Up to volume 10 now for the AnimEigo DVDs of the Kimagure Orange Road TV series. This volume contains episodes 37 through 40. Sadly, the video quality takes a bit of a hit here versus the couple of volumes before it, leaving just a good audio presentation to tout as it has virtually no extras.
| Video: |
 |
The video presentation is a bit of a miss on this DVD. First off, this disc debuts another isolated intro segment, this one featuring Jingoro the cat and the cast spinning in an amusement park ride. While most forms of print damage are low, the intro frame is slightly unstable which is a detractor.
Moving on, the first three episodes suffer from noticeable compression issues, which result in a slightly soft image. There's also visible print damage, particularly in episode 37, where the right side of the screen shows defects from the start. This damage subsides after a few minutes but reappears around the 9-minute mark. Unfortunately, the most distracting aspect of the print damage is the flickering at the top of the screen, which begins about three minutes into episode 37 and continues intermittently throughout the episode, as well as through out episodes 38 and 39. Regarding the colors, they appear somewhat muted, with episode 38 in particular suffering from a lack of vibrancy.
As for episode 40, which is probably the most interesting aspect of this show for genre fans as it spoofs Toho kaiju films, it features slightly better video quality. The good news is that flickering at the top is gone... until six minutes in when it comes back. Bad news is that the image is zoomed in, likely to mask this. In particular the image on the right and likely top is lost a bit, very overt during the opening portion when some of the text travels off the screen.
Kimagure Orange Road is presented in its original
aspect ratio of 1.33:1.
| Audio: |
 |
Continuing the pattern established in previous volumes, the audio presentation remains one of the better features of this DVD release. Each of the four episodes included in this set offers a stereo track featuring the original Japanese audio. While these two-channel stereo tracks don't showcase much in the way of directional sound, this is more due to the limitations of how the episodes were originally produced, rather than an issue with AnimEigo's remastering efforts. Despite this, the overall audio quality is still quite good. The dialogue is clear and easy to understand, and the sound effects come through with a satisfying level of clarity.
It's worth noting that episode 40, the one spoofing the kaiju genre, does feature quite a bit of stock music from films that Akira Ifukube composed. These are primarly early entries in the genre, everything from Rodan (1956) to Dogora (1964). Sadly, the volume level is pretty low on these and it sounds like they lack in the clarity department, although this might be a byproduct of how they utilized a mono source in a stereo program.
As with earlier installments, the audio tracks can be paired with removable English subtitles. There are two subtitle options available: one that provides limited translations, covering only key dialogue and text, and another that offers a more comprehensive translation, where all speech and on-screen text are translated in full.
| Extras: |
 |
There's not much to comment on in this regard, as the disc uses the same unattractive menu design found in the earlier volumes. As for the bonus content, it's limited to a version of the credits that displays captions across the entire screen, listing all of the individuals involved in the production of the show.
| Overview: |
 |
Bottom
line, the quality of these DVDs remains mediocre after briefly picking up for volumes 7 and 9. That said, for those without a Blu-ray player, these DVDs still offer a viable way to watch the late 1980s series. However, for anyone with a Blu-ray player, the restored Blu-ray release from Discotek is the better option, offering a superior viewing experience.
|
