Posts Tagged ‘monica rial’

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Heroic Age Set 1 Released By: Funimation Released: 5/12/09 Reviewed: 6/8/09 Rated: 13+

Funimation scores a massive win with the space epic, ‘Heroic Age’.

The Story

As with all good epic space adventures, the story of ‘Heroic Age’ takes place in the future with humans colonizing outwards. Before the story begins however, there are a few things you should know because the series isn’t going to tell you these things until episode three. Out in space there was a tribe with the ability to see into time and know the future of the galaxy. Apparently they got tired of doing that because they sent out a message to other tribes scattered throughout the galaxy to journey forth into space and find their new destinies (intergalactic cult?).

Initially three tribes answer the call; The Bronze Tribe which is made up of very large space worms, The Silver Tribe, a human like race only with vastly superior powers and finally the Heroic Tribe. Unfortunately the Heroic Tribe was made up of monsters called Nodos and they were so powerful that they were making just a few too many other tribes go extinct including the ones who hadn’t answered the Golden Tribe’s message. Stepping in, the Golden Tribe eliminated the Heroic Tribe down to five and imprisons them as servants of the weaker tribes.

With a slot now open, the final tribe to answer the call ventures off into space. This would be the humans, the Iron Tribe, who are now capable of psychic abilities such as telepathy and telekinesis (No I’m not sure why, they just are). Led by Princess Dihanalia, the tribe has been searching through space for the fifth Nodos which is destined to help them claim their rightful destiny as leaders of the galaxy. What they find is Age, a teenage boy who has been living alone on a desert planet on a ship that crash landed. 

With the fifth Nodos, Belcross, within him, Age goes with the humans and takes his place among the soldiers fighting against the other tribes. Over the course of the first half, Age will face a number of challenges: The Iron Tribe is slow in taking a liking to him and four other Nodos who have already sided with the Silver Tribe are all too happy to kill Age to ensure victory for their tribe.

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Ouran High School Host Club Set 1 Released By: Funimation Released: 10/28/08 Reviewed: 3/29/09 Rated: 13+

Ouran High School Host Club (from now on referred to OHSHC) contends strongly for best recent bishie comedy release.

The Story

Attending the very upscale Ouran High School, Haruhi goes through her daily life doing her best not to stand out and just blend in. All that changes when she stumbles into the host club and accidently breaks a vase worth eight million yen! Indebted to the club, Haruhi is made into a member who will work off the debt by working as a host entertaining the ladies who come in to gawk at pretty boys. What most of them don’t realize until later though is that Haruhi is actually a she.

What follows are thirteen episodes of outrageous comedy filled with keeping Haruhi’s gender a secret, members of the host club developing crushes on their new host, cosplay, managers, beach trips, secret police forces and much more taking us through the first half of this hilarious series.

Good and the Bad

Wasting absolutely zero time in getting the story and characters set up, OHSHC does an incredible job of pulling the audience into this series without a moment of hesitation. Within moments of the first episode beginning, the audience is set up to know exactly what is coming. I can tell you this because running gags are an important part of OHSHC’s comedy and the first one they set up is a blinking, audible arrow pointing to anything that the staff thinks you need to pay attention to.

From there the running gags just keep on coming in as many different forms as the staff can think of. It will start with Tamaki’s jokes about poor people and how they must live. Haruhi may attend a fancy rich high school but she’s just as common as the rest of us. The rest of the club however is super rich. Obscenely rich. Rich enough that it would make normal people cringe with annoyance. From there the gags expand outwards and onwards. In one episode the club discovers the wonders of instant coffee and constantly sends Haruhi out to buy more, then there’s the banana peels and Renge’s rising platform every time she enters the series or a number of other things coming from every character.

Running gags are just the beginning of the hilarious comedy in this series however. If running gags are just the tip of the iceberg, character jokes are going to be the base that everyone stands on. Not including Haruhi or the ever growing number of supporting characters, OHSHC has six characters to draw from that each fill a bishie character type. At the top is Tamaki, the president (or king as he refers to himself) of the club who reigns surpreme in the club with his dashing good looks and instant crush on Haruhi (after he figures out that Haruhi is a female). Next up are the twins, Hikaru and Kaoru (Twincest anyone?), Mori who fills the quiet cool type, Honey the boy loli and finally Kyoya who wears glasses and handles the business side of things.

What impressed me about the comedy in this series however is how layered it is. While there are a wealth of sight gags and character jokes to make the audience laugh, another section of the audience are going to enjoy this series in an entirely different way. Littered throughout this series are a number of cultural and language jokes that are going to be completely missed by most of the audience. This can be frustrating at certain points since its obvious sometimes that you’re missing out on a big joke because you don’t know why it’s funny.

The only real nagging flaw that is sticking out at me from the rest of the series in one major plot hole that no one bothers to fix. Late in the series Haruhi dreams about her entrance to Ouran High School. While they never really go into when she cuts her hair, does no one at this high school even know that Haruhi is a female? No one at all? I know she’s the poor kid but that is one point I could never get past.

To look at this series, it’s hard to find any real flaws with the animation style or quality. The colors throughout this series are always very bright but not blinding. Going through each episode nothing really stands out as flawed beyond some bad facial expressions. In particular this stands out with the entrance of Lobellia (another language joke, look it up) High’s Benio where the lines on her face look terrible when she first enters the club room with Haruhi. Beyond lapses along those lines, the character design and artwork for the series really plays on the bishie and bishoujo theme never letting up for a moment. If you like reverse harems, this is your eye candy.

Music

Like the writing, the music throughout the series stays solid for almost the whole way with few misses. Most of the music really plays well into the scene and helps sell the dialogue with few issues. The one place where OHSHC really fails at this however is during the scenes where the series does their best to be “dramatic”. Every time one of these scenes come up, Yoshihisa Hirano came up with this incredibly overdramatic sweeping full string orchestra though. Now I realize that these scenes are meant to be firmly tongue in cheek but the music just comes across as way too over the top and killed the comedy for me more often than not.

As has become common with Funimation releases, both the opening and ending theme songs have English versions attached to each episode (along with the original Japanese naturally). The opening theme is sung by Funimation regular Kristine Sa and really comes across well. This is another theme by Funimation that had I heard on its own without the anime behind it I would likely want to add it to my own personal music collection to just enjoy. One can hope that Funimation has plans to release their English themes songs to fans at some point this year if they are going to keep on producing great themes on this for their releases.

Dub vs. Sub

Both the English and Japanese casts really play well off each other creating a fun viewing experience each time. As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot of cultural jokes throughout this series however and those always sound better in the Japanese track. However, if you’re just watching for the sight and character jokes than the English cast is going to provide you with more than a few laughs. Caitlin Glass and Vic Mignogna both turn in absolutely amazing performances as Haruhi and Tamaki respectively. Caitlin absolutely amazed me with this performance (while also serving as ADR Director) as she sounds like nothing I’ve heard from her before.

