Video:

Slight pixellation sometimes when there are fast movements or scanning. Small glitch which goes away after a second in episode 60. Occasional slight blurring, quickly corrected (almost like a VHS tape tracking).

Audio:

Some of the vocals seem a bit loud, so you either need to turn up the volume to hear Hayama or keep the sound normal & strain to hear him.

Subtitle:

Overall pretty good. The character names are constantly correct (the worst mistake was constantly spelling Cecil as Sicil). In the first 2 discs, there are slight misspellings and the timing is occasionally a wee bit off, but quickly corrected. The words ran off the screen once or twice. You can easily understand who says what & what they are saying. (Except when Sana is in a taxi singing & the taxi driver is talking at the same time. Luckily, that's really not an important part anyway.) The last few episodes aren't subbed as well. Often the last part of a sentence is missing. Names, timing, etc. are all still OK even then.

Comment:

The story really starts to drag around the middle of the second disc. From episode 70, Sana & Naozumi keep doing this dance (they obviously wanted to reuse the footage since the animation is a higher quality than the rest of the show). It becomes tedious. It really effected the enjoyability, that and a couple of other things: Cecil is annoying and whiny and the show becomes so slow after it focuses on Sana & Naozumi.

Video:

It seems to be the same quality as the first set - a DVD rip? - and, therefore, very, very good. There was at least one case of 'pausing' - like when a player is dealing with layer transition - and this is usually a rare occurance on my machine, although it is no longer top of the line, so it could be discs. Also, there were a couple of instances when the picture seemed to go soft or out of focus - I don't think it was intentional - but this was nothing more than a split second occurrence.

Audio:

Clear with no distortion although I'm certain I had to put the volume two levels higher than I usually do.

Subtitle:

This is what everyone is waiting to find out. Well...They're fansubs. They are more or less the same quality as the majority of the first set, i.e. eps 1-39, and far better than the HK subbing of the last 10 episodes. Occasionally, names are flashed up preceeded by the message "Edited and timed by", so I assume these people are the fansubbers. I only watched the last episode previews of each disc - they are not a separate chapter so you have to fwd through the end credits, too much bother for someone as lazy as me : ) - but they were subbed so I'm assuming they all are. The majority of Sana's 'backward' puzzles - just before the 'bumpers' or 'eye-catches' - are also subbed. Problems? Spelling and some mis-timing issues. The last few episodes of the third disc also sees a slight slip in grammar quality - nothing horrendous, but I'm fussy so I notice - and sometimes the words are not completed, e.g. "I'm thinking about your fu[ture]". Hardly a trial to figure out, but it does happen. There are also at least two incidents of subs being stretched across the screen - beyond the limits of a widescreen TV. There's a new closing credits song on the last three episodes - it wasn't subbed. Overall, there is nothing to worry about regarding the subs!

Comment:

Again, a nice looking set with the artwork repeated on the discs. 'Soft plastic' disc holders - mine worked this time! Menus are in English, but disappointing - it's the same menu across the three discs. Since Kodomo progresses (a good thing) the tone of the show has also changed. There is slightly less off-the-wall humour (there's still a fair bit, however) and the exploration of the ups and downs of adolescent love and friendship is more painful than hilarious. I must say I didn't really enjoy the New York arc of the story (it's still not finshed off in this set) as much because it not only centres more on Naozumi, but is also rather hackneyed in terms of plot. I want to see what happens with Sana - you'll know what I'm talking about when you watch it. The repetition of the dance sequences was also a bit much as was the Babbit counting song. Of course, I say all this after having watched the whole lot within a 24-hour period, which is something I've never done with any other anime series. This says a lot in my estimation (at least for me). If you liked the first set then you must get this to find out what happens next (I'm awaiting the last set whilst writing this). This is a safe purchase. Buy it!