Video:

A very, very good job. Clear with no obvious, to my eye, distortions. The four R1 discs have been ripped onto three DVDs with the minimum of fuss albeit oddly - 13 episodes split 4 - 3 - 6. As a series, this gets back to the OVA quality of The Magnificent World, although it is certainly less adventurous in technique and ideas. It's certainly an improvement over El-Hazard 2, which was poor even on R1.

Audio:

Clear 2.0ch with no detectable distortion or hissing. No 5.1 like the R1 Magnificent World set, however. I didn't check out the English language dub. The Magnificent World dub was the only dub I ever really liked. I watched that on VHS way back, but remember that the US actors actually put some effort in although I'm not sure if that voice cast returns for this.

Subtitle:

Excellent. Big and visually clear. I watched this over the course of a week and, for some reason or another, didn't take any notes. Not sure if any lines are missing. There aren't any subtitles for Katsuo - the big purple Bugrom - unlike in the earlier series, but judging by Jinnai's replies (he repeats the question in his answer) there aren't supposed to be. Not too sure about the need for profanity, however. I know that El-Hazard has its risque moments, but use of the word 'bitch' and 'shitface' seem clumsy and out of place to me. I'm not against swearing at all, but thankfully the translation isn't littered with curses.

Comment:

Usual (original) MAC gatefold with artwork limited to the sleeve and discs (these are just the covers of the R1 releases) Because it's a rip, the menus are all in English and easy to navigate. No extras though. Although I enjoyed this - much more than El Hazard 2 - I think it does suffer from some problems. The first two episodes are familiar but welcome stuff - old skool El Hazard -but the narrative splits into threads inside the Alternative World. Ordinarily, this would be welcomed as a chance for characters to shine on their own, but unfortunately the entire plot isn't strong enough (and hasn't been given enough thought) to be divided in this way; the majority of the characters are simply not given enough to do. Fujisawa, Miz, Afura, Shayla Shayla and even Jinnai are woefully underused (a mere glimpse is offered of Rune Venus' inner character then shelved; Fatora only really shows up towards the end and then is conveniently set aside). There is an attempt to set some sparks off between the latter pair, but then they are just sidelined with Shayla incarcerated and Jinnai's deviousness rendered impotent. To cover up these weaknesses, the plot simply steers away from the characters in the periphery so you only see them from time to time. Obviously, Makoto is used to drive the plot, but without all the girls around him he's not that much fun either. The 'last' episode is also poorly considered. The shadowy villain is just that - never explained and simply erased when the time comes. As for solving the problem of how to return to El-Hazard? It's all, unbelievably, solved in flash of light and the future of the Alternative World resolved in a short series of stills. As if to make up for this, the 13th episode (more or less separate from the Alternative World plot) is a short and surprisingly refreshing burst of old fashioned comic capers and sexual innuendo. It's cheap, but cheerful. Hmmm. It sounds like I really hated Alternative World. I don't, but it suffers greatly in comparison to The Magnificent World. Nevertheless, this is technically a great set and I would find it hard not to recommend it to El-Hazard fans.

Video:

The video on this was wonderful, no pixelation, sharp, clear.....perfect basically. I'm not just saying this too, I actually watched both the r1 and this and they are identical. Nothing like most of the pixelated fX releases (cowboy bebop...blah)

Audio:

Audio is nice and clear, as I played this on my living room speakers. Its also identical to the R1

Subtitle:

Wow, this woulda been a perfect rip if not for this small mistake. The subtitles are all spelled correctly (NO MISPELLINGS), they are rips of the r1 subs (same size and font), the problem is that 1-2 lines are missing per episode, but thats all thats bad about this set.

Comment:

I have to admitt, I am very impressed with MAC, they have managed to squash the past FX releases with this set. Its truely a masterpiece rip of the R1.