Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans – The Masters of Cinema Series #1 (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

February 13, 2010 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

“Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” is not only just a F.W. Murnau masterpiece, it’s simply a classic film that is the epitome of a “must-see film”. The Masters of Cinema Blu-ray release of the film is the definitive version to own! Simply magnificent! If we had to give a score for this film, then definitely an A+.

TITLE: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans – The Masters of Cinema Series #1

DURATION: 93 Minutes (Movietone Version), 79 Minutes (Czech Version)

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:20:1 and 1:37:1 original aspect ratios), 24fps AVC encodes for both features, 480p extras, Dolby TrueHD with Dolby Digital 2.0

COMPANY: 20th Century Fox/Eureka!/The Masters of Cinema Series

RATED: UNRATED (Contains Mild Thread and Violence)

Directed by F.W. Murnau

Written by Hermann Sudermann (Die Reise nach Tilsit), Carl Mayer (Scenario), Katherine Hilliker and H.H. Caldwell (titles)

Produced by William Fox

Cinematography by Charles Rosher, Karl Struss

Edited by Harold D. Schuster

Art Direction by Rochus Gliese

Movietone Score by Hugo Risenfeld and Olympic Chamber Orchestra

Starring:

George O’Brien as The Man

Janet Gaynor as The Wife

Margaret Livingston as The Woman from the City

Bodil Rosing as the Maid

J. Farrell MacDonald as The Photographer

Ralph Sipperly as The Barber

Jane Winton as the Manicure Girl

This new 2009 reissue of Sunrise (for the first time anywhere in the world in 1080p HD on Blu-ray, in addition to a newly mastered 2 x DVD set) contains two versions of the film: the previously released Movietone version, and an alternate silent version of the film recently discovered in the Czech Republic. The Blu-ray edition includes both versions in 1080p HD.

The culmination of one of the greatest careers in film history, F. W. Murnau’s Sunrise blends a story of fable-like simplicity with unparalleled visual imagination and technical ingenuity. Invited to Hollywood by William Fox and given total artistic freedom on any project he wished, Murnau’s tale of the idyllic marriage of a peasant couple (George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor) threatened by a Machiavellian seductress from the city (Margaret Livingston) created a milestone of film expressionism.

Made in the twilight of the silent era, it became both a swan song for a vanishing medium and one of the few films to instantly achieve legendary status. Winner of three Oscars for Best Actress (Gaynor), Cinematography, and a never-repeated award for “Unique and Artistic Picture”, its influence and stature has only grown with each passing year. The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to present a new 2xDVD and Blu-ray special edition of the film, including an all-new alternate version recently discovered in a Czech archive of a higher visual quality than any other known source.

In 1927, German film director F.W. Murnau (known for his role in German Expressionism) was invited by William Fox to make an Expressionist film for Hollywood and in return, Murnau created a film that would simply become a true classic and a true masterpiece with “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans”.

The film is highly regarded as a masterpiece and is featured in the American Film Institute’s “100 Movies List of Great Films” (#82) and the British Film Institute’s critic’s poll as the seventh best film in motion pictures. The film won an Academy Award for “Unique and Artistic Production” at the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929 (including “Best Actress in a Leading Role” for Janet Gaynor and “Best Cinematography” for Charles Rosher and Karl Struss) and was deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Although the film was highly regarded then and now, the film was not a success at the box office because of its creative and artistic interpretation while critics were calling it a true masterpiece.

“Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” was the first film with a soundtrack of music and sound effects utilizing Fox’s Movietone souund-on-film system and for its creative and artistic style, the use of groundbreaking cinematography during that time would influence many filmmakers and even has been referred to as the “Citizen Kane” of American silent cinema.

Despite the original negative for the film being destroyed in 1937 due to a major nitrate fire (nearly 80-90% of Hollywood’s silent films by Fox Film Corporation’s created between 1910-1920′s were destroyed) at Fox’s storage facility in New Jersey. Fortunately, a 1936 print held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and the NFTVA were still present (the UCLA print was later destroyed due to advance decomposition in 1992). In 1995, Kevin Brownlow and David Gill of Photoplay Productions prepared a new print for the 1995 London Film Festival using the NFTVA print and in 2002, restoration talks for the film began. A fifth generation 1940 nitrate negative print was found in 2002 and then a 1927 print loaned by the Narodni Filmovy Archv in Prague featured a Czech version of footage not featured in the American release.

“Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” is a film about a man (played by George O’Brien) who is a farmer and is married to his loving wife (played by Janet Gaynor). Both raise their child but things have not gone so well for the farming business and the man has been having an affair with a woman from the city (played by Margaret Livingston).

The woman from the city wants him to end his relationship with his wife and suggests that he kill her by taking her out to the ocean via a boat and pretending that the two have drowned but he can survive by holding on to branches. But he is not sure if he can do it… but knows that if he is going to have this new life with the woman from the city, he must.

So, he takes his wife out for a boat ride with the intent to kill her and as he is about to, she prays for him not to and then the sound of a church bell changes his mind. He can’t believe what he was about to do and nor can his wife, who upon reaching to shore, runs away from him.

