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Feature Presentation:
Special thanks to Geneon Entertainment for sending a copy for a review for this site. We're back with more episodes of this fun sci-fi Anime. As Shima & her friends are getting used to their classes in Stellvia & getting ready for the Great Mission, there is much to do as the latest event is coming, the Foundation Field day. It's all the Foundations, including Stellvia students engaged in competition using their talents & skills. Who says no one can have fun in space? The main event, the Astro-ball, is the great prize of them all. The Big Four of Stellvia makes only 4 out of the 5 players needed & to encourage the prep-students, they decided who ever is the best will take a place in the Astro-ball, as well a chance to be part of the Great Mission. With new motivations, Shima & classmate duke it out & Shima was chosen. The Astro-ball is really exciting, though Shima, at first, didn't do well, but don't you worry, she will make a great come back that will be a blast to watch. As Shima build up her confidence, she is progressing very well with her piloting skills & all of her classes. However, when she started to do the Lighting Joust, she is paired up with Ayaka as a challenger, one of the best of the Big Four. You just want to cheer her on, but with a shocking surprise at the end that I won't spoiled!
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 remained the same, the Bianca computer system screen. There is also clips taken from the episodes in this volume. There is the "Play All", a selection of one of the 3 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:
I think something went wroung, it's the same as before, just a non-credit opening. That's strange, usually it have something different then the previous volume, but why the same, I ask. There is no reason for the same extra again.
Packaging:
Here we go, the same glossy look, but in blue now. On the cover, you see Kouta in his 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 blue-scale. Since the DVD case is a clear one, you get to see another 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:
Now, it's really getting more fun. School can't be just studying, you know. But, it's very nice to see & cheer Shima along the way. The Astro-ball event was a blast. The music still carries the fun beat going well with the hilarious moments. What will be next!
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