The video quality was fairly good, the only problem was all of the untranslated Kanji all over the screen. Kare Kano has a lot of small notes added in by the author about what the characters might be thinking or feeling. Unfortunately, those notes are quite frequent and never translated. This makes the ending episodes all but incomprehensable.

There were no problems with the audio. With a good speaker setup, it sounds just fine.

There were no problems with the audio. With a good speaker setup, it sounds just fine.

The box art isn't too bad, except for some random "dude" standing by a boat that takes up an entire panel of it. Who this guy is and why he loves that boat so much... we shall perhaps never know...

I have to say that the video quality wasn't all that great, there weren't any distortions, but the colors were really faded. I'm not too sure as to why the colors were so faded, but the colors were not vivid at all even though the details of the characters and scenery were excellent.

The audio was pretty good, nothing too special here.

The audio was pretty good, nothing too special here.

Actually, this is a really good anime series which I really liked. Even though the ratings for the V-A-S were not too great, that doesn't mean the anime itself is bad. I thought the series was very entertaining and funny, with a whole lot of relationship issues that people deal with in real life. I can sometimes relate myself to some of these characters with their life like school issues.

i'll preface by saying, i just started the 3rd disc. No ghosting so far, great images, and picture quality. no complaints at all.

I use digital/dolby sorround. sounds a little flat compared to others, but very good crisp and clean. no complaints

I use digital/dolby sorround. sounds a little flat compared to others, but very good crisp and clean. no complaints

worth the buy. grab it. its one of the best rommantic/phsycological/dramas PERIOD. i love it.

Video - Well, to be honest, the video strongly depends of if you are watching KareKano on a "pure" DVD player or on the DVD-Rom of your PC. On a DVD Player the quality is noticeably higher, and the lower rez of a TV will hide some little bugs of the encoding. DVD player - 4,5/5 Sugoi desu! Colors are crisp and brilliant, nearly perfect, the animation is very nice and there's very few missing frames (but, let's be frank: When there's a missing frame, YOU'LL NOTICE IT). There's a little "trembling" between frames, too, but it's almost unnoticeable unless you are so picky (as on my case :D) DVD-Rom - 3.5/5 Not so "sugoi", but anyways cool. The trembling is more noticeable and the higher rez of a PC monitor makes the video a little blurrier. Also, there's the fatidic "VHS bars" on the bottom (and sometimes on the top [And sometimes both :S] of the screen, although this is obvioulsy NOT a VHS rip, but a DVDRip or, more likely, a LD rip. Newayz, very cool. It's worth the munny. PS: If you notice some funny flickering, just lower the contrast on your TV. There's a little conflict between the subtitling and the image, and that's the best way to solve it :D This doesn't happen on a LCD screen. Sound - 4.5/5 The BSO is really wunderbar. I really love it. It sounds kinda Marmalade-boyish sometimes, and kinda Typical-comedy-of-gainaxish some other times. Newayz, I don't like the seiyuu. Arima has a pretty frickin'-dickin' strange voice. I really hate him when he asks "Miyazawa-san?" Changing the subject, during all the series, the sound is peak quality, although sometimes the music goes too loud and it's a little dificult to hear the characters, specially Yukino, who is really soft (When she is on mode "Lovely Yukino" :D) and has a sooooo sweeeeet and looooovely tune of voice. Subtitles - 4/5 There's some trouble with the subs, but overall they're pretty OK. Anyways, timing is such a problem. You must make your mind that you will hear Asaba talking and you will READ Yukino talking. But, when you read something funny, just change the chip and wait :D It's easy when you try. Also, there's some misspelling, but not so much. There's no such things as calling Yukino Iukino, Arima Arina or Asaba Azaba :D but there's strange ditto marks that sometimes appear and sometimes not. I really don't catch what are that ditto marks doing in there... Overall (not an average) 4,5/5 Well, what to say? one of my most-favourites anime of all times. Humour (bunches of it) love (lots of it :D) and even a bit of sex (just... 10 seconds? Arima, go see the doctor :D I'd do) Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou has everything! And this set is just the perfect option for everyone that doesn't want to buy the expensive R2s or the prohibitive R1s.

Here's my opinion: Video: 5/5 -- From what i have seen, everything looked good, colors are nice and vibrant and there was no blurring, distortation, pixelation or what have you. Audio: 4/5 -- Music is crystal clear, i think i dectected a very faint buzzing sound when someone spoke. Maybe i am being to critical, but i complete forgot about it after a minute because it doesnt take your attention away from the animation Subs: 3/5 -- Translation is excellent, but they are too fast at times. It's presented rather odd, instead of translating the whole sentence or two while someone is speaking, the subtitling comes in one line bits and pieces with "..." to connect the next sentence. So dialogue kinda whips by pretty fast. Just keep that pause button ready to go.