He goes to chase her to apologize but she is too frightened. She takes a train for the city and he follows. He tries his best to apologize but his wife is so saddened and fearful that her husband had tried to kill her and he regrets everything that he had done. But during a stop when the two go see a wedding and a priest is saying the vows, that is when the man realizes that he has done his wife wrong and realizes that he loves her. The two then spend a day together in the city and to rekindle the love they had when they were single and to show each other their love. Meanwhile the man’s mistress from the city awaits at his home to see if he went through with killing his wife and so they can be together.

VIDEO:

“Sunrise: A Song for Two Humans” were shot with two cameras thus one has the aspect ration of 1:20:1 and the other with 1:37:1 According to Eureka!, the Blu-ray version of the films were encoded with both HD masters in 1080p AVC format on BD50. Eureka! decided against HD-DVNR, MTI or other forms of digital restoration or grain removal after tests revealed noticeable disruptions of the film’s “Sfumato” qualities in many scenes. And thus, their hands off approach was their respect to the filmmaker and the patina of the image. The level of damage still present is exactly what you would see if the film was projected via 35mm theatrically.

Having not seen any previously DVD or VHS release of “Sunrise: A song of Two Humans”, I can tell you that from what I saw… despite it having some scratches and dust, I was very impressed with the picture quality of the film on Blu-ray considering the film is over 80-years-old. According to my associates who have compared this film to the previous standard definition releases from Fox and Eureka!, this HD release of the film is absolutely fantastic!

I will say that the Czech version is a bit much more difficult to watch because it’s missing frames and thus I prefer the Movietone version.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

Eureka! via “The Masters of Cinema” has released “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” featuring both Movietone and Czech films on the Blu-ray release and with a choice of the monaural Movietone score and the stereo Olympic Chamber Orchestra score by Timothy Brock. According to Eureka!, the absence of any surviving soundtrack for the Czech version led Fox to roughly approximate the Movietone score to it in 2008.

Original English intertitles on the Movietone version are featured and optional English subtitles on the silent Czech version.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans – The Masters of Cinema Series #1″ comes with the following special features:

Audio Commentary – Full-length audio commentary by ASC cinematographer John Bailey on the Movietone version. Interesting to hear Bailey’s comments, especially on the camerawork and effects used.
Outtakes – (9:57) Outtakes with optional John Bailey commentary. It’s amazing that a film of this age has any outtakes. So, I was surprised to see this on the Blu-ray.
Murnau’s 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film – (40:55) Janet Bergstrom’s updated 40-minute documentary about the lost Murnau film “4 Devils” featuring still pictures, art and details of scenes from the film.
Original Theatrical Trailer – (1:50) The original silent theatrical trailer.
Original ‘photoplay’ script – The original “photoplay” script by Carl Mayer with Murnau’s handwritten annotations (150 pages in pdf format). You can download these from the Masters of Cinema website as well.
20-Page booklet - Illustrated booklet with film restoration and DVD/Blu-ray transfer information, along with a comparison between the two versions.

I have wanted to see “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” for such a long time. I’ve waited with heavy anticipation for UK-based entertainment company Eureka! to release this film via Blu-ray courtesy of their Masters of Cinema series and I am so grateful that they decided to release this film with no region encoding, so anyone from all over the world that has a Blu-ray player can enjoy this film.

After watching the film, I can’t help but gush about how fantastic this film is. From the crowded streets in the city to the innovative camerawork and editing, I was simply amazed of what was accomplished back then. The film is literally gripping as the film has its share of action and drama and literally from beginning to end, “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” manages to captivate you courtesy of George O’Brien and Janet Gaynor.

O’Brien plays the man from the country with such a great presence as Gaynor transforms from this sad housewife to this vibrant woman, especially in one scene with the crowd ask the two to dance. But the camera work and artistic presentation was just phenomenal. The whole city sequence created on the Fox back lot with hundreds of extras and cars from that era in a traffic jam to the man and wife attending a fair. I don’t know how much was spent on this film but everything on camera just worked. I was overwhelmed by how magnificent this film was but then watching the special features that came on the Blu-ray release, especially the slight differences from the Movietone and Czech version was quite interesting to see, especially to know that we will never be known of what was the final cut that Murnau had wanted due to the original print being destroyed in the Fox Warehouse and many other prints out there suffering from major deterioration.

But what we are able to see on this Blu-ray release, again…I’m grateful for Eureka! for releasing this Blu-ray via non-region but most importantly, choosing a silent film for its first major release on Blu-ray. If anything, I am more inclined to purchase the Murnau DVD box sets out right now and look forward to watching the Master of Cinema’s next Murnau Blu-ray release “City Girl”.

Overall, “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” is simply magnificent and this Blu-ray release is just outstanding! If I had to give this film a rating, then definitely an… A+!

Filed Under: Blu-ray Reviews, Eureka!/Masters of Cinema, Silent Films DVD/Blu-ray

Escaflowne: The Movie (a J!-ENT Blu-ray Disc Review)

October 18, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

“The 2000 Japanese anime film ‘Escaflowne: The Movie’ receives its first High Definition treatment via Blu-ray. Featuring vibrant visuals and an immersive Japanese and English lossless Dolby TrueHD soundtrack, this version is the definitive version of the film to own. Definitely recommended!”

