Fate Stay/Night: Volume 1
Label: MVM
Certificate: 12
Discs: 1. (4 episodes)
Running time: 100 mins approx
Video: 16.9 anamorphic
Sound: English 2.0, Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English.
Release date: 4th January 2010
RRP: £15.99 – Amazon – Play
Brief synopsis:
Ten years have passed since the last great Grail War, a battle waged in secret between seven powerful mages and their magically summoned servants, these being physical embodiment of some of the greatest warriors the world has ever known. Ten years since the last Grail War ended in disaster and destroyed much of Fuyuki City leaving young Shirō Emiya orphaned and close to death. Now. a decade later the Grail War begins anew a teenage Shirō finds himself thrust onto the front lines when he accidentally becomes master to the most sought after servant of all, Saber, who swears to protect him with every fibre of her being.
After making a temporary and somewhat uneasy alliance with another master, Rin Tōsaka, and her servant, Archer, Shirō must learn pretty quickly that it’s one thing to espouse lofty ideals like truth and justice but quite another to uphold them when there’s powerful, cunning and often underhanded enemies gunning for your life. Taking his place as a player in the newest Grail War, where the lines between friend and foe can blur almost constantly, he may now be the only one who can stop Fuyuki City from being engulfed in a carnival of destruction and save it from being decimated for a second time.
Comments:
Based on a visual novel (a Japanese computer game with a very linear plot) by the same name, Fate Stay/Night brings a number of historical and mythological figures into the modern age and pits them against each other in a holy war to obtain the greatest prize of all – one which can grant any wish – the one and only Holy Grail. Part of the plot is that each of the warriors summoned through time as noble spirits have their true identities concealed so as not to reveal their weakness to the opposing forces and instead fill out various class roles that will be familiar to any RPG players such as Assassin, Caster, Rider and so on. Some are easy for the audience to figure out such as Berserker or Lancer but others such as Saber and Archer will keep you guessing for quite a while. The clues as to their true identities are all there scattered though the series but are incredibly easy to miss and there’s been more than a few liberties taken with popular mythology.
Our hero Shirō starts out as a idealistic teenager with very little in the way of magical ability who’s accidentally trust into the Grail War armed with nothing but his belief in truth and justice. Generally wherever a character harps on about truth, justice and the American way etc in this kind of series you just know that they’re gunna get taught some harsh realities pretty soon. Plus it’s usually a lesson learnt at the receiving end of something sharp and pointy and in that this show is no exception.
Animated by production company Studio DEEN, Fate Stay/Night was produced with an eye to good quality animation throughout. The original Japanese language track is also of very high quality with many of the high profile voice actors from the original video game returning to voice their characters once more. The English language dub however is quite the disappointment. The cast’s made of a bunch of lesser-know C-list voice actors and for the most part the equally C-list ADR director in charge just doesn’t seem to know what to do with them.
It would appear that MVM and US distributor FUNimation are hoping that this series is going to have a big enough pull that fans will put their hands in the pockets without tem having to spend too much money on the dub track. They’ve also been pretty stingy with the extras and with only putting four episodes of a 24 episode series on each volume, I can’t say that this is a particularly good value for money release. Which is a shame as it’s still a great show and in this rather tight current economy either putting more episodes on a volume or releasing pairs of volumes as twin-pack as was done with Claymore and Darker than Black would make it more attractive to the paying public and ultimately bring in more profit.
By the way, if your DVD player doesn’t turn the “signs only” subtitles on by default when watching the dubbed version – and not all of those I tried did – then you should to do it manually right from the start, you really will need them.
Extras:
There’s a text-less opening and a pair of trailers. A sadly unimpressive line-up seeing as there’s only 4 episodes on offer.
Fate Stay/Night: Volume 1 will be available from most high streets and online retailers from 4th January 2010.
Samurai Deeper Kyo – Volume 4
Label: MVM.
Certificate: 12
Discs: 1. (6 episodes)
Running time: 150 mins approx
Video: 16.9 anamorphic
Sound: English 2.0, Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English.
Release date: 4th January 2010
RRP: £15.99 – Amazon – Play
Brief synopsis:
The travels of wandering medicine man Mibu Kyoshiro – who contains within him the soul of merciless samurai known as demon Eyes Kyo – and female bounty huneter Shiina Yuya continue in the last volume of Samurai Deeper Kyo. Demon Eyes Kyo is determined to enter a shogun tournament in order to win it’s grand prize, a frighteningly powerful cursed sword. Kyo isn’t the only person after the sword as Benitora vows to take on Kyo and win the sword for himself.
Extras:
There’s a couple of trailers, a video message from the original creator and production crew to the English language fans and almost 20 minutes of the Dub actors fluffing their lines and generally pratting about,
Samurai Deeper Kyo – Volume 4 will be available from most high streets and online retailers from 4th January 2010.
Solty Rei – Volume 6
Label: MVM.
Certificate: 12
Discs: 1. (4 episodes)
Running time: 100 mins approx
Video: 16.9 anamorphic
Sound: English 5.1, Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English.
Release date: 4th January 2010
RRP: £15.99 – Amazon – Play
Brief synopsis:
Mankind’s greatest threat has appeared but it comes not from within the city, but from above. From above the aurora shell, between the sky and the stars, an intelligence wielding quite unimaginable power readies to destroy the city below and all that live within it. With the fate of the entire population in her hands, Solty finds that safeguarding their future may require he to make the greatest sacrifice of all. But for her new found friends and family, it’s a sacrifice she’s prepared to make.
Comments:
Much like Gunparade March, which I reviewed earlier in the year, Solty Rei ’s main problem is that it’s not too sure what kind of show it wanted to be. On one hand it tries to be a flashy action-adventure series and on the other it wants to be a heart warming show about the importance of families, where ever you may find them and unfortunately, come this final volume, it’s still not made it’s mind up. On the upside, after a somewhat rocky start, the dub version settled down about mid-way through the series and the animation was a high quality all the way throughout. Animation production company GONZO are know for being a bit hit a and miss quality wise and thankfully this has been one of their better “hits” regarding production values, even if the story could have done with some work.
The main story itself actually ends with the second of the four episodes on this disc making the two remaining episodes into a bonus side-story totally unrelated to the main finale. The main story itself, much like Saikano, has three sequential endings, all of which leave this series with a different feel and the audience is free to go with the one they like best. Personally I’d suggest waiting through the ending titles for the big tear-jerking epilogue ending.
Extras:
A pair of trailers and the ever-present text-less opening and closing animation.
Solty Rei – Volume 6 will be available from most high streets and online retailers from 4th January 2010. Previous reviews of this series can be found here and here.