|
Feature Presentation:
Finally, for all you fans you haven't seen this hiralous much of sci-fi action with a twist of comedy, the entire Full Metal Panic series has arrived in a complete box set, all 26 episodes, all nicely pack into one little box! As a summary, Kaname Chidori seem to be a normal average student, but she is in fact have hidden powers of "the Whispered". A group of terrorists is out to get her & here comes Sousuke Sagara, on assignment to be her protector & bodyguard. However, he isn't use to a civilian life & started to mess things up in the calm life of Kaname. In & out of danger, even to regular days in school, this series is a blast to watch. High flying action with cool mechas, along with a little comedy moments that seem to be so sweet.
Video:
There isn't anything special, this release of this box set remains the same as the first time release of this series as individual volumes. However, if you haven't seen the entire seriesyet, until half way through the series, the Japanese credits was translated to English in the introduction & ending, then left it out to the original Japanese credit at the end. They did left the Japanese texts intact in the episodes throughout the series. 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 5 parts: introduction, part A, part B, ending & the preview for the next episode, except for the first episode, since you got prologue! 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. Loveable characters & I finally got use to the voices that I didn't like so much before. By the way, you get a little audio clip on the FBI warning about copyrights, done with different characters (even the villains) from the series, so don't you skip it, it's pretty funny to watch the FBI warning. It's about 85% 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 02: English 2.0:
No problem found.
Audio 03: 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. Oh, just a little note, it might be me, but in a few spots, the Japanese subtitling track, some liness don't seem to fix on the screen.
Menu Option:
Since this release is just the combonation of all the volumes, the menu remains the same. The menu has a little animation & a cool special effect. It's like you're moving in a high-tech machine. There isn't a "Play All" feature, just a selection of one of the 4 episodes, "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". Any selections you will make the menu move mechanically as it changes. The background music is one of the background music during the series, I'm not sure which one. The extra section same music as the menu, but the the others are just sound effects.
DVD Extras:
Again, the extras varies from disc to disc, depending on the volumes.
Packaging:
With this new release of a box set comes with a new design, well, almost. Everything remains the same as their first release, to the covers to the DVD discs themselves, but the only thing different that theya re fitted in the slim DVD cases. Also, it's missing the cool inserts with all the information. However, it comes with a solid box to hold the entire series in, matching up the design.
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:
It's true, once you get into this series, it's hard to get out of it! I couldn't stop watching it until the end! I think this is a very good series & you should check it out.
| 
