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Pilot Candidate - Working Together (Vol. 3)
Bandai // Unrated // March 5, 2002
List Price: $24.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie
Pilot Candidate – Working Together is the 3rd volume of this 4 volume series. Let me point out at first that I have not seen the previous 2 volumes, but I can safely say I believe I know what is going on…and none of it is really good.
Titled Candidate for Goddess in Japan, I have no clue why Bandai thought it necessary to change the given name of the show. The only reason I can think of after seeing the end of this series is that the original name would truly not fit. Pilot Candidate is based around a pilot named Zero and his ship repairer Kizna (incorrectly named, the phonetic name is Kizuna). Zero dreams of becoming a pilot and eventually becoming a Goddess pilot. The Goddesses are the top tier of the pilots and they battle against an enemy called Virus that threatens to attack Zion, the planet that everyone seems to be protecting. It also seems Zion is the only planet left in the universe and that most of the universe is made up of encapsulated colonies.
The graphical presentation here is virtually flawless, however I have a problem with them. The 2D style with the characters is great, but the 3D CGI used in a good portion of the episodes are far too jarring. The effect is so jarring between 2D and 3D that you will most likely gain distaste for the show itself based upon just this. This show has other problems as well, although I will go more into that with the Vol. 4 review, but I will touch on one here. Somewhere along the way this show was dubtitled. I do not know if this was Bandai's fault or the maker of the show's fault, but it is horrendous. For those not privy to what dubtitling means, it means that the English subtitle is a word for word translation of the English track. For those that wish to listen to the Japanese track (the far better of the two tracks in this instance), the translation is poor and we are probably missing out on a quite a bit of words that the English subtitle does not convey.
As I was watching the 3rd volume, I started thinking about all the anime and mainstream things this series is ripping off. Here's a short rundown of ones I picked out: The Matrix: We have a planet, instead of a city, called Zion that the main characters are protecting. Also coming from Matrix is the fact that Virus looks a lot like the machines that were after the ship in the movie. The other biggest rip-off is from Gundam Wing. All the episode previews have a static picture at the end that looks disturbingly like the end of the GW previews as well. There are also 5 pilots in a group, much like in GW. The mechs in this series also work much like GW with a little Visions of Escaflowne, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Brain Powered ideas sprinkled here and there. I would argue that all the series I talked about are better than this crap.
The episodes presented here are revolve around Zero and his friends getting their first tasting of actual battle on the field. I should say that they may have seen battle before, but I do not know. Zero is introduced to a pilot named Erts who becomes a bit important down the line. Each of the pilots is paired up with a pilot from Erts' group and they go on their first Pro-Ing battle. Nothing too exciting, a lot of 3D CGI to jar you and absolutely no push forward for story in my opinion. The only notable thing on this disc is in the last episode where we find Erts' older brother, who pilots a Goddess, dying to save one of his pilots.
The DVD
Video: This series was done in 2000. The quality is top notch and I really cannot notch it lower because of that. The jarring changes between 2D and 3D are difficult to handle. Sometimes it is better to use less 3D or make it more seamless than is presented here.
Sound: Presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and in English and Japanese language. The English track on this disc is bad because of the dubtitle mess. The Japanese language is the better track on this release, although I do not think the subtitles follow the actual words. The music can often overpower the voices in this release and some directionality is used.
Menus: A pretty boring menu with the loud, obnoxious theme song in the background.
Extras: There are some extras on this disc, but they are mostly useless
Voice Acting Academy: Wonderful idea that is poorly implemented. Basically this is a video of "you" going into the room to do voice acting for a scene. They run you through the dialogue for the scene and then you are expected to go through the dialogue. I could see maybe children liking this, but it is so dumb to me. It is really a waste of space in my opinion.
Director's Interview: An interview with Director Mitsuru Hongo. He talks about 3D computer graphics and that the possibilities seem endless with it. The sad part about the whole interview is it is done with a hand puppet with Hongo's voice. There is also an interview with 3D Director Tokumitsu Kifune. He talks about how he does not think this series would be possible in 2D. I think he is wrong, but that is just me.
Trailers: Gundam 08th Team, The Big O, Mobile Suit Gundam and Outlaw Star. Nothing new, kind of sad.
Final Thoughts: Watching the 3rd volume, I could think about nothing but how bad this series is from a story standpoint and a 3D CGI standpoint. Pilot Candidate – Working Together is at best a rent, but I would say to just skip it. Some people may like the 2D/3D style, but I found it woefully inadequate. I felt like I was watching Gundam Wing all over again in 3D. Thing is Gundam Wing was semi-good where this is horribly bad. Skip it.