Extras

On the first disc, episodes 1, 4 and 5 all have commentaries with members of the dub cast. All three episodes will feature Caitlin Glass but who joins her changes with each episode. On episode 1, Caitlin will be joined by Vic Mignogna. On episode four it is J. Michael Tatum and Monica Rial and finally its Greg Ayres and Todd Haberkorn for the last episode. Whenever commentaries are included with a release there are times when listening to the commentary is the least interesting part of the release. They can always be interesting but it’s rare for them to be really fun to listen to. In this instance though, listening to the cast members go back and forth about the series can be as fun as the episodes themselves. The main reason for this is the tone in all of their voices, every cast member loved being in this series and you can tell by how much fun they all have when talking about their experiences recording it.

On disc two, no commentaries are featured but there are manga pages (as released by Viz Media) though the pages are again hard to read and blurry. Also included on the disc are a series of outtakes from the dub cast. The fifteen minute extra has flubs, bloopers, slips and alternate lines that are good for some extra laughs and there’s always Vic’s token Star Wars line. Not all of them are going to be funny but the joke lines are good for some laughs. This extra might’ve been a bit better had they edited out the cue beeps before each line of dialogue but those are easily ignored.

Overall

There has been absolutely no shortage of bishie comedies this season but this one is in a class all by itself. Always hilarious but not lacking in story, OHSHC is a great comedy to pick up for the bishie lover in your life!

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Save Me! Lollipop Released By: Funimation Released: 2/24/09 Reviewed: 3/29/09 Rated: 12+

Yet another series that I went into with low expectations only to be very pleasantly surprised!

The Story

In this romantic comedy from Sunshine Corporation, the heroine is a twelve year old girl named Nina. While out eating cake with her friends, a mysterious pearl appears on her plate out of nowhere. Thinking that its hard candy she eats it only to have two mysterious boys appear in front of her moments later. Soon she finds out that the pearl she ate wasn’t hard candy at all and instead was a magical pearl being used for a special test in another world.

In this other world, a group of training sorcerers are taking their final exam which involves tracking down the pearl and holding onto it until Christmas. With the pearl now firmly implanted in her, the two boys named Zero and Ichi decide that they must protect Nina until the exam is over in a couple of months. They will have their work cut out for them though as there are a number of other sorcerer trainees who will do whatever it takes to obtain it including Forte and San, Gou and Rokka (who believes Ichi to be her fiancé) and Yakumo (who has a crush on Nina) and Nanase.

Good and the Bad

Wasting absolutely no time, ‘Save Me! Lollipop’ sets up its story within the first ten minutes. Moving at a very steady pace throughout all thirteen episodes, ‘Save Me! Lollipop’ will constantly keeps audiences paying attention for the sheer fact that turning your eyes away will cause you to miss something. Even if this is a series aimed at a younger audience, it’s still not something that can be just watched casually if you expect to see everything you need to.

For the most part, this works in favor of the series. With the characters always doing something fun and interesting, it’s hard not to pay attention as the series continues to play out the story. Other times however, this incredible pacing can work against ‘Save Me! Lollipop’ in a lot of different ways. The most obvious of these ways are that fans are forced to take in the writing and dialogue of the series with little time to digest everything before having to move onto the next plot point.

With so much constantly being revealed about the characters or what is happening within the series, it can be very hard to keep up at times. Ironically, it’s not always the pacing that makes the audience lose their place within the series but just plain bad writing. It doesn’t happen often but there are those moments when fans will just have to stop for a second. This isn’t an old series; it originally hit television airwaves in 2006. So why the dub script called for Nina to say a dated expression like ‘Gee whiz!’ is absolutely beyond me.

The biggest issue that ‘Save Me! Lollipop’ faces with its writing is how often they rehash the plot for the audience. Naturally the staff is using this as a means of keeping the audience up to speed but they never rehash recent story points with the intro, it’s always the basic story which the audience always knows. Add onto the fact that the series is only thirteen episodes long and yet keeps going all the way up to episode twelve and you have audience members with their finger firmly planted on the skip forward button.

As a comedy, ‘Save Me! Lollipop’ works hard to appeal to audiences of various age groups and again, they manage to succeed on most attempts. Almost right away the series really works hard at setting up slapstick comedy as its ‘go to’ source of laughs. Characters are constantly going to be engaging in magic battles but no one ever really gets hurt, they are just blown miles away by huge explosions ready to come back another day for another battle.

What surprised me as I watched this series however was how much the series also decided to use more adult humor to appeal to the older audience members who may be tuning in. As a twelve year old, you don’t really expect Nina to be particularly stacked in the breast department. This doesn’t seem to enter the mind of any of the other characters however as her breasts become fair game for jokes throughout most of the episodes (naturally the hot springs and beach episodes are just filled with almost nonstop boob jokes). Breasts aren’t the only adult humor thrown in though as another early running gag will involve San constantly trying to dress her male partner Forte in various dresses.

The comedy in ‘Save Me! Lollipop’ wouldn’t even come close to successful however if there weren’t a strong cast of characters to deliver them. While Zero and Ichi will have their moments of annoyance (i.e. Ichi is just TOO nice sometimes, Zero isn’t the greatest rebel character), they provide a strong balance for the sometimes ditzy and easily flustered Nina. Behind them though is a wonderful cast of supporting characters that pick up all the slack.

San and Forte are the first supporting sorcerer characters into the series. While none of the supporting cast ever really comes across as truly villainous, these two come the closest early on and really show how far the other trainees will go to get the pearl away from Nina. What is really nice about ‘Save Me! Lollipop’ and these characters however is how much attention are given throughout the series. Episode five, for instance, is entirely dedicated to the childhoods of both San and Forte giving the audience a glimpse into the tragic childhood San was forced to deal with. This episode is one of the best in the series and it’s hard not to be touched by the wonderful relationship between these two characters.

Equally entertaining for different reasons are the pair of Gou and Rokka. Playing right into another running gag of a female being introduced from Ichi’s past which causes Nina to fly into a fit of jealousy, Rokka is another very fun character for audiences to enjoy. While the twist in her character does make her first few moments on screen seem almost creepy in hindsight, she and Gou remain a very fun pair to watch whenever they are on screen.

Even still though, a decent story and fun characters will mean nothing if the animation is lacking. Luckily the animation quality throughout ‘Save Me! Lollipop’ is nothing for anyone to complain about. Throughout all thirteen episodes of the series, the characters and backgrounds spend most of the time looking very good together. None of the designs ever really stand out as poor quality or difficult to look at which plays well throughout. Unfortunately the battle scenes do not get the same high praise that the rest of the series gets.

The attack sequences and battle magic always look very good throughout the series but it’s rare that the sequences really feel like they are blending in with the characters. Constantly looking over produced, it’s hard to be excited or overly impressed by the magical attacks being thrown back and forth when they never really look like they fit properly with the rest of the series. Episode one proves this right off the bat with Forte’s flute magic. While the snakes he conjures look very well done, once they start interacting with the characters (Nina specifically) they instantly start to look like they don’t belong and need to be toned down.

