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Article Info:
Anime Info:
| Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie |
| Type: Review |
| Format: |
Movie |
| Language: |
Japanese/English |
| Genre: |
Shoujo Action/Adventure (apparently) |
Disc Review:
| Content: |
A+ |
| Audio: |
A+ |
| Video: |
A+ |
| Packaging: |
A |
| Menus: |
A |
| Extras: |
A+ |
Disc Info:
| Released by: |
Software
Sculptors |
| RRP: |
US$29.99 |
| Region: |
1 |
| Aspect
Ratio: |
1.85:1 Anamorphic |
| Colour
System: |
NTSC |
| Running Time: |
87 minutes |
| Rating: |
N/A |
Features:
| |
- English & Japanese
Audio (DD2.0)- English Subtitles
- Directors Commentary
- Behind the Scenes Video
- Japanese and English Theatrical/Teaser trailers
- Kobayashi's Art Sketches
- Character Sketches with Directors notes
- Fan Tribute (Art & Cosplay)
- Trivia Game
- Chapter Stops
- Sneak Peaks
- Interactive Menus
- DVD-ROM Content |
| |
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Anime DVD Review: Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie
Audio:
As with all my anime DVD's, the first thing I did was
set the language to Japanese with Subs. The Japanese track is very nice
and crisp, and makes good use of directionality, especially in the scenes
which involve ringing bells. From the bits and peices of the English track
I watched, it is pretty much on par with hte Japanese track as far as
quality goes, however, I can't say i was terribly fond of the english
actors, but I've definately heard worse *Glares at X*.
Video:
What can I say? I Slapped the shiny little disc into
my DVD player, and hit play. The picture quality grabbed me around the
neck and slapped me about viciously and left me sitting in a puddle of
high-video-quality induced drool. It is absolutely splendid. The Colour
is vibrant, and certainly does the art justice. No blocking or cross colouration
for miles here, not even in the scenes which involve litterally thousands
upon thousands of Rose petals blowing in the wind, just sharp, crisp,
clear, drool inducing quality!
Packaging:
The Cover is decidedly pink... actually, make that COMPLETELY
pink. Up th top we have the Utena Logo, and underneath is Utena, with
sword in hand bending down leaning on her knees with her hair flowing
out the back. The back of the cover is again, pink, with a blurb about
the film, and the extensive list of extras alongside a few screencaps
of the main characters. The case itself is clear, which i prefer rather
than a solid black/white that my other R1 discs are in. The reverse of
the cover has a Chapter List, Japanese and English Vocal cast list, Production
cast list, and a nice peice of Black and white artwok of Utena and Anthy.
Quite nice packaging all up.
Menus:
Quite a nice menu indeed. It begins with a short scene
of Utena and Anthy dancing, then the options appear on screen. Quite good
menus, good loading times. Fasionable AND Functional. Deserving of two
thumbs up.
Extras:
Where do I begin? The seemingly never ending
list of extras are all quite good. The Behind the scenes look at the making
of the Dub which saw the Japanese direction, Kunihiko Ikuhara, coming
in to supervise parts of the dubbing was quite interesting, and the Japanese
and American trailers are also quite good. The Trivia game is also very
funky, if not short, involving only 6 questions (I got em all right! Go
Me! WUUU) *ahem*. Then there's the Audio commantary from the Director.
Even this alone would make te disc worthy of a high rating in te extras
department, It's just one of those really nice things to have there. The
extras are all fantastic, and certainly welcome.
Content:
From what i understand, this movie is something
of a retelling of the Utena series, which i am yet to see (But Beleive
me, after this it's high on my To-Get list!).
The Movie begins with a look thrgough what is probably the single most
bizzare school ever built, then we are introduced to our tomboy lead character,
Utena. While being shown around the school, she spies an old friend. A
guy named Touga. She races to meet him, and when she does, she finds he
is wearing a rin with the seal of the rose upon it. Utena herself comes
across one of thse rings herself, and anyone who posses on of these rings
qualifies for duels, of which the winner becomes engaged to the Rose Bride,
Anthy, Who Utena meets on a huge platform covered in roses above the school.
With that, Anthys current... erm... Fiance i guess, Saionji, makes his
appearance with green hair flowing, and, noticing that Utena posseses
one of the duelist rings, chalenges her to a duel, and, unfortunately
for him, is on the losing end when the duel is said and done.
Throught the course of the Movie, Utena and Anthy become closer, especially
after Utena does quite a bit of venting at Anthy late at night upon the
rose covered garden, which results in a bloody amazing scene of the two
dancing atop the platform amid floating roses and the stars above and
their reflection in the water. It might sound a little odd, but it really
is a breathtaking scene.
This movie is definately something i heartally endorse and/or reccomend.
People who haven't seen the Utene series (I.E. Me) may have a little trouble
getting their heads around a few aspects of the film (such as Utena being
sucked into a giant car wash and emerging as a car which looked like something
batman would drive if he'd just come out of the closet!), but fans of
Utena and people who have never seen it before alike should find this
film to be quite enjoyable, hell, I did, you should too! A stunning film
on a damn near flawless DVD, This disc should be in everyone's collection.
It is that damn good.
5/5 stars
Anime
Inferno is developed and managed by: Adam Hicks, MCMXCIX - MMII. All rights
reserved.
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