In this thread I thought I'd write up some reviews of anime DVDs. These reviews are of the DVDs themselves, and the quality of the anime itself does not factor in at all. If you are wondering if an anime is good or not, this isn't the place to look.
Discs are rated in 4 categories, "Video Quality", "Dub", "Subtitles", and "Menu and Extras and Other". Each category is scored from 0 to 4, and scores halfway between are possible. The final score, "Overall", should be the overall quality of the disc, in my opinion. The overall score is the average of the other 4 categories rounded off to the nearest half of a point, and then possibly adjusted by +/- half a point for any reason that I felt might not have been encompassed by the other categories.
Scoring system:
0 - Pretty damn bad
1 - Could have been a lot better
2 - Average
3 - Impressive
4 - Sets the benchmark for all other DVDs to follow
Zarxrax's fantastalistic DVD reviews!
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Zarxrax
- Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2001 6:37 pm
- Contact:
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Zarxrax
- Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2001 6:37 pm
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Azumanga Daioh
Released by ADV.
For this review I have purchased the first disc with box.
Video Quality
I have mixed opinions about the video quality of this release. There are no rainbows, and no major compression artifacts. There is little noise for the most part, however in dark areas such as Sakaki's hair, noise is very visible. As far as the interlacing goes though, there is definately something wrong here. When viewed on a television set, the interlacing is visible unlike any other DVD I have ever watched. When viewed on a PC DVD player it looks absolutely horrible. However, ripping the DVD and performing IVTC on it restores it perfectly fine, and there appears to be no trouble when you look at it that way. However, for normal watching, the video is completely unacceptable. I have no idea what they have done to it to make it look like this. Perhaps reversed field order? (1 of 4)
Dub
I'm not a dub person, but I always at least check out the dubd on my DVDs to see what they are like. This one seems a bit typical for the most part, though some of the voices, such as Osaka's sound totally weird. Didn't we learn way back when Bandai released Love Hina, that you SHOULDN'T give characters a southern accent? The main problem with the dub though, is this is just one of those shows that really should be watched subtitled. It depends a lot on the language and the nuances of the characters, and without that, it's just not Azumanga Daioh. (1 of 4)
Subtitles
Here lays my biggest gripe with this release. ADV always lets me down bigtime in this department though, so it comes as no surprise. It's just riddled with problems everywhere that you look. For one thing, why did they give Osaka an "accent" in the subtitles? In episode 1, it shows that Osaka speaks standard Japanese, so ADV makes her speak "non-standard" English? Tomo is an Osakan as well, more so than Osaka. Why doesn't she have this non-standard English on her subtitles? When multiple people speak at the same time, things just go to hell. They don't use any sort of intelligent method of differentiating between the dialogues, so you will have to rewind once or twice to figure out who is saying what. T%he dialogue itself is even a bit strange at times. It just lacks some of the punch and humor that the Triad fansub had. For instance, in the fansub, there was a line like "Is it true that in Osaka, people jaywalk like crazy?" In the ADV release, it became the substantially less funny "...people cross the street even when the light is red?" It's not merely a few places, but all throughout that the dialogue just isn't up to snuff. In many places I would have been seriously comfused about what they were talking about, if I hadn't seen the fansub before. Some spots have even had the dialogue changed to something totally different. For instance, in episode 2, Osaka makes a joke about "Bean knowledge". In the liner notes that come with the DVD, it even explains this joke about bean knowledge. In the subtitle stream though, you will see absolutely nothing about bean knowledge, instead its replaced by something about "grains of truth", which ends up making no sense at all. As far as timing goes, the episode itself is timed fairly well, though the timing on the songs is often late. (1 of 4)
Menu and Extras and Other
ADV felt the need to make advertisements play upon inserting the DVD. Thankfully though, you are not forced to watch them. The menus are very nice. They are simple and easy to navigate, and fit the Azumanga theme very nicely. ADV has changed the logo in the opening, and as of disc 1, the original japanese opening isn't available as an extra. I don't know ADVs track record in this area, and since only 1 disc is out so far, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that the original opening will be included on a later disc. The extras on the disc itself are fairly typical, being a clean opening and closing animation and a small image gallery. There is also a booklet included with the disc that contains some translation notes and some notes frmo the Japanese creators. There were also 2 pins included in the first disc, with more to be included in subsequent discs. The box to contain all 6 volumes is pretty standard, but it strays from the simple white backdrop that is typical on just about all other Azumanga merchandise, including the DVDs themselves. The box art isn't bad, but I would have liked to see the plain white theme on it. (2.5 of 4)
Overall
A release plagued with problems. Azumanga is an excellant series though, and DESPITE the shoddy job that ADV has done once again, I can't help but to recommend it, as the anime is just so damn good. (1.5 of 4)
Released by ADV.
