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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. We're back again, after my favorite character Takamura won the Japan title. Well, this time with Ippo next match up against, well, the low-life that I'm sure you don't like him, Hayami. He trains hard & try to figure out how to defend himself againest Hayami's weapon, the shotgun. Thanks goodness that Aoki & Kimura is willing to help him out. Ippo was able to figure out a solution to the problem & it's on with the match. It's sure pretty intense, as Ippo have his promise to keep with Miyata. On the other side of things, we get to see, well, I guess we figure out before, it's Miyata & Mashiba. Mashiba is sure is scary. With both boxers out to win, the shocking match between them will determined who will go up with Ippo. I'm not going to tell you, you need to watch it! Yet again, this series will go behind the boxer story on how each players find their drives to boxed. Plus, you will get to know something about that mysterious girl that gets Ippo all excited.
Video:
Geneon Entertainment did a very great job. They have taken the time to do it right. I found no problem, the image are clear & the color looks perfect. There is some watermarks done for the introduction & ending credits (they are translated in English). Each episodes are separated into 5 parts: the introduction, part A, part B, ending & the preview for the next episode! Since all the episodes are on one single track on the DVD, there is no loading time or changing tracks when you move on to the next episode. I do note that you can skip the warnings & logos in the beginning using the "Menu" button on your remote.
Dubbing: English:
I find the dubbing very well. I have so much fun with the cast & it suit each character very well. The cast is very well picked & play their roles very well. The subtitle for the Japanese track mention it, but not on the Englush dubbing. It's about 80% of the original Japanese.
Dubbing: Spanish:
I find it strange that there is the original Spanish audio version for this series. Honestly, I don't even understand Spanish, but I did take a listen & it actually pretty good. I got no idea how close to the original Japanese, but consider this audio track as an extra bonus!
Audio 01: English 2.0:
No problem found.
Audio 02: Japanese 2.0:
No problem found.
Audio 03: Spanish 2.0:
No problem found.
Subtitle:
Geneon Entertainment have selected a great font, easy to read. They use green for the introduction & ending themes, white for any text subtitling & yellow for the dialogues. 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 original text on this volume. There is one little thing I didn't like, I find that the subtitling is a little too much during the introduction theme. At some part of the song, the subtitle fills up half the screen.
Menu Option:
The way the menu is set up remains the same, starting off with another clip, but from the episodes on this volume. This time, it's from EPS20 then when Ippo punched, the menu appears. It might be a little spoiler if you haven't seen the series before & I find it a little too long, but it's not that bad. There is the "Play All", "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". The little cursor for selecting in the menu is pretty cute, a little boxing glove. One of the series background music is playing in the menu screen. However, it's only for the main menu, there is no music playing in the other sections.
DVD Extras:
Well, nothing else then the Spanish credits, yet again.
Packaging:
The design remains the same. On the cover, you see Miyata & Mashiba with the mysterious girl (you will find out who she is when you watch the episodes). In the back, there is screenshots from the episodes in this volume with a boxing ring as a background. Strange, the word "semi-final" is missing a dash. The insert is pretty simple. You get the episode list with the chapter listing, along with the same image as the cover. Inside the insert is also the same image as the cover, but with the original Japanese title logo. On the DVD disc itself, it's a close up of Miyata, taken the cover. I think that image is being used too much.
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. The only thing that bugs me is on the menu screen. The episodes are place on one single track as you play the episodes, so loading time is really small. You can fast forward to the first episode to the last episode with one move on your mouse! The only thing annoying is the menu option. You have to click on the boxing glove icon to make the selection, instead of the word, for example, "Play". 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:
It's fun to see the fight between Ippo & Hayami, which you all know how everyone feels about a guy that showed off & get attention with all that girls. It's pretty sweet. The match between Miyata & Mashiba is quite a shocker. Now, you got to see it to believe it.
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