Music

With few exceptions, the music throughout ‘Save Me! Lollipop’ is easily the weakest point of the series. Always very electronic sounding, it’s rare for the background music to ever sound like it belongs in the series instead of in an old school RPG video game. If you need examples all one needs to do is listen to the confrontation music in episode seven between Zero, Ichi, Yakumo and Nanase. Cheesy at best, it’s hard to take any of the characters in this scene seriously as long as that music keeps going in the background.

The vocal themes in ‘Save Me! Lollipop’ are luckily its big saving grace. Episode five in particular features an absolutely beautiful soft vocal theme for San that captures her character so wonderfully. Equally fun (and annoyingly catchy) is the opening theme sung by CLOVER which I guarantee will be stuck in your head sooner rather than later. I can attest to this because it only took about three episodes before I could distinctly hear my housemate singing along to the theme.

Dub vs. Sub

It’s rare that I get to sit down and actually say that the English cast is better than the original Japanese. Most of the voices in the Japanese cast sounded fine; unfortunately there are two voices throughout the cast that just absolutely grated on me. The first was Yukari Kokubun as Gou. In the Japanese cast, Gou is kept as a teenage character who is serving as the caretaker of Rocca while in the English cast John Burgmeier plays the role as a bit older, still young but certainly older than Rocca by a few years. While watching the series play out, I just found that performance so much easier to believe and get into. The second role that got me and wouldn’t let go is Ruby the crow late in the series. Just a grating voice that wouldn’t let go.

The highlight of the dub cast however is listening to Monica Rial and Greg Ayres play off each other as San and Forte. From their history together at ADV, these two have just learned to sync up with each other so well and listening to their dialogue is always just so fluid. These two together is always a treat for anime fans.

Extras

On disc two, a few extras find their way to fans including three interviews with Yui Shoji (Nina), Momoko Saito (San) and Sakura Nogawa (Rokka). Each interview is only five to ten minutes long or so and doesn’t go into anything particularly in depth. Mostly the actors all talk about their initial impressions of the series, their characters and what they think of the story in the series. While they aren’t the most interesting interviews, it can always be fun to learn some insights from the cast from their experiences. It’s also kind of fun that the staff decided to interview a couple of the supporting actors and not just the leads.

The last extra included with the series are pages from the US version of the manga (released by Del Ray Manga). Unfortunately this causes the usual problem that DVDs run into when this extra is included: unless you have a pretty big screen, the pages are going to be a little blurry and very difficult to actually read.

Overall

Going into this series my initial expectations were very low but it really didn’t take much time at all to get attached to these characters. It’s not a great series by far, but it’s still a cute enjoyable series that’s easy to laugh with. While it’s not something that everyone will enjoy, I can at least say that in a couple of years I’d be happy to watch this again with my nieces as I think they would get a big kick out of it. If you’re looking for a cute series that you can spend some time with, this isn’t a bad way to do it.

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Claymore Vol. 3: The Hunter is Prey Released By: Funimation Released: 2/3/09 Reviewed: 3/22/09 Related Reviews Rated: 15+

To say that I’m disappointed with the latest turn of events in ‘Claymore’ is an insult to understatements.

The Story

With the death of the awakened being, the quartet of Claymores are left to do their own thinking. When they finally figure out what they have in common, they realize that they were put together for a reason. There’s a better than average chance that the organization actually wants them dead. Put on their guard, all of them receive a grave warning to stay away from the current top five.

Naturally though, Clare’s next mission will put her up against another awakened being and her partner is the psychopathic number four, Ophelia. Clare will have to spend time in these episodes fighting both the awakened being and Ophelia. Before the close of these episodes, Clare will remember her true mission and motivation while remembering her past with someone who was there.

Good and the Bad

With the first two volumes of Claymore, the story was engaging and exciting. The story was moving in a fairly straight forward manner. There were plenty of twists along the way with various character departures but there was enough to keep things interesting. On this volume however, everything that made the story fun in the past depart for Clare being very harshly moved into a new mission and new enemies.

I could almost forgive the directions that the story has taken if it weren’t for the characters. In the beginning, the constant stream of Claymores was confusing but it remained fresh at least because of all of the dynamic personalities. There were never two Claymores that acted similarly which kept them distinct from one another. By this volume however, the sheer number of Claymores going in and out of the series just became too much.

It would be one thing if the audience were getting to meet these characters and then getting to file them away for future reference. What doesn’t work is introducing character after character with the only intention being to kill them within two or three episodes anyway. At some point the audience is going to start thinking that there is no point in learning character names since they aren’t going to be around for long anyway. With new entrances and exits for the second volume in a row, it has become more surprising when a character isn’t killed within a couple of episodes rather than when they are.

This has got to be the biggest thing that plays against Claymore throughout this entire volume. Especially after you consider that this is the volume that Ophelia is introduced on. Ophelia is an awesome character and within moments of her introduction had already moved into a comfortable second place for favorite character. Psychotic to the extreme, Ophelia is a character that absolutely shatters the hero role. She will kill anyone without a moment of hesitation; she challenges Raki to a fight and leaves Clare helpless.

At this point I need to interrupt my rant to warn readers of what is about to come. For quite a few paragraphs, I’m going to need to vent about the story in these episodes. I will be keeping spoilers to a minimum but there are quite a few major story events that I REALLY need to talk about here. I’ll get back to spoiler free content at the music section.

Ready?

When Ophelia was first introduced, I wanted very badly to like her. The attitude that she exudes into the story is absolutely amazing, this is an incredibly hypnotic character. But then I started to think about the pattern of the series and all that excitement I had quickly faded. I wanted to enjoy Ophelia for quite awhile but when I realized that she was likely not going to be in the series for long, my excitement waned and soon was gone as suspicions were confirmed.

A lot of this could be forgiven however if the story on in these episodes hadn’t let the audience down in such epic ways. The set up to the conspiracy theory worked for Claymore. The conclusion is plausible enough to be real but after that the series becomes one long mostly predictable build up. Right away Clare is warned about staying away from number four, Ophelia, so naturally she is paired up with her on her very next mission.

Building up past that and Clare meets a person from her past. She understands the pains that Clare is going through and who she actually wants revenge against. In her fight with Ophelia she manages to lose her arm however so she must train with a new technique. After days of training however, DAYS I tell you, she is informed that no matter what she does her one arm will never master the technique. The master is sympathetic to this however and instead cuts off her own arm and gives it to Clare. Because apparently Clare can use the special technique as long as she has her master’s arm and this will give her enough power to fight her true enemy.

To top it off, this entire scene is capped off with a line of dialogue from Clare that kills any lingering credibility that remained. Clare has attached her master’s arm with her healing powers and has begun to walk away. Her master is left there essentially a stump with no arms. And at that moment, Clare turns around and says something to the effect of ‘I’ll be back to return this to you.’ Alright, can we stop talking about the arm as though it’s a piece of clothing that Clare is borrowing for a date?