TITLE: Escaflowne: The Movie

DURATION: 120 Minutes

BLU-RAY DISC INFORMATION: 1080p (Main Feature), 480i (Bonus Materials), English and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1

RATED: PG-13 (Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13)

COMPANY: Bandai Entertainment

RELEASE DATE: October 20, 2009

Original Concept by Hajime Yatate, Shoji Kawamori

Directed by Kazuki Akane

Screenplay by Ryota Yamaguchi, Kazuki Akane

Character Designs/Animation Director: Nobuteru Yuki

Mechanical Design: Kimitoshi Yamane

Armor Design Consultant: Yutaka Izubichi

Music by Yoko Kanno, Hajime Mizoguchi

Executive Producer: Ken Iyadomi

Produced by Sunrise

A Production of Sunrise, Bandai Visual

Starring:

Jouji Nakata/Paul Dobson as Dune/Folken

Maaya Sakamoto/Kelly Sheridan as Hitomi Kanzaki

Tomokazu Seki/Kirby Morrow as Van of Adom

Chafurin/Terry Klassen as Mole Man

Aki Takeda/Venus Terzo as Millerna

Ikue Ohtani/Jocelyne Loewen as Merle

Juurouta Kosugi/Michael Dobson as Dryden

Mayumi Iizuka/Sylvia Zaradic as Sora

Minami Takayama/Andrew Francis as Dilandau

Shinichiro Miki/Brian Drummond as Allen

Hitomi Kanzaki, who is tired of life. Depressed and despondent, she wishes that she could just fade away, to make the pain of living stop hurting. Her pain resonates with another on the world of Gaia, and when her wish is granted, she finds herself in a strange land. She is greeted as the legendary Wing Goddess, with the power to summon the legendary Escaflowne. Hitomi’s fate is intertwined with the brash young warrior king Van, who also feels that life has lost its meaning. By summoning Escaflowne, the Wing Goddess will choose a path for Gaia’s future. But will it be salvation…or destruction?

The 2000 Japanese animation film ‘Escaflowne: The Movie’ receives its first High Definition treatment. Featuring vibrant visuals and an immersive Japanese and English lossless Dolby TrueHD soundtrack, fans of the film will definitely want this definitive version of the film.

In 1996, the Sunrise Studios anime television series “The Vision of Escaflowne” aired on television and although not a tremendous hit in Japan, when the series was released on DVD in America, it became a big hit. Not just in the US but worldwide.

Despite being released on Saturday morning television on Fox Kids (albeit heavily edited), the series would receive appreciation and a lot of love by fans for the Escaflowne’s characters, it’s beautiful artwork and character designs, its story but most of all, it’s enchanting music.

With the fanfare strong worldwide, in 2000, Sunrise and Studio BONES began on a reimagining the television series through a 95-minute film titled “Escaflowne: The Movie”. The film version is very different from the television series as the film is much more darker and the protagonist, the happy and chirpy Hitomi is anything but that. In fact, she’s a person who is depressed and contemplates suicide. While the character of Van, is more reserved and willing to slash and kill anyone in his way.

Needless to say, the film is quite different as it focuses on these two main characters but most importantly, the film is for those who are and aren’t familiar with the television series and can enjoy it in the theaters. The film received mixed reviews with diehard fans who had a hard time seeing a different version of their characters and of course, knowing that there is only so much story from the 26-episode anime series that is going to get covered in a 95 minute film.

The film begins with Hitomi, sad and depressed, you learn that she is a person who wants to kill herself and is prepared to say goodbye to her best friend via a letter. Fortunately, her friend discovers her and the letter and tries to convince her that suicide is not a good way to go. But no matter how much she tries to cheer up Hitomi, Hitomi is resigned with herself and with life.

The film then switches to the character of Van. We see Van, who is violently slashing through many soldiers in order to find the behemoth known as Escaflowne and the Winged Goddess which he wants to use towards defeating his brother Lord Folken and his army.

Meanwhile, while Hitomi is alone and wanting to end her life, she sees an image of Lord Folken who calls her the Winged Goddess and wants her to join him. Confused and not sure what is going on, blackness starts to envelop the area and Hitomi is immediately sucked up into darkness and not knowing what is happening, by the time Hitomi awakes, she emerges out of Escaflowne and encounters Prince Van.

Van believes her to be the Winged Goddess but immediately Escaflowne disappears and then believes that she may be a spy and a fake. Because of her more modern school girl clothing, many of Van’s friends believe she is the true Winged Goddess despite Van not believing in her and almost wanting to kill her.

On the other side of the battle, we learn that Lord Folken and the Black Dragons are preparing their attack Van’s crew and capture Hitomi for his goal to use the power of the Winged Goddess to destroy the world.

Because of the increased attacks and attempts to capture Hitomi, Van is ordered to protect Hitomi at all costs.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Escaflowne: The Movie” is presented in 1080p High Definition. It’s important to note that the film was created in late 1999 and then released in theaters in 2000. Also, the film was produced by Sunrise but animated by Studio BONES and for the most part, a few talented animators took part in the action sequences as well as new character designs for the film. With that being said, when I first reviewed this film when it was first released on DVD, I commented on how gorgeous the film looked. It’s very detailed backgrounds but also the film’s awesome animation.

Here we are in 2009 and the film now making its HD debut and I still stand by that. The film looks great and although it may not look as digital and clean like today’s modern anime, the film still looks incredible for an anime film nearly a decade old. But what is the primary difference between the picture quality from the DVD versus the Blu-ray? There are several segments in the film that I tested out and that was the outdoor sequence (50-54 minutes into the film) and on Blu-ray, the first thing you will notice is how vibrant the outdoor scenes look. The green and blues just pop out, especially during sunset with the red of the sun also popping out. Needless to say, the film looks quite vibrant during the outdoor scenes.

The print is not 100% clear of dust which I think I may have seen a few specs but overall, I didn’t see a whole lot, nor did I see any major compression problems throughout the film. Blacks are nice and dark and there is grain present. Again, I’m a person who supports film grain and not supportive of excessive DNR (Digital Noise Reduction), so overall…I was pretty pleased with the picture quality for a film nearly 10 years old.

As for the audio, this is where “Escaflowne: The Movie” shines. One thing that I noticed quickly is how immersive the soundtrack was in utilizing the soundscape of each channel. The film’s dialogue is front and center channel driven but sound effects from the whisping as Van flies in the air, the clanging of the swords during battle, the blasts that are being shot and the destruction in the city is well-captured on your surround channels, especially via LFE. I definitely enjoy when anime uses the subwoofer quite a bit, so it was great to hear that LFE usage. And of course, one thing that the film is noted for is the music and the music comes out nice and clear through your system.

I did notice one thing with the audio though. The Japanese lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 sounds awesome but the English DolbyTrue HD 5.1 soundtrack seems a tad lower with the English dialogue. In fact, through the beginning of the film while watching it with the English lossless soundtrack, I felt that I had to increase the volume a little in order to hear the dialogue clearly and when I switched to the Japanese soundtrack, the dialogue was consistent and much louder. By no means are the two lossless soundtracks like night and day (like FUNimation Entertainment’s Blu-ray release of “Origin”) but overall, sound effects seem to be consistent on both soundtracks. But overall, “Escaflowne: The Movie” does have a wonderful and immersive soundtrack.

Subtitles are in English only.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Escaflowne: The Movie” comes with the following special features (in 480i Standard Definition):

Trailers: The Girl Who Leaped Through Time and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex Solid State Society
Staff Interviews: (23:00) Featuring staff interviews which include: Director Kazuki Akane/Composer Yoko Anno, Kazuki Akane and Kelly Sheridan (Voice actress for Hitomi), Masahiko Minami (Producer/BONES), Maaya Sakamoto (Voice Actress/Singer), Masuo Ueda (Producer/Sunrise) and a performance by Yoko Kanno, Maaya Sakamoto, Kim Su Jin perform “The Ring”(Escaflowne Ending Song, Special Duet Version).
Original 2000 Premiere: (7:20) Featuring the following segments: The line at Anime Expo 2000 in Anaheim, CA for the screening of “Escaflowne: The Movie”, Minoru Takanashi (Producer/Bandai Visual) speaking to the audience before the movie and the Post-Movie Panel Highlights at Anime Expo 2000.

When it comes to “Escaflowne: The Movie”, the film has received different results from fans when it first came out. Diehard fans who were not used to the change, of course, complained. And for those who treated the movie separately from the anime TV series found the film to be enjoyable, creative and musically wonderful. Needless to say, I’m part of the latter. The fact is that many anime series that get a theatrical treatment usually has a story that is not part of the TV series timeline. And there have been quite a few anime films that have been released that either try to take parts from a long series and condense it down to two hours or try to come up with something different.

With “Escaflowne: The Movie”, you get something different and it’s a reimagining that I was open to and at the time, I was very impressed with the results. The animation was stellar and the music, Yoko Kanno’s music and the ending theme by Maaya Sakamoto was just fantastic.

So, needless to say… I was excited to hear that “Escaflowne: The Movie: was receiving its HD treatment and for the most part, I was more curious to see how a film that was created in the late 90′s would look on Blu-ray. Already, Bandai Entertainment has proved to us that they can make it happen as evident with the release of “Akira” earlier this year. So, I had no doubt in my mind that Bandai Entertainment was going to release a solid product. What I was more concerned about was the lossless soundtrack. And fortunately, the soundtrack for the most part was immersive and great to hear via lossless.

If you are a fan who owns the Ultimate Edition of the DVD, you may be wondering if it’s worth the double dip? Well, for one, you don’t want to get rid of that “Ultimate Edition” because you get the awesome CD soundtrack and also there are special features such as the galleries that are not included on the Blu-ray. But to answer the question, yes…it’s worth the double dip. This is the best looking and sounding version of the film yet. So, if you loved the film, you will definitely want to pick up this Blu-ray.

Overall, “Escaflowne: The Movie” is a solid Blu-ray release and for those who want to add to their anime on Blu-ray collection, this title is definitely recommended!

Filed Under: Anime on Blu-ray

CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion Part 1 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

January 20, 2009 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

“’Excellent! The animation, the artwork, the voice acting, the storyline… ‘CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion’ is one of the rare, fantastic anime titles that is just literally a must-buy!”

DVD TITLE: CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion Part 1 (aka CODE GEASS: Hangyaku no Rurushu)

DURATION: 225 minutes (9 episodes/ disc 1 – 5 episodes / disc 2 – 4 episodes)

DVD INFORMATION: Original Uncut Episodes,English and Japanese Stereo, 1:78:1 anamorphic widescreen, Bilingual (Japanese and English), English Subtitles

COMPANY: Sunrise/Bandai Entertainment

RATED: Suggested 13 and Up

Produced by MBS, SUNRISE, PROJECT GEASS

Original Story by Ichirou Ohkouchi and Goro Taniguchi

Director: Goro Taniguchi

PRODUCERS: Hiroshi Morotomi, Yoshitaka Kawaguchi, Takuo Munegishi, Atsushi Yukawa

Character Design: Takahiro Kimura

Character Design Concept: CLAMP

ART DIRECTOR: Yoshinori Hishinuma

Mecha Design/Character Design: Kenji Teraoka

Main Animators: Takahiro Kimura, Yuriko Chiba, Eiji Nakada, Seiichi Nakatani

Assistant Director: Kazuya Murata

Assistant Series Planner: Hiroyuki Yoshino

Series Planner: Ichirou Ohkouchi

Knightmare Design: Akira Yasuda, Eiji Nakada, Junichi Akutsu (BEE CRAFT)

Featuring the following voice talent:

Jun Fukuyama/Johnny Yong Bosch as Lelouch Lamperouge
Takahiro Sakurai/Yuri Lowenthal as Suzaku Kururugi
Yukana/Kate Higgins as C.C.
Akeno Watanabe/Megan Hollingshead as Viletta Nu
Ami Koshimizu/Karen Strassman as Kallen Stadtfeld
Fumiko Orikasa/Amy Kincaid as Shirley Fenette
Jouji Nakata/Jamieson Price as Diethard Ried
Junko Minagawa/Mary Elizabeth McGlynn as Cornelia Li Britannia
Kaori Nazuka/Rebecca Forstadt as Nunnally Lamperouge
Kazato Tomizawa/Cindy Robinson as V.V.
Kazunari Tanaka/Michael Lindsay as Shinichiro Tamaki
Ken Narita/Crispin Freeman as Jeremiah Gottwald
Kikuko Inoue/Deborah Sale Butler as Cecile Croomy
Masayo Kurata/Laura Bailey as Rakshata Chawla
Mitsuaki Madono/Kirk Thornton as Kaname Ougi
Noriaki Sugiyama/Brian Beacock as Rivalz Cardemonde
Norihiro Inoue/Troy Baker as Schneizel El Britannia
Omi Minami/Michelle Ruff as Euphemia Li Britannia
Saeko Chiba/Kim Mai Guest as Nina Einstein
Sayaka Ohara/Julie Ann Taylor as Milly Ashford
Tetsu Shiratori/Liam O’Brien as Lloyd Asplund
Yuuji Takada/Steven Blum as Kyoshiro Todo

On August 10th of the year 2010, the Holy Empire of Britannia began a campaign of conquest. Its sights set on Japan. Operations were completed in one month thanks to Britannia’s deployment of new humanoid armor vehicles dubbed Knightmare Frames. Japan’s rights and identity were stripped away, the once proud nation now referred to as Area 11. It’s citizens, Elevens, are forced to scratch out a living while the Britannian aristocracy lives comfortably within their settlements. Pockets of resistance appear throughout Area 11, working towards independence for Japan.

Lelouch, an exiled Imperial Prince of Britannia posing as a student, finds himself in the heart of the ongoing conflict for the island nation. Through a chance meeting with a mysterious girl named C.C., Lelouch gains his Geass, the power of the king. Now endowed with absolute dominance over any person, Lelouch may finally realize his goal of bringing down Brittania from within.

Excellent! “CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion” is just excellent!

It’s been awhile since I watched an anime series and just enjoyed it from animation, art, mecha designs, music, character designs, storyline, etc. I may be a late bloomer when it comes to the fandom of “CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion” but now I can see how this series has captured the attention of fans worldwide.

The main storyline is that in 2010, the Holy Empire of Brittania began their campaign of conquest and Japan within a month as captured. And the country was humiliated by losing their country’s name and being designated as “Area 11″, their citizens known as “Elevens” and their once thriving cities became known as “ghettos”.

There are still Japanese resistant forces that still fight for Japan but the Empire of Brittania goes through these ghettos and exteriminates them as they are like rodents. Men, women, children…it makes no difference to them.

The storyline then shifts to a high school student named Lelouch who tries to help a people who may have been injured in an accident. What he doesn’t know is that the vehicle he is in belongs to a group of terrorists (resistant fighters against the Britannians) who have stolen a significant weapon or some device from Britannia.

Lelouch ends up being captured by a Britannia soldier, who turns out to be Suzaku Kururugi, an old friend he grew up with. Suzuki thinking that the device maybe poison gas tries to get Lelouch out of the way but it turns out that a girl with long green hair comes out of it. Britannia’s Red Army arrives and continues their slaughter and forces Suzaku to kill Lelouch and the girl which he doesn’t do.

While the Red Army thinks of ways to kill the girl and Lelouch, they shoot at him but the green-haired girl (named C.C.) saves his life by getting in front of him and taking a headshot.

