I haven't seen the R2 release, but I had some comments about my R1 DVD. The 
picture isn't that bad, but there is something weird in the photo gallery 
feature on disc 2.

The feature works with a slide show of images set to music from the 
soundtrack. Well,  in my copy during the second half of the slide show it 
sounds like someone is doing construction work in the background. You can 
hear something like hammering, or maybe just someone adjusting a mic (you 
know that "whoomp" sound when you adjust a live mic?) It almost sounds like 
they made it in someone garage.

I hate to complain, because hey, at least they're finally on DVD, but 
frankly I was disappointed with the total package. The extras are not that 
exciting, most of the images in the photo gallery have been floating around 
the web and on other merchandise for a while. The music only track and dub 
your own track are neat, but I can't help but think it was kind of a cheap 
way to get an extra feature. Basically all they had to do was remove a 
couple sound tracks and poof - extra feature.

As for the commentary, I think someone else mentioned this, but it's more 
like a bunch of friends sitting around talking during the movie rather than 
commenting on their work. It got especially irritating during Volume 2. It 
bugged me to have Pam Weidner making cracks about "going to the trough" and 
"Chicken and mashed potatoes" during the really dramatic scenes of episode 
5. Maybe I'm a freak, but that was like sacrilege to me.

Also, how hard would it have been to get some cast bios included? You know, 
a head shot of the voice actors (both Japanese and English) with a little 
blurb about other stuff they've done. Scott Simpson and Juliet Cesario kept 
talking about their stage work, and I would have been interested to see 
what kind of shows they'd been in.

Overall, I'm happy (imagine that!) but for all the delays I would think 
they could have produced something of a better quality. Here's hoping 
Pioneer comes through with the movie.

Anne, aka the picky b****

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ah918@osfn.org
http://www.bulin.com/anne
"Ever since she came, everyday has been so full of
happiness that I've forgotten all my troubles."
                       - Morisato Keiichi