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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to ADV Films for sending a copy for a review for this site. Here is a little twist for all you Samurai fans out there, a Samurai that do justice with guns. This is a time when Samurai & their swords are slowly disappearing when guns was introducted, but the need for justice is still there. Samurais have traded their swords for guns as the times have changes. Here we meet a strange, but quiet man, Ichimatsu. He hates his day time job working in the tavern. When he gets lonely, he goes see Ohana, a cute girl working in a brothel, just to talk. However, he holds a secret. At night, he becomes Samurai Gun, to do battle for justice when called for with the quick drawing moves of his gun. Honestly, it brings shilvers to see so many innocent being killed for fun, but Samurai Gun is send to stop this bloodshed. As the advancement of new technology, a stream engine train is to be tested, the first in Japan. Samurai Gun is send to investigate to see that this new machine. The ruling Shogun knows about Samurai Gun issue & created a team to eliminate it by any means. Setting a trap, a murder is killing brothels girls & Ohana ended up to be his next victim. Will Ichimatsu be able to save her? You get to know a bit about Ohana, too. Last, Ichimatsu is sent out to rescue political members imprisonned & tortured, teamed up with another samurai. However, the mysterious samurai have his own goal to archive, a sense of revenge & honor. One last thing, there is a bit of naughty bits, too.
Video:
ADV Films did a very great job. I found no problem, the image are clear & the color looks perfect. There is some watermarks done for the introduction & ending credits (they are translated in English). The episodes are on a different track, so there will be a small loading time when you move on to the next episode. Each episodes are separated into 5 parts: introduction, part A, part B, ending & the preview for the next episode. Also, at the very end of the last episode, you will get to see a preview on what is to come on the next volume. 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:
I find the dubbing alright, but I really find there is no need to use cursing & swearing. I feel that a Samurai should be more honorable not to do such things, no? However, there is one good thing, they did managed to dubbed some of the singing in the tavern. It's about 75% 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 2.0:
No problem found.
Subtitle:
ADV Films have selected a great font, very easy to read. They use yellow for the introduction, ending themes & the Japanese dialogue & white for Japanese signs & text. There are two tracks of subtitling. 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:
The menu is pretty simple with Ichimatsu right there to greet you. The only thing that is a real buggy, when the menu loads, it's a little flash clip of the introduction, which seems kinda long. There isn't a "Play All" nor a "Screen Access" features, just a selection of one of the 4 episodes, "Set Up" & "Extras", along with a preview of Volume 02. The background music is the introduction theme, while the other section have different parts of the introduction theme.
DVD Extras:
There is the standard non-credit opening & ending, but there is more. There is an art gallery of the characters along with productions artwork, which is really cool. The best part of it, it's a long trip of outtakes. I think it was done on purpose, but, it's hilarious to watch. However, I do suggest to watch the episodes first for the full effect.
Packaging:
Wow, the package is pretty dark. On the cover, you see the cool Ichimatsu with his gun, along with him as Samurai Gun in full suit. The cute thing is the logo on the corner. In the back, there is screenshots from the episodes in this volume, but it seems to have drips of blood around. The insert is the most interesting part, a full detail about the series & a bit of history lesson on the idea of a samurai using a gun. On the DVD disc itself, it's the Samurai Gun logo!
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. Since the episodes are on different tracks, it will take time to load when you move on to the next episode. 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:
Time changes when the era of Samurais & their swords, but a new chapter has open, for a sense of justice. I find this series quite good & interesting. It's a whole new easten style of the wild wild west!
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