For this review I have purchased the first disc with box.
Video Quality
I have mixed opinions about the video quality of this release. There are no rainbows, and no major compression artifacts. There is little noise for the most part, however in dark areas such as Sakaki's hair, noise is very visible. As far as the interlacing goes though, there is definately something wrong here. When viewed on a television set, the interlacing is visible unlike any other DVD I have ever watched. When viewed on a PC DVD player it looks absolutely horrible. However, ripping the DVD and performing IVTC on it restores it perfectly fine, and there appears to be no trouble when you look at it that way. However, for normal watching, the video is completely unacceptable. I have no idea what they have done to it to make it look like this. Perhaps reversed field order? (1 of 4)
Dub
I'm not a dub person, but I always at least check out the dubd on my DVDs to see what they are like. This one seems a bit typical for the most part, though some of the voices, such as Osaka's sound totally weird. Didn't we learn way back when Bandai released Love Hina, that you SHOULDN'T give characters a southern accent? The main problem with the dub though, is this is just one of those shows that really should be watched subtitled. It depends a lot on the language and the nuances of the characters, and without that, it's just not Azumanga Daioh. (1 of 4)
Subtitles
Here lays my biggest gripe with this release. ADV always lets me down bigtime in this department though, so it comes as no surprise. It's just riddled with problems everywhere that you look. For one thing, why did they give Osaka an "accent" in the subtitles? In episode 1, it shows that Osaka speaks standard Japanese, so ADV makes her speak "non-standard" English? Tomo is an Osakan as well, more so than Osaka. Why doesn't she have this non-standard English on her subtitles? When multiple people speak at the same time, things just go to hell. They don't use any sort of intelligent method of differentiating between the dialogues, so you will have to rewind once or twice to figure out who is saying what. T%he dialogue itself is even a bit strange at times. It just lacks some of the punch and humor that the Triad fansub had. For instance, in the fansub, there was a line like "Is it true that in Osaka, people jaywalk like crazy?" In the ADV release, it became the substantially less funny "...people cross the street even when the light is red?" It's not merely a few places, but all throughout that the dialogue just isn't up to snuff. In many places I would have been seriously comfused about what they were talking about, if I hadn't seen the fansub before. Some spots have even had the dialogue changed to something totally different. For instance, in episode 2, Osaka makes a joke about "Bean knowledge". In the liner notes that come with the DVD, it even explains this joke about bean knowledge. In the subtitle stream though, you will see absolutely nothing about bean knowledge, instead its replaced by something about "grains of truth", which ends up making no sense at all. As far as timing goes, the episode itself is timed fairly well, though the timing on the songs is often late. (1 of 4)
Menu and Extras and Other
ADV felt the need to make advertisements play upon inserting the DVD. Thankfully though, you are not forced to watch them. The menus are very nice. They are simple and easy to navigate, and fit the Azumanga theme very nicely. ADV has changed the logo in the opening, and as of disc 1, the original japanese opening isn't available as an extra. I don't know ADVs track record in this area, and since only 1 disc is out so far, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that the original opening will be included on a later disc. The extras on the disc itself are fairly typical, being a clean opening and closing animation and a small image gallery. There is also a booklet included with the disc that contains some translation notes and some notes frmo the Japanese creators. There were also 2 pins included in the first disc, with more to be included in subsequent discs. The box to contain all 6 volumes is pretty standard, but it strays from the simple white backdrop that is typical on just about all other Azumanga merchandise, including the DVDs themselves. The box art isn't bad, but I would have liked to see the plain white theme on it. (2.5 of 4)
Overall
A release plagued with problems. Azumanga is an excellant series though, and DESPITE the shoddy job that ADV has done once again, I can't help but to recommend it, as the anime is just so damn good. (1.5 of 4)
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Zarxrax
- Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2001 6:37 pm
- Contact:
Chobits
Released by Pioneer/Geneon
For this review I have purchased the entire box set.
