Comment:

Video: Overall the video is decent. it shows some quality loss from over compression but not bad. There are two noticeably bad spots in the series though. The first half of episode two flickers between frames. I don't know how to describe it better but its kind of like when they show something in slow motion and you see multiple copies on the screen at the same time. This is more distracting though because it happens with anything moving from cars to arms to mouths. There is also a minor glitch near the end of episode 12 where the picture pixelates and jumps forward about five seconds or so. Doesn't affect the overall story but it is a little irritating. These two problems didn't stop me from enjoying the show though. Audio: Excellent audio with a great sound track. Subtitles: Overall the subs are easy to read and well timed with accurate names and good grammar. There are a few dropped phrases that don't get subbed but they are infrequent and usually easy to figure out what was said. The worst part is the first half of episode two. The subs are just yellow outlines and difficult to read. The rest of the subs in the series are fine. Small note: I think it's weird that they chose to put nine episodes on the first disc and only four on the second without any extras. I imagine the problems with the first half of episode two could have been avoided if they had distributed the episodes more evenly between the discs. If you enjoyed the first stage, then get the second as well. The animation and character design both get better. More notable is the increased depth in the characters. Itsuki in particular feels like he grows a lot in this series and the relationship between Takumi and Mogi is totally believable. I'm really happy to have this in my collection even with the small faults in episode 2. edited by Zagatto on 14 Sep 2002 4:17 am