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DVD Feature:
  • Audio 01: English 2.0
  • Audio 02: Japanese 2.0
  • Subtitle: English
  • Format: 16:9 (Widescreen)
  • Region: 01 (North America)

DVD Information:
  • Age Rating: 13+
  • Length: Approx. 75 min.
  • Class Type: Fantasy
  • DVD Label: 12047
  • Publisher: Geneon Entertainment
  • Retail Price: 29.98$US
  • Release Date: 28/12/2003
  • Review Date: 10/12/2003
  • Review Last Update: 10/10/2004

DVD Extras:
  • Previews for EPS 06-08
  • Non-Credit Ending
  • TV Commercial 01
  • TV Commercial 02
  • Art Gallery
Number Of Disc(s): 1
Review Done By: Guardian Inferno

Introduction:
Wings Of Sorrow

Rakka works with Nemu at the library to find her place in life & renews her curiosity about the outside world. Kuu, a younger Haibane who is normally bright & cheerful, helps Rakka to find her place in the Old Home, but then becomes a desperate search when Kuu goes missing 0 is this related to the "Day of Flight"? Overwhelmed with sadness, Rakka is further shocked by a revelation about Reki's past.

Contains Episodes:
  • Episode 05: Library, Abandoned Factory, The Beginning of the World
  • Episode 06: End of Summer, Rain, Loss
  • Episode 07: Scar, Illiness, Arrival of Winter

Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. The story continues for our group of Haibane, the angel-like beings that lives with humans. From the previous volume, Rakka is trying to find her place & went to work with the other Haibanes from Old Home. Rakka is now working with Nemu at the library. I find it really sweet that episode, especailly the little story at the end. You get to see Rakka & Kuu getting closer together & being good friends, but something is wrong. Kuu is acting strange & Rakka noticed that her halo is fading. I find it so sad. I'm not going to spoil it, so you got to watch what happen. Also, you get to know a little more about Reki & a little of her past, as well other Haibane other from the ones from Old Home.

Video:
Geneon 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. There is some watermarks done for the introduction & ending credits (they are translated in English). There is only three episodes on this volume, so one less then the previous. Each episode are split into 4 parts, introduction, part A, part B & ending. There is no preview for the next episode. Also, on some episode, you might have a little epilogue right before the introduction, but intergraded to it. 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 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 well done, they suit the characters & they kept the expression just like the original Japanese. It's about 85% of the original Japanese.

Audio 01: English 2.0:
No problem found.

Audio 02: Japanese 2.0:
No problem found.

Subtitle:
Keeping the same type of font, Geneon Entertainment have selected a great font, a bold one, very easy to read. They use green for the ending theme, the rest is yellow & 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 on this volume, every odd numbered episodes, the ending subtitles are in English, while the even numbered episodes are in Japanese original text on this volume.

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 is a moving Halo right in the middle. The menu is the same as the first volume, just the background music is change to another piano tune, another one from the series. There is the "Play All", "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". When you selected any options, the menu makes you fly in the clouds at high speed, which is really cool. Though, there is no background music in the other part of the menu, except the main one. The icons used for the selected options is the Haibane-Renmei logo, which is really cute.

DVD Extras:
As before, Geneon Entertainment put the previews of each episodes in this volume in the extra section. I wonder why they didn't kept it during the featurette. They could put it right after each episodes when it's over. The preview isn't dubbed at all, it's only in Japanese with subtitle. There is also a non-credited ending & two original Japanese TV commerials. There is more arts to see in the gallery with various drawing of mostly items within the three episodes on this DVD.

Packaging:
Keeping the same style as before, the color theme of green remains, but a little lighter. On the cover, you see Rakka & Kuu, but it's more of an artwork, like a painting, then an actual picture take off the animation. In the back, you got some screenshots with a green background with a fading halo hidden. The insert is pretty simple, it's the same image used as the front cove. It also got the chapter list. Inside the insert got another beautiful artwork of various parts of the episodes on this DVD. The DVD disc itself is another same image of the cover, but tainted in greenish color. Since the DVD case is a clear one, you can see another image, again, the same as the front cover, tainted also in greenish color. Boy, over using that image I say!

PC Viewing:
Watching it on the PC is the same as watching it on the TV. However, I don't know, it seem to be there is a slight problem viewing it, is it blurry or it's just me? Anyways, the sound is just great. 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! 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:
Even though there is one less episode count, it's still good to watch. The episode with Nemu & Rakka is really sweet. Though, I find it sad.

Feature Presentation: Now, a little more open up, there is a sad bit.
Video (Images) I love the widescreen feature. Crisps & clear! No problem found.
Dubbing: English Dubbing is great! Kept the expression really well.
Audio 01: English 2.0 No problem found.
Audio 02: Japanese 2.0 No problem found.
Subtitle: English Easy reading, two options of subtitling.
Menu Option: It got cute little logo! The music is different, but still nice!
DVD Extras: I find the preview episodes should be place in the feature presentation!
Packaging: Green, all green! Over used the same image!
PC Viewing: Easy to view, clean, no problem!
Overall DVD Rating: I love the story that Nemu & Rakka worked on!

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Price Check:

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

Home Computer Viewing:
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.