Video Quality
Very nice quality overall. No ranbows and noise is very minor. The anime is presented in anamorphic widescreen as well. It's a very beatiful transfer, though its slightly blurry. My only other real complaint was that at a few parts where it fades to black, there would be a slight after image left over, as the entire screen didn't totally fade. It's not really a problem though. The telecine job is typical of tv series these days. (3 of 4)
Dub
I was quite surprised by this one. I watched the entire first disc dubbed, while showing the series to a friend, and nothing got on my nerves too badly. Many of the voices seemed to fit the characters quite well. (3 of 4)
Subtitles
Very nice, quality job for the most part. My only gripe is that they write Chii's name as "Chi". I suppose it does look better in English, and technically there isn't any one correct way to romanize the characters, but it just sort of rubs me the wrong way. (3 of 4)
Menu and Extras and Other
The main menu is nice and easy to navigate. The submenus are pretty bland though. Extras are fairly typical, we have clean openings and endings, as well as the original japanese animation of the opening and ending. Each disc also contains a (very tiny) image gallery. The final disc also contains a short special called "Chibits" as well as a larger production gallery containing about 50 images. Speaking of the final disc, I don't really like it. What they did, was they REMOVED the recap episodes from their correct spots throughout the series, and just put them all on the final disc. In a way, this is good, because it keeps thrifty people from having to buy episodes that just contain the same old stuff that they already saw. But on the other hand, they have modified the way that the show is supposed to be presented. As far as the box goes, it is very nice and has a nice smooth texture on the outside, with some pretty art on it. Its easy to get dirty and torn up though, and the discs fit in VERY snuggly, so you need to take extra care when inserting and removing a disc from it. (2 of 4)
Overall
Another solid release from Pioner/Geneon with no major problems. Recommended. (3 of 4)
Released by Pioneer/Geneon
For this review I have purchased the entire box set.
Video Quality
Very nice quality overall. No ranbows and noise is very minor. The anime is presented in anamorphic widescreen as well. It's a very beatiful transfer, though its slightly blurry. My only other real complaint was that at a few parts where it fades to black, there would be a slight after image left over, as the entire screen didn't totally fade. It's not really a problem though. The telecine job is typical of tv series these days. (3 of 4)
Dub
I was quite surprised by this one. I watched the entire first disc dubbed, while showing the series to a friend, and nothing got on my nerves too badly. Many of the voices seemed to fit the characters quite well. (3 of 4)
Subtitles
Very nice, quality job for the most part. My only gripe is that they write Chii's name as "Chi". I suppose it does look better in English, and technically there isn't any one correct way to romanize the characters, but it just sort of rubs me the wrong way. (3 of 4)
Menu and Extras and Other
The main menu is nice and easy to navigate. The submenus are pretty bland though. Extras are fairly typical, we have clean openings and endings, as well as the original japanese animation of the opening and ending. Each disc also contains a (very tiny) image gallery. The final disc also contains a short special called "Chibits" as well as a larger production gallery containing about 50 images. Speaking of the final disc, I don't really like it. What they did, was they REMOVED the recap episodes from their correct spots throughout the series, and just put them all on the final disc. In a way, this is good, because it keeps thrifty people from having to buy episodes that just contain the same old stuff that they already saw. But on the other hand, they have modified the way that the show is supposed to be presented. As far as the box goes, it is very nice and has a nice smooth texture on the outside, with some pretty art on it. Its easy to get dirty and torn up though, and the discs fit in VERY snuggly, so you need to take extra care when inserting and removing a disc from it. (2 of 4)
Overall
Another solid release from Pioner/Geneon with no major problems. Recommended. (3 of 4)
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Zarxrax
- Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2001 6:37 pm
- Contact:
Akira Special Edition
Released by Pioneer/Geneon
Video Quality
Pioneer has done an absolutely excellant job of restoring this film! Compared to the original, this is like night and day. There are some issues with it, however. It is presented in anamorphic widescreen, and *mostly film*. Some sections of the disc are telecined and may require some deinterlacing if you rip the disc with force film enabled. The main problem with it though, is the grain. Theres more film grain here than you can shake a stick at. While it can look ok on normal movies, when it comes to anime it just makes me want to puke. I want solid, smooth colors, not colors that are dancing around like they just had ten cups of coffee! I have honestly never seen another anime DVD with this much grain added. All the noise makes this anime very difficult to compress, and requires quite a bit of filtering if you would want to use it in an AMV. (2 of 4)
Dub
Its ok. It has its problems, but its pretty decent. Nothing much to really say about it. (2 of 4)
Subtitles
