Number Of Disc(s): 1

Review Done By: Guardian Inferno

A Time of Need...

The group seems to have a disbanded. BT doesn't log on much; neither does Subaru. Subaru, however, has been spending a lot of time with Tsukasa. When all the players meet on a field & renew their quest for the Key of the Twilight, BT informs both Sora & the Silver Knight of this new development.

Tsukasa takes Subaru to see the sleeping girl, but she's gone. Later, the entity extracts her revenge for Tsukasa's mistake.

Bear realizes that the man in the upside-down castle was Harald Hoerwick, creator of The World, & that he holds the key to this mystery. But they'll need some powerful assistance to find him again, so they contact Helba.

Now, the final battle is dawning, & each of the party members must decide whether they should fight or not. In the end, they all agree. They only one missing now is Tsukasa.

From the same all-star team that created the video game: Toshiyuki Sadamoto (Evangelion), Kazunori Ito (Ghost In The Shell), & Koichi Mashimo (Noir).

Now, things are getting more crazier, but closer to solving the mystery of The World, for Tsukasa & maybe to the Key of the Twilight. Not only that, you get to see Helba again & a very cool & powerful character that was mention before. She is a hacker, a very good one. Also, the entity, the voice that speaks to Tsukasa, is getting really angry as her plans isn't going as she is hope to be. Subaru is getting more open up & exploring her role in The World. You also get to know a little more about her, as well Silver Knight learns something from an old friend, Crim, about what The World should be played. However, I do enjoy one scene, on the last episode on this DVD, getting ready for battle. Make you feel you want to cheer them on!

Again, Bandai Entertainment did a very great job. I found no problem, the image are clear & the color looks perfect. To top things off, the series is feature on Widescreen format. If you got a Widescreen TV, you're going to enjoy this even more. Each episodes are separated into 5 parts: the introduction, part A, part B, the ending & the preview for the next episode! The episodes are on different tracks, so when moving to the next episode, there will be a small loading time. Oh, at the end, after watching all of the episodes, you will see an English cast version of the ending credits, which is pretty cool. 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.

Like before, the English dubbing is well done. It's about 85% of the original Japanese.

No problem found.

No problem found.

Bandai Entertainment have selected a great font, very easy to read. They use green for the introduction & ending themes, the rest is yellow & white for Japanese signs & text. It's pretty cool that the ending theme for both the English translated lyrics (in green), as well the original Japanese lyrics (in white). There are two tracks of subtitling. One track is for the sign subtitling & the other one is for the Japanese dialogue. However, at the last episode on this DVD, there is a song that doesn't have subtitled lyric at all. I guess they forgot or didn't bother putting one.

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. Another change to the menu, yet another part of The World, with a gate spining with some clips from the episodes from this volume. The same function still exist, it still hold the "Play All", "Episodes", "Setup" & "Extras". The main theme is playing in the main menu in the background. The other section plays the original background music soundtracks.

As before, you get the standard isolated score audio track, the series with no sound effects or voices, just the background music. The character gallery are designs of monsters of the The World, as well some items from previous episodes. Also, you will see another original Japanese commercial for the series, number three. That's about it. This volume got a little less extras this time.

Yet, keeping the same style, but a blue background now. On the cover, you see Helba & "Balmung of the Azure Sky" in the back. I still have no idea why they call it the "Platinum Edition". In the back, there is a design of hexagone with screenshots. The insert have the same picture as the cover. It also have a list of the cast & staff & inside, a list of all the servers of The World. On the DVD disc, it's just Helba, but in a red computer circuit background. Oh, I want to know something, I think all of you fans did something, Bandai Entertainment stop using those cheap cases as I mention on the other volumes. Goodies!

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, there will be a small loading time 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.

The series is almost at its end. If you got this far, keep going & find out what happen.

27" Citizen JCTV2704 Stereo TV, LG-530 DVD Player, S-Video connection for video with regular stereo cable connection for audio.

Model LG 16x DVD-ROM, on a P3-933Mhz, 512 MB RAM, ATI Redeon 8500 128MB Video Card, ASUS CUSL2-C Motherboard & Sound Blaster Live v5.1, Dell 19' LCD E193FP monitor, Windows XP Professional SP2 & CyberLink PowerDVD v6.0 Deluxe using CyberLink PowerRemote.