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Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004 Dark Sabre Publishing
Group.
All rights reserved. |
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» Arjuna #1 - Rebirth |
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Title:
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Arjuna #1 - Rebirth |
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Publisher:
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Bandai |
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Price:
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$29.99 |
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Length:
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75 Min |
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Release Date:
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10/08/02 |
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DVD Region:
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1 |
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Genre:
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Action / Adventure, Drama |
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Description |
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From the creative pinnacle of two
of Japan’s most beloved anime creators, Shoji Kawamori (Macross,
Escaflowne) and Yoko Kanno (Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne)!
High school, archery club, and boys were the things that
filled Juna’s daily life. But when an accident leaves her clinging
tenuously between life and death, fate intervenes as she becomes
the sole witness to scenes of Earth’s destruction along with
humanity’s reckless pollution of the sky, the Earth, and water. It
is here in which Juna is given a new chance at life and bestowed
the powers of the Earth, a power she must wield in order to stop
an evil bent on Earth’s destruction. |
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The Review! |
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For a series that was not really
hyped up, both in Japan and North America, it sure seems like it
was one. Bandai’s first release of Arjuna seems to have the
potential of being one of those animes that needs to be watched by
all… There just seems to be so much for everyone.
Arjuna (Or Earth Maiden Arjuna… your choice) tells the story of a
16 year old girl named Arjuna… That is killed in a street
accident, and is given a second chance at life, after seeing the
death of the Earth in a vision. From there she is given special
powers and is aided by an organization known as “Seed”. It seems
she is some kind of Avatar of Time. From there she is to battle
creatures born
from the dying Earth known as Rajaa. Well that is the basic story,
I don’t want to give away too much of it.
From the three episodes that were seen on this disc. (Yep only
three episodes.) You get a taste to this unique type story of that
involves saving the environment. We get a taste of action, a taste
of adventure and some drama all in one. Regardless less of what
type of anime you like, they’ll be something here for you to
enjoy. I’ve even seen some non-anime fans find this enjoyable.
As for the animation of this, we see a great blend of CG and your
typical 2D animation. In fact, almost every scene has a
tremendous amount of CG, but it's not like say, Blue Submarine 6,
were it just looks out of place. It looks natural, like it’s
supposed to be there, making things quite visually appealing.
Needless to say the battles will blow your mind once seeing
everything in motion.
The video for this DVD is great… But they were a few small issues.
The video was nice and crystal clean, but there is a bit of
aliasing here and there. It is not so noticeable during some
scenes, but others it just sticks out, and other times it's just a
bit. A few macro blocks briefly appear, not too much however and
it’s not that noticeable, but let’s face the facts -- This isn’t a
prefect video transfer. Finally there’s some skipping as well, I
found this happened a lot during the Interviews extra however. And
again, it is not that much to make you want to use the disc as a
Frisbee.
The audio thankfully has practically no issues. We get the option
of listing to it either in Japanese and English tracks in Stereo
or 5.1 sound. Which ever one you use, you can rest assure that
they all sound great. There’s also the isolated music score, which
is rather cool to have. Did I mention that the music was great?
Bandai managed to put some great extras on this, such as the
episode previews, Bandai trailers (Though it’s for things we’ve
already seen). An Arjuna Dictionary, great for those in which the
many terms that are used in this goes over your head. You click
through and read through a great description of the terms. Finally
we have the DVD credits and VA interviews, with Maggie Blue O’Hara
and Brad Swaile, the English voice actors for Arjuna and Chris.
The menus are simple but sweet as well, with little problems.
In short, we have our selves a great buy for anyone for different
reasons. For great video and audio, brilliant use of CG, great
story and action sequences. I’m shocked at the amount of people
that aren’t too aware of this one. Well in any case, this DVD is
something you must see to it, you watch just once… You will not be
disappointed! |
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Bottom Line |
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Version 2.0
