Video:

The video is incredibly clear! I agree that there is minor pixelation in the fast-paced scenes but I really didn't notice them. And I think I counted about 2 mysterious pauses in the video for some reason. They're about a half second to 1 second pause.

Audio:

No problems here! It's as clear as ever. I even noticed a surround sound for the opening and some of the eyecatches.

Subtitle:

These subtitles are definitely awesome. As mentioned before, when a background song comes on at the same time as the dialogue, there's no difference in font styles. They're practically the same thing so one might have difficulty reading in those areas. Also, the subtitle font is a thin light yellow. For those who wear glasses and sit far away from the TV, you might have a difficulty seeing them since they're thin. They should've used a bold font.

Comment:

This is a pretty nice series. There are at times where it drags but it will soon catch up with the pace! There are many plot twists in the story which gives you plenty of surprise and excitement. The musical score is awesome as well as most of the art. The first few episodes might get you disappointed though because the art style isn't very good there. But it gets way better as it progresses.

Video:

Looked decent on all four of the players I tested/watched it on (see "Review Hardware" in the Comment section below). There was some pixelation during high-action scenes, though I would only consider it an average amount and intensity... nothing too serious, but clearly not up to par with many other FX releases. Chalk some of that up to the source material, however.

Audio:

Spot-on for both the Japanese and English voice tracks. The music also sounds as good as it's going to get... given the sometimes cheezy source. ;) No problems here.

Subtitle:

Watched a few episodes with the subtitles on, and found them to be easy to read, well-timed, and filled with grammatical goodness. These are real subtitles, and not "dubtitles", for all you purists out there. ;) Given the source, none of this is really surprising.

Comment:

What do I say about this series? I was worried, at first, to be honest... it was a little too lovey dovey for my liking, up until the 12th or 13th episode, when a couple of twists in the plot make things -very- interesting, giving the show exactly the dynamic that it needed to really rope me in. The characters are all well-done, and the comedy will keep you laughing without getting repetetive. This one really surprised me... I picked it up figuring it would give the girlfriend a break from watching giant robot cartoons with me for a while... and ended up liking it enough that I'll definitely watch the other parts of this series. Recommended for those who can get past all the "Oh, my darling love!" parts, and wait it out for the excellent plot/relationship developments once the series gets into gear. Review Hardware: DVD Player(s): Sony DVP-NS315, Malata DVP-393, Sony Playstation 2, Polaroid PDV-0700 Portable DVD Player TV: Sony Trinitron 32" Flat Screen

Video:

Ok the video is solid for the most part however, the action scenes suffer from major pixelation its not minor like everyone says, it worse l reckon than the pixelation seen in Cowboy Bebop.

Audio:

sounded alright no complaints here, no dropouts or anything

Subtitle:

R1 ripped so no engrisch or typos - 10/10

Comment:

Well after hearing everyone recommend this series l have to say its great, its starts of slow but once you get into the later episodes its a terrific ride, qute dark and tragic as well. A must own title

Video:

looks like a good rip to me. i have not seen the r1 so i can't really compare. some minor pixelation, most notably the scene where that main guy character tamahome catches the spinning balls that was thrown by suboshi..

Audio:

no complaints. english louder than japanese again but it's minor.

Subtitle:

i honestly do not remember any typos, which is the way it should be.

Comment:

wow. this series took me by surprise. i didn't expect to like it as much as i do. it's definitely in my top 5 animes of all time. like the reviewer said before me, the packaging is great. pictures of all the characters are in the inside covers/discs and episode listing is there too.

Video:

Like said before me, looked like a perfect rip. Since the original animation quality isn't great, logically this doesn't look awesome. But 'rip-wise' it looks perfect.

Audio:

Eng and Jap dub sounded very good. English is a tad louder, but who cares.

Subtitle:

Perfect copy of the R1 version. No re-typing here.

Comment:

Oh my God, the packaging for this release is truly the most proffesional I've ever seen. On the back, there is this Phoenix picture laid-over in 'plastic' (don't know how to call it), it just looks awesome. It looks like all pictures on this box were 'sticked' on it, really cool looking! The inside of the box looks pretty cool too, both the outer flaps have the episodes names on it (left 1-13, right 14-26) and on the inside a few picutres of the characters over a nice red coloured box. DVDs match the pictures... What really sucked is that my first DVD wouldn't play in my Pioneer DVD player, but it did play on a PS2... Now THAT'S weird! My Pioneer never gave any problems with NO HK DVD, and now this. And most of the times the PS2 played the HK DVDs like shit. Oh well...

Video:

Looked pretty much like a near perfect rip of the Region 1 source. Once in awhile a frame kind of jumped or moved very slighty, I think it happened in the first episode and can't remember when it happened again. Not that big a deal.

Audio:

No problems

Subtitle:

Region 1 rips so they are good. Seems like real subtitles and not dubtitles.

Comment:

Very good show, can't really complain, totally got my money's worth.