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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. Wow, this series is totally awesome. Who will think that paper can be used as a weapon or any other tools! Just a note that this is the TV series, so don't be confused if you don't recognized some of the characters if you seen the OVA version. The story started up when a popular writer, Nenene Sumiregawa, is coming to Hong Kong to take a look on a movie production of her first & only book release by her. However, there is a mad bomber on the loose out to kill her. They escape the first attack, but fearing for Nenene' safety, three sisters, Magiie, Michelle & Anita, are hired to be her bodyguard. However, they are actually paper masters, that actually have the ability to turn ordinary paper to the deadliest of weapons. Though, the beginning might be a little boring, except for the explosive beginning! It's so cool when they are off to save Nenene! The music rocks & giving it suspend! However, they ended up going back with her in Tokyo & remains as her bodyguard for a while. A little warning, don't bring a paper master to Jinbo-cho, the largest book store zero in Japan. It's hilarous!
Video:
Geneon Entertainment did a very great job. I found no problem, the image are clear & the color looks perfect. The best part that isn't any watermarks in the introduction. If you see closely, it's nearly impossible to do so. The ending do have watermarks for the English credits. Each episodes are separated into 4 parts: the introduction, part A, part B & ending! 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. If you seen the OVA release before, the voices had been change as it was done by another Anime company. I find the new dubbed a bit better with the British accents & so forth. However, I find that the mysterious boy's voice sounds a little too girly. 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 XX: English 2.0:
Just letting you know, there isn't a English 2.0 audio track on this DVD. This is artificially made from the 5.1 audio track, that's why I noted it as "XX". I found no problem with the audio, but I bet it would be alot more interesting with the 5.1.
Audio 02: Japanese 5.1:
Unable to test it, since I don't have a 5.1 surround system, I can't really say much.
Audio 03: 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 on this volume.
Menu Option:
Since this series is all about books & paper, the menu would match up to it. It's like an index page of a book the menu. They is a little clip playing from scenes in the episodes from this volume. There is the "Play All", "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". Any options you select will bring a little animation with flying papers! The background music is really sweet, it's the main theme of the series, however, the other parts have no background music.
DVD Extras:
The only thing that bugs me, why Geneon Entertainment put the previews of each episodes in this volume in the extra section. They could put it right after each episodes when it's over. That way, it would be good to see what's coming next. There is also a commentary about the series from two of US producers, giving insight on this series, along how the dubbing is done. You can only access this audio track from the extra menu. There is also a very large art gallery, a few images that was used for the packaging to original artwork, even signatures one! There is even comments on some of them.
Packaging:
It's a very colorful cover. On the cover, you see the three sister, with Anita showing off her little frog. In the back, you see it's like a desk with an open folder. You can see that this series will have 7 volumes, but for this, the first file is open with screenshots & titles for each episode on this volume. The insert is very cool. You have a very sexy picture of Nenene, along with a little commentary from the creator of this series on how this series came to be. Inside the insert is a mini-poster, with the three sister again all in their action pose! Since the DVD case is a clear one, you get to see another image of the three sister. On the DVD disc, it's pretty plain, just a black background. Oh, jsut a note, there is a typo. It seems that it was marked there is 5 episodes, 1-5, but in fact, there is only 4 episodes total & it suppose to be 1-4.
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:
It's a very interesting series. Not to mention, you might have one litle plot with a bomber, but there is a hint there is something more to that. However, I find it really cute the three sisters, especially Anita, the youngest one. This series gives a whole new meaning of a paper cut!
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