and a general taking on hoards of enemies, in the US, “Samurai Warriors” (similar to Dynasty Warriors) from KOEI is well-known. But in Japan, CAPCOM began their own series known as “Sengoku Basara” (Devil Kings) which takes place during the Sengoku period and a similar concept as their rivals and has also earned its strong fan following.

In 2005, the first game was released for the Sony Playstation 2 and was released in the U.S. (as “Devil Kings”) but unfortunately, CAPCOM tried to change the whole story of the Sengoku period by trying to connect it to their “Devil May Cry” series in order to attract players but because of the changes and the localization crew feeling they needed to make it more difficult in America, needless to say, it was a failure. People wanted the same game that was in Japan and within the last six years, there have been four video game releases and now CAPCOM has released “Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes” for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable and the Nintendo Wii in the US in October 2010.

In Japan, two seasons of “Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings” aired. And in 2010, to coincide with this videogame release, FUNimation Entertainment released the first season of the anime series “Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings” on Blu-ray and DVD (including the first 12 TV episodes + Blu-ray/DVD only 13th episode).

On Feb. 2012, with the release of the second season on Blu-ray and DVD, FUNimation Entertainment will be re-releasing the first season of “Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings” via a Blu-ray+DVD Combo Pack.

The anime series is produced by Production I.G. and is directed by Itsuro Kawasaki (“Arc the Lad”, “Rental Magica”, “Yumedamaya Kidan”), screenplay by Yasuyuki Muto (“Afro Samurai: Resurrection”, “Basilisk”, “Mobil Suit Gundam UC”), character designs by Tooru Ookubo, art direction by Shunichiro Yoshihara (“Gurren Lagann”, “Cromartie High School”, “Slayers”) and music by Hiroyuki Sawano (“Soul Link”, “Mobil Suit Gundam UC”).

The anime series takes place during the Sengoku Period (several years before the video game storyline). Various generals and their warriors are fighting each other. For the Takeda clan led by Lord Takeda Shingen, his young hot-headed warrior Sanada Yukimura has a rivalry with the cocky one-eyed warlord Date Masamune. Both are hot-headed that they fight against each other but they also value their battles with one another because they are equally matched.

And as the two sides begin to fight again, they are interrupted by the soldiers of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Toyotomi wants to unite Japan and make the country stronger but as each warrior supports their own clan and leader, he warns everyone that if they oppose him, they will be face his wrath.

Quickly, clans who try to take on Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his soldiers are quickly met with defeat. He is too powerful and for Masamune, Shingen and Kenshin, they stand no chance against him.

But as each clan tries to find a way to defeat Hideyoshi, Maeda Kanji who knows Toyotomi very well, tries to get his friends Maeda Toshiie and Matsu to stop Toyotomi’s tirade against the other clans, but he finds out that even his friends have aligned with Toyotomi.

Meanwhile, the other clans begin to visit others with the hope of rival clans joining forces to fight against Toyotomi Hideyoshi and his army.

VIDEO:

“Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings” is presented in 1080p High Definition and like most Production I.G. releases, they always provide excellent artistic backgrounds for their series. Mountains, rocks, trees, skies are very well painted and the animation is also nice and fluid. Colors are absolutely vibrant and bold. Also, very good lighting effects throughout the series.

Personally, I expected nothing less from Production I.G., the series definitely looks absolutely awesome on Blu-ray! Also, I detected no banding, artifacting or anything negative about the picture quality of this anime series.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings” is presented in lossless English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD and lossless Japanese 2.0 Dolby TrueHD.

Personally, I enjoyed the Japanese soundtrack because the generals sound much more menacing while I felt the English dub, as good as it is, sometimes I feel certain voice talent are overly used and they sound the same for no matter what characters they play. In the first season, I mentioned that although I enjoy Johnny Yong Bosch’s acting work when it comes to “Bleach”, but his Yukimura (Sengoku Basara) sounds like an annoying version of Ichigo (Bleach). But with that being said, the English dub has grown on me and felt the FUNimation English dub actors did a fine job.

