|
Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. The story continued on with Sugar, Salt & Pepper, in search for a "Twinkle", as well as Saga trying to keep Sugar out of trouble, while keeping herself on schedule! I really did enjoy these four episodes & it's all focus on the play "The Bear Pianist". It's been a long time that the town got a theater troupe, Saga & her friends want to go see it. However, Sugar, Salt & Pepper somehow got news there is a "Twinkle" & keep bugging Saga about what's a "play". She keep trying to explain to them, but they just don't get it. All chaos break lose & Saga got to stop them. Not to mention, Saga got her own problems. She can't get Vincent off her mind after his comment about her coffee bend! The play itself is actually very good, fill with sadness, pity, magic & joy. The meaning of being a pianist is different between Vincent & Saga. You also get to know more about Saga's mother & the reasons why Saga loves to play the piano. I love the music, most of it is piano based.
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. Each episodes are separated into 6 parts: the prologue, the introduction, part A, part B, ending & the preview for the next episode! The episodes are place in one single track, so there is no loading time when you move on to the next episode. For some reason, this volume, you can now skip all those warnings & logos when you first load the DVD by just pressing the "Menu" button on your remote control. I think it's better that way.
Dubbing: English:
The English dubbing is well done. Geneon Entertainment have able to capture the emotions that the original Japanese version & the cast they selected really suit the characters. 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:
As before, Geneon Entertainment have selected a great font, very easy to read, but the white subtitling isn't very well suited. Yellow would work better. However, I don't know why, there is only one subtitling track 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 also in widescreen format, but if got just a regular full screen TV, it will display in that format with no problem. The style of the menu is the same, but, on this volume, you get to see Salt in a yellow & orange background. Though, the background music doesn't really match, they should have use one of the music played by Salt, instead it's a violin musical. There is the "Play All", "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". You get a cute like flower explosion when you select an option. Note that there is no background music in the other menu section. The icons used for the selected options is the a little waffle, which is really cute.
DVD Extras:
There isn't much extra on this volume, but it got something cool. You got the textless ending & a very cool behind the scene clip called "Rothenburg Location Hunting", which shows thay all the town design where this series is set is actually a reference from a real life village in Germanry. You also get another set of character profile, Vincent, Saga's friends Anna & Norma & the handsome fairy Turmeric!
Packaging:
Geneon Entertainment kept the same style. On the cover, you see Saga & Sugar in a yellowish background with cute snowflakes. In the back, the background remains the same, but with a yellowish taint. The insert have the same picture as the cover & a chapter listing. Inside, it got a interview of the creators of this series, part three, with commentary how the location was selected. On the DVD disc itself, it's a very big waffle. Also, there is Sugar eating a waffle on the side & it's getting smaller! It comes with a white DVD case, which match up with the cover & all.
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 is perfect for children. I really enjoy this volume, because it's all related to a very nice play. However, I wish I could have a bite of those waffles. It looks so yummy.
| 
