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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. I should always take this advice, "Never judge a book by it covers". I though this might be another boring Anime. I was wrong. I find this Anime series pack with action with cool effects, mixing 3D computer animation. I love it when you see what Android J sees, as he scans his environments. I call it the "Terminator Scan" style! This Anime is a detective series. There are mobs, serial bombers, dealers & all type of problems that comes living in a large & over-populared city. The hero, Daisuke, is young, but don't judge his age, he is pretty smart & understanding. You should check out his bike! I feel pity for his lack of ammos, but his partner always save his butt. It's all the fun.
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. Each episodes are separated into 6 parts: the prologue, the introduction, part A, part B, ending & the preview for the next episode! 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. One more thing, when you load the DVD, Android J even reads the FBI warning out to you. For the first time, I actually enjoy watching the FBI warning.
Dubbing: English:
The English dubbing is well done. The cast they pick really suits the characters. They have adapted quite well, especially with Android J. 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:
Geneon 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. 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 even numbered episodes, the intro & ending subtitles are in English, while the odd numbered episodes are in Japanese original text on this volume! However, on the English track for the Japanese text & signs, it's missing the subtitling for the introduction & ending themes. You need to switch on the other subtiling track to get it.
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. It's very simple & clean, the menu design is using Android J scaning system, but if you look closely, you can see some screens from the episodes in this volume. Pretty cool. There is the "Play", "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". Selecting any options will make Android J interface to process the command, which is really cool. The background music is one of the music you will hear during the series.
DVD Extras:
For some reason, it's not mention on the DVD packaging itself, but it does have one extra feature on this DVD. It's just some conceptual arts of different characters, building, various items & all that. That's pretty much it.
Packaging:
The package is really cool, metallic hologram type packaging. It's almost you're collecting trading cards. On the cover, you get to see Android J. In the back, you get to see Daisuke, along with three screenshots. Though, it would be nice that they note that this DVD do have extras. The insert have a list of the episodes, as well as more screenshots for each of them. Inside the insert, there is a mini-poster, it's the same image as the cover. Since the DVD case is a clear one, you can see a picture behind the cover, original artwork of Android J in a red background. On the DVD disc itself, it's the same image as the cover, but in black & red.
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. There is just one thing that bugs me, you have to click on the little square to select in the menu, not the word! All the episodes is 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:
I find this series very cool & if you like detective type Anime, this is for you.
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