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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. The series is place in a world that flying in the way of life. It's a mix of CGI along with traditional aniamtion. The design of those planes, called the Vanships, are magnificent to the eyes. You go straight to the action right off the first episode, as a powerful ship goes in battle with an unknown enemy hurling in in a raging storm. Then, you will meet our young heroes, Claus & Lavie, as they starts off their daily job There is also a classical chivalry-style battle, fighting with honor, tradition & for their country, except that it is place aerial style! I think Lavis kinda sums it up what she thinks about chivalry. Then, it's the day where Claus & Lavie are entering into a town race. They are both pumped up to be the winner, until a little accident & ends up taking a job, unaware that they are flying up to an adventure of their life time fill with danger & excitement. Claus & Lavis have to learn to be strong, having courage to complete their task, bring Alvis to the Silvana, the mysterious powerful ship before it's too late. A little note, the music is pretty cool.
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). 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.
Dubbing: English:
The English dubbing is well done. The voices really suit the characters. I don't know who doing the voice that read the title reading at the beginning of each episode, but it got it exactly as the Japanese reading. There is some minor changes of the translation, but it kept the same impact & meaning. I think Lavie's comments about chivalry might be different in the Japanese, the dubbed version really hit it dead on. It's about 80% of the original Japanese.
Audio 01: English 2.0:
No problem found. I just want to note that this series should get a 5.1 audio track. It's just too good to get a standard 2.0 audio track.
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 for the dialogue. However, I don't know why, there is only one subtitling track, which is for the Japanese dialogue. I guess there is no need for Japanese translations for signs & text. However, you won't get any subtitle for the introduction or ending theme, except if you turn it on. I might note that every odd numbered episodes, the intro & ending subtitles are in English, while the even numbered episodes are in Japanese 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. The menu is made from the side of a Vanship. Selecting any options will move it to another part of the Vanship in a quick dash effect. You can also see a little clip in the middle, reflecting the episodes on this volume. There is the "Play All", "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". The background music is the introduction theme on the main menu, however, the other parts have no background music.
DVD Extras:
You have the original Japanese opening, as well the non-credit opening. Also, there is the original promotion trailer, as well an art gallery with Claus; Lavie, Alvis, other characters & most of the Vanships you see in this volume. The best part of all is the staff interview with Mahiro Maeda, who explains & show us our this series came to be. It's like a behind-the-scene & the making of Last Exile.
Packaging:
I really like the packaging. I don't know how it called the translucent packaging (it's shines in light), but it's really cool. It's like collecting those special rare cards. A warning though, do not get it wet. It will damaged it. In the front, you see how two young hero, Claus & Lavie, flying their Vanship. In the back, the background is a shot of a battle screen. There is also three screenshots as well. The insert got the chapter listing, as well another cute picture of Claus & Lavie. Inside the insert, you have the specification of Claus & Lavie's Vanship, where are the important parts & details. The only thing I really didn't like is the DVD disc cover, just a plain fuzzy cover, with a Vanship logo in red. You can barely see the title on it! Since the DVD case is clear, you get to see a sky with clouds background, reflecting what's this series is about.
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 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! The only thing annoying is the menu option. You have to click on the little arrow to make the selection, instead of the word, for example, "Play". 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 think this series is relaly cool & it's a must have. This series brings aerial battles to the next level! Though, you might not know what's going on this volume, but it's what makes it exciting to continued on & see what happen.
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