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Feature Presentation:
I heard about this in one of my e-mail & it seem quite interesting, so I decided to pick myself a copy & wow, this is an awesome Anime movie. I have to watch it twice to get the idea what's going on. In Tokyo, it's a battle ground between two dimensions, one is ours, the human world, the other is the spirits, including demons, clash together. In some instant of time, these battles goes in the realms of the human world & it appears such as ghosts, myths & even superstitions. It's been incurring more & more often. The balance between the human world & the spirits word has been thrown off. The actions starts off right at the beginning, between two Karas, which one is a former Karas, Eko, who is out to seek power & being order by force. Karas are guardians of humanity. As the battle wages on, peoples seem to be disappearing & even unexplained death has occurred all around Tokyo. Demons seem to take forms of machines. On another note, it's a mix of both standard 2D animation with 3D graphics, which I must say, it really blends in as it is one together. I love the battle scenes, the music really starts you up. I do want to note that there is a bit of blood & gore.
Video:
Manga Entertainment did a very great job. I found no problem, the image are clear & the color looks perfect. There isn't any watermarked done, except for the ending credits. Also, it might be a bit annoying to see another logo right before the movie. I do note that you can't skip all those warnings & logos when you first load the DVD by just pressing the "Menu" button on your remote control, so you have to wait until the menu is loaded.
Dubbing: English:
The English dubbing is well done. The fun part of it, the cast included famous actors. I love the voices for Yurine, especially when she starts the countdown for Karas, getting ready for battle. It's about 85% of the original Japanese.
Audio 01: English 5.1:
Unable to test it, since I don't have a 5.1 surround system, I can't really say much.
Audio 02: English 2.0:
No problem found.
Audio 03: Japanese 5.1:
Unable to test it, since I don't have a 5.1 surround system, I can't really say much.
Audio 04: Japanese 2.0:
No problem found.
Subtitle:
Manga Entertainment have selected a great font, easy to read, though quite bold. Every subtitle is using the color is beige, which isn't so bad. There are two tracks of subtitling. 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. It loads up when Karas transformed into their armor, then the symbol of Karas appears as the menu. There is the "Play", "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". Selecting any of the options, you can see a various of cut screen, to Karas doing some awesome moves to effects you see throughout the movie. I'm not sure where the background music is playing on the menu is from, it must be one of the battle music. The other section, some have background music, others do not.
DVD Extras:
For an awesome feature, it got to have extras to match. Here you get to see the making of the movie, along with commentary on the cast & crew. There is the original trailers & TV spots, along with a comparison between the final CGI to the templates that was used.
Packaging:
The packages seem to be, well, dark. On the cover, you see Karas with his sword. In the back, you see a group shot of all the characters, along with a full armored Karas. There is no insert, but there is a small manga included. On the DVD disc itself, the same full armored Karas on a black background.
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 as you play the movie, 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, so you got to wait until the menu is loaded.
Overall DVD Rating:
I got a copy randomly & it was well worth it. Exciting battle scenes that will make you drool, along with cool effects make you want to see more. However, the ending of this movie ends with a cliff hanger, so it means there will be another one coming out shortly. Hopefully, it will be soon.
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