The Series:
Okay, I'm supposed to tell you about Bandia Visual's latest release,
Super Robot Wars. Here's what you need to know:
-It's based on a video game (Strike One!)
-The creators assume you've played the games (most of which aren't available
in the US). Because of this they don't spend any time introducing
characters or setting things up. (Strike Two!)
-There are only three episodes, which run less than 90 minutes, included
on this two disc set (the other disc is extras) and the retail price is
$50. (Strike Three - you're out!)
As
for the plot itself, it's incredibly unwieldy though action filled.
From what I could make out watching these three episodes (and reading the
booklet included in the case) the Earth has been attacked by aliens in
the past. As a defensive measure teams of mecha have been organized.
The newest mecha unit to get past the test phase is known as the Bartoll.
This is an unmanned unit and is powerful, agile, and effective. At
the official unveiling of the unit the base where the event is taking place
is attacked and several people disappear in the melee.
The ATX Team jumps into their suits and starts to fight. Several
other places on Earth have been attacked too...by Bartolls. These rouge
robots are stealing people because, just like Soilent Green, Bartolls are
made out of people. It's up to an ever widening cast of characters
to find out who's behind the Bartoll revolt and put a stop to it.
This is easily one of the most unsatisfying shows I've seen in a long
time. Since I haven't played any of the games, I'm at a loss when
it comes to who the characters are and what everything means. As mentioned
earlier, they don't take the time to explain anything. Because of
this there's no emotional attachment to what is going on. The mecha
battles look cool, yeah, but when the viewer really doesn't care who wins
or looses the beautiful CGI work has pretty much gone to waste.
The DVD:
This show comes as a two DVD set with the second disc reserved for extras.
They come in a single width keepcase with a page for the second DVD.
There is also a 24-page booklet with character sketches and technical specs
of the various mecha.
Audio:
Once again Bandai Visual has released a disc without an English dub.
For the amount they are asking, you wouldn't think it would be too much
to provide an English soundtrack for those who prefer that. As it
is there are Japanese audio in both DD 5.1 and stereo and they sound pretty
good. The 5.1 track really shines in the battle scenes with full use made
of the whole sound stage. Unfortunately for the rest of the show
it pretty much collapses into a stereo mix. Still, the audio wasn't
bad and the multichannel mix did a lot to make the fights more exciting.
Video:
The
video quality is surprisingly horrible. Made in 2005, the 1.78:1
anamorphic image should look great, but this is one of the worst looking
discs, anime or otherwise, that I've seen in a long time. The image
is very soft, with lines being fuzzy and looking like they are out of focus
instead of being sharp and well defined. Look at the character on
the left which is taken from a screen cap. Notice how his face looks
out of focus and that the colors in his uniform aren't as vibrant as they
should be. Both aliasing and mosquito noise are a problem too.
This just isn't a good looking disc.
Extras:
The second disc is reserved for extras, and they did include a good
selection though it's a case of quantity over quality. There is a
clean opening and clean versions of all three closing songs along with
three music videos, songs set to scenes from the show. There are
also character biographies, sketches and a glossary, which has the same
information as the booklet included with the disc. I'm not sure why
they repeated that information.
There are interviews with twelve (!) of the voice actors which run around
50 minutes altogether. Unfortunately these are typical fluff interviews
and I didn't get too much out of them. All in all, there wasn't a
lot on this disc that got me very excited.
Final Thoughts:
I wasn't expecting a lot from this show when I got it in, but it even
failed to live up to those meager expectations. The show feels like
you've been plopped down in the middle of a long series with no explanation
of what's going on or who is who. The images are pretty, but that's
not enough to make up for the other flaws. Added to that is the outrageous
price and lousy picture quality. Just skip this one.
Buy: