Toho's first DVD release for Godzilla vs. Megaguirus is featured in this extravagant three disc box set that contains two DVDs and a CD soundtrack. In terms of the presentation, this set is excellent with good video and audio quality, while the set is packed with tons and tons of extras, both on and off the discs.

Toho has done a great job with the video quality of the feature film, in particular with the shape of the print used for the transfer as it features hardly any grain and is devoid of scratches. The movie also looks sharp, although in contrast the details aren't as vivid as in Tristar's region 1 release. The colors are generally good in this set, although there is a faint magenta tint to everything while the color spectrum isn't as vibrant as it could have been, but it's a minor complaint.

The movie is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is Anamorphic for widescreen TVs. The image is windowboxed, black border around the video, to ensure that older TV sets don't cut off some of the image. Sadly, the amount of border present is way more than it needed to be, and its a shame because the movie would have looked much sharper had Toho gone with a less dominate border for the image.

This set comes with a 5.1 surround presentation of the movie in Japanese. This track features some nice speaker range, with explosions and other more embracive effects sounding great, while there are no audio inconsistencies to speak of during the movie's duration.

The audio track is accompanied by, removable, Japanese subtitles.

This set is loaded with bonus material across the three discs, making this easily one of the more extra intensive releases for a Toho production. Now the first disc is primarily dedicated to the film, but does boast a nice collection of extras as well. Foremost of these are two different audio commentary tracks, the first of which features director Masaaki Tezuka, special effects director Kenji Suzuki and lead actress Misato Tanaka. The second commentary track is done by composer Michiru Oshima and music producer Kyoko Kitahara. The commentaries are, naturally, in Japanese and give a great deal of insight for anyone fluent, while it's also great to see the second commentary track that focuses on the film's amazing score. Next up on this disc is a large collection of trailers for the movie, while it rounds out with cast profiles.

Now the second disc features the bulk of the supplemental material from this set, and starts off with lengthy "Making of" featurette for the production. Following this is a 42 minute video that focuses on previous Godzilla promotion campaigns from 1954-2000. The feature is ordered chronologically, and boasts a nice number of photos related to PR campaigns for the various films, including this one that features possibly the earliest use of the English spelling of Minilla along with this great color one for Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971) among many more. The more recent Heisei era films are given better coverage, of course, as videos related to promotions are also included. Next is a look at the movie's story boards, which allows a thorough look at the concepts while also allowing the viewer to see the completed scene for several of the sequences for comparison. There are also two teaser trailers on this disc for the then upcoming Godzilla, Mothra & King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack (2001).

The last video feature on this second DVD is a 25 minute one called "Tamao Sato and the Godzilla Lab". This video starts out with a large room of Godzillas, as the one up front points to a map of Japan and then leads the others in a cheer before they march off. It then transitions into the G-Grasper Lab as the viewer is introduced to actress Tamao Sato, the lead for this little promotional piece. For those unfamiliar with Sato, she is probably as famous as she is infamous (especially amongst women), yet has maintained an extremely long career in the country for an "idol". Unfortunately, Sato looks like she just rolled out of bed for this feature, as opposed to displaying her normal glamour. Her acting is, sadly, extremely dreadful as well as she continues to hone in her "naive girl" act, although one can't help but smile when she starts packing a rocket launcher around. Sato's antics aside, this video works to promote Godzilla vs. Megaguirus, explaining many aspects of the film, while it also includes a "Kaiju Battle Tournament". Now the Tournament pits various Toho monsters against each other using stock footage from the films to either recreate old battles, or splice together a new one as is the case with Mechagodzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. If anyone is wondering the general flow of this, the matches progress in this order:

A Block
Godzilla vs. Rodan - Winner: Godzilla
Mechagodzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla - Winner: Mechagodzilla
Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla - Winner: Godzilla

B Block
King Ghidorah vs. Anguirus - Winner: King Ghidorah
Dagahra vs. Mothra - Winner: Mothra
King Ghidorah vs. Mothra - Winner: King Ghidorah

Final
Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah - Winner: King Ghidorah

Moving on, the third disc in this set is a more expanded CD soundtrack, a separate review of which is located here.

The bonus material doesn't end with the three discs, though, as it also includes a great Production Booklet with information on the staff, great production stills and concept art. A phone card is also included.

Bottom line, despite some minor complaints about the video, this is a otherwise flawless set with pretty much the best extra presentation around for any Toho film. Sadly, this release is now long out of print as Toho produced a "standard disc" edition, merely the first disc from this set, in 2002 and phased this one out.