The Series:
Bandai Visual continues their experiment of pricing anime in the US
at the same price point as they do in Japan with the release of Super
Robot Wars Volume 1. With only two episodes and a running time
of 48 minutes, the $40 retail price is pretty steep. Add to that
the fact that Amazon, DVD Planet, and DVD Empire have declined to carry
the title, and you've got a receipt for disaster. That's too bad
because the show is a fun, if typical, mecha show and would probably be
getting a lot more buzz if people could actually afford it.
In the future the earth is a very different place. After being
hit by two giant meteors and going through a series of wars, the Earth
Federation Government united all the peoples of Earth under one flag and
restored the peace.
Then the third meteor struck, but this one was different. Inside
was a cache of alien technology and proof that invaders were coming to
take over. The technology that was discovered was used to create
mecha, called Personal Troopers, in order to defend Earth.
Ryusei Date is a teenager who is crazy about Personal Troopers and is
very good at the popular game Burning PT where opponents fight mecha in
a virtual reality world. Little does he suspect but Burning PT is
actually a training ground to find likely Trooper pilots. When aliens
attack just after a PT tournament, the government sends out an unmanned
Trooper that Date climbs in and uses to defend his girlfriend. Of
course playing in virtual reality and real life are two different things,
but with his life on the line, Date doesn't have a lot of time to adjust
to the differences.
It's hard to get the feel for a show with only two episodes. I
really wish they had included at least four, but from this limited glimpse
of the show, it looks like it'll be a fun anime series. Date is your
typical mecha pilot, young and bright but with a lot of problems.
The fact that he's tricked into becoming a pilot was fun, and there's enough
background story to make him interesting so the show certainly has promise.
The show itself is also fairly predictable and unfolds exactly as you'd
expect it to, but then again the beginning of mecha shows are often similar.
With only a pair of installments to go on it's hard to tell if this will
be an average run of the mill show or something unique.
The mecha designs while not all that different from what we've seen
before, look pretty good and the alien 'bugs' are a bit creepy and formidable
looking. Most of the mecha action is animated by computer, and this
CGI fits in well with the more traditional 2D animation. It's not
jarring and though it's easy to tell which parts are computer created,
it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.
The DVD:
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 watching dubbed anime.
As it is the original Japanese audio is only in stereo but it sounds pretty
good. The track had a fairly wide dynamic range and the impacts when
two mecha were fighting had a fair amount of bass. Of course a multi-channel
mix with a dedicated subwoofer track would make the fights more exciting,
but you take what you can get. Overall this is a nice sounding disc.
Video:
The video quality of the 1.78:1 anamorphic image was pretty good, much
better than the OVA that was released earlier (even though it takes place
after this series.) The image was pretty sharp with lines being tight
and well defined. The colors were bright and solid and the blacks
were deep. There was a bit of aliasing, but with only two episodes
on the disc compression artifacts weren't a problem.
Extras:
Zip. Nada. Ziltch. Nothing. Just an 8-page insert.
For the amount that they're charging for this disc, I was expecting something
more.
Final Thoughts:
It's hard to tell how this videogame based anime show is going to turn
out, but these first two episodes are pretty good. Though they are
a bit formulaic the characters have some personality and there's enough
background plot to make the show interesting. The biggest negative
is the price. Not taking that into consideration, the show itself
is recommended.
Buy: