Extras |
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Menus (English) |
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Chapters (18) |
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Trailers: The Wolves, The Geisha |
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Image Gallery |
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Japan Map |
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Program Notes |
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Captures |
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Review |
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Anthony
Romero |
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AnimEigo, a company that by all regards
will probably go down in history for releasing
more Toho DVDs to the Region 1 market than
any other firm, has an uneven track record
to say the least. This release of Hideo Gosha's
The Wolves ends up being a fairly middle
of the road offering from them, with adequate
video and audio quality that has few extras
to supplement the movie experience. |
Video: |
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The video track included for the film
is decent. The colors are distinct, but lack
a rich array of depth that the format is capable
of, with the blacks in particular not appearing
as deep as they could have. The print used
for the transfer has hardly any scratches
to be seen. Sadly the noise level here could be beter as the film does contain a ton of grain, beyond what I would consider a normal look. Level
of detail present is good at least, although differs
from scene to scene. Like many modern transfers,
the disc uses a variable bit rate for the
video track in order to save on space. Sadly,
the process of achieving this on this particular
transfer results in some scenes looking
very sharp and others looking
pixilated and blurry.
The Wolves is presented in
its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is
Anamorphic for widescreen TVs.
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Audio: |
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In total, the disc contains two audio
tracks, both in Japanese and in Mono. The
difference between them is that one is the
original source AnimEigo had for the film
and the second is a restored version. Its
an unusual twist to see both present, although
its hard to say how many will appreciate having
the option. Differences between the two are
notable. As AnimEigo mentions on the DVD,
the original source does contain a slight
hiss, but this is fairly minor all things
consider and it sounds fairly adequate. The
second restored track, sadly, sounds a little
subdued and feels like the levels, the highs
and lows, have been reduced which is a likely
byproduct of trying to compensate for the
hiss. It will probably be up to listener preference,
but I found the original source to be superior
and more enjoyable to listen to.
The audio is complimented by removable English
subtitles, with additional subtitles available
for Japanese terms/expressions, and even further
options to subtitle on screen text.
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Extras: |
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AnimEigo has a well deserved reputation
for often having fairly strange and, frankly,
uninteresting extras on their releases, and
The Wolves is no exception. On the
plus side, the disc does contain the movie's
original trailer and also one for The Geisha.
A limited image gallery is also included.
Sadly, the rest of the extras are kind of
misses. There are the normal "production
notes", which give background on the
events of the movie from a historical perspective.
There is also a map of Japan, which is particularly
random given that geography doesn't even play
a huge part in the movie.
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Overview: |
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Bottom
line, there is nothing too great about this
release, but for those looking to just enjoy
the movie this is a more than serviceable
DVD from the firm.
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