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DVD Title |
Mikadroid: Robokill Beneath Disco Club
Layla |
International Title |
Mikadroid |
DVD Length |
Original Length |
73 Minutes |
73 Minutes |
Company |
Year of Manufacture |
Discotek |
2006 |
Language |
Subtitles |
Japanese |
English |
Region |
Number of Discs |
1 |
1 |
Aspect Ratio |
Sound |
1.33:1 |
2.0 Stereo |
Extras |
. |
Menus (English) |
. |
Chapters (12) |
. |
Trailers: Mikadroid, The
War in Space, Sars Wars: Bangok Zombie Crisis,
Burst City, Electric Dragon 8000OV, Disotek Promo
Reel |
. |
Making of Special (14 Minutes) |
. |
About the Film - text supplement |
. |
Artwork Gallery |
. |
Photo Gallery |
 |
|
Captures |
|
Review |
First off, the fact that this very obscure
movie is getting a release at all in the states
is somewhat of a modern miracle. One can certainly
appreciate companies like Discotek's interest
in these lesser known titles. Unfortunately, those
expecting an encore performance to the company's
nice War
in Space DVD will be disappointed, as
the video quality is lacking here while the audio
is a single track, no frills presentation. The
extras fare much better, thankfully, as there
is a good selection of material to look over and
a lot of interesting background information on
the production itself.
|
Video: |
 |
The video quality on Mikadroid is,
sadly, lacking. In Discotek's defense, this movie
is an OV (aka direct-to-video) so I'm sure there
aren't great source materials available for it.
The problem here, though, is that there is a great
deal of noise and grain to be found throughout
the duration of the movie. Thankfully, print
damage, such as scratches, are none existent.
However, some other aspects of the video need
work too, like the film doesn't look nearly as
sharp as it should while edge enhancement is also
apparent as it seems someone attempted to digitally
fix this. Speaking of, the transfer is not devoid
of other digital inconsistencies either, as byproducts
like shimmering are also to be found on rare occasion.
Finally, the colors here are also not nearly as
distinct as the DVD format is capable of, leading
one to think that this was possible done off a
VHS copy, which I guess wouldn't be out of the
question given the nature of the film's release.
Mikadroid is presented in a aspect ratio
of 1.33:1, or full screen. It should be noted
that the movie was originally shot in wide screen,
as it was first planned as a theatrical movie,
but that doesn't mean that a fully edited 1.85:1
aspect ratio print might exist.
|
Audio: |
 |
There isn't much to speak of in terms of the
disc's audio presentation. It contains one audio
track, which is a stereo two channel presentation.
Quality wise, there are no complaints to be had
as the dialogue is all clear while speaker distinction
is also noticeable. Some more options would have
been nice of course, like a surround track, but
this one still gets the job done fine.
The audio presentation is accompanied by, removable,
English subtitles.
|
Extras: |
 |
There is a good selection of bonus material
on this disc, which does a nice job of documenting
the interesting history behind the film and how
it was transformed from originally being a zombie
movie to one with a cyborg instead. This includes
an in-depth description of this process, simply
called "About the Film", and a "Artwork
Gallery". The prime attraction, though, is
the 14 minute "Making Of" special which
covers the film more in-depth as it features interviews
between the film crew which include director Tomoo
Haraguchi, special effects director Shinji
Higuchi and weapon designer Nafuki Hisao.
The video is pretty carefree in nature, which
makes it very enjoyable to watch, and I especially
love director Haraguchi's closing statement of:
"It makes you think - 'Oh yeah, I made that
movie, huh...'" The final extra on this disc
is a photo gallery with production stills, although
sadly they are shown on the disc in very small
dimensions, as seen here.
Unfortunately, there are also a number of key
extras found on the region 2 release of this title
that didn't make it over, such as the commentary
track, the original director's cut (which actually
is a shorter 60 minute version) and the isolated
music done by composer Kenji Kawai. Things that
won't be make or break for most, although collectors
might want to take note.
|
Overview: |
 |
Bottom line, given the source, this disc isn't
bad although doesn't really merit a strong recommendation
by any regards. The extras really save this DVD
from being completely mediocre at least, while
some might just be thankful for the chance to
finally see this more off beat picture.
|
- Anthony Romero |
Buy
this DVD |
|