August 10, 2007

Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni: DVD 2 release


Geneon has recently released the next installment of Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni in the USA. I pre-ordered the DVD and it arrived in two days. Even though I think that Geneon can pull an extra muscle to get that "wow" effect in on the presentation, overall I was very satisfied with the DVD. I'm a big sucker for box art; the art flowed and matched the series perfectly. Here is what I don't understand: There IS a 16+ suggested, in fact I wouldn't suggest that at all! this is clearly a mature rated anime (I'm not talking about hentai, but extreme violence in this anime).



The DVD covers the remainder of the "Cotton Drifting Chapter" from DVD 1 and begins a new chapter, the "Curse Killing Chapter". Kudos to Geneon for cleaning up the art, this anime appeals and is very fantastic in vibrance and familiarity. The "snippet" music tracks were redone and are much better than when I previewed this anime before it's licensing. It was an actual pleasure to watch, both in the Japanese and English casts. It's one thing to watch the Japanese track, but a completely different feeling comes about when you watch the English dub. Why do I say that? I am not a native speaker from Japan, but I can speak and think English without a doubt. From what I can try to perceive from the Japanese and what I hear coming from the characters in English, the story gets that much more real and thrilling (sometimes scary!) when you hear it in English and English is your native language. Perhaps I have not heard enough Japanese yet to get frightened by the anime, which the first time around may not have scared me when I previewed the anime, now it is scary!



Although the suggested retail price from Geneon is $29.99 USD vendors are selling it at a reduced cost, around $24.99. It is not yet on store shelves as of this writing, but it can be preordered online at your favorite retailer (BestBuy.com will ship FAST but I had minor issues with payment- something or another didnt go through and I got charged more) or SunCoast.com (save the hassle of soliciting in-store and order online). These two stores specialize in DVD diversity and while SunCoast has a library of titles, BestBuy shipped my DVD within two business days, excellent service. So why didn't you talk about the DVD man?? Well I would talk about the story, but I would also be spoiling a good series and a good DVD!

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