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Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle DVD 1

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle

DVD 1

Buy the Regular Edition now from Amazon.com
Buy the Starter Kit (w/box!) now from Amazon.com



The first Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle DVD hits the shelves and knocks everyone's expectations out of the water!

Cover: The front cover for this Region 1 DVD uses the same artwork used for the Region 2 (Japanese) release, that of Syaoran standing in a full body dramatic pose with a passive Sakura in the background surrounded by sakura petals.

The back cover is very well designed with pictures from the episodes found on the disk, episode titles, special features and even a rather long summary of the series all present but done in a way as to not overcrowd the design.
The DVD stats (region code, runtime, etc) are also included though done so in a small fresh style at the bottom of the cover so not to get in the way but also easy to find for those interested in that kind of information.
Behind all this is a stylised image of Sakura's wing symbol which has been used several times on the cover and the DVD menus themselves to form a cohesive theme.

The Menus: The menus featured on this DVD all feature some great anime style artwork of the series' main characters on static (though very fast loading and effective) menus with several different tunes from the soundtrack playing in the background.

While I loved the menus, I did find it strange that the main menu used an image of Kurogane when the DVD cover features a picture of Sakura that they've used in the Chapter Select menu. I'm not sure whether this was a mistake or not, but the fact that Kurogane is featured on the cover of the second DVD seems a bit bizarre.

This is an unusual observation though rather than a critique. Overall it's obvious a lot of effort has been put into making this DVD release as visually appealing as it can be and it really does show.

Audio & Subtitles: The audio alone is a great reason to own this DVD. Not only do you get the original Japanese Stereo mix and the new English Stereo Mix but a very cool English 5.1 Dolby Surround Mix was added to create a more cinematic experience. The Japanese DVD release never got more than Stereo audio and it's great to see that much more effort being put into the English release.
I wasn't able to test the 5.1 Mix on a surround sound system but I've heard good things about it and found it down mixed well on my regular tv set with all of the voices and sound effects coming across very clearly and the music proving to be a character in itself offering one of the best anime soundtracks ever composed.

The Special Features: When I saw that the Japanese DVD release only offered two episode and clean opening and closing credits my expectations for the Region 1 release weren't exactly high. Imagine my joy when I found out that not only would it feature five episodes but a plethora of Special Features that would make anyone who bought the Region 2 DVD begin to wonder why they didn't wait for this release.

Not only does this disk include the textless credits, but they've also thrown in some great character guides which feature information on every major and supporting character shown on the disk as well. A great bonus is the production artwork of each individual character from several different angles used by the animators when making the series.
The same treatment is given to the worlds of Clow and Hanshin (or is it Hansin?) with some great artwork I'd never seen before and information on the different locations seen in the respective worlds such as Syaoran's house, the Clow Castle, the okonomiyaki restaurant, and more.

There is also a feature called "Faces in the Crowd" which disappointingly only features Toya from Card Captor Sakura this time around. The aim of this feature is to spotlight the different crossover characters that pop up in the series and what series they originally appeared in. Here's hoping more characters are featured in future releases.

By far the coolest Special Feature is the inclusion of the Cast Auditions where we get to listen to the actual audio clips the voice actors used to apply for their respective roles! It's an interesting insight into what a real audition tape sounds like and quite funny in places when several of them break character when mispronouncing their lines. Listening to the voice of Yuko is especially funny.

Finally, there's an easy to find Easter Egg on the Special Features page which reveals the DVD credits. Not much, but hey, an Easter Egg's and Easter Egg!

The Episodes: This first DVD features the first whopping five episodes of the series (take that Region 2!) which introduces us to all the main characters and takes them on their first adventure to the world of Hanshin.

Having watched the series during it's original run on Japanese TV and being sorely disappointed with several of the voice actors (I'm looking at you Sakura, Fai and Kurogane!) I was looking forward to hearing the English actors and what they would do with their roles and man, not only was I pleasantly surprised... I was ECSTATIC!!! The English voice actors not only manage to match the characters but they also achieve something the Japanese actors couldn't: giving their characters personalities!

The Japanese Sakura has always been, for me, an example of one of the most boring portrayals of an anime character. The actress always came across as rather weak and wispy and this even includes the scenes before Sakura lost her features where she was supposed to be full of life. Fai and Kurogane's voice actors fit their roles but didn't seem to do much else with them. One might go so far as to say that they became almost stereotypes of themselves. It wasn't until I saw the amazing xxxHolic anime series did I consider that Bee Train's voice direction may have been to blame.

The same voice actress that portrayed Yuko in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle portrayed her in the xxxHolic series and the difference in quality is shocking at times. In xxxHolic, Yuko is full of energy even when she's talking seriously. In Tsubasa she honestly seems bored at times. I also found some subtle differences in the way the different Mokona's were portrayed in the different series with black Mokona showing a lot more comedic range than the white one in Tsubasa who seemed to be on "just be cute all the time" mode.

Watching the English Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles is like watching an entirely new show! All the voices are so dynamic and have so much depth. It's like the characters from the manga have finally been given the voices we all expected! Sakura is now full of life and energy. She's no more the annoying high pitched "we have to love her just because" anime girl. Here she has a personality and is actually likeable, something the Japanese version never really made us feel they just beat us over the head every episode by having characters tell us she's so likeable and great.

Mokona is spot on and shows us all kinds of cuteness. Fai and Kurogane are both perfectly cast here, obviously due to their similarities to their Japanese counterparts but are so much more interesting to listen to. While I always liked the Japanese Syaoran, this version also seems to offer a greater emotional range.
The only voices I was a bit concerned about were Fay Wang Reed who just sounded so different than what I expected though he did grow on me by Episode 5 and Watanuki who sounded very unusual, mind you he only spoke one line.

The only really negative aspect of the dub I could find was the mispronounciations of some of the names. Kurogane's was particularily strange and Mokona is being over pronounced as "Moe-ko-na". Sakura also suffers as well, being pronounced as "Saaarrr-ku-ra" instead of the proper "Sa-ku-ra". Whether this was a deliberate choice of pronunciation or due to the voice actor's American or Canadian accents I'm not sure. It does detract from the enjoyment a little and I hope they correct this by the next volume.

Overall this is a great release though and those of you who found the Japanese version boring and painful to watch should definitely give the English one a go.

5 STARS!

Buy Regular Edition now from Amazon.com
Buy Starter Kit (w/box!) now from Amazon.com

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