Tsubasa Chronicle Movie 1
The Princess of the Country of Birdcages
(Regular Edition)
Price: US$24.75
Theatrical Release Date: 20th Aug 2005
DVD Release Date: 26th Feb 2006
Buy now from YesAsia!
Here it is. Something I'm sure we'll all look back on fondly when Tsubasa Chronicle has finished in a few years time, the first (I'm positive there will be at least one more) Tsubasa Chronicle movie on DVD!
I was lucky enough to grab mine a few days before the official release date due to... well, me seeing it on the shelf for sale before the official release date! Unfortunately I've been so busy with work and getting Link online that I havn't had a chance to review the disk!
Something else I feel like mentioning right now is the the fact that this is Loop's very first DVD review! Sure I've done a few Tsubasa manga reviews and some episode opinions but never a DVD review before for this site! History in the making I tell you!
I've decided Loop's DVD reviews will follow the same format as Moonkitty.NET's DVD reviews. i.e. with a link to buy the DVD (and please do as all purchases bought through a link on this site help me pay for hosting and buying more DVDs and manga to review in the future!), screencaps of the movie itself so you can check out the picture quality, as well as pics of the different menus. All these pics of course can be clicked on for larger versions.
Are you bored yet? I sure am. Let's get this review started, shall we?
The Cover: This is a brand new release so naturally the picture on the cover is crystal clear. The front cover is the same artwork that was used for the movie poster when the film had it's theatrical release. The back cover features a great background painting of the Country of Birdcages which I love as the artwork and overall design of this world in the movie is one of it's highlights. We also get some screengrabs with Faye, Kurogane, Saoran and Tomoyo as well as a description (in Japanese of course) of the movie and contents of the disk.
The Menus: The menus are very easy to navigate and super fast loading, but really nothing special to look at. All of them feature static images with no music and with the exception of the Chapter Menu which features more glorious background painting are really nothing special. Speaking of the Chapter Menu, what really disapointed me was that there are only four chapters to choose from in the entire movie. Granted the movie is only 35 minutes long, but so much happens it would have been a lot more useful with maybe 10 or so to choose from.
The Special Features: This "Regular Edition" is pretty regular. Hehe. But then, this disk is a lot cheaper than the Premium Edition which has Audio Commentary, opening night footage, postrecording scenery footage and a gallery. In short if you want special features, get that version. If you're trying to save a buck and really just want to see the movie again and again, get this version. That being said we do get all the movie trailers for this and the xxxHolic movie as well as a bonus postcard in every DVD case!
The Movie: This movie is simply glorious! The artwork is definitly up there with even the Ghibli movies in terms of background paintings and the action on screen is so fluid it really surpasses expectations on every level. The music is the same as the cues used in the anime series as are the voice actors (naturally) who seem to have tried extra hard with this movie. Saoran and Faye seemed to display a quite larger and more interesting voice range when I was watching this than they do on the series (not that they're bad there). Everything just seems to be so much better! The picture quality is crystal clear and all the audio is encoded in 5.1 surround sound (which is put to really good use). Those who are fans of the manga and were put off by the anime should definitly give this movie a go. It just feels like the anime. I can't really describe it. Studio I.G. (BeeTrain did the anime series) really knew what they were doing when animating this.
As this is a Japanese DVD release, there is only the Japanese audio track and no English subtitles, but honestly that doesn't detract from the film at all. The story is very easy to understand (as are most of Tsubasa Chronicle's "find the feather" stories and I found that an understanding of the Japanese language really isn't necessary to enjoy this film. Besides, the official US English release is realistically 2 or more years away (as of March 2006) and this is the best way to view the film until then.
Final Thoughts: Buy this now. 5/5 stars. Quality all the way. Even non-CLAMP fans will get a kick out of this.
|