The MI version of Kare Kano is a pretty good release all around with only a few nagging issues. The episode 5.5 was missing from earlier copies but the newer copies from MI have the full series. Here's the breakdown: Video: 4/5 Looks like a Region 2 rip and it's a good one, not much grain in the print, no bleeding in the video, and colors are nice and vibrant. Some pixelation in high action scenes but nothing too notable. Audio: 4/5 Nice and clear, and most importantly, it has a good loud clarity to it that many HK DVDs lack. Subtitles: 4/5 No engrish, good translation, but almost nothing on screen is translated for the viewer, only the conversations are translated. Since plenty of kanji flies across the screen in this series, this is annoying but most of the time you can gather the meaning of the kanji through context. Subs can go by pretty quickly at times. Extras: 3/5 Creditless openings/endings. Not bad but not spectacular. Series Review: 4/5 Kare Kano is a high school romance-comedy, and it acheives a great balance of both in the early going of the series. The first 10 or so episodes are brilliant and some of the best anime ever made. After that however, the series, while still coming up with some interesting ideas, suffers a drop-off in quality. Primarily this is because the last 16 episodes or so, always begin with massive recap sequences that by the end of the series can last up to 15 minutes and are not entertaining at all. The series has an open-ended finale which does not resolve all the conflicts in the series and it loses some of its greatness here also. Overall though, this series is half great, half pretty good, and certainly worth getting. edited by HitBattousai on 16 Sep 2002 7:52 pm

Excellent video. My only complaints are the typical flickering at the bottom of the screen, and it had some few dropouts.

Disc 1: Audio has inconsistent volume on this disc and sounded distorted, as if it was played too loud on a cheap transistor radio. (2.5/5) Disc 2+3: Excellent stereo on these discs. (4.5/5)

Disc 1: Audio has inconsistent volume on this disc and sounded distorted, as if it was played too loud on a cheap transistor radio. (2.5/5) Disc 2+3: Excellent stereo on these discs. (4.5/5)

This wonderful anime holds a perfect balance of romance and comedy with some elements of more serious topics mixed into it. Don't let yourself be intimidated by the turbo-subs. There's no problem if you miss some lines. Pressing the pause-button would only destroy the anime's rhythm. My only complaints are the shitty sound on disc 1 and the disappointing ending. Nevertheless: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

NOTE: The problems with the missing episodes has been fixed. My set included all episodes.

Luckily I got a nice old-style gatefold with my copy (MI seems to be switching between generic and old style). Video 4/5 Seems like a good LD transfer cos I can still see some noises here and there but overall still very decent. Sound 4/5 The first disc had some problems on my sound setup, it seemed they recorded the sound too loud so it breaks oscassionaly. Didn't notice anything wrong with disc2&3 though. Subtitles N/A I watched it with Chinese subs and it was ok, a few untranslated lines but nothing major. It's recommended that you have some knowledge of Japanese when watching this show because most of the on-screen texts were untranslated and they contribute a great deal to the show's humor. A really nice show that starts off perfectly but sadly starts to drop off a bit near the end. Annoying re-cap episodes and a sudden change of style during the last few episodes reminds me of Eva's last episodes. Recommended to anyone that likes comedy and romance. The obvious flaws are nothing compared to the excellent content overall though.

A good release of the series. The video is fine, no horrible pixelation or anything.

Audio is fine, all dialog is on with characters.

Audio is fine, all dialog is on with characters.

This set is missing episode 5.5 and 18.5 i believe (not 100% sure but it's something like that). But either way its still totally watchable. Great series!! Recommended!!

Title: Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou Version: AC/MI # of discs: 3 # of episodes: 26 (complete) Video (4.5/5): Great video. I'm no expert or anything, but it is most likely R2 rip. The video has no problem whatsoever. Clear video! Audio (4/5): Great audio. By the way, I'm only using my TV speaker. But, there is no cracklings or pops, the volume is not too high or too low. The sound is clear. Subtitles (3/5): While the translation was very good and accurate, there were some problems with the timing! The subs goes on very fast ("Turbo Subs"). This is one of those "dialog-heavy" anime. Sometimes, there are 2 full lines of subs that appear only for about 1 second. It's very fast! Just be ready to press the reverse and pause buttons on the remote ^_^! Packaging : Generic MI packaging (Personally, I don't care!!) Notes: This set is missing its eps. 5.5 (I think it is due to bad encoding). And they didn't translate the on-screen dialogs (Made the last eps. that has heavy on-screen dialogs so very confusing!!!) Overall: It's an OK set! If you really like the series and can't wait for the R1, i think it is an OK buy! But, like i said, you gonna miss some of the plot (due to on-screen dialogs that were not translated) and eps. 5.5 is missing!! edited by peppy on 08 Mar 2002 4:22 pm edited by peppy on 10 Mar 2002 1:00 am