The main dialogue is perfectly fine throughout the movie. The main problem comes from the signs. The sign translations are presented in the absolutely dumbest, stupidest manner I have ever witnessed. There is an option in the menu to turn on "capsules". With this enabled, when you watch the movie and get to a scene that has a sign that they translated, an image of a capsule will appear in the corner of the screen. Now if you want to see the translation of the sign, you have to press the "enter" key on your remote before the capsule disappears. Doing so will pause the video and place the translation on the screen. Why oh WHY could they not have simply put the signs on a standard subtitle stream? This makes no sense at all! (2 of 4)
Menu and Extras and Other
Right here we probably have the best aspect of this release. This 2-disc set contains more extras than you will probably even want to look at. The menus themselves contain some very impressive animation and are very slick, yet still easy to navigate. Among the extras include trailers, interviews with the creators, interviews with the people that did the restoration, and image galleries containing thousands of images. These extras WILL keep you busy for a while. (3.5 of 4)
Overall
A solid release from Pioneer/Geneon. Despite a few problems in some areas, it still manages to impress in other areas. (2.5 of 4)
Released by Pioneer/Geneon
Video Quality
Pioneer has done an absolutely excellant job of restoring this film! Compared to the original, this is like night and day. There are some issues with it, however. It is presented in anamorphic widescreen, and *mostly film*. Some sections of the disc are telecined and may require some deinterlacing if you rip the disc with force film enabled. The main problem with it though, is the grain. Theres more film grain here than you can shake a stick at. While it can look ok on normal movies, when it comes to anime it just makes me want to puke. I want solid, smooth colors, not colors that are dancing around like they just had ten cups of coffee! I have honestly never seen another anime DVD with this much grain added. All the noise makes this anime very difficult to compress, and requires quite a bit of filtering if you would want to use it in an AMV. (2 of 4)
Dub
Its ok. It has its problems, but its pretty decent. Nothing much to really say about it. (2 of 4)
Subtitles
The main dialogue is perfectly fine throughout the movie. The main problem comes from the signs. The sign translations are presented in the absolutely dumbest, stupidest manner I have ever witnessed. There is an option in the menu to turn on "capsules". With this enabled, when you watch the movie and get to a scene that has a sign that they translated, an image of a capsule will appear in the corner of the screen. Now if you want to see the translation of the sign, you have to press the "enter" key on your remote before the capsule disappears. Doing so will pause the video and place the translation on the screen. Why oh WHY could they not have simply put the signs on a standard subtitle stream? This makes no sense at all! (2 of 4)
Menu and Extras and Other
Right here we probably have the best aspect of this release. This 2-disc set contains more extras than you will probably even want to look at. The menus themselves contain some very impressive animation and are very slick, yet still easy to navigate. Among the extras include trailers, interviews with the creators, interviews with the people that did the restoration, and image galleries containing thousands of images. These extras WILL keep you busy for a while. (3.5 of 4)
Overall
A solid release from Pioneer/Geneon. Despite a few problems in some areas, it still manages to impress in other areas. (2.5 of 4)
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azulmagia
- Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2003 12:27 am
- Location: Canada
Why does everyone rank on ADV? You'd think they killed Jesus or something...Zarxrax wrote:A release plagued with problems. Azumanga is an excellant series though, and DESPITE the shoddy job that ADV has done once again, I can't help but to recommend it, as the anime is just so damn good. (1.5 of 4)
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Zarxrax
- Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2001 6:37 pm
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Revolutionary Girl Utena TV Series
Released by Software Sculptors
For this review I purchased the entire series as single discs.
Video Quality
Absolutely horrible. I mean, this is shit. Compression artifacts all over the place, rainbows, horible contrast and color saturation. Some parts of the video even contain subtitles hardsubbed into the video stream. Logos and such have been modified as well. (0 of 4)
Dub
Not too bad, but its not easy to listen to. (1.5 of 4)
Subtitles
Bad. From incorrect episode titles, to hardsubbed songs, to grammatical errors, to the fact that they can't decide whether to call this one character "Mickey" or "Miki", there are problems all throughout. (0.5 of 4)
Menu and Extras and Other
In this regard, things varied from disc to disc. The first 2 discs contained 6 or 7 episodes each, while the rest of the discs contained only 3 or 4. The first 2 discs also have different box art from the rest, making them look awkward in your collection. As far as extras, the first 2 discs don't really have anything. The next couple contain some simple stuff like image galleries and interviews with the dub voice actors, and finally the last disc contains a full length audio commentary. (2 of 4)
Overall
This is a bad release. (0.5 of 4)
Released by Software Sculptors
For this review I purchased the entire series as single discs.
