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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. Our story continues for our little apprentic mage Yumi continues to do her best in her training, while helping others that is from her heart. The first episode of this volume, you get to know a little more about Runa. Then, a little more about Smiley. After a little incident where he used to live & someone he cares about got injuried, he desperately want to become a mage to help save his life. Will he get his wish comes true? The last two episodes are about Inoue & Angela. Also, how feelings effects special powers. The music is really nice & mix quite well with the emotional part of the series.
Video:
Geneon Entertainment did a very great job. They have taken the time to do it right. I found no problem, the image are clear & the color looks perfect. It's a really colorful. Each episode are split into 5 parts, introduction, part A, part B, ending & preview for the next episode. 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. Also, they are starting to use the new logo "Geneon". 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. They even capture the emotions & impacts during certain parts of the series. I think the voices are a little better then the Japanese. Yume sounds a little older in the original Japanese voices. 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, very easy to read. They use green for the introduction & ending themes, yellow for the dialogues & white for Japanese signs & texts. 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 even numbered episodes, the intro & ending subtitles are in English, while the odd numbered episodes are in Japanese original text on this volume.
Menu Option:
The menu remains the same design as the previous volume. Again, it is very coverful. The menu is compose of a table with a picture frame with flowers in a pot on the side on top of it. The photos changes to different artworks. There is "Play All", "Screen Access", "Set Up" & "Extras". Selecting will make clips move around. The background music, which remains the same as the previous volume, on the main menu is one of the background music in the series, however, the other sections got none. It's a very nice piano tune. The dolphin icon they used is really cute.
DVD Extras:
This time, got a little more interesting extra on this volume. You will get an interview with Aoi Miyazaki, the Japanese voice actress that did Yumi. Note that the interview is done after all the episodes have be recorded, so there might have spoilers. Also, there are three version of the original Japanese TV commericals that previews the airing date for this series.
Packaging:
Keeping the same design as the previous volume, it's still very colorful. On the cover, you see a very nice artwork of Yume & Angela. In the back, you got lots of screenshots from the episodes of this volume, as well a cute cross in the corner, which is Angela's mage symbol. You can also noticed the new logo "Geneon" along side with the old "Pioneer" name. The insert got more screenshots from each episode that goes around with the chapters list. There is another picture of the old cross. Inside the insert is a mini-poster, another beautiful artwork. The DVD disc itself is the same as the cover. Since the DVD case is a clear one, you get to see the reservible cover, which is actually the same picture as the mini-poster in the insert. Very nice. The default cover & the reservible cover are both equally good.
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. There is one little problem. In the extra section, you have to click on the dolphin icon, not the "word" like the main menu. 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:
I find this series is really sweet & it's getting better. Now you get to know more about Rona & Smiley, as well as Angela. Having a good heart isn't a bad thing.
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