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Shelf Life - Kuri Runnings

Aww, I really really liked Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars (I agree the dub is lackluster though) and at the price TRSI is selling it for I'd encourage everyone to go grab a copy. It's not a super fighting sci-fi so much as it is a mix between slice of life (with the kids) and politics (with the adults). But if you can accept that and maybe even like it, I think the strong and great characters more than carry the show. It's a different type of sci-fi and that's fine by me, I wish more people would experience this show!

I looked into the redone versions for FLCL. And there is a lot of bad talk about the picture. The best info I found (since most reviews were centered around "this show is awesome" - I know that but what about the picture?) was a 1 star review on Amazon by Xeon Negotiator.

He/She writes "I'm not going to go into the plot of FLCL, other sites and reviewers have that covered, but here is the deal, Funimation will yet again release another upscaled piece of garbage.

The video is grainy, lines are blurry in parts and pixelated in others, partly interlaced, distinctive gradient banding, it windowed (black bars on all sides; caused by 16:10 screens, not present in 16:9 ones) so the video isn't even 1080 by 4x3 standards, etc. See my comments on page 3 for screenshots, as well as the above image section.

This honestly is not worth your time or money, especially if you own the DVDs already. You will get the same quality playback on your Blu-ray player with the DVDs as you would this, as most all Blu-ray players upscale DVD anyways. Buy the DVDs or don't buy it at all.

This is being return the very next day as it is pure garbage. I really wish Funimation had their licences pulled for making these terrible releases. "

There are a lot of comments too. Take the review as you like. Overall, I picked up the DVD version (still in the mail or I'd comment).

Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 28Mbps), FLCL throws the door wide open for debate over issues of quality. Considering it's been at least three years since my last viewing of the series, I can't recall whether grain and/or texturing were more prevalent in the animation, making it difficult to assess the use of digital noise reduction without an exact side-by-side comparison. What I will say is the series looks surprisingly crisp and well-defined throughout the majority of each episode, often appearing far more appealing than the customary upscale. Painted backgrounds rarely appear murky, line definition in the foreground is precise, and even the most frenetic of action sequences display a fluid level of detail. Continuing with the positives, the color palette of the series is often bold and striking, highlighting the crimson hue of Canti's metallic body, while simultaneously creating a backdrop of sickly browns or yellows in the surrounding countryside. The contrasting use of tones is effectively reproduced in each frame of the transfer, delivering what's likely the greatest gain over the DVD competition.

Now for the moment you've all been waiting for. DNR speculation aside, the new Blu-ray release demonstrates weakness in a few key areas. First and foremost, there's the issue of shimmering lines, which plagues much of the first episode, but seems to diminish as the series progresses. If you pay attention to the Manga art around the twelve minute mark of episode one, you'll notice substantial shimmering among the dot-shaded sections of the picture. Likewise, many of the panning shots that move from side to side during that episode (and found sporadically in others) show substantial line movement that quickly becomes distracting. Adding to those issues, I noticed stairstepping diagonal lines on fine character outlines (the thicker the line, the less there's a problem), and edge halos in a handful of sequences. Naturally, your sensitivity to such defects will largely dictate the degree of frustration you'll feel while witnessing the transfer, so I won't downplay the presence of such deficiencies. Instead, I'll merely provide my opinion that this is the best the series has looked thus far, and acknowledge this is the version to own at this stage in the game.

...the character design is incredibly poor. Taito has the exact same bangs as the archer Hosei, making them sometimes look weirdly like identical twins (ironically there are actual long lost family members involved, but I won't spoil it).

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...the character design is incredibly poor. Taito has the exact same bangs as the archer Hosei, making them sometimes look weirdly like identical twins (ironically there are actual long lost family members involved, but I won't spoil it).

Let me see if I'm understanding this correctly: You're berating the show for poor (I agree) character design, but your example of poor character design (that characters look alike) is actually supposed to be a purposeful likeness between 2 characters to foreshadow a familial relationship?

It is ironic that your example to corroborate the truth of bad character design is actually an example of halfway decent character design, but unless you intentionally employed an example which doesn't prove your point (which would have me even more ) I don't see how this is ironic. Coincidental, maybe, but your revelation about the show demonstrates that it is purposeful....I'm so confused, as it isn't coincidental or ironic, right?

BTW, when did Funimation officially state that Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini was coming out this year? Is there an announcement that I missed, as the only one I heard was for a February release, which has been missed by 3 months now. I hope Eden of the East sold well for Funi, as I hold it chiefly responsible for the delay on Darker than Black.