The discs feel more stable in these Scanavo cases than in the ones used in earlier thinpak season sets. (I’ve had bits of the disc holders break off in a few sets.) The case design licenses US patent 5,743,390 from Pozzoli and looks custom-ordered to hold the four discs in each set.

However, I noticed the descriptions on both boxes were EXACTLY THE SAME. I guess since the season 3, 4, and 5 Viridian sets shared a release date (March 23rd), the packaging copy people thought it’d be easier to just make a one-size-fits-all description for the sets despite the different sub-titles for each season, e.g. “Detective Conan and the Chains of Iron” for season 5. It seems that the season 1 & 2 Viridian sets also bear the same paragraph.

At least it had been changed from the same-on-each-set descriptions used for the first round of season box sets, though there are some similar components (unchanged parts in bold italic):

The criminal mind is a twisted one and Jimmy Kudo knows the shady corridors of humanity like no other detective in the business.

…

Utilizing his unlikely new persona and cutting edge technology, Jimmy is hot on the trail of his assailants as Conan Edogawa.

I’m not entirely disappointed by the copy-and-paste jobs because, to be honest, not a lot of mythology (or key character story stuff) happens within each 25/26-episode chunk – I think only two or three “big picture” things have happened in the first five seasons. The Black Organization episodes that introduce Ai Haibara would be five deep into a season 6 set if FUNimation were to resume dubbing but she has been in movies 3 through 6 so she’s appeared in some Region 1 releases, voiced by Brina Palencia.

On an ANNCast episode in January (about 62:15 in), FUNimation’s Lance Heiskell said the movies sell well and they have had a good amount of box set sales but not enough volume to warrant licensing more seasons – so if you’d like later seasons & movies to be released (for any continuing franchise), I’d advise voting with your wallets!

Back to the sets themselves, one neat thing about the packaging is each set’s ISBN being listed on the reverse cover wrap. It’s redundant because the ISBN is also listed on the back of the box but its inclusion gives the feel of a book interior with even a first printing number line. (I doubt FUNimation is actually considering updating that number if these get a second printing but it’s a nice touch n.)

Of course, I can’t go without sourcing the pull quotes: IGN’s comes from this review of Case 1.4 DVD single and Mania’s from a review of the season 1 collection. The same IGN quote also appeared on the first run of season box sets.

Now that I own all five seasons currently out, I have plans to fill out many barren episode listings on Anime Vice. I also bought the first six movies a few months ago – I intend to watch those in sequence & then write about them collectively in the context on how accessible or inaccessible they are to non-fans and attempt to discern why I like this franchise at all. That hopefully appear within the next month.

Yesterday, my order of DVD singles arrived from RightStuf – I had ordered all of Kurau Phantom Memory (which I bought the first volume of and liked, but then sold when I needed some money), the three volumes of Princess Nine they had in stock, and an Ergo Proxy CD (still need to watch the series). When I unwrapped the artbox for Kurau, I saw pull quotes in ads for Le Chevalier D’Eon and Coyote Ragtime Show and knew I had to track down their contexts (like I did some months ago for something else).

Le Chevalier D’Eon

“Blazing, exciting action! A swashbuckling version of Ghost in the Shell!” – Ain’t It Cool News

Quote fragment context 1 (vol. 1 “preview” reads like a review):
“Unless you are completely off-put by the look and feel of the 18th century, Chevalier d’Eon is an anime that strongly warrants a look. It approaches an environment that is rarely animated. It presents characters with intriguing moral complexity. It leaves open room for interpretation. It offers blazingly exciting action. What more can one hope for in anime?”

Quote fragment 2 context (from same source):
“As a series developed by Production I.G, featuring strike force secret police, given an ambiguous license by the higher powers of government, it is tempting to think of Chevalier d’Eon as a swashbuckling version of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Given that the appeal of Stand Alone Complex can largely be credited to its procedural faithfulness and the depth of the ideas it developed, the comparison is not unreasonable.”

