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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. Here is another one of those save the world Anime. However, it might seem silly, but I really did enjoy this series. In the future, the Earth, in 2167, have been damaged in space disater, where a nearby supernova explored releasing an electromagnetic wave & leaving space in a green glow. However, humanity survived & rebuild. However, 186 years later, there is another more powerful wave, called "The Second Wave" coming to Earth that might wipe out all of humanity. But, humanity was able to technological advance enough prevent the same thing happen before. Here, we get to meet Shime Katase, a 15 year-old computer genius, & she decided to take piloting lesson im the space station StellvThe only thing different with her & all her classmate that they all will be able to witness history when "The Second Wave" mission comes together. Though, she do well anything computer related, but her piloting skills is barely any good. She will have to trust herself & do her best to see her dream comes true.
Video:
Geneon Entertainment 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). 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. Each episode is split into 4 parts: introduction, part A, part B, ending & a preview for the next episode! There is a prologue before the introduction, but it's not seperated. I do note that you can skip the warnings & logos in the beginning using the "Menu" button on your remote.
Dubbing: English:
I find the dubbing quite good. 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, easy to read. They use blue for the introduction theme & ending theme, white for Japanese signs & text. The rest is yellow for the dialogue. 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 used the Bianca computer system screen, which is great. There is also clips taken from the episodes in this volume. There is the "Play All", a selection of one of the 4 episodes & "Screen Access". The "Set Up" & "Extras" & merged together. Selecting any of the options will get you a little animation like closing windows & opening new one on your computer. The main theme is playing in the background. However, the main menu only have background music, as there is no music playing in the other sections.
DVD Extras:
There isn't much extras. There is just a non-credit opening, that's all. So sad.
Packaging:
There is a really nice glossy look, which is cool & in green, too. It's almost like collecting those special edition cards. On the cover, you see Shima in her school uniform. In the back, there is some screenshots, along with Stellvia logo in the middle. I honestly thing that it's hard to read the synopsis through that kind of background. The insert is nothing special, with the same image as the cover & a list of all the volumes for this series & date releases for them. The DVD disc itself is the same image as the cover, but in green-scale. Since the DVD case is a clear one, you get to see a cool image that you see during the commercial breaks during an episode, which I really like them alot.
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:
It might be another one of those save the world, but I really do enjoy this series. It's show that humanity can work together, maybe someday. Not only the characters are fun, but you seem to get attach them. The music is also great. Shima shows that you can do anything if you believe in yourself & do your best. I can wait to see the next episode. There is one thing I need to be curious, what's with that big giant robot?
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