Series: The Wings of Rean V1 is the story of Aesap Suzuki; a young man mistaken for a terrorist by the local authorities. He escapes just when a huge warship flies out of the water around the military base, resulting in the American forces being attacked by strange devices in man/insect form. In the ensuing chaos, Aesap is approached by a beautiful young exotic lady named Lyukus, who claims to be the daughter of King Sakimizu of Byston Wells. She clearly knows who he is and compels him to come along; adding to the mystery of the events unfolding before him. Never having heard of the king or location, he ends up going along with her, the two flying on wings coming out of her feet from the look of it as the warship creates a vortex that brings itself and a number of Japanese/American military ships along with it back to the strange land.

The pair end up crashing into a secluded area of Byston Wells where they are met with beings that Aesap finds curious and strange; including a royal type of one of the many lands comprising the place. That becomes his first lesson in the intricacies of the diverse world, then meeting Lyukus' father, the king of Hojo. The king is a powerful man and his shrewish second wife seems to dislike the foreigner to their land, the king finding the circumstances of his arrival curious since the Wings of Rean were how he himself was brought here so many years ago. Still, his plans to conquer the "upper realm" known to us as Earth by means unknown troubles young Aesap as war seems to be the last thing he wants to happen. Imprisoned in the royal suite, he finds his cell phone to work, getting hold of some of the others that were brought with them in the vortex; perhaps the worst idea in the mediocre story by the director. The back cover said it like this:

"Terrorists have attacked the US military base in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. When it's discovered that the culprits are two of Aesap Suzuki's friends, Aesap is also mistakenly hunted by US forces and the Japanese police. As the innocent Aesap escapes arrest, he spots a flying warship suddenly emerging from the luminous ocean. At the bow is a young woman with wings of light on her feet. Her name is Lyukus, daughter of King Sakomizu of Byston Well--a world located where land and sea meet. "My father is a Japanese man named Shinjiro Sakomizu," she says. "You will help me, won't you... Aesap Suzuki?" Unwittingly drawn into war of an unknown land, Aesap can only wonder what fate the future holds for him--and the world he though he knew."

Okay, the biggest problem I had with this release was that there were only two episodes provided; and not lengthy hour long episodes either. The MSRP was pretty high to begin with and lack of value really dug at my consumer friendly stance since this is going to be a three volume release. I regularly review titles containing five episodes that cost less and they are often better scripted, tightly plotted, and more fun so while I liked much of the original program this was based upon, the marketing of it was problematic for me. I also didn't care much for the lead characters since they did not have a chance to become particularly appealing and the subtitles were full of grammatical mistakes that bugged me more than a little bit. In short, it appeared on the surface to be a rush job that was trying to cash in on the 20th anniversary of the show so I ended up rating it as a Rent It. Given the limited amount of remaining episodes left, I seriously doubt that Tomino will be able to turn this one around but fans of the original series might appreciate it as a tribute OVA more than the rest of us.

Picture: The Wings of Rean V1 was presented in an anamorphic widescreen color with a ratio of about 1.78:1 as shot by director Yoshiyuki Tomino. The colors were decent but the first thing I noticed was that in parts of the show, there was a significant amount of video noise and compression artifacts. Compounding this was a number of special effects that made it look almost retro in nature, the night scenes showing the lack of true blacks more than anything else. Still, the show looked okay even if the fluidity of the animation was a mixed lot, almost as if smaller, select portions were more fully animated in order to trick the eye into thinking it was better than it was. I've seen better from Bandai in the recent past but this one wasn't overly bad, just given a rushed appearance to match the writing of the show.

Sound: The audio was a straightforward 5.1 Dolby Digital Japanese release with English subtitles (no dub this time). As an action based show, there were ample opportunities to showcase the audio and while I heard little separation when the characters were talking, the music and sound effects did pay some attention to the abilities of the surround sound; much like dubs tend to do in fact. The voice acting was pretty solid with most of the voices sounding fit for the parts but without a dub to compare it too, I hesitate to say it was all that special. The subtitles, on the other hand, seemed tacked on far too quickly with various problems that I haven't seen outside of Hong Kong dubs (although they were not bad looking over all).

Extras: Aside from the textless ending and promotional trailer, the only decent extra on the disc was a lengthy interview with director Yoshiyuki Tomino and the singer Anna Tsuchiya. I'm acquainted with his work so much of the discussion was basic in that sense but it did help explain parts of the show that probably would have been better put into the movie. She was a delightful little gal with the kind of positive, perky outlook I like to see but she really didn't have a lot to say. I also liked the enclosed booklet as it provided interviews, sketches, storyboards and points of interest of some quality; perhaps the biggest saving grace of the show compared to other releases these days.

Final Thoughts: The Wings of Rean V1 was probably ten years more advanced than the original material offered up in Aura Battler Dunbine with better sound and improved visuals complimenting the decent extras. The story seemed to be kind of rushed and if you haven't seen the original show, you might find some of the lacking explanations to be a pain in the neck. I hated the fact that there was only two episodes on the disc and the price was so high but as an experimental attempt to revisit what a lot of people consider a classic anime, and done by the original director at that, it was certainly worth a look to that audience. The following two volumes will face an uphill battle by virtue of the pacing here but I've seen a lot worse in recent years so if you're looking for something off the beaten track, you might find The Wings of Rean suitable.

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVD Talk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003, Best Of Anime 2004, Best of Anime 2005, and Best of Anime 2006 articles or their regular column Anime Talk.