“History mixes with supernatural mystery for a thrilling ride.” – Anime Insider

DEAD MAGAZINE HAS NO ONLINE ARCHIVE

“Stunning! Very Recommended!” – Anime on DVD

Quote fragment 1 context (vol. 1 review):
“When a production studio moves outside of some of their more normal areas, not that Production I.G. has really kept to just one area, they can either produce something stunning or incredibly weak. In its first four episodes, Le Chevalier d’Eon is moving quickly up on the stunning chart. While its first episode felt incredibly rushed and poorly paced in some ways due to how much it was trying to do, it settles in nicely after that and begins its expansive storyline. Similar to their work on Otogi Zoshi, they’ve done a ton of research on the period and locales and it adds so much more to the atmosphere. Combined with the real life nature of many of these characters, you get a greater sense of them having truly walked these streets and interacting with each other.”

Quote fragment 2 context (the next paragraph):
“Very recommended for those who are tired of high school lads saving the world or magical princesses that never seem to grow up.”

Coyote Ragtime Show

“Mind-blowing exhilarating action!” – Anime News Network

Quote context (Shelf Life):
“For anyone that loves their anime to be steeped in blood and peppered with bullet holes, Coyote Ragtime Show is the stuff of dreams. It’s the kind of mind-blowing, exhilarating action show that swoops from the skies, clouding everything in a rain of lead, angry punches, and loud passionate music.”

“Think Ocean’s Eleven meets Treasure Island meets Cowboy Bebop and you’re on the right track!” – DVD Talk

Quote context (vol. 1 review):
“This first volume stays strong the entire way through. The characters were quirky and the atmosphere was a lot of fun even though the plot isn’t necessarily the most unique. Think Ocean’s Eleven meets Treasure Island meets Cowboy Bebop and you’re on the right track. Frankly that is a nice combination of ideas when you get right down to it so in many ways Coyote Ragtime Show sizzles. Put me down as being interested in future volumes and if you have ever loved science fiction/pirate anime it would behoove you to do the same.”

“A stunning visual treat with high action animation and characters with bold & brazen attitudes.” – Theotaku.com

CANNOT FIND ON WEBSITE- but did find it mentioned in a cached listing from ADV Films

Kurau Phantom Memory

From box insert:

“Engrossing interplay between vastly different beings in a fantastic world the likes of which you’ve never seen.” – Newtype USA

DEAD MAGAZINE HAS NO ONLINE BACK CATALOG

From volume 4:

“Rarely is sci-fi done this well, animated or not, and I don’t see it running out of juice any time soon.” – The Anime Review.com

Quote context (vol. 1 review):
“I can’t speak to whether or not Kurau will keep at this quality level for its entire run. However, the first four episodes have gotten me hooked, and I’ll have to make the decision for myself after reviewing the whole run. Rarely is sci-fi done this well, animated or not, and I don’t see it running out of juice any time soon.“

From volume 5:

“Superb! A Must-See!” – Anime News Network

Quote fragment context 1 (vol. 1 review):
“Great visuals complement a story as much about relationships as action, creating a superb opening volume for a highly promising series.”

Quote fragment context 2 (from Shelf Life):
“Packed with interesting characters (okay, just Kurau and her other half right now. Everyone else is dull.), fun action sequences, and a story that will only get more involving, Kurau: Phantom Memory is a must see. It’s definitely one of the more exciting releases of 2007 so far, and well worth checking out.”

“Gorgeous animation, incredible characters and a dynamic story.” – Animation Insider

Quote context (Part 2 of vol. 1 review):
“However, this closeness [between Kurau and Christmas], in my opinion, only strengthens the incredible character dynamics that I loved about this show. Besides, these are miniscule things that I as a reviewer felt needed to be addressed. Kurau Phantom Memory is really looking hopeful as the latest anime to hit American shores, and am eager to see future volumes when they arrive. All in all, the program has gorgeous animation, incredible characters and a dynamic story.”

From volume 6:

“Fantastic storytelling, animation and voice acting. An ‘A’!” – J! Ent E-Zine

CANNOT FIND ON WEBSITE – but did find it mentioned in a cached listing from ADV Films

“Simply one of the best releases so far this year!” – J-Revolution.com

Quote context (vol. 1 review):
“Overall, Phantom Memory Kurau is truly another great release by ADV. If you are in the mood for an action-packed story full of personal relationships and trials, Kurau is definitely the release for you. Although I have my previously listed complaints about the music, when you look at the complete package that Kurau offers, it is simply one of the best releases so far this year.”