Thinking that she is dead, the girl gets into his mind and gives him a choice that he can give him incredible power if he agrees to help her. Lelouch agrees and uses the power of the Geass, when a human looks into his eyes, the Geass will hypnotize them and follow Lelouch’s orders. In this case, his order is for the Red Army to kill themselves which they all do.

Now, with this power…Lelouch can use it to destroy the Britannia Empire.

The main key characters are:

Lelouch Lamperouge - To his friends in Area 11, he is just a normal guy. But in reality, Lelouch is the 11th Prince of Britannia who was kicked out of the family by his father, the Emperor of Britannia, because he is seen as a weak person from a weak family. He is renounced as a Britannian and used as a bargaining chip by his father and forced to live in Japan. His hatred towards Britannia is greater than anything and he wants revenge for the death of his mother and the health of his sister. He posseses the power of “Geass” which when a person looks at his eye, he can take over them and make them do what he wants. No one knows he is from Britannian royalty. No one knows he is “Zero” and he lives a double life as a student and Vice President at Ashford Academy.

Suzaku Kururugi - Grew up with Lelouch and are good friends. Lelouch is now a soldier of Brittania. His goal is to change Britannia from within and follow the laws of the land. A compassionate soldier and pilots the experimental Knightmare mecha known as “Lancelot”. He becomes a member of the student body at Ashford Academy.

Kallen Stadtfeld - Secretly half Britannian and half Eleven but more proud of her Japanese side. Also, lives a double life as a very intelligent student and member of the Student Body at Ashford Academy. But also a life as a terrorist fighting against Britannia. Fights for Zero.

C.C. – The mysterious green-haired girl who gave Lelouch the power of the Geass. Lives with Lelouch privately and wants to make sure he keeps to their agreement that in exchange for power, he must do something for her.

Nunnally Lamperouge – Lelouch’s younger sister who was shot during the murder of his mother. She can no longer work and she is blind.

Shirley Fenette – A student at Ashford Academy who loves Lelouch but also jealous when he sees him with Kallen and other girls.

Milly Ashford - The student president who seems to like digging the dirt of those around her. Her family developed the Ganymede Knightmare frames.

Rivalz Cardemonde – Lelouche’s best friend and a member of the Student Body. But since Lelouche has been busy, Rivalz and Suzaku have become good friends.

Nina Einstein – The smart member of the Student Body. Has a major fear of Britannia but develops a crush on Princess Euphemia.

The main characters of this Part 1 DVD series for the Empire of Britannia are:

Charles Zi Brittania – Lelouch’s father and the 98th Emperor of the Britannia Empire and believes that equality is an evil thing that must be destroyed. A believer of Social Darwinism and uses his children to accomplish his goals is creating the Britannian Empire.

Clovis La Britannia - The Viceroy of Area 11. A cold and narcissistic man.

Euphemia li Britannia – The Third Princess of Britannia. Kindhearted and despises conflict and the half-sister of Lelouche

Cornelia li Britannia – The Second Princess of Britannia and Commander-in-Chief of the Britannia Army.

Jeremiah Gottwald – An elite Knightmare frame pilot but because he was used by Lelouch (ala Zero) in releasing Suzaku, because of this he disgraced the pure bloods.

Viletta Nu – A Knightmare frame pilot who works under Jeremiah, not of noble blood. Lelouch used the Geass on her and she suspects a high school student may be involved with Zero.

Lloyd Asplund – Scientist in charge of research and development. Developed the Lancelot (Suzaku’s experimental Knightmare frame). He is an Earl of Britannian nobility.

Cecille Croomy – Subordinate of Lloyd and developer of Lancelot. Cares for Suzaku like a mother.

“CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion Part 1″ comes with both volume 1 (episodes 1-5) and volume 2 (episodes 6-9) of the popular television series. Here is a quick spoiler-free rundown of each episode:

Episode 1 – The Day a New Demon Was Born - An introduction of how Lelouch came to have the power of Geass
Episode 2 – The White Knight Awakens - Suzaku Kururugi pilots a new Knightmare mecha developed by Britannia. Meanwhile, Lelouch uses the terrorists to help fight back against Britannia.
Episode 3 – The False Classmate - Lelouch confronts Viceroy Clovis la Britannia and uses his Geass to find out who murdered his mother Marianna vi Brittania.
Episode 4 – His Name is Zero – Suzaku becomes the scapegoat for the death of a major Britannian and Lelouch along with his terrorist friends try to save him. Lelouch uses the costume and disguise and reveals himself to the world as “Zero”.
Episode 5 – The Princess and the Witch - C.C. is alive and well and makes her stay at Lelouche’s home. Meanwhile Suzaku starts a friendship with a girl named Euphie (who actually is the third princess of Britannia).

