 |
DVD Title |
Kamikaze Girls |
International Title |
Kamikaze
Girls |
DVD Length |
Original Length |
102 Minutes |
102 Minutes |
Company |
Year of Manufacture |
Viz |
2006 |
Language |
Subtitles |
Japanese |
English |
Region |
Number of Discs |
1 |
1 |
Aspect Ratio |
Sound |
1.75:1 |
2.0 Stereo, 5.1 Surround |
Extras |
. |
Menus (English) |
. |
Chapters (16) |
. |
Trailers: Kamikaze Girls (#1,
#2) |
. |
Sideways Mode |
. |
Kyoko
Fukada & Anna Tsuchiya Interview (7 minutes
total) |
. |
Anna Tsuchiya Music Video (3 minutes) |
 |
|
Captures |
|
Review |
It's nice to see US firms continue to branch
out with Japanese DVDs that are culled from a
more diverse selection of genres, as opposed to
simply anime, kaiju, samurai and horror which
have been the most popular abroad. Of course,
critical acclaim never hurts, and Kamikaze
Girls certainly gained a name for itself
in the limited release circuit. Unfortunately,
Viz's release isn't quite as superb as one would
have hoped for a 2004 film. Sadly, the biggest
detractor here, and the one that is likely the
most important to most people, is the video quality
which certainly has some noticeable problems.
Thankfully, the audio presentation is fairly good,
and the extras are interesting and worth looking
over, if nothing more.
|
Video: |
 |
While not bad, there are certainly some problems
in regards to the video presentation on this release.
Leading the way in this regard is the contrast
level, which has been bumped to a lethal setting.
Yes, the colors are distinct, but they are also
washed out a lot of the the time due to the over
saturation present. Beyond this, there is also
some noticeable grain, although likely an artsy choice by the movie creators given the movie's age. The film also definitely
doesn't look as sharp as it could have, although
on the bright side no overt edge enhancement was utilized.
In fact the disc fares very well in terms of digital
inconsistencies as a whole, without signs of shimmering
or artifacting, although the reds do bleed a little
but I would assume this to be another byproduct
of the high contrast.
Kamikaze Girls is presented in its
original aspect ratio of 1.75:1.
|
Audio: |
 |
Audio quality is solid all around, with not
many complaints to be had. In total there are
two tracks present, both of which are in Japanese,
sorry dubbed fans. One of them is a 2.0 stereo
mix, while the other is a 5.1 surround mix. The
two tracks are both presented well, with crystal
clear dialogue and pretty good speaker distinction
when the film allows.
Unfortunately, the English subtitles present
on this disc have been burned onto the print.
This means they can't be removed, and nor will
they appear as sharp as removable text would have.
|
Extras: |
 |
A slim selection of extras, but of better
quality than what are often packed with region
1 Toho discs. It's also kind of refreshing to
see a disc that contains only trailers for the
movie being sold, without any cross promotion
for other titles from the company. In a odd twist,
there is also a feature on here called "Sideways
Mode", which is really just an encyclopedia
for Japanese references, such as Yakuza and Yanki,
that pops up during the movie and can be selected
to see a page long definition that is then read.
Of course, the main attraction in the supplemental
material is the interview with the movie's two
stars: Kyoko
Fukada and Anna Tsuchiya. The interview is
pretty brisk in its runtime, but more than worth
looking over if anyone is interested in either
actress. Finally, the last extra to round out
the disc is a music video from Anna Tsuchiya,
one which is unrelated to Kamikaze Girls
but not a bad feature regardless.
|
Overview: |
 |
Bottom line, this is a decent release, although
the video presentation could certainly have been
better. Regardless, those interested in checking
out this fairly unique film should be more than
able to enjoy the movie with this DVD.
|
- Anthony Romero |
Buy
this DVD |
|