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DVD
Title |
Zatoichi In Desperation |
International Title |
Zatoichi In Desperation |
DVD Length |
Original Length |
92 Minutes |
92 Minutes |
Company |
Year of Manufacture |
AnimEigo |
2004 |
Language |
Subtitles |
Japanese |
English |
Region |
Number of Discs |
1 |
1 |
Aspect Ratio |
Sound |
2.35:1 (Anamorphic) |
2.0 Stereo |
Extras |
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Captures |
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Review |
Damn you AnimEigo, damn you! It would seem
that the company's horrendous Zatoichi
At Large release has a "brother".
Like its predecessor, this disc suffers from
an extremely poor video presentation, which
completely overshadows the merits of the audio
quality here, while AnimEigo's "standard"
extras don't help the matter.
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From the minute the mostly obscured Toho
Logo is first flashed on screen, one should
probably be preparing themselves for the worst.
To this disc's credit, though, the colors
here are improved upon from the previous release.
They are actually very vibrant in fact, with
reds, blues, and greens all standing out very
well. There appears to be a little discoloring,
a slight red tint to the film, but not enough
to detract from the movie. The same can not
be said for the brightness level, though,
which utterly ruins the video presentation.
In fact, it's set so low on this release that
all of the night scenes, and a good deal of
the indoor shots, are utterly unwatchable.
I can't believe that AnimEigo didn't foresee
this as a problem either, especially considering
how bright the main menu is set at. Digital
inconsistencies could have been handled a
little better here as well, as the film does
sport some edge enhancement with the movie
looking a little blurred through out. What
makes this really tragic, though, is that
the print used for the transfer is in excellent
condition without visible scratches. As for noise, grain on this release is most unnoticeable. It's
a shame that AnimEigo wasn't able to correct
the brightness level here, as they could have
had another top notch video presentation on
their hands.
Zatoichi In Desperation is presented
in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, or
widescreen, and is Anamorphic for widescreen
TVs.
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The disc's best aspect, without a doubt,
is the audio presentation, which is featured
here on a 2.0 stereo track. There is nothing
inherently wrong with it, except for the fact
that it sounds fairly flat. In fact, it would
be better to just assume this is a 2.0 mono
track, as it sounds like a mono track was
simply doubled into both speakers as opposed
to having any speaker distinction. This might
be a problem for some, and a true stereo track
certainly would have been appreciated, but
the film's original format was mono anyway,
so there isn't much to be cross with in this
regard. The quality of the audio track here
is fairly good as well, with no pops or crackles
to be heard and most of the dialogue sounding
very clear.
The audio track is accompanied by English
subtitles, which can be toggled on or off.
The subtitles are also color coded, so it's
easy to tell when more than one character
is speaking during a particular scene. The
subtitles are available in two types: a general
one, and one that only subtitles onscreen
Japanese text.
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No punches are pulled here, as AnimEigo
pulls through with their standard array of
extras for this disc. The most note worthy
aspect is the four trailers present (Lady
Snowblood , Lone
Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril, Lone
Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons and the film's own trailer) although
the quality on those does leave some to be
desired. There are some "Program Notes"
included too, both on the disc and in print
format inside the case. The programs notes
are fairly generic though, discussing Japanese
customs as seen in the film, while ending,
as their Zatoichi
At Large disc did, by covering the
death of Shintaro Katsu. The last supplement
on the DVD is ten character biographies, which
each amount to about two or three sentences
of text for each character and, by all accounts,
aren't worth looking at if one has seen the
film.
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Bottom line, AnimEigo seems to keep delivering
sub par, if not horrible, DVD releases, yet
they continue to ask for them at upper end
($25-30) prices. As it stands, Zatoichi
In Desperation is easily one of their
lesser discs, and one would probably be better
off skipping this release, unless they are
a huge fan of the series.
This disc is also featured in the box set:
Zatoichi
The Blind Swordsman: DVD Collector's Edition
Box. |
- Anthony Romeros
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Buy
this DVD |
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