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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. I have heard this title of this Anime from a Manga that I read a long time ago & it was quite a story. From the creators of Ranma, Rumiko Takahashi presents the Anime version of Mermaid Forest. Yup, it's about mermaids, which is half human of a female with a tail of a fish, but this isn't the typicial mermaids that you hear & read around. The only thing that was kept that they are always mysterious. Legends has it that eating mermaid flesh will grant you immortality. Here is a story of Yuta & his journey to find a mermaid. You see, Yuta isn't really normal, he is actually over a few hundren years old. That's right, he have eaten mermaid flesh. Living a immortal life isn't what it turns out to be, it's more like a curse. Searching for a cuure to his curse, he see many amazing things, victims of mermaid flesh to even the horror of human selfishness. He heard rumors about a town where mermaids was hanging out, but to his surprise, it's something more to the peoples that lives there. Moving on to his journey, he reflected back in his past. It's quite shocking, down right spooky with a sense of mystery.
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 no watermarks done at all, so the introduction & ending are left in their original Japanese credits. There is even the original Japanese lyrics, too. 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. Each episode is split into 5 parts: introduction, part A, part B, ending & the preview! However, at the end of the DVD, there is an English credits. 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. 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, easy to read, though a little small. They use green for the introduction & ending themes, white for any text subtitling & yellow for the dialogues. One track is for the sign subtitling & the other one is for the Japanese dialogue. I might note that every odd numbered episodes, the intro & ending subtitles are in English, while the even numbered episodes are in Japanese original text.
Menu Option:
The menu is also in widescreen format, but if you got just a regular full screen TV, it will display in that format with no problem. The menu make you feel that you're underwater. You see Yuta & Mana together. There is the "Play All", "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". There isn't any music in the background, just sound effects of water.
DVD Extras:
There isn't much extras on it, just a production art gallery. That's about it.
Packaging:
The package seem to fit quite well, then to be the blue side. On the cover, you see Yuta & Mana together with a mermaid tail in the back. In the back, you got many screenshots from the episodes in this volume. The insert is simple, using the same picture as the cover, along with the episode list. On the DVD itself, it's a shadow of a mermaid swiming by.
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! 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:
This series brings a whole new look on mermaids. It's another view on being immortal act like a curse rather then a good thing. It's a journey that need to be seen & to experience.
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