For Volume 2, we get the following episodes:

Episode 6 – The Stolen Mask - Suzaku attends the same high school as Lelouche but both know they must keep their friendship quiet. Meanwhile, a cat steals Lelouche’s “Zero” mask and President Milly of the Student Council hoping she can find something embarrassing about Lelouch, asks the high school to go after the cat. Lelouche fears that his secret may be revealed.
Episode 7 – Attack Cornelia – Britannia’s Cornelia wants revenge for the death of Clovis and will do what it takes to bring Zero out and that means gunning down innocent civilians that are living in the Saitama ghetto. Will Lelouch and the resistance be able to fight Cornelia and her army?
Episode 8 – The Black Knights – After the events of episode 7, Lelouch relies that he needs to have more allies, an army to take down the Empire of Britannia. Thus “The Black Knights” are born!
Episode 9 – Refrain – This storyline focuses on Kallen and about her family and specifically her relationship with her mother.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“CODE OF GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion” is featured 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. The animation and video quality is colorful and digitally modern since it is a newer anime television release. What I love about the video quality is the sheer amount of people involved. Everyone with detail, buildings, mecha and the destruction has detail. The character designs based from CLAMP’s character design concepts are just fresh and cool to look at. One of the coolest looking character designs in an anime mecha series without being a full-on mecha series. Very cool!

I watched the anime series on my 52″ and then afterwards on my 24″ LCD and video quality was just great from the character animation to the backgrounds. Because this series features so much moving around Japan, this series really featured so many things in each different scene. Again, I’m very impressed with how much went in creating a single episode.

As for the audio, the audio is English and Japanese stereo. For a television series, I was sort of expecting stereo sound but knowing some television series including Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD soundtracks, I was hoping that there may have been a Dolby Digital 5.1 track for Code Geass but the audio is stereo. Dialogue is clear and you can understand what the characters are saying. Both the English and Japanese voice acting are well done.

If I had one slight problem is that I enjoyed the Japanese voice acting a lot it’s just that Johnny Yong Bosch’s voice acting of Lelouch sounds too similar to his Ichigo of “Bleach”.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

You can find really cool special features on both volumes. Let’s start with the volume 1 DVD:

Picture Drama Episode – This is short drama episode featuring non-animated stills or drawings but featuring both Japanese and English voice acting. This one is about Lelouch and Nunnally arriving to Japan and finding their new place to live. Lelouch comes into contact with Suzaku.
Audio Commentary - There are three audio commentaries featuring the Japanese voice actor for Lelouch, C.C., the director and the screenwriter. The voice talent talk about their characters and experience of working with so many voice actors and also their auditions. They are very careful not to reveal what happens in future episodes, so there is quite a bit of banter about experiences and the voice talent asking the director and screenwriter about certain scenes. One example is the writer talking about how he fashioned one of the mecha in this series after a mecha from another anime series “Gasaraki”.
Textless Opening

With the second volume, the special features are:

Picture Drama Episode - There are two picture drama episodes included. One featuring the girls of Ashford Academy all at a hot bath. The way the characters are featured shows a little sexy fan service as they get to know Kallen. The second drama episode features Suzaku and Rivalz talking to each other followed by Lloyd and Cecille talking to each other.
Audio Commentary - There is one audio commentary for episode 8 and this time featuring Jun Fukuyama (Lelouch), Mitsuaki Madono (Kaname Ohgi), Kazunari Tanaka (Tamaki) and Kawaguchi (producer). A festive commentary as the Black Knight guys are together and joke around.
Textless Ending I

When I first started seeing the positive comments in Japan, followed by the US and then watching the album become the first anime album in nearly two decades to debut at #1 on the Oricon Album Daily Charts, just shows you the popularity of this anime series.

Having now joined the bandwagon of those who love “CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion”, I can’t help but fall in love with this series. It’s great! A lot of suspense, violence, mecha battles, love triangles, drama, political corruption and so much emotion involved in each episode’s storyline and balancing it out with awesome animation, awesome artwork, really great voice acting on both Japanese and English. I really feel that “CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion” is an excellent anime series.

The first nine episodes started with a lot of action and each episode thus far have been excellent. Even the commentary by the Japanese voice talent is lively and fun to listen to. And I like the addition of the Picture Drama Episodes as well.

With everything so positive, the only negative, and it’s really not a negative but more or less I enjoying hearing the action all around me via Dolby Digital 5.1 (especially in DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD ala Blu-ray) is that I wished that audio was presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 but still dialogue is quite clear and easy to understand in stereo and the music as well.

“CODE GEASS: Lelouch of the Rebellion” is a fantastic anime series that doesn’t come along to frequently. Everything about Part 1 so far has been excellent and I highly recommend this DVD collection!

Filed Under: Anime on DVD

Z-MIND (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

July 13, 2008 by Dennis Amith · Leave a Comment

“An anime OAV series that tries to combine the grooviness of classic 70s mecha and shojo anime series in a modern mecha storyline. A definite homage to those series and a very fun, family anime series with lots of mecha action and humor.”

DVD INFORMATION:

DVD TITLE: Z-MIND (aka Shishunki Bishojo Gattai Robo Z-MIND)

DURATION: 150 minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Dual Language, English Subtitles

CATALOG #: 1570, SSN 1-58354-645-6

COMPANY: Bandai Entertainment

RATING: 13 and up

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

STAFF INFORMATION:

CREATED BY: Yatate Hajime

DIRECTOR: Matsumura Yasuhiro

SERIES SUPERVISOR, SCREENPLAY: Gobu Fuyunori

CHARACTER DESIGNER: Hamaru Kamo

MECHANICAL DESIGNER: Aoki Kenta

ART DESIGN: Aoki Tomiyuki

ANIMATION DIRECTOR: Watanabe Kazuo

ART DIRECTOR: Suzuki Kazuhiko

EDITOR: Funami Yasue

SOUnD DIRECTOR: Shimizu Katsunori

MUSIC PRODUCER: Inoue Shunji (AYERS)

MUSIC: Nobuta Kazu

PLANNED BY SUNRISE

A PRODUCTION OF SUNRISE BANDAI VISUAL

It’s the 1970′s and Ayame, Renge, Sumire and Satsuki are doing their best to grow up amidst roller skating, disco dancing and life in Asakusa, Japan.

