Guillotine

Well… Today I got a package from UPS containing my copy of CLANAAD DVD Complete Collection, and will share my thoughts.

First off is the packaging… Or lack of. The DVDs come in a standard stack pack case. For those that may not be familiar with this packaging it’s something that started appearing in ADV releases a few years back (my first experience with it was the Full Metal Panic - Heavy Metal Collection). It’s is basically a fat DVD case with all the discs stacked onto a single spindle. I guess getting the whole collection for $41 you shouldn’t expect much, but still… People… I (and I bet most others) would be willing to pay an extra $5-$10 for the older style thinpack box sets. Even Funimation has their cardboard fold out cases to cut the costs on box sets, and while cheesy they at least still look cool. I can see now why many who bought the original sub only release have opted to simply swap the discs out with the new one while keeping the old packaging. I just never liked the stack packs even back when they began using them for PC games. The discs are hard to get out, and sometimes I almost feel they will break.

Getting to the picture quality… It’s actually not too bad. Of course I am used to watching CLANAAD from 720p broadcast rips, so I expected there to be some loss in quality, but there really wasn’t much other than a few noticeable jaggies here and there. Maybe on a 1080p screen it would be more noticeable.

Also for those that saw the original US release and have been wondering… Yes the horrid yellow on black 80s style computer font is still there for the subtitles. Of course I’m more surprised that people expected that to be changed. US licensing companies typically use fonts like this for all subs, but now some fans are getting hooked on the cute fonts and fancy karaoke effects that fan subbers enjoy using so much that I guess it’s a shock to see the standard US release subs.

Finally… The whole reason I bought this particular release… The English dub. I don’t mind watching it subbed… Over and over and over… But I have always been curious as to how an English dub would be, so I refused to buy this show until one was added. I can say that I’m not disappointed… As with all dubs it takes a little watching to get used to it if you have already seen it subbed. They pretty much seem to be following the original dialog with only a few bits here and there that are completely different, and I am also glad to see that they stuck with the Japanese name etiquette (calling someone by first name only to those you are close to) as it was part of the original sub plot, and would have changed the story a bit if they had switched to first names from the start.

 Now I’ve only just started watching this, but there have been some things that I’m rather surprised by. First off… Luci Christian voicing Nagisa. While she is one of my favorite voice actors I am generally used to her playing loud or goofy roles. At first I couldn’t imagine her in the role of Nagisa. While it does take a bit of getting used to she does seem to pull off the role, but I keep expecting a loud outburst to come at anytime. For those that read the other story about the CLANAAD release a few months back you may remember that I suggested Robin Williams for the role of Akio… Now of course I knew that was beyond any reasonable expectation, but I honestly couldn’t imagine anyone else pulling that character off. That said Andrew Love does a respectable job in what I’ve seen so far. For those that may not be familiar with him he played the Alien Captain in the English dub of Pani Poni Dash among other roles (in shows that I have yet to watch unfortunately). Sunohara is played by Greg Ayers, and really what else is there to say… I haven’t seen a character played by him that I’ve ever complained about. Hilary Haag as Fuko is brilliant. She’s a voice actor that doesn’t seem to be as prevalent as she was a few years ago, and she has such a cool voice that I was elated to find out she was going to be Fuko.

All in all I am pretty pleased (other than the packaging) with this release, and hopefully they will have After Story dubbed this year as well.

Okay… So this isn’t something new, but I wanted to talk about it seeing as how Anime Network OnDemand has begun running FMP: Fumoffu. For anyone who has seen this anime and has not read the Full Metal Panic: OVERLOAD! manga that it was based on really needs to check it out, and if you haven’t yet seen the anime… Good God what’s your problem??? Watch!!! It’s pure comedy gold.

The manga is not exactly like the anime, so it’s even more craziness for those who didn’t get enough of Fumoffu. More to say there are elements and scenes that were pulled from the manga to create the anime though for the most part the episodes are different. It’s quite fun to spot the bits that they used though. Several differences exist from the anime that one might wish to be aware of though… It has an abundance of chibi style characters rather than the more serious rendering of the anime, and the characters are a bit different. Souske and Kaname are the same, but the others… Well… Kyoko rather than being merely a sidekick becomes something like Wylie Coyote in that she takes the physical brunt of Souske’s mishaps, Kurz Weber is portrayed as Souske’s rival for Kaname’s affections and pops into the story at random, I think Mao only shows up once, and Tessa just pops into random frames throughout the stories as kind of an “extra”.

There are also several characters that never made it into the anime, but are pretty hilarious and maybe should have been included. Not to mention the adventures of Souske Dog (can’t believe that didn’t make the anime although they do make a quick reference to it in episode one). As I mentioned the chapters (or Bombs as they are called) are not the same as Fumoffu. They are for the most part different stories that they simply pulled out the bits they wanted for the anime, so don’t expect an episode for episode match with Fumoffu. If anything Overload is like Fumoffu squared… You’ll quickly realize that they really did hold back on the foolishness in the anime as amazing as that seems.

Here’s one thing to look out for… For anyone else who’s a fan of Kyoto Animation you know they love to pepper their anime with references. There is a reference to something in one of the volumes of Overload in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (Episode 00 The Adventures of Mikuru Asahina) which you would never get or even realize was a reference unless you read Overload… I’ll give you a hint… “Mi-Mi-Mikuru Beeeeam.”

At any rate… Any Full Metal Panic fan should give these books a once over (or even 2 or 3 times). Now you might not find these at your local Books A Million as they are 7-8 years old, but you can get them at Amazon (at $10 a pop new… Kind of pricey but I’ll provide the link anyway). The best bet is to get them used if possible. I found them in a local used book store and paid $25 for the whole set, or you can most likely find them on ebay as well. The set is 5 volumes so it’s not going to take forever and a ton of debt to get the whole series, and to date the series is finished so new volumes are not very likely. So check it out and enjoy (if you liked the anime then I can’t see anyone not liking this).