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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. Well, this is the final volume for this short pace, but wonderful Anime series. As the title says it, it's the "Day of Flight" for someone from Old Home. Though, it's a giveaway. After Rakka overcome her sin, she found a job working at the Haibane Temple & she is getting used to it. However, she senses something is wrong with Reki as she started to think about what is going on. So, she decided to help Reki achieve her "Day of Flight", no matter what the cost. These last episodes will be reflected on that. It's really cool that you finally able to know the meaning what those strange sign language that the Toga used, along a little more about Abandoned Factory & the reasons why the Haibanes from there don't get along with Reki. The Passing of the Year Festival is coming & it's the time to say thanks for those who cares by giving Bell Nut. It's really cute, you get to meet all the peoples you seen throughout the series one last time, sometimes really sweet. At last, Reki's time is almost up & lock herself up. Rakka is doing her best to help her. It's a shock to see Reki's dark side. Oh, you're gonna feel you want to slap her, but you can't really do anything. At the end, it will bring you tears to your eyes, relief that all things will work out & I find it really sweet the epilogueat the end. I still think the music is the best.
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). Here are the last three episodes on this volume. 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. Before you do that, check out the new logo of "Geneon"!
Dubbing: English:
The dubbing is really well done, they suit the characters & they kept the expression just like the original Japanese. They also did well capturing the dark & cold side of Reki. 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. On this volume, the menu is different, less green, not yellowish, more colorful with a view looking down at the town. There is a moving Halo right in the middle. The background music also changed, playing yet another soft classical piano tune. 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 special ending with many of Reki's painting with a new ending theme song, which is very relaxing. I don't know what it's not used for the last episode of the series as well, but it has been watermarked as the credit is in English. The interview with the creators of this series about how this series came to be. There is actually two galleries. One is the same as the other volume, more arts to see in the gallery with various drawing within the three episodes on this DVD. The second one is the original script cover drawing from Japan.
Packaging:
Keeping the same style as before, the color theme of green remains. On the cover, you see Reki with a sad look & Nemu trying to help her. Again, the cover looks 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. You can also noticed the new logo "Geneon" along side with the old "Pioneer" name. 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 the Rakka. 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:
Wow, I didn't know that Reki have a dark side. Finally all things have to come to an end & what an ending it is. It got pretty much everything, meeting all the peoples throughout the series & an happy ending.
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