Video Quality
Absolutely horrible. I mean, this is shit. Compression artifacts all over the place, rainbows, horible contrast and color saturation. Some parts of the video even contain subtitles hardsubbed into the video stream. Logos and such have been modified as well. (0 of 4)
Dub
Not too bad, but its not easy to listen to. (1.5 of 4)
Subtitles
Bad. From incorrect episode titles, to hardsubbed songs, to grammatical errors, to the fact that they can't decide whether to call this one character "Mickey" or "Miki", there are problems all throughout. (0.5 of 4)
Menu and Extras and Other
In this regard, things varied from disc to disc. The first 2 discs contained 6 or 7 episodes each, while the rest of the discs contained only 3 or 4. The first 2 discs also have different box art from the rest, making them look awkward in your collection. As far as extras, the first 2 discs don't really have anything. The next couple contain some simple stuff like image galleries and interviews with the dub voice actors, and finally the last disc contains a full length audio commentary. (2 of 4)
Overall
This is a bad release. (0.5 of 4)
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Mroni
- Joined: Tue Aug 14, 2001 5:08 pm
- Location: Heading for the 90s living in the 80s sitting in a back room waiting for the big boom
I own this being an azumanga fan and I coud not agree with your findings more. Why is it that any time a character has an osakan accent they feel a need to mimic that with a southern one? The two are nothing alike. In the manga they gave her a new jersey accent or new york that was good. Adv often screws up on the subtitles of their releases. The fact is they just dont care.
Mr Oni
Mr Oni
Purity is wackable!
"Don't trust me I'm over 40!"
"Don't trust me I'm over 40!"
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Zarxrax
- Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2001 6:37 pm
- Contact:
I listed my reasons. Did you not read it?azulmagia wrote:Why does everyone rank on ADV? You'd think they killed Jesus or something...Zarxrax wrote:A release plagued with problems. Azumanga is an excellant series though, and DESPITE the shoddy job that ADV has done once again, I can't help but to recommend it, as the anime is just so damn good. (1.5 of 4)
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Zarxrax
- Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2001 6:37 pm
- Contact:
Revolutionary Girl Utena The Movie
Released by Software Sculptors
Video Quality
We have an absolutely gorgeous transfer here, with no rainbows and very little noise. Minor compression artifacts only jump out at times of very intense motion. Its anamorphic as well! The downside is that its not a film transfer, but instead its telecined. (3 of 4)
Dub quality
Its not *terrible* but it was sort of painful to listen to. (1.5 of 4)
Subtitles
Very nice. No major problems here! (3.5 of 4)
Menu and Extras and Other
The menu itself isn't very good. While all the options are easy to find and navigate to, you have to watch an 18 second animation before any of the items on the main menu even appear! Thankfully, the submenus are all quite simple. The ammount of extras is pretty impressive. There are trailers, interviews, fan art, and evan a full length commentary track from the director (which I really loved)! (2.5 of 4)
Overall
A pretty nice release that really shows what Software Sculptors is capable of if they really try. (2.5 of 4)
Released by Software Sculptors
Video Quality
We have an absolutely gorgeous transfer here, with no rainbows and very little noise. Minor compression artifacts only jump out at times of very intense motion. Its anamorphic as well! The downside is that its not a film transfer, but instead its telecined. (3 of 4)
Dub quality
Its not *terrible* but it was sort of painful to listen to. (1.5 of 4)
Subtitles
Very nice. No major problems here! (3.5 of 4)
Menu and Extras and Other
The menu itself isn't very good. While all the options are easy to find and navigate to, you have to watch an 18 second animation before any of the items on the main menu even appear! Thankfully, the submenus are all quite simple. The ammount of extras is pretty impressive. There are trailers, interviews, fan art, and evan a full length commentary track from the director (which I really loved)! (2.5 of 4)
Overall
A pretty nice release that really shows what Software Sculptors is capable of if they really try. (2.5 of 4)
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azulmagia
- Joined: Sat Aug 02, 2003 12:27 am
- Location: Canada
Yeah, I read it.Zarxrax wrote:I listed my reasons. Did you not read it?azulmagia wrote:Why does everyone rank on ADV? You'd think they killed Jesus or something...Zarxrax wrote:A release plagued with problems. Azumanga is an excellant series though, and DESPITE the shoddy job that ADV has done once again, I can't help but to recommend it, as the anime is just so damn good. (1.5 of 4)
I'm not really an Azumanga Daioh fan however.*reads Utena review*
Oh God No
Ganeshaseal | Gaia Online |The Shoujo-Ai Heavens is gone again!
My First AMV: Ai Tenshi Ain't Goin Out Like That
My First AMV: Ai Tenshi Ain't Goin Out Like That