Product Details

• Actors: Kappei Yamaguchi, Takehito Koyasu, Kyôko Hikami, Junko Iwao, Dave Pettitt
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, Letterboxed, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Bandai
• DVD Release Date: June 4, 2002
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000648WK
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #251,434 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Betterman - Awakening (Vol. 1)" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I can't understand why so few people like this anime..., August 19, 2002

By 

Aimee Cross (St. Clairsville, Ohio United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Betterman - Awakening (Vol. 1) (DVD)

I think this series is great so far. It's action-packed and the characters are interesting. There's comedy and suspense, and big robots, but not TOO many big robots. It has a storyline that keeps you guessing and wanting to know more.
I've seen the first two dvd's (10 episodes) and I'm anxiously awaiting the third volume to see what happens next. I recommend this series to anyone who appreciates a good, quality anime. I hope that in the future more people become familiar with this title because it deserves more fans.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Bland, August 7, 2004

By 

Sylph StarWind "sylphstarwind35" (New York, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Betterman - Awakening (Vol. 1) (DVD)

I think this show is alright. The show has a formula, it's pretty much the same structure every episode. Each time an enemy falls, a new one pops up. I've been watching every episode since the first (I'm on the 26th episode) and many things are still unclear. The plot is constantly changing, and not necessarily in a good way. It's pretty random. I don't care much for the characters; Sakura annoys me a lot. She whispers warnings but no one seems to hear her. She just seems so useless most of the time. Anyway, this show is only mildly interesting. I got bored halfway through, but I continued to watch. This DVD is pricey, as most are. It's much more than it's worth. I wouldn't buy the DVDs, but then again I'm broke. Watch if you can do it cheap or for free, not if you have to pay a significant amount.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Buy this DVD only if you have time and money to waste, June 11, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Betterman - Awakening (Vol. 1) (DVD)

A typical episode in this (not just this volume but the entire Betterman) series runs something like this. Some of the main characters talk in order to fill in the gaps from previous episodes. Why couldn't this stuff be shown on screen? Either it's too boring or the writers and animators were too lazy to show us.

This is followed by some of the main characters getting into trouble. When it looks like the end for them, one of three things will happen just in the nick of time: one of them will suddenly remember an amazing dowsing ability they somehow forgot they had, someone will show up in a mecha, a betterman will show up. Either way they're rescued. Why didn't they just call this series Deus ex Machina?

The series has too many characters, main or otherwise. Some come and go in a single episode, only to be mentioned during a later episode's expository. Unless you're keeping a scorecard, you're never going to remember who they're talking about.

There are more than one betterman. What's their motivation? Don't know. How do they always know to show up at just the right moment? No clue.

Worst episode: Dream. Note to writers: The dream sequence is the lamest dramatic cliche, used only by lazy hacks totally lacking in originality and creativity. It can't even begin to work unless I care about the characters, and this series has given me no reason to do so. This episode uses it multiple times, and by this point I'm totally numb to any trouble the characters may be in. Look, they're really in trouble this time! Oh thank God it was only a dream! I was really worried for a minute.

When voice actor Matthew Erickson's Keita tells Hinoki he'll always be by her side, I can't help but hear Erickson's Jinto from Crest/Banner of the Stars saying the same thing to Lafiel.

When I hear Sakura's moanful premonitions I think of Mr. Spock mindmelding with the Horta. "Pain! Agony!" Not anime, but what are you gonna do?

Finally I have to wonder, is Betterman really "better"? Sure he can turn into a grotesque monster by eating the seeds of a flower that grows out of the face of dead people. Yum yum. But does that really make him better?