Getting away from the flaming wreckage that was once the story and plot, Claymore itself is continuing to be a beautiful series to look at. Despite the lack of excitement that one feels for meeting a new character, every single one that is introduced looks amazing. Matching the beautiful gothic style that has made Claymore stand out to begin with, the soft palette of colors on every character continues to do wonders for keeping this series unique.

Music

For the most part and in most scenes, the music in Claymore continues to be an audio treat. The theme of Gonhal for instance has a very solid Middle Eastern sound that really sets across a unique feel. While Gonhal is not a desert city, the theme gave the scenery such a fresh feeling. This is despite the town not looking much different than others the characters have visited.

The soundtrack for Claymore continues to take influences from many different themes though keeping things even more interesting. In the forest as Ophelia crosses swords with the stranger, there is a very solid house techno beat behind it. Even later in the volume there is another beautiful theme as Clare trains with her new master. It is soft yet carries a strong feeling behind it which manages to do a lot for training scenes that were a stretch at times.

Not all music in this volume is still retaining its original shine however. Initially some of the battle themes of Claymore left something to be desired. While the brass themes of battle were annoying though, they were always tolerable. Moving into the close of the first half though, Claymore is really starting to wear out the brass themes pretty heavily. Annoying at first, now they are just coming across as cheesy RPG battle victory themes.

Dub vs. Sub

In a search for highs and lows, the dub cast is where fans are going to be able to zero in the fastest. In the high category is Luci Christian as Ophelia. Playing the sadistic role perfectly, Christian absolutely nails this role in a performance that you have to manage was some of the most fun one can have in a voice booth. While the dialogue late in the volume may not have been the best, Luci always manages to keep it believable.

Jumping into the low category would be our lead Stephanie Young as Clare. In the beginning, Clare was introduced as the very cold and collected character. She was very flat but that was alright because that’s just how Clare was. As the series has progressed, Clare has opened up more and more. More of her past is revealed on this volume and much more of her dialogue is emotionally driven.

Unfortunately one would hardly know that from listening to Young’s performance. Always flat, the performance really fails to evolve with the character. Clare has become a bit more open with new revelations but Young always makes her sound flat, monotone and with no emotional drives that don’t involve killing things.

Extras

Besides the clean animations, volume three of Claymore includes another interview and a commentary as extras. In the interview segment, sound director Yasunori Honda sits down for eight minutes to discuss the series. Many of the questions that Honda is asked are the same ones that were asked of the director on the previous volume. His answers are obviously different enough to provide fresh insight but it would have been nice if the questions had been a bit more tailored to him.

In the second extra, Colleen Clinkenbeard (line producer, Galatea) and Monica Rial (Miria) sit down to discuss episode eleven. While I’ve said before that most commentaries are enjoyable in proportion to your enjoyment of the series; this particular commentary will have some extra appeal to the more hardcore fans.

With Monica Rial and Colleen Clinkenbeard in the booth, some stories of the past get told very quickly including some things from ADV. While many fans who listen to this commentary may not even realize who the people are that are being mentioned in the stories, those who do know will get an extra laugh out of it.

Overall

One string of bad episodes has done some pretty terrible things to the excitement I once held for this series. At one point the story held a certain mystique to it, Clare and her battle against the youma while seeking revenge. Now, she is on a quest against one armed with a… arm. My mind is reeling at what Claymore is going to do next and while I haven’t given up on it entirely, the second half is going to have to do something absolutely amazing to win me back.

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Witchblade Vol. 5 Released By: Funimation Released: 3/11/08 Reviewed: 3/5/09 Related Reviews Rated: 13+

Moving into the final few episodes, ‘Witchblade’ takes a break from the action to push along the story.

The Story

In the next four episodes, things are starting to return to normal. Masane has regained custody of Rihoko but after learning that the Witchblade is headed to her next, she begins to dote on her endlessly. Back at the Douji group, the battle between Wadou and Takayama will come to a head. After the final result of this one though, things will go from bad to worse when secrets get revealed to those who shouldn’t see them. Takayama will be forced into a difficult position and decision but one that will ultimately bring him closer to both Masane and Rihoko.

On the other side, Maria has become calm and even docile after her encounter with her mother. Her powers have grown but she wants more. Forming a plan of her own, the new Maria will increase her role through any means she has to. Which by now everyone should probably know means she’s going to kill people. Lots of people. But she’s going to look pretty cool while doing it.

Good and the Bad

There’s something that I need to point out right now that maybe I’ve been missing the entire time. Have the introduction sequences always been this oddly edited? On this volume in particular, at least half the episodes have very oddly put together introductions. The scene will begin and play out for a few seconds and then after the simplest of sentences (i.e. ‘Come look at this’) it suddenly cuts to the theme song. It’s not really detrimental to the series at all but it is one really weak way to hook the audience into the new episode. At least give them a particularly punchy sentence to hook them. Ok, I’m done.

As for ‘Witchblade’ itself, the four episodes on this volume have really shown a huge amount of growth from what the series has been for the last four volumes. Primarily a fan service filled action fest, this episodes on this volume take an extended break from the action and start to go deeper into the story.

In these four episodes, Takayama really gets put under the spotlight. Forced into a hard decision, the character really gets to break out of the shell that he’s been in since the beginning of the series. The tough businessman who never sweats, blinks or shows any weakness (except for when he’s drunk and hungover) finally gets to show a bit more of a human side as he spends more time with Masane and Rihoko.

‘Witchblade’ has never been a series that I found particularly hilarious. Admittedly sometimes the jokes are sometimes worth a chuckle but the comedy is not the reason why anyone is watching this series. With Takayama becoming a bit more accessible though, the jokes with him and Rihoko were really quite easy to have a bit more of a laugh at.

You can’t talk about changes in character however without mentioning the huge change in the direction of Maria. For a long time she’s been the super annoying character that everyone has wanted to see die. The one character that everyone just wanted to see explode just so that she would shut up is still around but now she’s not annoying. Now she’s always calm, completely peaceful, thoughtful and craving power like she never has before.

While I loved listening to Maria being performed as a character (the whiny voices were kind of fun, admit it), she was never that particularly compelling as a character. Sure she’s a neo-gene but boil it down and she’s still just a drama queen teenager who wants attention and a mommy. Now she’s changed into something much more dangerous and it’s so much easier to take her seriously as a villain.

Despite only a handful of action scenes in these episodes the pacing in them is really quite fast. From the end of the opening theme to the first eye catch always felt like it moved by incredibly fast. Even with all of the attention being focused on relationships, the series never lets up for a second and always keeps going forward at a sprinter pace. Oddly enough, this remains something that works for ‘Witchblade’. While other action series might hit a dialogue driven story arc and fall flat on its face, this series manages to keep things strong and enjoyable while refusing to give up its pacing. To be fair though, how they managed to do that is really anyone’s guess because by all accounts ‘Witchblade’ probably should have fallen on its face.