I received the Cowboy Bebop Remix set in the mail last week and soon noticed that “Animated Interactive Menus” was mentioned under DVD Features. I remembered seeing that interactive menus touted on the Kannagi and Lucky Star volumes and mentioned that on Twitter, complaining that such a basic feature of the format shouldn’t really be mentioned. To me, it’s like saying CDs have Dynamic Track Navigation. Later that night, I realized that ‘features’ can be also used as a verb so the listing on the box is about what the DVD features, not what the DVD features are (those are called “DVD Extras” on these releases) so I felt a little stupid. However, I still felt my main complaint may been worth writing about.

This week, I received the Lucky Star OVA and the first Hayate the Combat Butler volume and as I expected, those two also had menus listed under what the DVD features, effectively giving me the green light to continue working on this post.

from New Line’s 1997 DVD release of “Rumble in the Bronx”

It was common in the early days of retail DVDs (late 1990s) for boxes to make mention of that feature in order to highlight one of its advantages over VHS. Some were more creative than others.

from Trimark’s 2000 DVD release of “Natural Born Killers”

Another term used to describe selectability was “Scene Access”, which isn’t used very much anymore since that is a widely understood feature of DVDs. As you can see above, that can be considered different from interactive menus because a DVD could be made without chapter selection, forcing the viewer to watch it from the beginning. Such a disc would presumably not have chapter markers.

Texhnolyze vol. 1 (2004) had an “Interactive Motion Menu” – elements rotating in the foreground and others moving in the background – along with “Scene Access”.

from Please Teacher Vol. 1 (2003)

A “motion menu” seems to be different from a more generic “animated” interactive menu, which in the case of Please Teacher amounts to the main menu choices being written on the chalkboard and the scene selection screen having samples from each part playing.

Tokyopop considered dual languages, subtitles, and “Motion Menus” as bonus features on GTO vol. 1 (2002) when they really shouldn’t have lumped them in with the actual bonuses.

Returning to the present: Bandai, you seem to be the only anime distributor that continues to mention on your releases’ boxes that the discs have menus. I probably wouldn’t have noticed this as readily if there were more special features on those releases. However, in the cases of Kannagi and Hayate, BEI put seven episodes on a single disc – 6.78 GB (7,111,416 KB) worth on Kannagi 1 and 6.42 GB (6,735,522 KB) on Hayate 1 – but surely you could have tried to put some interviews with voice actors and/or producers or even TV commercials as extras, ANYTHING other than the not-very-impressive-anymore textless openings and endings, something that might have softened the bad feelings some people feel about the bare-bones sub-only releases coming from you guys later.

One more thing I need to get off my chest: the initial solicitation sent out for the Lucky Star OVA included “Special Live Recording of Lucky Star Channel Radio Show” and “Special Lucky Star Event at Washinomiya Shrine” as extras, just as they were on the Japanese release, but both were somehow missing on the actual release. The 45-minute feature takes up just 2.19 GB on the disc so why the hell aren’t those two extras on there – there’s plenty of room! If the excuse is that you couldn’t get those materials from the studio, then what happened to that relationship in the months since the release of Lucky Star vol. 6 (March 2008)? All your single volume releases of LS had “The Adventures of Minoru Shiraishi” segments on them.

I think that’s all for now. There is more I could say but I’ll save those for after I do some research into the death of extras due to the rise of box sets.

Monday afternoon I stopped by the Best Buy in Natomas (store #660) and bought Case Closed Season 3, which was 17.99 after the half-off discount. Ghost Hunt Parts 1 and 2 were also there for the same price but I’m a little tight on money right now (typical college student excuse). But I’ll try to pick those up at a later time, promise. Once I got home, I was surprised by how thin the volume actually was, given this was my first neo-FUNimation set.

This printer was the closest flat surface I had.

Here is the season 3 set next to Case 1.1 (released on Feb. 21, 2006), which has 9 episodes on two discs. Don’t remember where I bought that one, maybe it was FYE?

