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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to ADV Films for sending a copy for a review for this site. I love this series, great fun, cool battle scenes & awesome music to match, especially the battle music & the pratice music, both of them are my favorites! They make you want to play Angelic Layer! I really like it out the series blend in the ending theme with the end of the episode. You sure want to see what happen next! This isn't the typical fighting game you play, either on your game console or even your PC. This is actually fight using custom-made dolls, called Angels, that moves with your own thoughts! It's a high-tech Barbie butt-kicking doll! This is the story about a young girl, Misaki Suzuhara, just moved to the big city of Tokyo. When she got there, the first thing she saw is an cool battle with one of the best players in the field of Angelic Layer! That's what got her started, with a little help from a mysterious guy who is willing to help her out! She makes friends quickly & they are also fans of Angelic Layer. She makes her own Angel named Hikaru & somehow, she got natural talents playing it & she gets better & better with each battle & her determination to do her best grows, while getting use to living in a big city.
Video:
ADV Films did a very great job. I found no problem, the image are clear & the color looks perfect. The episodes are on a different track, so there will be a small loading time when you move on to the next episode. Each episodes are separated into 6 parts: the prologue, the introduction, part A, part B, ending & the preview for the next episode! I do note that you can skip all those warnings & logos when you first load the DVD by just pressing the "Menu" button on your remote control.
Dubbing: English:
The dubbing is really great. The voice for Misaka is picked quite well & it suit her role, as well as the other characters. It's about 90% of the original Japanese.
Audio 01: English 5.1:
Unable to test it, since I don't have a 5.1 surround system, I can't really say much.
Audio XX: English 2.0:
Just letting you know, there isn't an English 2.0 audio track on this DVD. This is artificially made from the 5.1 audio track, that's why I noted it as "XX". I found no problem with the audio, but I bet it would be alot more interesting with the 5.1.
Audio 02: Japanese 2.0:
No problem found.
Subtitle:
ADV Films have selected a great font, very easy to read. They use yellow for the introduction, ending themes & the Japanese dialogue & white for Japanese signs & text. There are two tracks of subtitling. One track is for the sign subtitling & the other one is for the Japanese dialogue. I might note that every odd numbered episodes, the intro & ending subtitles are in English, while the even numbered episodes are in Japanese on this volume.
Menu Option:
The menu is really simple. There isn't much cool animations or effects, just red background with the Angelic Layer welcoming symbol moving around, which you will see during the beginning of the Angelic Layer tournement. There isn't a "Play All" feature, just a selection of one of the 4 episodes, "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". The little cursor for selecting in the menu is pretty cute, a blue Angelic Layer egg with wings symbol. The background music is my favorite music in the series, it's the battle music!
DVD Extras:
Well, nothing much extras, just a non-credit opening & ending. The best part of the extra is the audio commentary for EPS 01, with Jessica Boone (Misaki) & Andy McAvin (Icchan). Just a little warning for all of you folks, I do suggest not to listen to the commentary, because they accidently mention something about the series that you won't see & discovered until on. Man, it ruined the fun!
Packaging:
The package is really colorful. On the cover, you see Misaki & her Angel, Hikaru, as well, Kotaro & her Angel, Suzuka, which is really cool! In the back, you get some screenshots & there is a really cool background, mostly Angelic Layer theme designs! Yup, there is even two screenshots of the main menu. The insert is really cool, though there is no chapter list that you usually get, but it's just a mini-poster straight of the bat, which is really cool, it got all the characters on it. Inside the insert, you get the profiles of Misaki & her Angel, Hikaru, as well, Kotaro & her Angel, Suzuka. The DVD disc itself it's the Angelic Layer welcoming symbol, but a colorful version. It suits quite will with the white DVD case.
PC Viewing:
Watching it on the PC is the same as watching it on the TV. Very clean, no problem at all, very little pixel (little squares popping in & out), both normal mode & full screen mode. The sound is just great. Since the episodes are on different tracks, it will take time to load when you move on to the next episode. Like on your regular DVD player, you can skip the warnings & logos when you load the disc, just use the "menu" option to go to the menu screen.
Overall DVD Rating:
Don't you wish you want to play Angelic Layer? It looks like fun, does it? Well, too bad, but this series is awesome! If it's your first time watching this series, you can get a little excited! Let's have an Angelic Fight!
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