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DVD Feature:
  • Audio 01: English 2.0
  • Audio 02: Japanese 2.0
  • Subtitle: English
  • Format: 4:3 (Full Screen)
  • Region: 01 (North America)

DVD Information:
  • Age Rating: 13+
  • Length: Approx. 100 min.
  • Class Type: Fantasy
  • DVD Label: 12108
  • Publisher: Geneon Entertainment
  • Retail Price: 29.98$US
  • Release Date: 09/03/2004
  • Review Date: 14/03/2004
  • Review Last Update: 10/10/2004

DVD Extras:
  • Masataka Nakano's Photo Session
  • Kumichi Yoshizuki's Conceptual Art
Number Of Disc(s): 1
Review Done By: Guardian Inferno

Introduction:
"With all my precious feeling..."

The mage apprenticeship is almost over, but Yume does not feel ready for the final certificatino exam at all. She even starts to doubt the value of Special Powers, as she sees negative consequences from her attempts to help people with her mage abilities. Her final exam, ordered directly by Master Chief Ginpun, confuses her even more as she is only told to use her special power on Masami Oyamada. All Yume knows is that all summer she has lived & learned from Oyamada & that she wants to save him from the suffering he hides deep within his heart.

Contains Episodes:
  • Episode 09: Yume & a Girl & a Summer Seed
  • Episode 10: The Destination of Special Powers
  • Episode 11: A Broken Rainbow
  • Episode 12: What Is Important to Mages

Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. This is the last volume of this very sweet series. After the incident with Inoue & Angela, everything is back to normal. Well, it's seem that Councilor Furusaki is asking Yumi & Masami to help out with his family problem. Furusaki's brother went missing & they do their best to find him. Later on, she got a request from an old lady, but somehow, she regrets it making a request & make Yumi really upsets & she begins to doubt about her special powers & only cause harm then good. Then, her final exam to become a full-fedge mage, she must help Masami Oyamada, her teacher, given by Master Chief Gimpun himself. On this volume, you'll get to know Masami's pass & why he is always sad when using special power. So, will Yumi be able to get over her doubt & help Masami to overcome his sadness? The ending will touch your heart, it certainly did for me.

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. The last episode on this DVD has a special ending. It got the original Japanese credits, though it still fellows by the English credit ending, like every other episode. 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:
The extra have something cool, mostly how the series came to me. First, you get to have the original conceptual arts throughout the series. Also, you get a gallery of different photo shoots all over Tokyo that is actally used as a base for this series for the scenes the characters goes around. It's really cool.

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 & Masami in a blusish taint. In the back, you got lots of screenshots from the episodes of this volume, as well a snowflake in the corner, which is Masami'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 snowflake. 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:
Now Yumi must overcome her doubts over the used of special powers, since it's time to do get exam to become a full-fedge mage. I think this is the last volume of this touching series & the ending will bring a tear in your ear, I hope.

Feature Presentation: The ending will touch your heart.
Video (Images) Crisps & clear! Very colorful! No problem found.
Dubbing: English Dubbing is very good.
Audio 01: English 2.0 No problem found!
Audio 02: Japanese 2.0 No problem found!
Subtitle: English Easy reading, two options of subtitling.
Menu Option: Cute & sweet, with a nice background music.
DVD Extras: Nothing much this time, but galleries is really cool.
Packaging: Colorful packaging! It's very nice.
PC Viewing: Easy to view, clean, no problem!
Overall DVD Rating: The series have comes to an end, I hope there will be more.

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Home Theater Viewing:
27" Citizen JCTV2704 Stereo TV, LG-530 DVD Player, S-Video connection for video with regular stereo cable connection for audio.

Home Computer Viewing:
Model LG 16x DVD-ROM, on a P3-933Mhz, 512 MB RAM, ATI Redeon 8500 128MB Video Card, ASUS CUSL2-C Motherboard & Sound Blaster Live v5.1, Dell 19' LCD E193FP monitor, Windows XP Professional SP2 & CyberLink PowerDVD v6.0 Deluxe using CyberLink PowerRemote.