Pilot Candidate – Working Together is the 3rd volume of this 4 volume series. Let me point out at first that I have not seen the previous 2 volumes, but I can safely say I believe I know what is going on…and none of it is really good.
Titled Candidate for Goddess in Japan, I have no clue why Bandai thought it necessary to change the given name of the show. The only reason I can think of after seeing the end of this series is that the original name would truly not fit. Pilot Candidate is based around a pilot named Zero and his ship repairer Kizna (incorrectly named, the phonetic name is Kizuna). Zero dreams of becoming a pilot and eventually becoming a Goddess pilot. The Goddesses are the top tier of the pilots and they battle against an enemy called Virus that threatens to attack Zion, the planet that everyone seems to be protecting. It also seems Zion is the only planet left in the universe and that most of the universe is made up of encapsulated colonies.
The graphical presentation here is virtually flawless, however I have a problem with them. The 2D style with the characters is great, but the 3D CGI used in a good portion of the episodes are far too jarring. The effect is so jarring between 2D and 3D that you will most likely gain distaste for the show itself based upon just this. This show has other problems as well, although I will go more into that with the Vol. 4 review, but I will touch on one here. Somewhere along the way this show was dubtitled. I do not know if this was Bandai's fault or the maker of the show's fault, but it is horrendous. For those not privy to what dubtitling means, it means that the English subtitle is a word for word translation of the English track. For those that wish to listen to the Japanese track (the far better of the two tracks in this instance), the translation is poor and we are probably missing out on a quite a bit of words that the English subtitle does not convey.
As I was watching the 3rd volume, I started thinking about all the anime and mainstream things this series is ripping off. Here's a short rundown of ones I picked out: The Matrix: We have a planet, instead of a city, called Zion that the main characters are protecting. Also coming from Matrix is the fact that Virus looks a lot like the machines that were after the ship in the movie. The other biggest rip-off is from Gundam Wing. All the episode previews have a static picture at the end that looks disturbingly like the end of the GW previews as well. There are also 5 pilots in a group, much like in GW. The mechs in this series also work much like GW with a little Visions of Escaflowne, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Brain Powered ideas sprinkled here and there. I would argue that all the series I talked about are better than this crap.
The episodes presented here are revolve around Zero and his friends getting their first tasting of actual battle on the field. I should say that they may have seen battle before, but I do not know. Zero is introduced to a pilot named Erts who becomes a bit important down the line. Each of the pilots is paired up with a pilot from Erts' group and they go on their first Pro-Ing battle. Nothing too exciting, a lot of 3D CGI to jar you and absolutely no push forward for story in my opinion. The only notable thing on this disc is in the last episode where we find Erts' older brother, who pilots a Goddess, dying to save one of his pilots.
The DVD
Video: This series was done in 2000. The quality is top notch and I really cannot notch it lower because of that. The jarring changes between 2D and 3D are difficult to handle. Sometimes it is better to use less 3D or make it more seamless than is presented here.
Sound: Presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and in English and Japanese language. The English track on this disc is bad because of the dubtitle mess. The Japanese language is the better track on this release, although I do not think the subtitles follow the actual words. The music can often overpower the voices in this release and some directionality is used.
Menus: A pretty boring menu with the loud, obnoxious theme song in the background.
Extras: There are some extras on this disc, but they are mostly useless
Voice Acting Academy: Wonderful idea that is poorly implemented. Basically this is a video of "you" going into the room to do voice acting for a scene. They run you through the dialogue for the scene and then you are expected to go through the dialogue. I could see maybe children liking this, but it is so dumb to me. It is really a waste of space in my opinion.
Director's Interview: An interview with Director Mitsuru Hongo. He talks about 3D computer graphics and that the possibilities seem endless with it. The sad part about the whole interview is it is done with a hand puppet with Hongo's voice. There is also an interview with 3D Director Tokumitsu Kifune. He talks about how he does not think this series would be possible in 2D. I think he is wrong, but that is just me.
Trailers: Gundam 08th Team, The Big O, Mobile Suit Gundam and Outlaw Star. Nothing new, kind of sad.
Final Thoughts: Watching the 3rd volume, I could think about nothing but how bad this series is from a story standpoint and a 3D CGI standpoint. Pilot Candidate – Working Together is at best a rent, but I would say to just skip it. Some people may like the 2D/3D style, but I found it woefully inadequate. I felt like I was watching Gundam Wing all over again in 3D. Thing is Gundam Wing was semi-good where this is horribly bad. Skip it.
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