Pretty good. The audio wasn't crystal clear or sharp, and seemed a tab bit faded, but I attribute this to being an old series, and the master copies probably weren't the best preserved to begin with.

Pretty good. The audio wasn't crystal clear or sharp, and seemed a tab bit faded, but I attribute this to being an old series, and the master copies probably weren't the best preserved to begin with.

A great series that is both fun and carefree, full of adventure and childhood wonder and innocence. At the same time, it expounds on typical Miyazaki themes such as environmentalism, technology vs. nature, war, and ecological disaster at the hands of man. Stupid mankind...

I bought this set a couple of years ago, when it was a "new release" off ebay. First off, it came in a great looking 3-disc slip case box set. The video quality is perfect, even for an older series (maybe a LD rip?). It's ten times better than other sets i've purchased of later programs (ie. Saint Seiya TV, Gundam ZZ, Dai-Gard). The audio seemed just fine to me, considering its Hi-Fi mono. The subs obviously had problems, but were still pretty good considering some of the crappy jobs done on other HK DVD sets (Gundam 0080 & 0083 come to mind for examples of garbage subs). I never had a problem following the story. I recommended this series to friends who don't watch this kind of "kiddy" stuff, and all enjoyed it. I damn good set for a great series, although it seems there are lesser quality versions of it out there. edited by Vicnuts on 09 Nov 2002 12:42 pm

This is my second favorite anime of all time, so if I yell a little, please excuse me... -_- Okay! I got these things in the other day, and they sucked. Video-- (2/5) *SIGH* I know this series is old, and I know it's hard to remaster, but JESUS H. CHRIST! I could do a better job with this! And, I'm just a STUPID MORON WHO CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT! FOR CHRIST'S SAKE, GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, AS!!! >_ Audio-- (4/5) Actually, the audio was really nice! It was a tad bit fuzzy, soo... :^/ Subtitles-- (0/5) JESUS! I HATE YOU, AS!!! DIE!! DIE, DIE, DIE! Content-- (5/5) As I said, this is my second favorite anime of all time, BUT this set sucks. I would highly suggest the R2s (If you know Japaneese, or have a set of the scripsts.) or just buying fansubs. (That's what I did.) edited by SomebodyKillMe on 03 Jul 2002 3:16 pm

This is a total mixed bag here. First of all, this is a really fun series for those who only know Miyazaki from Mononoke Hime and Kiki. Early Miyazaki is just as much fun. Plus his character of Conan is just super cool :) Now, while the storytelling is such a blast, the video, audio, and subs are not all that grand. There's no opening animation to be found in this set either. Though they do get all of the commercial breaks in (which are pretty fun trying to guess which flip card will pop up next!) This is an old series, and it shows. Not the best video, but over all it's watchable. I give it a 2 1/2. Audio hisses like a snake. Not well taken care of, but it is mono anyway so nothing's really lost. 2-2 1/2 Subs are bad. REALLY bad. I had to rewind numerous times and rework what they were trying to say in my head. Overall you could probably watch the whole show without any subtitles and still clearly understand everything though. Actions in Miyazaki stories speak louder than words. Get this only if you want to see the master's early stuff. The problems explained above will only piss off casual viewers.

This is a long series on few DVDs: as one would expect, there are slight compression artefacts.

Decent.

Decent.

As the series is quite old, the picture and the sound are perfectly acceptable.
It is a pity the subtitles are that bad, because the series is very good.

I'm going to tear this series to shreds with this review but I would like you to keep in mind that I couldn't wait to watch each episode right up till the final one. First off, this is an old series so the originals weren't in the best of shape to begin with. Video: Looks like a transfer from old 3/4" master tapes. It's mostly sharp and bright with occasional drop out (little fuzzy spot) and there are rainbows in the details from time to time. There are occasionally ghosts that follow a frame or two behind whenever there is action on a dark background... I think this might be due to them cramming nine episodes onto each disc. Audio: This was recorded originally in mono and you can hear the hiss from the deteriorating tape. You can hear that there has been some attempt at cleaning up the audio but there are still artifacts from the age of the originals. Subtitles: The timing wanders from episode to episode and the spelling of the names change frequently. There is a lot of confusion when it comes to pronouns (replacing she with I and me with you) which can make the viewer have to think about what was really said. Overall: Not what I'd call a first pick for someone getting into anime. But if you've already got the Studio Ghilbi collection and the Castle of Cagliostro, this is a real treat to see the beginnings of Miyazaki's directing career. It's very easy to see parts later used in Laputa and Cagliostro. I also wouldn't worry about the poor quality of the subtitles too much because most of the story telling is done visually and doesn't need any translation. The rest of the story is pretty simple which also makes the bad subtitles only a minor annoyance. edited by Zagatto on 04 Jun 2002 7:17 pm