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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. Sakura Wars is a very popular Anime series, not to mention the games as well. Now, the first movie is release, pack with action, lovable characters, cool mecha, demons, magics & even swords battles that you see throughout the Sakura Wars franchise. I have yet to see the series myself, but you don't have to see it to watch this movie, but it's recommended so you get to know the characters. Set in Tokyo, around 1920, steam power is the soruce of all engines. With Tokyo is economically growing quickly, defending Tokyo from demons is getting harder. The Dosglas-Steward Company is selling advance fighting machine & might make the Imperical Fighting Troupe's Flower Division obsolite. As always, Sakura & her friends must protect Tokyo from a new threat: being disbanded & replace by the new unman these advance fighting machine with a deadly secret. The animation is really awesome, mix with traditional Anime art with CGI. I love the introduction when all the Flower Division puts on a show. It's really catchy. The battle music in the end of the movie makes you feel you want to kick some butt, too.
Video:
Geneon Entertainment did a very great job. Since most of the animeation is CGI, it's almost perfect. All & runing smoothly. There is also no touch up, they kept all the original Japanese credits for both the introduction & ending. However, the English credit list was added at the very end of the movie. The movie is feature on Widescreen format. If you got a Widescreen TV, you're going to enjoy this even more. 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:
Geneon Entertainment totally used a new English dubbing cast for this movie. Very well done. The only thing that didn't make sense, because they dubbed it as close to the original Japanese dialogue, is when Sakura meets Lachette for the first time & try to speak English to her. Well, I can understand why they did it that way, but English dub pretending to speak in English is a little too much. 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 an 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 XX: Japanese 2.0:
Just letting you know, there isn't an Japanese 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". For some reason, this audio track is softer then the English track. There is a different in volume if you switch it during the movie. Other then that, no problem.
Subtitle:
Geneon Entertainment have selected a great font, very easy to read. Yellow for the regular subtitling & white for Japanese signs & text. They also added light blue for subtitling the lyrics. 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. The menu is like you're in one of the Flower Division's fighting machines, with moving parts & a viewing screen that plays with clips from the movie. I might be mistaking, but the menu is made from actual mechanical parts, not animated. There is the "Play", "Setup", "Screen Access" & "Extras". The background music is one of the battle music.
DVD Extras:
There is alot of extras. You get every single trailers for this movie, the TV trailers & the movie trailers. They are all original Japanese though. There is also a very cool art gallery, which mostly screenshots, characters design, mecha designs, as well background images. That's about it.
Packaging:
The packing is alright to me. On the cover, you see Sakura & Lachette, as well the Imperial Fighting Troupe Theater in the background. There is also Sakura's Koubu-Kai & another one in the back, but I won't tell you what it is, don't want to spoiled your curiousity. You see in the movie where this scenes cames from. In the back, you get 8 screenshots, with, I think, a original drawing of the transporting tunnels. Well, the insert, well, there isn't really one, just a very thick booklet with everything about the movie. It got characters information (both the good & bad), all the mecha as well the demons. There is also the credit list. It's all in full color, too! Very awesome addition! Since the DVD case is a clear one, you can see that Geneon Entertainment have included the original Japanese cover that you can reverse if you desire. On the DVD disc itself, I think it's a symbol, I'm not sure where it's from.
PC Viewing:
Watching it on the PC is the same as watching it on the TV. However, like on the TV, it seems that the images is a little fuzzy, like it has static, when you look closely at it. The sound is just great. The movie is place on one single track, so loading time is really small. You can fast forward to the beginning to the lend 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. There is one thing annoying though, in the menu, you have to click on the arrow for the selection function, not the word.
Overall DVD Rating:
If you're a Sakura Wars fan, this movie will be a great addition. I forgot to mention this, this movie is also set during the holiday season, so if you're in the mood for some action during the holiday season, this one might suit it!
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