With past releases of Shin Godzilla and both of the Attack on Titan live action films, Funimation has really been filling a void for Toho fans outside of Japan like myself. Now Funimation is adding to their catalog the live action Parayste Parts 1 & 2 feature film adaptations of the manga and anime of the same name. While lacking in noteworthy special features this a pretty hefty package containing both films on Blu-Ray, DVD, and Ultraviolet Digital Copies that makes this a stand out release deserving a place on every fan's shelf.
| Video: |
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Both Blu-Ray discs feature 1080p High Definition transfers of their respective films which lends itself to a very visually pleasing experience. Both films are filed to the brim with CGI shots and these are all very well rendered in this release. The Parasyte's deform human beings in pretty cartoonish ways but the images never feel like they exist independently from the live action footage and are melded together very well. The films feature rather dark lighting throughout, except for a sequence in Part 2 featuring fire that has the appropriate orange and red colors that really pop in this Blu-Ray transfer. We also get a subtitle track for the Japanese dubs on both films. However there are a few bits of noise that appears during the cityscape shots especially the night time ones. The DVD's have the exact same video, subtitles, and trailers but are obviously several steps down in quality from their Blu-Ray counterparts.
| Audio: |
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The Blu-Ray discs have Dolby TrueHD: Japanese 5.1 and Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1 tracks while the DVDs have Japanese 5.1 Surround and English 5.1 Surround tracks. As far as I can tell the Japanese tracks feature the original Japanese dialog and sound effects and were the more enjoyable to listen to. The English tracks feature a dub produced by Funimation and unfortunately are not as good as the original Japanese dialog. A lot of this falls on the dubbing for the character of Migi. Migi is a parasyte that implants in the main character's hand and gains a personality on its own and is an important character for both films. In the English dub Migi's voice is manipulated to give it an irritating high pitched tone that feels completely out of place in the films. Although I personally don't speak Japanese from what I could gather the original Japanese voice for Migi was unaltered and thus sounds far more natural and is therefore the better one. The voice acting for the rest of the English dub is sufficient with the actress voicing the character of Ryoko Tamiya being a highlight.
| Extras: |
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Japanese language trailers with English subtitles are included as special features. These include Trailers for both Parasyte films, Rurouni Kenshin Part 1, Genocidal Organ, The Future Diary The Complete Series and the Tokyo Ghoul live action film on the first Blu-Ray. The second one includes trailers for Attack On Titan Part 1, the Black Butler live action film,
, and Chaos;Child. All these trailers are included on the DVDs as well. Unfortunately like Funimation's Attack On Titan and Shin Godzilla releases this set does not include any behind the scenes extras. Perhaps Toho charges for the use of those features? Either way its disappointing to see the lack of special features on this release.
Alongside the Blu-Rays and DVDs we get Ultraviolet Digital Copies. One code provides essentially four movies to watch digitally. You get digital copies of both films and each film in turn gets two digital versions. The original Japanese with English subtitles and the English dubbed version. I'm really happy with this choice and I love that both versions of the films can be viewed at any moment on my phone or computer. The visual and audio quality of the digital copies depends on what device you're watching them on, if you're on a mobile network or Wi-Fi network, etc. So your mileage may vary there.
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Funimation should be applauded for this release. While I wish there were substantial extras like behind the scenes footage, getting two decidedly unusual Japanese Horror films released here in the United States on Blu-Ray, DVD, with Digital Copies is pretty fantastic. It's great to see that these kind of films not only have a chance of being released here but that we can get them on so many different formats. Parasyte Parts 1 & 2 are fun monster movies and Funimation has delivered them in great fashion in this release. Strongly recommended for any Toho or Horror fan's shelf.
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