Music

In an additional change of pace, the music in this volume takes a very soft turn using many soft piano and string themes to get its point across. While the tense moments will usually always still feature the hard guitar themes or electronic beats, ‘Witchblade’ manages to hit the soft notes with only slight difficulty. The music in these episodes aren’t perfect but when the music really needed to be on such as with Masane and Takayama in the rain, it really manages to capture just the right note.

Dub vs. Sub

With the very large change in his own demeanor, both Rikiya Koyama and Mark Stoddard were going to have to work hard in order to sell the character. Both performances really stand out in the volume and came across as believable. The change in character never sounded forced from either actor.

Also taking an incredible turn in demeanor on this volume is Monica Rial in the formerly whiny role of Maria. For the last few episodes, Monica has done a really good job with the whiny role because she’s built entire characters on that whiny voice and she’s very good at it. Moving so quickly and suddenly into a more serious and dramatic tone however really comes across eerily well. Suddenly she’s calm and you realize that when she was whiny she was just annoying and dangerous. Now she’s scary and super dangerous. The animation goes almost all the way in getting that point across but Monica Rial hits it all the way.

Extras

In Part III of the ‘Witchblade Forged’ segments, the interviews are finally starting to move away from the past. In this segment, the staff from Top Cow and others begin to talk about how the series became an anime series. As usual, the information is always at least slightly interesting but it’s still twenty minutes of interviews that I would think require at least a small previous interest in the series and comic.

In the next set of interviews, Kenichi Suzumura (Hiroki Segawa) and Shinji Ogawa (Tatsuoki “Father” Furumizu) will sit down for their interviews. Along with the now traditional first question from another cast member, the two seiyuu will discuss their thoughts on the series and their characters much like their cast mates have done on previous volumes. Suzumura’s interview in particular is worth watching if for no other reason than he spends the first two minutes of his interview ranting about soup and soup related items. Ogawa also deserves major credit for being able to take a question about his opinion on gigantic breasts and segue it back into talking about the series.

Overall

These four episodes went a very long way towards getting me excited about reinvesting in the series finale. While I’ve always been fairly lukewarm towards this series, these episodes set up a lot of interesting ideas for the finale. ‘Witchblade’ has always been more about the action and T&A than the story but these episodes really gain a lot of credibility for the characters and give the audience a couple of new reasons to see if they get their happy ending.

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Witchblade Vol. 4 Released By: Funimation Released: 1/29/08 Reviewed: 2/18/09 Related Reviews Rated: 13+

Moving into the second half, ‘Witchblade’ takes a break from the action to spend some time with the characters.

The Story

In the second half of the series, the story picks up with the cliffhanger of volume three. Masane has been informed that she is not the real mother of Rihoko and her real mother wants her back. Forced to deal with this reality, Masane tries to escape but eventually learns about Reina and gives Rihoko up.

Everyone tries to make the best of the situation; Rihoko does her best to bond with her new mother while Reina treats Rihoko as an experiment that needs to be studied. Meanwhile in the NSWF, Maria has kept her promise to keep up with her studies and training earning her reward. After learning who her real mother is, Maria goes on a quest to find her and the happiness that she is certain is waiting for her at the reunion.

At the close of the volume, ‘Witchblade’ diverts even further from its established format giving the audience a break with a beach episode. It’s time for Tozawa to cash in on the favor that Chou did for him which means a group date at the beach along with a trio of hot young co-ed’s who have some less than honest impressions of Chou.

Good and the Bad

One of the most prominent faults that ‘Witchblade’ was never able to shake during the first half were the paper thin characters. While so many things surrounding the characters helped things such as the action, music and backgrounds; the characters were never developed nearly enough to make the story as engaging as it could have been.

Watching this volume however, fans will be pleased to be able to say ‘better late than never’ as four episodes focus on who we’ve been watching and where they come from. It took half the series but on this volume, ‘Witchblade’ finally managed to touch me on an emotional level. The big swerve from last volume with Reina being Rihoko’s mother really could not have been a big shock for anyone watching as the series had been telegraphing it for a number of episodes. The outcome of that will catch audiences off guard. When Rihoko learns the truth and starts crying at the idea of being separated from Masane, it is exceedingly difficult to not genuinely feel sad for Rihoko. Her tears aren’t loud and annoying, they’re soft and pleading.

‘Witchblade’ follows up on this really well as the story progresses further through the next couple of episodes. Seeing Rihoko really attempting to bond with her new mother gives the series a really good chance to segue into the other characters without leaving the audience to actively wonder about how she’s doing.

Since the beginning Masane, Takayama and Tozawa have been the characters the biggest question marks above their heads. Throughout these four episodes, all three of these characters are going to see varying amounts of development with revelations about the character’s various histories. Not all of the development is large (honestly, only Masane gets what I would call a large amount of development) but Takayama and Tozawa still manage to get in enough.

It would be really nice to learn more about these characters before it’s too late. Already ‘Witchblade’ has squandered more than one chance at creating much more memorable and impactful death scenes for their characters and if the history of the previous episodes has taught the audience anything, it’s that you should always be prepared for anyone to die.

The better news about these episodes of ‘Witchblade’ is that these episodes are filled with silver linings. With all of the time that these episodes are spending on a sudden surge of character development via some tangent story arcs, it’s very enjoyable to see that the series isn’t ignoring the various subplots that they have kept going. Very short scenes are scattered throughout these episodes reminding viewers of Wadou and the fate that will await Masane once her body reaches its limits of witchblade use.

Music

Constantly throughout these episodes audience members are going to be completely wrapped up in excellent musical arrangements. Early in the volume there is a wonderful violin piece during an elevator sequence and then there are the wonderfully unique themes that play during the first and last fight scenes.

The new music that everyone really will be paying attention to however are the very nice new opening and ending themes. The new opening theme (‘Dear Bob’ sung by KOOLOGI) has a very interesting sound to it. While there aren’t any horns within it, the beat and sound to the song has a very distinct ska feel to it which is a dynamic change from the gothic rock theme that started the series off. Closing out episodes starting with episode thirteen is the new theme ‘Kutsu Himo’ sung by Asami Yamamoto which is, once again, different from the first but not a step down at all thanks to an upbeat pop sound that closes out each episode on a strong note.

Dub vs. Sub

Two words: Monica Rial. An actress who can always be counted on to deliver a memorable performance, Rial once again delivers strong with her performance of Maria in the dub cast. Whiny, arrogant, spoiled; the performance matches the character perfectly until you just want to smack her around… repeatedly… with a bat. Also showing a strong outing on this volume is Mamiko Noto as Masane. Inside the building that Takayama takes her to Masane delivers incredibly strong dialogue that Noto just makes into memorable moments.