But as if that weren’t hard enough, the Earth comes under attack by an alien force. In the grand tradition of Giant Robot anime, the mysterious giant robot Z-Mind (and it’s component robots Z-1, Z-2 and Z-3) is all that stands between Earth and total devastation. And the pilots? Of course, they’re the three older sisters.

Untrained and uncertain, the three sisters will have to make it up as they go along, but they soon find themselves making battle plans and shouting attack slogans like the most seasoned anime pilots. But will it be enough? Z-formation!

When I first read about “Z-MIND”, I thought it was pretty cool to hear an anime OAV series that paid somewhat of a homeage to classic mecha and shojo series.

The 1998 OAV series was the first OAV “moe” series by SUNRISE. Moe which is a Japanese slang for a fetish or love for characters in video games, anime or manga.

And the series is created by Yatate Hajime. Basically involved with the majority of the Gundam anime and manga with “original concept” but known by many for creating major anime titles such as “Cowboy Bebop”, “The Big O”, “Witch Hunter Robin” and “The Vision of Escaflowne”. Definitely a big name attached to this series.

The screenplay is by Fuyunori Gobu, known for his work wtih “Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory”, “Armored Trooper Votoms”, “Choudenji Machine Voltes V” and other mecha series.

And with Yatate’s vision of creating something different from his previous major mecha anime series, “Z-MIND” definitely shows its difference from current mecha anime series as the main characters are a family of young girls.

The main story of “Z-MIND” is about your average family in Tokyo. A hardworking husband and his wife who take care of their four daughters and a son.

Everything seems to be going fine until eldest daughter, Ayame is kidnapped and next thing you know, she is piloting a large mecha robot known as the Z-MIND and taking on these monsters.

With the Earth being threatened again by the monsters, employees led by the government and Jim Pekinpah tries to enlist Ayame and her sisters to pilot the Z-MIND and its robot parts because it only will respond to their family DNA.

What is the secret behind Ayame and her family? And why is that their DNA can only interact with the Z-MIND? And who is this guy in a red trenchcoat that happens to show up when Ayame is in trouble? And who is the pink fire lady that shows up when the Z-MIND is in trouble?

All in all, “Z-MIND” is a fun anime series and it pays homage (or parodies) classic anime series. The first half of the series plays out like a family anime series with parents trying to protect their kids and of course, not get along with their kids.

The character designs feels a bit retro and with the daughters spouting language like “groovy” and “far-out”, definitely a homage to series from the 70′s. And of course, when the girls get into their “Z-MIND” clothing, definitely a shojo homage to series like “Sailor Moon” with the semi-nude to clothing transformations.

But I really enjoyed the humor of the show and how the family interacted well with each other in the first four episodes but the final two episodes becomes somewhat more serious and focuses more on the mecha battles and the challenges of facing more difficult enemies.

VIDEO:

The OAV series was released in 1998 and released in the US on DVD in 2001. But for those mainly exposed to digitally animated OAV’s, of course, this anime may seem a bit old school. But I guess with the storyline taking place in the 70′s, the age kind of helps it. All in all, nothing bad. It’s a colorful anime and I didn’t really see anything that stood out video-wise.

AUDIO:

I watched both in Japanese and English. Both are regular 2.0 Dolby Digital and both are acted very well. I will have to say one thing that urks me about the English dub and that is the character of Koji. Why they gave him a foreigner English accent for the English Dub, I have no idea.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Special features are primarily the textless opening, cover art gallery (which I’m guessing is the art for the VHS or LD release, total of six cover art) and the trailers. The back of the cover says there is a textless ending but it seems that was dropped or forgotten in the final print of the DVD. There is also a reversible cover.

All in all, this was an entertaining anime series. For me, coming into it so late, I was very curious to see how the anime paid homage to 70′s mecha series and all in all, it was fun.

I really liked the dysfunctional family dynamic with the whole family always fighting and then helping each other out. Definitely some comic relief there.

I didn’t get into the mecha battles all that much because the series focused so much on the characters in the first half, I guess I wanted to see more of that in the second half but there was a quick switch from character development to all out mecha battle. And I can understand why, especially the pacing of the first episodes of learning about the characters and then having them battle the evil monsters to end the storyline.

If anything, I’m glad the creators added an epilogue right after the credits, to give the series some closure. But in a way, I wished there was more of “Z-MIND” but all in all, it was a very fun series and with a total of all six-episodes, for its price these days, it’s a steal.

All in all, a groovy anime series that definitely is unique for paying homage to mecha/shojo classics and for it’s price, an entertaining series worth owning.

+ An anime OAV series paying homage to 70′s anime series

+ An anime with a lot of humor and fun characters.

+ A full complete DVD that can be purchased for a low price these days.

- What happened to the textless ending stated on the back cover?

Filed Under: Anime on DVD

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