 |
Knowing precious little about the show itself up until I saw this disc, the series has left me a little unsure of how it's going to progress. While I could easily appreciate the biting look at how student films are made in the first episode, it bored the socks off of everyone else in the room with me. Once it got underway into the first full episode in reality it began to take off more earnestly. I almost hate to say it but new fans to the series may be better off skipping episode 00 until the end of the disc and starting with episodes 01. There are a lot of hints and portents of things to come with this storyline as it gets along and with the creative staff that's behind this I'm more than willing to give it time to develop. There are plenty of hooks here that will reach out to a range of people but those who give up quickly will miss out. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya has finally landed in North America and it looks like it's going to live up to its reputation. This is in general a stellar release all around. This series comes in two flavors, a standard disc only release and a deluxe edition. We've only got the deluxe edition so we're just going to look at that. The keepcase artwork for this mirrors the Japanese limited edition artwork which is different from the regular edition. The keepcase for this release has a fun and cute shot of Suzumiya in her school uniform where she's holding her hand over he head with a lemon in her grasp. Set against a white backdrop with the logo along the right side it stands out nicely. The artwork is nicely detailed and has a good sense of depth to it. White background covers have been mostly rare in US releases in comparison to Japanese releases though this seems to be changing a bit. The back cover is done with a red background with a number of SOS circles around that contains either shots from the show, logos or the brief summary of what you could call the premise. It uses a lot of different colors both in the text and in the layout which pushes it's "outrageous" sense of style. The episodes are clearly listed as are the extras. The technical information is a bit minimal and an area where I wish it was a lot more like the Japanese. No listing of a 5.1 track is here nor that it's an anamorphic release. The lack of a clear listing of important technical information that's also a selling point continues to be one of Bandai's weak points. No insert is included nor is there a reversible cover. The box for this is a real piece of work. Nothing goes to waste here as we get six panels of great looking colorful vibrant artwork. Each of them contains a shot of various cast members doing things with the logo off to one side. Sometimes it's all of them together while others has just a couple of them. Only the bottom portion has anything that's not artwork related as it has the UPC and some basic production information with a couple of logos. Everything else is fully devoted to showcasing the characters and design quality. This box sits sideways and has a pair of flaps that open up. These are made of the same heavy chipboard as the rest of the box and also appear to contain a couple of very small magnets inside of them to help keep it "locked" and set against the box itself. The interior of the flaps has most full color artwork as well of the characters. Inside the box, the top half has the keepcase DVD and a smaller folded cardboard box. Below that "shelf" is a small drawer that has artwork on eitRead full review
CDs are excellent, especially Kyon's CD. His voice isn't great, but it is the CONTENT of his song that is hilarious. He even interrupts his own singing to yell at Haruhi, screaming at her about why he even has to sing. His first words about singing it with all his heart, then singing a terrible song basically about how annoyed he is with all Haruhi's crap is hilarious. Itsuki's CD was also very good. He IS very manipulative and even touches on that with his version of Hare Hare Yukai. The box was in perfect condition, even had the "thief sticker" still on it. The pencil boards are adorable, especially the one with Kyon holding Haruhi. I'm a huge Kyon/Haruhi shipper, so I just love it. Nagato's CD is lovely and haunting if you listen to the lyrics. She's almost depressed, bored with only observing, and seems almost to want pass on her "watch Haruhi" assignment to someone else. Also, the DVDs are great, as always! This is my third copy of Haruhi Suzumiya S1 and I still can't get enough of it. I haven't worn out any of my DVDs yet, but I'm sure I will, so I have backups!Read full review
I usually would not be one to go for these type of extravagant LE DVD volumes, but the price seemed right to me eventually and I must say that it is well worth what I payed for it. The part I most liked about it was the box itself, it was printed very nicely with vibrant colors and eye catching artwork. The build of the box is definite quality inside and out. All the special items included in this set make it a fun buy, however even with these items it seemed a tad bit empty to me. Overall I'd say that I'm glad I have it, but really you'd do best to find it for a much lower than retail price
Now first off I got this for 10 bucks, so cheaper than most would get it and at this price point it's a criminal deal. The DVD came flawless and the quality of the four episodes included is stunning, looks clean on a 1080 monitor, which I can't say the same things for these mkv fansubs. Also there are a ton of extra's on the DVD and I still haven't got through half of them yet (a couple fan-made episodes and "in the making" kind of stuff.) This is exactly a good fan of this show would be looking for.
Originally for the amount I spent on the product I was a little suspicious assuming I may just get the box or some thing to be surprised with a full collection of Haruhi memorabilia, A great purchase that I would recommend.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in DVDs & Blu-ray Discs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on DVDs & Blu-ray Discs
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