Extras

Continuing the series that began last volume, the second episode of ‘The Witchblade Forged’ takes the audience deeper into the process of making ‘Witchblade’ into an anime. Coming in at seventeen minutes long, this episode focuses on the series itself and what made it into such a successful series to begin with.

In the next interview segment, Mie Sonozaki (Reina) takes her turn at fielding questions about the series and her character. In the eight minute interview, Sonozaki will answer a question from Rikiya Koyama (Takayama) regarding the relationship between the two characters before sharing her thoughts on some of the finer details of the story and character. The interview is as interesting as previous segments though the amount of detail that she uses to answer Koyama’s question is probably the most amusing part.

Overall

Interestingly enough, after getting involved with the second half to this series I am finding myself with a new found excitement to see what happens next. Now that ‘Witchblade’ has decided to give their characters a bit more depth, it’s already becoming that much easier to get into the stories that the series has slowly been seeding along the way. In an ideal world there will be a lot more of the development that the series started here but if the story in the final third can live up to the expectations the staff has set up for itself, it may still able to get by on its action.

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Sasami Magical Girls Club Season 2 Released By: Funimation Released: 11/25/08 Reviewed: 2/15/09 Related Reviews Rated: 10+

Taking the story in a much darker direction, the second season of Sasami becomes not only watchable but enjoyable.

The Story

In the second season of Sasami, all five of the fifth grade heroines are invited to return to the world of the witches for a special summer camp without Daimon or Washu ever being told. Once there the girls learn that they are actually being scouted to learn more advanced magic. Everyone naturally takes them up on this offer but after it is revealed that the Chief Sorceress actually has much more evil intentions the girls must be rescued. That’s when the real truth comes out; it’s really Misao that they wanted the entire time. In the end, it will be Misao being pitted against her former best friends in a battle of magic.

Good and the Bad

The story in the second season of ‘Sasami’ moves in a much darker direction than the first season. In this season, the girls have already established their magical power which completely opens the door to the girls being exploited by an adult. Already the story has moved light years beyond the darkest of moments in the entire first season. Before the end of this season, the series will move to much darker places which will include dark magic and even character deaths.

The details there at the end are the ones that fans should focus on. It has happened many times in the past but it is always a little surprising when a children’s series isn’t afraid of killing a character. In this case the death is not prolonged or bloody; in fact it’s hardly even mentioned after it happens. It’s still a very strong moment that stands out as one of the more memorable of the series.

Beyond the darker story and dialogue, most of ‘Sasami’ has remained the same from the first season. The animation looks sharp from the start to the finish except there are a few very odd moments of character designs changing slightly but nothing that stands out as distracting. Any odd moment of character design however are completely overshadowed by the moments when the animation in ‘Sasami’ looks its absolute best. Early in the season, there are some very well done moments of magic use and late in the season look for the shower of flower blossoms.

The ending for this season is very nearly one of the biggest botches that I’ve come across in a long time however. I’m going to spoil a bit here so skip to the next section if you don’t want to hear some vague details. Near the end of the series, the girls are finally brought before Chief Sorceress and in the end; do exactly what she wanted in the first place.

Honestly, what was the point of going through all of this if the girls were just going to do exactly what they were brought there for? The adults of the series spent around ten episodes keeping this from happening and then they just back off and let it happen trusting that it will work out and it just sort of does. Really? So the villain was right all along? Wow, way to bury those heroes. Luckily the final three episodes do a great job of salvaging this and creating a satisfying if not slightly odd conclusion.

Music

Keeping the same opening theme from the first season, it’s just as easy to skip over it this time as it was last season. It’s still a painfully annoying song that will get stuck in your head if you let it. I suggest not even chancing it; just skip the theme every time. Yes, it is that bad and annoying. Just trust me on this one. Moving past that, the new ending theme is actually a vast improvement over the first season.

In both the English and Japanese versions, the song is a very sweet and soft ballad. It’s not often that I get to say this about a theme but in either version, the soft pop theme really plays well. If I had heard either version on the radio just as a standalone track there is a very good chance that I’d seek it out just to have. Very well done and enjoyable listens.

In the episodes themselves, the background music is an entirely full orchestral score and usually sounds very good. There are still moments when ‘Sasami’ attempts to use the music to really drive home the emotion of the scene which often times comes across as annoying. The story in this season is strong enough to give the audience the emotion it needs to feel without the music ramming it down our throats.

When it’s not being ‘in your face’ with its emotional output, the background score for this season is a surprisingly strong listen. While I wouldn’t go so far to say that it would be fun to listen to out of context, within the presentation it always comes across as very strong and fitting. The vocal tracks in particular remain a beautiful highlight.

Dub vs. Sub

Both the dub and sub casts had some very good performances for the wrong reasons. In both the English and Japanese casts, all of the characters came across as irritating at least a few times. In particular Mana Ogawa and Alison Viktorin really toes the line with just how irritating they could make Sasami without wanting to ignore her completely. On the other side of the coin however, Hearing Himeko Shimura and Monica Rial turn Misao into such a dark character is an amazing transformation on either language track.

Extras

Only clean animations.

Overall

If you sat through the drivel that Sasami passed off as its first season than you owe it to yourself to watch this season. Anyone who had even slight interest or big interest in this series after the first season should take the time to check out this season. With a much stronger story, characters and a tangible conflict for the girls to fight against season two of ‘Sasami’ becomes worth watching. It’s not so good that anyone who is new to the series should go out of their way to try to catch up but it’s good enough for the audience who is still left.

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Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle Vol. 1 Released By: Funimation Released: 5/22/07 Reviewed: 1/25/09 Rated: 13+

A beautiful series gets a good start in this fantasy love story from Clamp and Funimation.

The Story

In the first episode of ‘Tsubasa’, three stories will come together. In another world there is a teenage boy named Syaoran who works excavating royal ruins and his best friend, the princess of the Clow kingdom, Sakura. While excavating one night, Sakura is involved in an incident that strips her of all her memories and scatters them all into new worlds in the form of feathers.

Rather than see her die however, Syaoran will seek the aid of a dimensional witch to save Sakura’s life. Joined on his quest by a wizard named Fei who doesn’t want to return to his own world and a cursed warrior named Kurogane looking for the true meaning of strength, he will travel to many different worlds searching for Sakura’s feathers.

In the first world that the group arrives in, they find themselves in a modern city where everyone is protected by a magical guardian called a kudan and even acquire ones for themselves on the way. Looking for one of the feathers, they will be pulled into battles against others who have very powerful kudans including the leaders of rival gangs.

Good and the Bad

Heading into the first episode of ‘Tsubasa’, it becomes clear very early on that they are interested in getting their audience hooked with the first episode. With beautiful animation, wonderfully likeable characters and an engaging story they get off to a very good start. With animation from Bee Train and character designs from Clamp, the series already had some very strong credentials to start with and so one has to wonder if there is a reason why they are trying so hard from the very start.

