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DVD Title |
Onmyoji II |
International Title |
Onmyoji
II |
DVD Length |
Original Length |
113 Minutes |
112 Minutes |
Company |
Year of Manufacture |
Geneon/Pioneer |
2004 |
Language |
Subtitles |
Japanese, English |
English |
Region |
Number of Discs |
1 |
1 |
Aspect Ratio |
Sound |
1.85:1 (Anamorphic) |
5.1 Surround |
Extras |
|
Captures |
|
Review |
Pioneer's second Toho release, or, more appropriately,
Geneon's first. The sequel to Yojiro Takita's
Onmyoji
(2001) has still been manufactured by the same
firm, but they have changed their name from
Pioneer Entertainment to Geneon, although the
parent company name has been left unchanged.
Putting the slightly confusing name change behind,
how does this effort stack up? Well, ignoring
the fact that the cover looks like it belongs
to a pirated copy (with a very grainy and slightly
pixilated appearance) and that the main menu
is so blurry it almost hurts to look at it,
Geneon actually did a respectable job with this
release. Granted, the video presentation is
lacking some, but the disc makes up for it with
a great audio presentation and a wealth of extras;
however, it still falls short of their Onmyoji
last year. |
Video: |
 |
Onmyoji II's video presentation, while
acceptable, is lacking in a few regards. Chief
among them is the brightness level in the
film, which is far too low. Because of this,
some scenes, like where Susa-no-o and Genkaku
are standing atop a roof to spy the ruined
city, are incredibly difficult to make out.
Surprisingly, the brightness level on the
trailers is set at just the right level, and
the contrast between the two is remarkable,
if not disheartening due to the fact that
the movie wasn't handled as well. The colors
on this release could also have stood to be
more vibrant, as they appear slightly muted
in terms of contrast with a slight brown tint
to everything. In terms of digital inconstancies,
there is some slight artifacting noticeable. That said, noise levels are good although the print could have stood to be a little
sharper, but all in all it won't distract
from the viewing experience.
In terms of the shape of the print used for
the transfer, which is the film's original
Japanese version, it appears to be in very
good shape, with no visible scratches. The
film's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 is
maintained on this DVD, and is Anamorphic
for widescreen TVs.
|
Audio: |
 |
Unlike the video presentation, the two audio
tracks found on the disc are more or less faultless.
The DVD has two audio tracks in total: a 5.1
surround Japanese track and a 5.1 surround English
dubbed track. The Japanese audio track tends
to sound better (not just because the dubbing
job for the English track is wretched either)
because the English track was recorded so low
on the disc, for some reason. In terms of the
surround presentation, there is some nice distinction
used in the various speakers, with roars and
explosions making use of the 5.1 presentation.
However, it isn't nearly as defined as other
Toho releases that have already been released,
such as Tristar's Godzilla
2000. The Japanese track here is accompanied
by, removable, English subtitles. |
Extras: |
 |
The extra portion of this disc is where Geneon's
efforts really shine. The most noteworthy
extra on the disc is, far and away, the "Making
Onmyoji
II" feature, which is an astounding
64 minutes long. The feature tracks the production
of the film, from beginning to end of the
16 month production period, and also has nice
interviews with the cast and filmmakers as
the feature progresses. Unfortunately, the
audio presentation during the feature gets
very scratchy whenever the volume reaches
a certain level, making it almost suggestible
to mute it during some portions, like when
they are filming the battle scenes.
Also included on the disc are a collection
of filmographies (Mansai
Nomura, Hideaki Ito, Kyoko
Fukada, Kiichi Nakai, Eriko Imai, and
Yojiro Takita) that provide some insight into
the actors, although mostly they just list
a select number of the actors'/director's
previous film credits. The disc also comes
with a wealth of trailers on it, all six of
Onmyoji
II's trailers, in fact, along with
a US trailer for the film and Pioneer's US
trailer for Onmyoji
(2001) as a added bonus. As previously
mentioned, the quality on these trailers,
save the two US ones, is actually better than
the film itself on this disc.
|
Overview: |
 |
Bottom line, the disc falls short in a few
areas, but overall is still a worthwhile release
for those who are interested in the Onmyoji
series.
This disc is also featured in the DVD box
set: Onmyoji
DVD Collection.
|
-Anthony Romeros
|
Buy
this DVD |
|