Tsubasa OVAs out now!

[Skr]

So I just got my order in today (got the Collect Memories (S1 + S2 + Movie) as well on BD for only $30!) and I'm going crazy Both Tokyo Revelations and Shunraiki/Spring Thunder was actually released this past Tuesday dubbed and subbed on both DVD and Blu-ray. Japan only got it on DVD, so it's a bit of a treat to get Blu-ray (which looks rather fabulous). So I thought I would do a little promoting/reviewing.

So I've never watched the show before dubbed, so I thought I'd take a spin with it this time and do so. The dub is actually quite nicely produced. There are a few problems, mainly with Syaoran and Fai. Syaoran doesn't have the "drive" behind his voice that he should... and sounds lame, actually. However, as the Clone Syaoran, I think Liebrecht does quite a nice job. So I have to say, before the real Syaoran awakens, and the clone still is "Syaoran," Liebrecht sounds lame and doesn't have the "drive," however, when the two Syaorans are side-by-side, it's epic, he's epic, and he is perfect for the role. Fai, played by the big Vic M cannot play Fai in the serious character that Fai really is. In the original series, I could see him being cast as Fai -- he came out as a calm, jovial type of character, but he's actually quite dark, something that starts to majorly show in these OVAs. Then again, the Japanese Tsubasa cast has a slew of top voice actors, so for FUNimation's gang to have to go up against that, it's quite a feat. I however, do like Monica Rial as Sakura; Yui Makino is great, but I think Rial's Sakura is able to deliver that kick needed in Revelations. I have to give props, as well, to the 'new' characters brought in for the Tokyo Arc, or New Tokyo, I guess since both OVAs take place in "a Tokyo." It's not the same voice actors used in X's dub, or I'm pretty sure they aren't, but everyone in both Kamui's and Fuuma's gang sounds spot on, kudos to the supporting cast

I'm not in the mood to watch Spring Thunder again. I watched a few clips and again the supporting cast sounded great. J. Michael Tatum has really started to shine for me in series, and he kills it as Seishiro, definitely the best pick for the character. I might edit this if I ever get around to watching the whole thing.

About the video. Since it was only released on DVD in Japan, you would imagine it's an upscale. Upscales should not be synonymous with "bad" or "crap" as even if it is an SD master, BD allows for a higher bitrate making compression a thing of the past. So yes, TTR is an upscale. I spotted a few places where aliasing appeared (mainly on hair) and I don't know if it's the upscale or something, but I seemed to notice a lot more animation problems with the OVAs than I ever had previously. It still looks superb, so I would recommended it over the DVD version. For Spring Thunder, the thing was actually animated in HD! Amazing, right? The US gets something Japan didn't. It looks stunning. Although Spring Thunder wasn't as action-packed as TTR, the shiny animation helped up the awesomeness.

Extras are something I actually was surprised on. Since these were only "supplements" to the manga in Japan, they had nothing at all -- not even textless openings and endings. Surprise, surprise, FUNimation included those on here, something I was happy to hear that had happened. There's also a dub cast commentary for every single episode. I generally enjoy listening to the ramblings of FUNi's crew, so while I have yet get to it, I'm sure it will be pretty enjoyable to listen to how the dub took the OVAs since is quite different from the TV series.

Okay, guess that's enough. I didn't mean to do a full review, just wanted to say "hey, they're out," but I was writing this as I was watching it... and it kept growing in length. So go pick this is up if you're a Tsubasa fan. It's $25.99 on Blu-ray and $21.99 on DVD at Amazon. Oh yeah, if you haven't gotten the TV series or the movie, you might want to pick the Collected Memories set up on Blu-ray for a mighty $30.49, you should. The DVD set is still $60, so I'd advise you to buy a BD player instead and then buy Tsubasa instead of buying the DVD set

 

[megumi]

Ffffff, might consider it the next time I order stuff from Amazon. xD