The animation looks absolutely phenomenal in the opening episode and remains a very strong point to the series for the next four episodes as well. In the first episode, audiences are going to see beautifully animated scenes play out as Sakura is pulled into the ruins and loses her memories. From then on, it’s possible to complain about the animation quality but it would be very nitpicky to do so.

While the animation tends to lose its initial shine over the course of a couple of episodes, ‘Tsubasa’ never gives it up entirely. The kudans within the series play out well and while they are never as awe inspiring as the staff might have hoped, they do their job effectively and give the audience additional eye candy to enjoy. The Clamp character designs are obvious from the start with the traditional long necks and lanky arms, if you weren’t a fan of the Clamp style before you certainly aren’t going to be converted with these episodes.

Everything laid out in the opening couple of episodes is set up very well for the audience giving everyone watching all the motivation they need to care about the story and characters. The drama and romance between Sakura and Syaoran is very tragic; when Yuko gives Syaoran the choice it’s obvious what he is going to choose but it doesn’t make it him any less of a sympathetic lead.

The story itself past this point however does tend to slow down a little. With the quest officially set up, the opening story arc in the modern city doesn’t get off to an incredible start. With the series slowing its pace down dramatically, ‘Tsubasa’ continues its attempts at keeping the audience engaged with a couple of easy feather finds and battles against those who might acquired feathers for themselves either on accident or on purpose.

The layout of these episodes feels good initially but when you step back from them, there are many things that fail to stand when scrutinized. The use of the kudans by characters feels like an almost obvious point. It’s a simple and effective method that gives the physically weak hero a way to fight for the one he loves instead of relying on the wizard and warrior. The introduction of them however left me puzzled.

The lead characters all end up in a modern world, all with kudans of their own that they acquired while traveling between dimensions, and happen to land in the world where everyone uses kudans in their everyday lives. Normally I would accept this without any real issues but with absolutely zero explanation on what the kudans really are or why they were able to acquire them so easily, it feels a little forced.

Getting past that however, the second real point to the writing that struck me as odd is that ‘Tsubasa’ is a series that never really tries that hard to be funny. Despite having characters that obviously have a sense of humor and the use of the mascot character Mokona, there are very few jokes to be heard throughout these episodes. Occasionally Kurogane will play the unexpected straight man to Mokona but other than that, there are very little laughs to be had from this series. Of course, ‘Tsubasa’ is more of a drama than anything else so one can’t realistically expect a laugh fest from it. With a tone and atmosphere as light as this one; one should be able to expect to laugh a bit more than this.

Music

If you want credentials for the music department all one really has to do is look at one name: Yuki Kajiura. Composer for dozens of series, Kajiura is someone that can instantly make me dissolve into giddy mode because her music is always beautiful to listen to. Not failing to live up to expectations in this series, the music always has a beautiful atmosphere that blends in perfectly with the situation and mood. Every kudan has its own theme that switches easily from one to the next and every scene segues well into each other in part because of the changes in background music. Unfortunately for ‘Tsubasa’ this also creates some battle scenes that are a little choppy due to constant music switches depending on who is on the screen and who is attacking, once again these issues are very easy to get past.

Dub vs. Sub

In both the dub and sub casts there are names that you can pick out that make the series sound that much more special. In the dub cast veteran voice actors Monica Rial (Sakura) and Vic Mignogna (Fei) really stand out with their characters. Convincing from the first words out of their mouths, these two really sell the characters well and make them that much more fun to watch. In the role of Kurogane, Christopher Sabat really makes this role into his own by bringing out a very gruff voice suitable for the loner with the sword. In the Japanese cast, Yui Makino (Sakura) really sells the gentle spirit of the character. When she is in the warehouse or on top of the scaffolding you can just hear the character. When she talks about the feathers she wants to get back, you believe it.

Extras

Included with this opening volume are some very fun extras worth checking out including dub cast auditions and guides to the characters, world and cameos from other Clamp series. Unless you are a really big fan of the dub cast, its easy to skip over the auditions. Each of the six auditions are really just the actors reading a couple of choice lines from the first episodes, neat to listen to but not exactly amazing.

The guides however are a very nice addition to the volume. Within these guides, fans will get some nice inside tidbits of information about the characters including who they are and where they come from, the worlds that they visit and the characters who make cameos on this volume. It’s always kind of fun to play ‘spot that cameo’ making all of these into very welcome extras.

Overall

While the first five episodes of ‘Tsubasa’ aren’t perfect, they do a more than fair job of pulling the audience in. With wonderful animation, characters that are very easy to get behind and a story that has the potential to do very fun and unique things; this becomes a series worth starting. If you enjoy fantasy action with a dash of romance, ‘Tsubasa’ has earned a fairly strong reputation amongst fans for good reason.

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Welcome to the NHK Vol. 4: 4th Conspiracy Released By: ADV Released: 5/13/08 Reviewed: 8/15/08 Related Reviews Rated: 15+

With this volume the series moves into its second half. It’s not quite what I was expecting but it will do.

The Story

Sato is out on a deserted island with Hitomi and three other people who all want to kill themselves that night. And they all think that Sato is planning on joining them. Obviously it won’t be the end for Sato but the trip back will put him in an even worse mood towards Misaki. Though she isn’t giving up on him. As a way of saying thank you, one of the other off meeting participants gives Sato a free pass to an online game which seems to be perfect timing.

When his allowance gets cut in half, he remembers hearing about gold farming in online games as a means of making income. Soon though, he makes a friend and forgets all about the real world as he finds a brand new addiction. It will be up to Yamazaki and Misaki to save him but their means might be a little unusual. When Sato gets an unexpected phone call however, he disappears again suddenly leaving everyone to wonder where he’s gone this time.

Good and the Bad

Starting immediately with the dramatic conclusion to the cliff hanger (literally), the series lightens its mood considerably even with the dark subject matter. The characters will all eventually come to their own conclusions and ultimately there will be characters coming off the island. The conclusion to this story arc just has to be mentioned though since there were just so many things about it that stuck out.

In this entire episode, it never ceased to amaze me at how easily Sato and Hitomi are swayed to a new line of thinking. While it makes sense due to his decreased social awareness, watching it play out in front of your own eyes can be perplexing. Hitomi is the more surprising of the two since in the end it trivializes her problems by making her seem like she is just being overdramatic.

From here ‘Welcome to the NHK’ segues into a new story arc not nearly as dramatic for the beginning of the second half. Instead one of the characters that returns from the island gives Sato a free trial to an online game that he just happened to have on him. Naturally the issue here is that he’s giving the invitation over and yet disappears for the rest of the volume. It just seems like if you’re giving someone an invitation to a game then you probably are inviting them to adventure with you. It made the complete transition feel a little forced and almost telegraphs the phone call Sato gets from his mother.

The new story itself is entertaining once it begins and the series shifts its setting. Having the series change its format to match the new fantasy setting breaks up the pacing of the series nicely. The change of pace helps the audience transition from the dark drama back into its comedy roots with little issue as well.

