The first of many discs from AnimEigo related to the Kimagure Orange Road series. Being released a few years after the turn of the century, this DVD shows the inconsistencies in its presentation that the firm has become known for, although to a greater degree. The video track in particular is fairly flawed, although the audio track is decent

Well... it's watchable. The video is plagued by an ungodly brightness to it, though, washing out the lighter sequences pretty thoroughly in terms of details. On the plus side, this makes minor inconsistencies like the level of artifcating, grain and a slight hint of edge enhancement almost unnoticeable... or at least I assume that's a plus. Sadly, the frame here is also unstable on a rare occasion, causing the picture to shake a little.

Kimagure Orange Road is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

The DVD includes one audio track, which is the original two channel stereo. In regards to speaker distinction, there isn't much of anything to praise but the track as a whole is without any obvious blemishes. There is nothing to write home about the presentation, but nothing to really fault either, besides that they could have offered a more robust multi-channeled effort.

The audio can be accompanied by, removable, English subtitles that are available in two options, which are either limited translations or all speech and text will be translated.

Being a very early release by AnimEigo, it probably comes as no surprise that this disc is pretty much devoid of supplemental material. To be fair, it does have an extended credit sequence that, in English, lists the entire cast and crew behind it. While nice, though, this does little to elevate one's enjoyment past the four episodes included, which good extras should.

Bottom line, for those who aren't familiar with the series, Kimagure Orange Road is a pretty amusing franchise that's worth giving a look if you like drama oriented animation. Unfortunately, AnimEigo's release, while serviceable, is lacking in some key areas. Hopefully another firm will come along and give it a better re-release on region 1.