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Review

by Allen Divers,

Power Stone

DVD 4: The Search Continues

Synopsis:
Power Stone DVD 4
Continuing their quest to find more power stones and Falcon's father, Falcon and his friends find themselves in Moonland. Falcon and the rest must help the people of Moonland who face a horrible drought. Along the way, Falcon learns more about his friends as a new power stone is discovered. Next it's off to Soil Land, where along the way, an old rival reappears to steal Falcon's power stone. The adventure is just beginning as Falcon arrives in Soil Land as yet another stone is discovered.
Review:
Power Stone: The Search Continues brings 4 more episodes to this amusing series. Lacey Entertainment continues to push this series as entertainment for a younger audience with a kid friendly dub filled with various American pop-culture references. ADV's part in this series is simply in authoring and distribution, keeping this release as simple as possible.

The release itself contains the 4 episodes in this continuing series as well as the standard cache of ADV previews. Much like other shows brought over targeting younger audiences, there is no Japanese language track included. Despite the lack of extras, the release is well done with a simple menu system. Colors are crisp and clear showing off the colorful characters and their surroundings.

The script of Power Stone is filled with lots of clues showing that Lacey Entertainment is hoping to cash in on the potential mass-market appeal of the show. The script is filled with very current pop-culture references that many of the younger audience would relate to. With comic character designs originating from the shows video game origins, this show simply screams mass-market appeal with a ton of tie-ins such as action figures, video games and all the other fun "kid" merchandise. With flashy battles and various "kid"ish jokes, Power Stone has the potential to gain a larger audience amongst the young teen set.

Working against the mass-market appeal is the original Japanese script, racy character designs amongst the female cast and the occasional showing of Japanese references. Most actual script references are easily changed to easily recognizable English references and Japanese script is easily air brushed from the scene. Any risqué shots of female cast members are simply edited down a bit or again, covered by the dialogue to make actions seem much more tame in nature.

For mature audiences, the simple script will come across as cliché. The show follows the standard quest type storyline with a reluctant hero and his various rivals. The 4 episodes continue the main plot line while adding to the number of characters with power stones. Falcon remains one step behind his father, as he must deal with a strange assortment of villains. As is typical for this type of show, each villain is increasingly tougher causing Falcon to find new and unique ways to defeat them.

Power Stone remains a simple adventure show with a very standard plot line. It is a bright and colorful show with character designs pulled right from a video game. Hampering its rise in popularity is a watered down script and lack of the original Japanese version. Throw in creative scene editing, and you're stuck with a show that just won't catch on with the majority of Anime fans. With a stronger push the show could easily be a favorite among its target audience, but right now, it is simply lost in a crowd of clones.
Grade:

+ Fun character designs and a story with strong potential
Creative editing that hide Japanese origins

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Production Info:
Director: Takahiro Ōmori
Series Composition: Sukehiro Tomita
Script:
Kenichi Araki
Yukiyoshi Ōhashi
Sukehiro Tomita
Masashi Yokoyama
Storyboard:
Tatsuya Ishihara
Yūji Kawahara
Kazuya Komai
Jun Matsumoto
Yūji Moriyama
Takahiro Ōmori
Go Sakamoto
Akira Shigino
Toshimasa Suzuki
Jun Takada
Kenichi Takeshita
Hideki Tonokatsu
Hidehito Ueda
Kenji Yasuda
Episode Director:
Takashi Ikehata
Tatsuya Ishihara
Kazuya Komai
Jun Matsumoto
Masahiko Murata
Kunitoshi Okajima
Yoshiko Shima
Jun Takada
Kenichi Takeshita
Kenichirō Watanabe
Hiroshi Yamamoto
Kazuhiro Yamashita
Kenji Yasuda
Music:
Kacky
Keisuke Kikuchi
Naoki Kimura
Toshio Okazawa
Masaaki Sainou
Character Design: Tadashi Shida
Art Director: Satoshi Miura
Animation Director: Tadashi Shida
Sound Director: Toshiki Kameyama
Director of Photography: Masahide Okino
Executive producer: Toshiaki Harada
Producer:
Reiko Fukakusa
Kaori Sakamoto
Licensed by: ADV Films

Full encyclopedia details about
Power Stone (TV)

Release information about
Power Stone - The Search Continues (DVD 4)

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