With the series needing to find a way to return to its original story, the change in scenery does the trick nicely by pulling a bait and switch. Instead of moving the series immediately back to its original story with Sato and Yamazaki’s game, it moves in an entirely new, unrelated, direction. While the original subject matter hasn’t come back up yet, the audience will remain distracted from that fact for all three episodes of the story.

The entrance of the new female character that Sato becomes friends with plays really well. The change in character design for Sato is good for a laugh right away but after that the design is easily adjusted to. While it’s a shame that Mia won’t be returning as a regular character in the series, the time that she spends within the story is fun.

Music

From both the background to the insert music, the music in this volume is where these four episodes really accomplished the most. Episode thirteen features wonderful music throughout with a prime example being the tense string music that plays late in the volume. The music is very well layered and adds a lot to the scene. Also featured in episode thirteen is a new ending theme by Yui Makino (Misaki) titled ‘Modokashii Sekai no Ue de’ which is another soft ballad. The song fits well with the series and sounds very good coming from Yui Makino.

The insert songs continue to be well composed and placed within the series. Sato’s sad slow walk home in episode fourteen was perfectly matched by the soft acoustic insert song.

Dub vs. Sub

While regular readers of this site might see this one coming, Monica Rial deserves the standout performance of the volume. Monica is absolutely adorable as Mia the fantasy cat girl and really comes across well in this volume.

The dialogue remained consistent in both language tracks. The comedy didn’t always get the laughs that the writers were intending to get but they were always worth a chuckle or an eye roll. Either way audience members will not be able to stop themselves from reacting.

Extras

Clean animations.

Overall

Despite its predictable nature, the episodes on this volume managed to keep me entertained. While the stories aren’t the strongest the series has told so far, the second half of the series starts fresh by changing the format for a little while. The change of pace ends up being a shot in the arm for this series as while my interest isn’t nearly as strong as it was four episodes ago; I’m still very interested in seeing where Sato ends up next. Recommended.

Final Grade: B-

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DN Angel Vol. 5: Darkside of Love Released By: ADV Released: 6/7/05 Reviewed: 4/22/08 Related Reviews Rated: 13+

The Story

In the next four episodes of this series, Daisuke gets to go a school trip and forget all about Dark Mousy for awhile. While there though, Mio makes a move on Daisuke while he is trying to figure out his true feelings about Risa while Riku has to figure out some feelings of her own.

Upon returning from the school trip, Daisuke gets to work on his art show project for the school’s culture fest using an odd source for inspiration while Risa continues to attempt to figure out her feelings and strange new truths about Mio are brought into the light. If that wasn’t bad enough, Daisuke also gets cast as the female lead in the culture fest play.

Good and the Bad

Coming back into a series after an extended break can be a very tricky thing to do. Normally I try to re-watch older episodes before I get back into a series long removed but in this case I didn’t have the slightest bit of hesitation because the previous four volumes had left such a strong impression. Having said that, the hardest part about getting back into this series was finding the time to hit play.

The character and relationship development in this volume was absolutely wonderful. The build up of the romantic plotline to this series has been very carefully staged and interesting. With the first four volumes building up towards what audience members saw coming about four episodes ago, this volume delivers the strong payoff that the crowds were waiting for.

The writing around this plotline has been very well done as well. The pacing of the story was well placed to set us up for a payoff heading into the final third of the series. Beyond that though, the writing of this particular plot point was also very well put together in terms of involving other characters. While the first half of the series was spent really developing the relationship between Dark and Risa, it’s nice to see that Riku is getting more screen time with Risa going into the background to figure out her feelings.

The conflict in this volume was really kept to a minimum which is an interesting change of pace from the previous volumes. With Risa and Riku taking care of the love story in this volume, this was a great and well executed chance to put the new character Mio into the spotlight and let her carry the story for a little while. Hardly developed when she was introduced during volume four, this volume does a great job of developing her further and making her role within the story that much more clear while keeping an air of mystery around her. Audiences really deserve to have her around until the end and I really hope that this volume isn’t the last that we see of her.

With all of this development however, the volume really fails to deliver much in terms of real plot development. While we do see some development with Daisuke and his new girlfriend, it’s weird to see Dark take a backseat and disappear from the series almost entirely. To see the series finally give in to temptation and deliver an episode that delivers some more yaoi innuendo though tells audience members that they aren’t done with their usual tricks and the next two volumes are going to see some familiar faces returning to do battle.

Pacing was another area where this volume really failed to deliver for its audience. While the episodes moved us closer towards the climax of the series and really delivered some very emotional performances from the cast, it still felt like it dragged. This really killed the momentum, particularly in the first half. The series does recover nicely in the

second half of this volume but the uneven pacing is taxing.

Music

If this series has nothing else going for it, it has its powerful opening theme. Even after a couple of years away from this series, the opening theme is still a powerful piece that really gets the audience pumped up and ready to view this series.

I really wish that the background music in this series played better out of context. Within the series though, the music plays well throughout the volume with nothing ever feeling out of place. If anything, the only real complaint that audiences can have with the music in this volume is how lighthearted it keeps everything on this volume. Even the scenes that one would think were put into place to invoke heartbreak from the audience were kept much more light than you would expect.

Dub vs. Sub

Coming back into the dub cast, it was really hard to remember many of the performances from the last time I viewed this series. Annoyingly enough, some of them just weren’t as good as I remembered. Jessica Boone’s valley girl accent with Mio goes beyond annoying but when she speaks softly the performance ends up carrying vastly more weight eventually will win audiences over.

Kevin Corn as Daisuke just never popped as much as I remembered. There were some great performances though; Monica Rial as Towa, Luci Christian as Risa and Hilary Haag as Riku are easily the standout performances of the cast. I had absolutely forgotten how wonderful these three are in these roles.

During episode 18 I noticed an audio issue in the Japanese track. For about 1 minute, there is a scene where the Japanese audio came out very badly with a terrible echo effect. It goes away after the eye catch but then returns a bit later on and then again in the later episodes. While the sound problem is obvious and annoying, it really shouldn’t distract audience members too badly from the performances.

Extras

Once again ADV packed on more than a couple of good extras with this volume. Moving right away past the clean animations, the first extra presented to the audience is a commentary track featuring DVD coordinator Mariela Ortiz and ADR Director David Williams.

After that there are two productions taking fans behind the stage with a third edition of DN Angel talk featuring Miyu Irino (Daisuke) and Shunichi Miyamoto followed by a short feature which talks about the creation of some of the series 3D scenes. The final extra is another unplugged performance from Shunichi Miyamoto which is always fun to watch.

Overall

Coming back to this series and picking up where I left off made me worried that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it as much as I used to but those fears were quickly put to rest. Even after losing track of this series, I still remembered the characters and what role they played in the series which goes to show how strong of an impact it made two years ago. While this volume isn’t the greatest example of what this series can be, the final two volumes have me excited to keep going and finally see what happens to Daisuke and Dark Mousy.

Final Grade: 89% – B