Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, Volume 5
Label: MVM
Certificate: 12
Running time: approx 96 minutes.
Region: R2 PAL
Video: 4:3
Audio: Japanese or English
Subtitles: English.
Release dates: 2nd March 2009
RRP:£15.99
Synopsis:
When a baby is abandoned on Yu’s doorstep, Nereides resident gruff & taciturn curmudgeon finds that looking after a child is one hundred times harder than her usual role of taking down vicious and violent villains. Will a shared interest in taking care of the little tyke help bring her closer to Gloria, a workmate that she care barely tolerate at the best of times. When Shizuka takes in a badly injured stranger little does she realise that, not only is he an undercover agent, but that she’ll end up falling in love with him. Plus the Wang-Chang-Lee Brothers (and sister) attempt to steal back the stolen submarine that Nereides originally stole from them and a jolt brings back part of Maia’s memory, something that quite a few people in rather powerful positions would prefer not to happen.
Comments:
While the previous volume contained more of the “action” episodes of this series, this, the penultimate volume of the series (comprising episodes 17 through 20) holds more of the “human element” episodes. The first two episodes spend some quality time focusing on Shooty Spice, Mechanic Spice and Punchy Spice before the last two episodes of the volume head back towards the overall mystery & conspiracy sub plot which will fill out the next (and final) release. I must say now though that episode 17, which really should have been called “Five heavily armed woman and a baby”, is the funniest episode of this entire series in both the Sub and Dub versions.
Extras.
Well after the four preceding volumes all sporting zero extras each we finally get something. Hurrah! The only problem is that all we get is the single most lacklustre Production Art Gallery I have ever seen. Pah! I’m left wondering if the only reason it’s been included at all is so that when this series gets repackaged as a box-set then the distributors can legitimately claim that it “contains extras”. If this really is the case then I’ll be impressed if they can keep a straight face whilst doing it.
Volume 5 of Daphne in the Brilliant Blue is released on March 2 and is available from major retailers including Amazon
Reviews of previous volumes can be found here and here.
Shakugan no Shana: Series 1 Volume 6
Running time: 100 minutes approx
Classification : 12
Distributor: MVM
Region: R2 PAL
Video: 16:9 anamorphic
Audio: Japanese 2.0, English 2.0.
Subtitles: English, Signage and on screen text.
Release Date:2nd March 2009
RRP: £15.99
Overview:
Shana’s timely intervention may have saved Yuji from a swift death at the hands of his friend’s former mentor but he’ll have to prove his worth pretty quickly if he wants to stay alive. Time is running short for the unfortunate Mystes as Ball Masque have big plans for Yuji, or rather for the mystical Reiji Maigo stored inside him, and if they have to destroy it’s living host to get to it, and probably the whole of Misaki City as well, then so be it. Shana tries hard to reconcile her two very different lives, one as a Flame Haze and the other as a normal young woman. But even if she does manage it, will it be long before she’s asked to make the ultimate sacrifice to save those she cares about?
Comments:
After the slight disappointment that was volume 5, this final volume of Shakugan no Shana’s first series is back on ass whooping form. Shana stops pouting, figures out what’s important to her and kicks some right royal ass, and about time too. There’s nothing wrong with mixing romance, introspection and character development with your action as long as it’s all kept moving along nicely and, for the most part, this series handle this quite well.
Audio/Dub/Subtitles:
Still no complaints here. Well, actually that’s not true. Wilhelmina’s habit of using “indeed” at the end of every sentence may have started off as a nice gimmick but it gets very old very quickly. Apart from that it’s all good stuff.
Video:
As with all previous releases of this series, a clear and vibrant encode in 16:9 anamorphic, as to be expected from source material that’s only a couple of years old.
Extras:
“Shana-Tan #1-2” – Short self-parody episodes of Shakugan no Shana starring a chibi (mini) sized version of Shana. These are almost worth the money on their own. Almost.
Naze Nani (the how and why of) Shana video.
Textless version of the third closing animation
DVD credits
Trailers for Solty Rei; a new show from GONZO, and Desert Punk, which Lee has already reviewed here.
Shakugan no Shana Volume 6 is released on March 2 and is available from major retailers including Amazon
Previous SFL reviews for this series can be found here, here and here.