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Pretear: Vol 2
The show concerns a group of super powered human fighters from another world, Leafeania, who follow some evil beings to Earth in order to restore order and capture or kill them. The demons they are chasing have the ability to hide until they are very powerful and the team of seven young men and women (several of which are young children) decide it's important that they find a being who can enhance their powers, a "pretear". This being is not known when they arrive on Earth but their survival seems to depend on finding him or her as quickly as possible. The being will have the genetic power to touch one of the team and be absorbed, giving the team member a tremendous boost (each member has their own unique abilities). Here's what the box cover said:
"Newly found Pretear Himeno Awayuki is expanding her abilities, growing stronger and more capable with every fight against the demon larvae sent by the Princess of Disaster to rob the world of its Leafe. However, despite her improvement, things are not going well for Himeno and the Seven Knights of Leafe. Startling revelations from the past cause Himeno to doubt both herself and the Knights. Dark clouds are descending, bringing doom and destruction with them. Can Himeno and the Knights of Leafe conquer their past and the dark feelings threatening everyone they love? Or will the Princess of Disaster succeed in driving everyone to the brink of despair and beyond? Don't miss the second exciting volume of Pretear!"
Warning: Spoilers below!
The three episodes were, as described by the official Pretear website, as follows:
Episode Five: Smile Of Darkness:
"Himeno finds herself spellbound by a terrible nightmare where an ominous figure is warning Himeno of her impending defeat. Fortunately, Hayate appears and removes the cause of Himeno's terrifying dream, sending the frightened Pretear rushing into Hayate's arms. Himeno quickly realizes what she's doing and punches Hayate, ordering him out of her bedroom. That day, Hayate keeps a close watch over Himeno while she's at school, sending Yayoi into a fevered pitch about the unrequited love Hayate has for Himeno. Himeno shrugs her off, while Hayate looks on in amusement. Sasame notes to Hayate he hasn't seen him smile like that for some time. Elsewhere, a dark shadow falls over the area draining the Leafe from all the living things in its wake.
Himeno and the Leafe Knights are forced into action once against, but this time, the enemy is not a mere Demon Larva, but familiars of the Princess of Disaster herself. Himeno reveals she's seen these familiars before in her dream last night, causing Hayate some flak from his comrades for guarding Himeno without telling them what was up. After a little father/daughter incident, Sasame shows up for his turn at guarding Himeno, but has the misfortune of bumping into Mayune, and once again, it's personal man-slave time! Unfortunately, the power goes out for some reason, and Mayune runs out of the shower and gives Mr. Tanaka the thrill of his lifetime. Hayate grabs Himeno and they two take to the sky to search for and attend to the cause of the blackout, but it Himeno's dream turns out to be prophetic when the Princess of Disaster is the one playing Sandman."
Episode Six: Secret Of The Rouge
"Troubled by Fenrir's words, Himeno spends the morning practicing the martial arts to try and improve her combat effectiveness. Still troubled during breakfast, Himeno retires to her room, wondering where Hayate has gone to. Himeno bypassed Mayune's latest trap and goes out for a walk, whereas Hayate is combing the Church where he encountered Fenrir during the previous battle. Feeling blue, Himeno visits Kei and Go, who try in their own way to cheer her up, but it is to no avail. Back at home, Kaoru convinces Mawata to come sculpt things with him, and just for a moment, Mawata's solemn expression breaks with a fleeting moment of happiness. Elsewhere, Himeno bumps into the family maid Mikage while wandering aimlessly through town. Mikage gives Himeno some good advice, despite Yayoi's rambling about forbidden romance, and Himeno sets off to learn more about the cause of her despair.
Himeno bumps into Mannen and company and asks them about the Princess of Disaster, but they were born after her imprisonment and know nothing of her. Hajime and Shin propose the idea of visiting the place of her imprisonment, and the four head off to visit Leafenia. Himeno visits the site or Fenrir's imprisonment, which is shrouded by darkness. Returning to her world, the four travelers are greeted by the rest of the Leafe Knights, who scold the kids for taking her to Leafenia. Himeno begs the others to tell her about Fenrir, but Hayate and Sasame are opposed. Kei, on the other hand, begins full disclosure, up until an evil whirlwind appears sucking the Leafe out of everything and a Demon Larva attacks. While preted with Kei, Himeno learns the terrible truth about Fenrir's conversion to the dark side."
Episode Seven: Can't Protect Anyone Anymore
"Hayate and Sasame take Himeno to the Church where it all began; where the previous Prétear had submitted to the darkness within her own heart and became the Princess of Disaster, Fenrir. Himeno is apprehensive about learning the truth of her predecessor's conversion to evil, but she cannot turn back now. Hayate tells Himeno of Takako, and her incredible potential as a Prétear. But Takako was struggling against her own inner demons, as well as the ones she was facing in combat. Takako overcame her fears with Hayate's help, and she gradually fell in love with her guardian. However, Hayate did not reciprocate her feelings, and Takako couldn't stand that fact and surrendered to the darkness within her own heart, and thus, the Princess of Disaster was born.
Kei brings the others to hear Takako's sad story, and the three young Knights are enraged that Hayate is making Himeno fight the demon he had created by hurting Takako's feelings. Kei further elaborates that without Himeno as the Prétear, the Leafe Knights have no chance of defeating the Princess of Disaster. With the Knights at each other's throats, Himeno stands up and restores order to the team. Kei and the others are baffled that Himeno is the one to be the voice of reason, but all is well. Himeno then sets Hayate at ease and thanks him for his story, and tells him that she now feels like they're comrades in arms. Hayate is obviously touched, and makes a quick exit. Himeno then takes everyone out for ice cream!"
As much as I dislike getting only three episodes this time, the extras were solid enough to make up for it, a trend I hope ADV continues if they are going to embrace the concept of three episodes per DVD. I'm going to keep the rating for this volume at Recommended although I actually think it was an improvement in terms of character development and direction. The basic themes of good vs. evil were still present but the complexity increased and that made it more interesting. One interesting thing to note though, for some reason, the DVD cover listed the title episodes incorrectly, skipping the title of the fifth episode.
Picture: The picture was presented in the industry standard 1.33:1 ratio full frame color. While not exactly top of the line, there was little grain or other problems to interfere with the picture quality. The anime style itself wasn't exactly high budget either but it was better than a number of other releases. I didn't see any major edge enhancement, artifacts, or moiré either for those of you who prefer hearing code words to a solid visual description in layman's terms.
Sound: The audio was presented with a choice of either a 5.1 Dolby Digital surround English track or the original 2.0 Dolby Digital Japanese track with optional English subtitles. In terms of music and separation, the dub track was far superior to the original language track but as much as I like some of the voice actors, the original vocals seemed a bit more refined and appropriate. The Japanese track seemed almost in monaural but depending on what you want out of the audio, each had it's merits.
Extras: For me, the best extra was a lengthy interview with four of the voice actors, Greg Ayres, Spike Spencer, Chris Patton, and Victor Carsrud. With a running time of nearly forty-five minutes, this extra added some solid value to the DVD (which only had three episodes). Most of the time, the interviews focused on the actors but a fair amount of discussion took place on the series itself. There was also the usual clean opening and closing, trailers, sketches, and a paper insert (which listed very little information).
Final Thoughts: I think this was a solid volume for the series, even with only three episodes, due to the longer interviews included and the material itself. If the series continues it's momentum, I can see it's rating increasing soon. On anther note, this one wasn't as good in terms of stand-alone value due to the nature of the continuing saga where the first volume explains the characters. The technical values were decent and the show cute enough to enjoy on a few levels.
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