And when it comes to channel utilization, the English dubbed soundtrack is much more livelier because of its lossless 5.1 soundtrack. Personally, I felt that he Japanese soundtrack was my preference but it is all subjective to the listener and what language they typically prefer. Regardless, you get a very well done English dub with a better losless soundtrack. Japanese soundtrack is very good but it’s lossless 2.0 and is a bit low on the scale of dynamic range compared to its 5.1 counterpart.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings – Season Two” contains the following special features:

Episode 6 Commentary – Featuring a fun commentary by voice director and writer Christopher Bevins and Patrick Seitz (co-writer and voice actor for Chosokabe Motchika).
Episode 12 Commentary – Featuring Eric Vale (voice actor of Maeda Keiji), Robert McCallum (voice actor of Date Masamune) and Chris Cason (voice actor for Takenaka Hanbei).
New Anime – Sengoku Basara II Katakura-Kun - (26:00) Featuring seven episodes of a mini Katakura.
Textless Opening Song – Featuring the opening theme song “Sword Summit” by T.M. Revolution.
Textless Closing Song – Featuring the ending themes “El Dorado” and “Ruisen”.
Trailers - Trailers for upcoming FUNimation Entertainment releases.

EXTRAS:

“Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings – Season Two” comes with both the Blu-ray and DVD versions of the TV series. Included is a slipcase that will hold both season two and also season one (sold separately).

Quite often, when it comes to anime series, there is always a fictional account of traditional Japanese history and its warlords.

For “Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings”, it’s a popular video game series that has tried to make these warring clans (that happen to live in the same time period) and generals with amazing abilities take on each other.

Obviously, watching the anime series is a treat for those who have played the video games and I personally enjoy the video game series and its chaotic gameplay. But with the first season of the anime series, I have to admit that I was let down a little because I was expecting too much of the video game, but then again, having watched many anime adaptations of video games, may they be “Street Fighter V”, “Tekken”, “Virtua Fighter”, even the “Final Fantasy” anime series, they weren’t necessarily all great.

But by the end of season one, I started to appreciate the storyline a bit more, but still I felt it was lacking excitement. Too much action, but a slightly weak storyline that probably I enjoyed a bit more because of Production I.G.’s production quality.

But here we are with season two and this time, there is a new threat with the arrival of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, a powerful man who just craves even more power, despite abusing it and thinking he is doing the country of Japan any good. And this is where, the series gets more exciting because the characters we watched in season 1, warring and rival clans now team up for the greater good in hopes of defeating Toyotomi and his army.

And of course, the first confrontation, everyone gets their butt kicked. How will Yukimura Sanada, Date Masamune and others fight against this new evil warlord.

For those playing the “Sengoku Basara” video game will enjoy how the writers tried to include so many characters from the video game into this anime series. So, Maeda Keiji, Maeda Toshiie, Matsu to pirate Chosokabe Motochika even Oichi have their part in this anime series.

But most importantly, the storyline doesn’t seem to banal, boring or overly-focused on the action. There are deep moments as characters like Yukimura Sanada will need to learn how life is outside of his clan, Katakura Kojuro (bodyguard of Date Masamune) being captured, Maeda Keiji having to deal with his beloved family (Toshiie and Matsu) joining forces with Toyotomi and knowing that he may need to fight them to the death. There are a few plot twists, darker moments and of course, plenty of humor. Yes, Yukimura and Oda Nobunaga punching each other out is still a big part of the series, including the screams of passion as Kasuga moans whenever Uesugi Kenshin compliments her.

But for those who watched season one on Blu-ray, I can easily say that this second season is much better when it comes to writing, even animation and art backgrounds look slightly better than the first season. You also get the DVD versions of the series, so you can compare and see how much vibrant the series is on Blu-ray compared to DVD.

As for special features, you get the chibi comedy anime series “Sengoku Basara II Katakura-Kun”. Also, it was great to see FUNimation Entertainment included two audio commentaries by those involved with the English dub.

Similar to the first season, picture quality of the Blu-ray is very good and vibrant. Audio is very good but not as immersive as I would have hoped, but it’s still good. The lossless 5.1 English dub is better when it comes to dynamic range compared to its 2.0 lossless Japanese counterpart as expected. But both are well-acted and have to say that the English dub grew on me.

Overall, I felt that “Sengoku Basara: Samura Kings – Season Two” was a major improvement over the first season. It utilized the characters much better than the first, integrating them into this deeper, action-packed storyline and I do believe that this series was created for those who love the video game, as they tried to include as many characters from the video game as possible.

Its important to note that while it does help to watch the first season or even play the “Sengoku Basara” video game series, it is not essential in order to enjoy this second season. You can easily jump on aboard the second season and still enjoy the series.

So, for anyone who watched the first season of “Sengoku Basara” or for those just wanting a feudal Japan, action-packed, samurai fighting storyline that is “kick-ass” awesome! Definitely give “Sengoku Basara: Samurai Kings – Season Two” a try!

Filed Under: Anime on Blu-ray

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