…and a thickness comparison to the Hunter x Hunter Set 1 (Dec. 9, 2008), which has 15 episodes on 3 discs.

By the way, both sets have caution tape on their covers.

The outdoor scene can be seen in the first ending credits; the running away scene is from the first episode. The disc art includes faces from these inside covers and the front covers in Polaroid-style frames.

Even though it’s a thin volume, there is still room for the Anime Source to slip into the box. Look how many titles are being advertised – that’s efficiency! (I counted 39 – the 25 shown above and 14 on the flipside.)

All episodes on each disc are on a single title, a “feature” of FUNi releases that has irritated me for years. I like individual episodes to be on their own tracks and I sure I’m not the only one who feel like this. The average disc size is range from 7.25-7.44 GB, which seems about right since the 6 or 7 episodes on each disc are in 4:3.

The Season 3 set covers episodes 53-79, as FUNimation numbers them, and I still own an older single DVD – Case 4.5 – that has episodes 65 through 67. (FUNi ditched the “case X” numbering on volumes once they moved over to releasing the season sets, which was a good idea since the ordering was confusing and some volumes had non-consecutive episodes.) I did some quick subtitle samples through the pairs of same episodes and they look to be the same script, as one would expect…

…except that lines that spanned the screen on a single level (Case 4.5) are now displayed on two levels (season 3 set). I think this is a good change since it increases readability since there should be reduced eye wandering to the edges of the screen.

The English title on the packaging for Episode 65 was properly changed to “Gomera!” (4.5 had “Movie Mayhem” on the outside but “Gomera!” in the on-disc menu.)

I stretched more out of this than I should have but it made for (hopefully) a good post.

Something that has irritated me lately has been the increasing trend of DVD volumes coming with the disc inside the case and that’s it. Recent examples in my buying experience have been the regular edition of Haruhi vol. 1, Red Garden vol. 1 and Pumpkin Scissors vol. 1. Seeing the empty space on the inside left side of the case when I open it for the first time triggers a sense of disappointment because I have an expectation that there was some sense of effort put into the packaging including the inserts.

Some studios like Funimation and Media Blasters put in upcoming release pamphlets in their singles in lieu of inserts relating to the particular series. I guess it’s better than nothing but it’s still kind of a cop-out in my book. Funimation’s release date schedule is fun to glance over but that’s about it.

For me, Pioneer/Geneon has been the most consistent in putting at least a simple scene index in their singles. Unfortunately, that minimum insertion seemed to be ALL that was inside the majority of their volume cases even with 2007 releases like Story of Saiunkoku.

There are also select series for which the licensor decides to include a healthy-sized booklet, such as Pani Poni Dash from ADV and Full Metal Alchemist from Funimation. PPD’s guide contains translator notes similar to how RightStuf’s Comic Party singles and the thinpack box set have packed-in notes pointing out and explaining numerous references. Azumanga Daioh, another ADV title from a while ago, had 12-page booklets with notes, production comments, and character art inside. I also remember that Chrono Crusade had one-sheet inserts with episode summaries on the back along with two “Episode Check” blurbs on the backside of the volumes’ reversible covers.

(from Noir DVD volume 3 booklet)

My favorite inserts ever are definitely those inside the Noir and Madlax volumes because each one had production inserts that ranged in subject from the voice actors reflecting on their role, stories behind the series’ creations, poetic interludes from the director and other staff, funny sketches by seiyuu and character designers, and general anecdotes. (The ones with Noir were four pages long while Madlax‘s were two pages.) I hope that this tradition is continued whenever ADV releases El Cazador de la Bruja (the third installment of the “Girls with Guns” trilogy) since the inserts in the previous two parts gave me a greater understanding about the motives, stress, and humor behind making of both series.

I was overjoyed to hear this week that the Emma Season 1 Box Set will include a 96-page “Victorian Gazette” compiled from the limited edition R2 booklets but it was yet another reminder that box sets get most of the love these days in terms of substantive extras if they aren’t thinpack re-releases or Bandai’s Anime Legends plastic case sets.

What do you think about in-case inserts – is it even worth it for companies to put something in there anymore? What are your favorite “special inserts” including those from Japanese releases?