|
Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Central Park Media for sending a copy for a review for this site. Boy, it's been a while that I have taken the time to look back to this heart touching Anime movie. This was one of my first Anime reviews that I have done & now, after all this time, I finally able return back to give a full review of the final release, as I only got the pre-release copy. Again, I find this movie very touching & you get to see a whole new picture how the peoples of Japan have suffered during the end of the World War II, especially the young ones & the children. It brings a different point of view, the innocents. Though, the movie never mention how the war started, but it tells the views of the Japanese peoples during WW2, to the fire bombings to how their survive. You will see the story of two abandon children, a older brother Seita & his four years old sister Setsuko, fight for survival after losing everything their had & trying to keep their hopes up that things will get better. You can feel the love their share, feelings of sorrow & hope, the hardship they go through & the heart breaking pain of losing someone you love & treasure. Even after watching it again, I cried all the way to the end. It really touch your heart. Sometimes, you actually want to slap peoples behind their head for not caring, especially to a sick child. Humanity can be so cruel to one to another. No one should go through those kinda of pain. We all know that war is a bad thing & hope it will never happen again. There is no winner in war, only suffering of the innocents.
Video:
Central Park Media have fully restored this movie from it's original release in 1988 & release it as a "Collector's Edition", a two disc special. This is my first time I saw this movie & the restored version was incredible, even for its aged. The animation is done very well & it seem that it just been made. The only thing I dislike is the logo twice (one in the beginning, the other right before the movie). I think once is enough. There is no watermark done, so everything is as it is, down to the original Japanese credit at the end. However, you will get the English credit after the Japanese credit. To top things off, the movie is feature on Widescreen format. If you got a Widescreen TV, you're going to enjoy this even more. I do note that you can't really skip the warnings & logos in the beginning using the "Menu" button on your remote, so you need to wait for a bit.
Dubbing: English:
The dubbing is really great. It even match up with the original Japanese cast. They kept all the emotional moments throughout the movie, the pain, the sadness to even the little happy moments they have together. It's about 80% of the original Japanese.
Audio 01: English 2.0:
No problem found.
Audio 02: Japanese 2.0:
No problem found.
Subtitle:
Central Park Media have selected a great font, very easy to read. They use yellow for the Japanese dialogue. However, there is only one subtitle track, for the Japanese dialogue. There isn't any subtitle for any Japanese text you might encounter in this movie. One track is for the sign subtitling & the other one is for the Japanese dialogue.
Menu Option:
The menu is also in widescreen format, but if got just a regular full screen TV, it will display in that format with no problem. There isn't much animation is used, so it's simple. Seita & his four years old sister Setsuko surrounded by fireflies with clips from the movie, moments together. There is "Play", "Screen Selection" & "Setup". There is also a selection that you can see the original storyboard, too, instead of the movie. There is no special animation when you hit the "Play". The background music used is the ending theme, which is very sweet & heartfelt. The other section don't have any background music.
DVD Extras:
For this special collector's edition, all the extras are on the second disc. However, there is an extra built in on the main disc, which is the storyboard of the entire movie. You can either selected it in the menu or use your Angle function during the movie to switch. Now, no the second disc, there are tons of extras to in-depth views of this heartwarming movie. There is a full interview with Roger Ebert, one of the top acclaimed critics of movies giving his views & opinions. There is even interview of the creators of this movies & his experiences during WW2 that reflects into this movie. Lots more, to even before & after photos of locations, explaining what have happen to a historical commentary.
Packaging:
It's a new design packaging just for the special collector's edition. On the cover, you see Seita & his four years old sister Setsuko with their hometown burned to the ground with fireflies around them, reflecting what's the movie is going to be. In the back, there is some screenshots & a cute Setsuko. Central Park Media traditionally doesn't have any insert included, except for an ad for other DVDs their release. On the DVD disc itself, the main disc has the same picture as the cover, while the bonus disc have Seita Setsuko going to the forest. Since the DVD case is a clear one, there is lots of information right on the back, chapter listing, cast listing with a few screenshots. No color though, all grey scale.
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 movie is place on one single track, so loading time is really small. You can fast forward to the beginning to the end with one move on your mouse! Like on your regular DVD player, you can't skip the warnings & logos when you load the disc, just use the "menu" option to go to the menu screen, so you need to wait for a bit.
Overall DVD Rating:
This is a great movie, watch it with someone you love or who is close to you. This movie will touch your heart & don't forget to bring tissues, you're gonna need it.
| 
