10-15-2002, 03:13 PM
Let's see... I'm still waiting on Infinite Ryvius MI and Kanon AV...
[ Aquarian Age ]
Studio: VA
Eps: 1-8 (seen 1)
Video: Small letterboxes, clean and sharp
Audio: Good (varying from menu to show, but not majorly)
Subs: Slightly Engrishy, and the show has a lot of Japanese culture references. Timing is perfect. A few typos here and there. Names are done oddly; "Shingo" is "Shin-Go" and "Youko" is "Yor Iko".
Chaptering: Episode to episode, no breaks.
Bonus: About 3 or 4 music videos that look to be promo trailers for the DVD releases. Also a character concept art gallery, which can be set to manual or slideshow. Very nice, AV's recent run of releases has included a *lot* of extras. Now if only all their subjobs can be as good as Dendoh or Chobits...
Menus: In English, no animation. Play, Chapers, Special (music vids), Data (gallery art), Subtitles.
[ Chobits ]
Studio: VA
Eps: 1-8 (seen 1)
Video: Excellent, DVD sharpness.
Audio: Good and clean.
Subs: Excellent, either fansubs or very good HK originals or both. The OP is subbed, not sure about the ED (didn't bother checking).
Chaptering: Prologue, OP, Part A, Part B, ED, Preview.
Bonus: Textless OP.
Menus: Play and Bonus are in Chinese, Chapter and Subtitles are in English. wtf? ^^; Also, pushing Menu from playing a chapter puts you back into the chapter menu on my DVD player. Chapter selection is animated, all menus have music playing (usually the very horrifyingly saccharine "Let Me Be With You").
[ To Heart ]
Studio: MI
Eps: 1-13 (seen 3, technically, but only 1 from the DVD)
Video: A bit dark, but this is probably due to the fact that TH is all hand-drawn.
Audio: Good and clean, no complaints.
Subs: Names are in Chinese (but conveniently listed in the packaging). OP is subbed, not sure about the ED (didn't bother to check). Slightly Engrishy but not too bad overall, typos here and there. Overall, average HK job; this looks to be an older set, before they started going ueber with releases.
Chaptering: Episode to episode, no breaks.
Bonus: none.
Menus: In Chinese and English, still: Play, Subtitles, Chapters.
[ Earth Girl Arjuna ]
Studio: MI (warning, the gatefold is strewn with MI's email addy)
Eps: 1-13 (seen 4 technically, but 1 on DVD)
Video: Clean and sharp. Lots of obvious digital animation, but no problems with blurring.
Audio: Wow! Dolby 2.0 and 5.1! This was unexpected.
Subs: A mixed bag. I saw digisubs of this series first, and I recognize a lot of the same lines, but there appear to be HK originals thrown in. A major problem is how every little noise, like "hm" or "eh?" is subtitled as "Oops?" which just makes certain moments seem really goofy. Lines are blended together (i.e. two characters talking but subbed in one line). Slight mistiming problems, nothing major. Typos here and there. But given the many terms used in the series, it's not too shabby. Names are correct.
Chaptering: Prologue, Part A, Part B, Ending, Preview. Arjuna has no true opening, but that's where Part A starts.
Bonus: none (unless you count Dolby 5.1 as one)
Overall, I was most impressed by Chobits and Arjuna, in that order, in terms of technical quality. Chobits (along with Dendoh) just goes to prove that VA is not a bad studio, they just do better jobs on series they like. =) Arjuna is something I never expected to see and is actually a series I like quite a bit, so I'd recommend it to anyone who would enjoy a more mature, environmentally-slanted magical girl show. Aquarian Age looks decidedly odd, something about warring factions and a JRock band. To Heart is amusingly fluffy, with intense chair-swapping action (the art is beautiful, though).
[ Aquarian Age ]
Studio: VA
Eps: 1-8 (seen 1)
Video: Small letterboxes, clean and sharp
Audio: Good (varying from menu to show, but not majorly)
Subs: Slightly Engrishy, and the show has a lot of Japanese culture references. Timing is perfect. A few typos here and there. Names are done oddly; "Shingo" is "Shin-Go" and "Youko" is "Yor Iko".
Chaptering: Episode to episode, no breaks.
Bonus: About 3 or 4 music videos that look to be promo trailers for the DVD releases. Also a character concept art gallery, which can be set to manual or slideshow. Very nice, AV's recent run of releases has included a *lot* of extras. Now if only all their subjobs can be as good as Dendoh or Chobits...
Menus: In English, no animation. Play, Chapers, Special (music vids), Data (gallery art), Subtitles.
[ Chobits ]
Studio: VA
Eps: 1-8 (seen 1)
Video: Excellent, DVD sharpness.
Audio: Good and clean.
Subs: Excellent, either fansubs or very good HK originals or both. The OP is subbed, not sure about the ED (didn't bother checking).
Chaptering: Prologue, OP, Part A, Part B, ED, Preview.
Bonus: Textless OP.
Menus: Play and Bonus are in Chinese, Chapter and Subtitles are in English. wtf? ^^; Also, pushing Menu from playing a chapter puts you back into the chapter menu on my DVD player. Chapter selection is animated, all menus have music playing (usually the very horrifyingly saccharine "Let Me Be With You").
[ To Heart ]
Studio: MI
Eps: 1-13 (seen 3, technically, but only 1 from the DVD)
Video: A bit dark, but this is probably due to the fact that TH is all hand-drawn.
Audio: Good and clean, no complaints.
Subs: Names are in Chinese (but conveniently listed in the packaging). OP is subbed, not sure about the ED (didn't bother to check). Slightly Engrishy but not too bad overall, typos here and there. Overall, average HK job; this looks to be an older set, before they started going ueber with releases.
Chaptering: Episode to episode, no breaks.
Bonus: none.
Menus: In Chinese and English, still: Play, Subtitles, Chapters.
[ Earth Girl Arjuna ]
Studio: MI (warning, the gatefold is strewn with MI's email addy)
Eps: 1-13 (seen 4 technically, but 1 on DVD)
Video: Clean and sharp. Lots of obvious digital animation, but no problems with blurring.
Audio: Wow! Dolby 2.0 and 5.1! This was unexpected.
Subs: A mixed bag. I saw digisubs of this series first, and I recognize a lot of the same lines, but there appear to be HK originals thrown in. A major problem is how every little noise, like "hm" or "eh?" is subtitled as "Oops?" which just makes certain moments seem really goofy. Lines are blended together (i.e. two characters talking but subbed in one line). Slight mistiming problems, nothing major. Typos here and there. But given the many terms used in the series, it's not too shabby. Names are correct.
Chaptering: Prologue, Part A, Part B, Ending, Preview. Arjuna has no true opening, but that's where Part A starts.
Bonus: none (unless you count Dolby 5.1 as one)
Overall, I was most impressed by Chobits and Arjuna, in that order, in terms of technical quality. Chobits (along with Dendoh) just goes to prove that VA is not a bad studio, they just do better jobs on series they like. =) Arjuna is something I never expected to see and is actually a series I like quite a bit, so I'd recommend it to anyone who would enjoy a more mature, environmentally-slanted magical girl show. Aquarian Age looks decidedly odd, something about warring factions and a JRock band. To Heart is amusingly fluffy, with intense chair-swapping action (the art is beautiful, though).
-- "Your victory will be our bravery."