Product Details

• Actors: Carol Jacobanis, Chunky Mon, Georgette Reilly, John Carey, Kazuhiko Inoue
• Format: Animated, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• 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: Right Stuf
• DVD Release Date: June 29, 2004
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0001ZWY7G
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #267,098 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Gravitation - Fateful First Encounter (Vol. 1) With Series Box" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely Astounding!, June 11, 2004

By 

Douglas Kendrick (Valencia, CA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gravitation - Fateful First Encounter (Vol. 1) With Series Box (DVD)

As a brand-new fan of Anime, I count myself particularly lucky for having "Gravitation" as my first real exposure to this art form. I've read the Manga and was completely absorbed by the story and the characters. Buying the long-awaited DVD was just the next step...

Imagine my joy at coming home after work and finding my Gravitation Volume 1 DVD waiting on my doorstep. Before I went to bed, I'd watched the whole disk 3 times--twice in English and once in Japanese (and I don't even understand Japanese) and was so totally hooked it's almost scary. I instantly fell in love with the characters all over again now that they moved and had voices; I found myself in a panic that I'm going to have to wait a couple of months before the next volume comes out. I can't get enough!

The story is incredible: the irrepressible Shuichi Shindou is working toward his dream of being a rock star, but on the way he meets intense, mysterious (and way sexy) anti-hero Eiri Yuki. Gravitation is the force that pulls these opposites together and the love story that emerges is nothing short of brilliant. While there's a lot of material from the Manga that is left out of the series, the crucial elements of the story are there, shining through for us to experience. The general goofiness of Shuichi and the anime stylistic gags don't overshadow the deep, yet simple beauty of two people--in this case, two guys--falling in love and seeing where it will lead.

While I'm not yet an expert, I know something great when I see it, and this is it. RUN out and buy this DVD for the story, the characters, the artwork and especially the music (as an aside, I can't get the title tune out of my head and am already well on my way to memorizing the Japanese lyrics--the closing end credits music too). It is beautiful, addictive, meaningful and just a lot of fun, if nothing else.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars short but good romantic comedy/drama anime, August 10, 2005

By 

M. Cookson (Colorado Springs) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gravitation - Fateful First Encounter (Vol. 1) (DVD)

For those of you who aren't familiar with Gravitation, either the anime or the manga, here's a brief explanation. Shuichi, the lead singer and songwriter of his band, is out walking one night and gets the lyrics of one of his new songs severely criticized by a mysterious, scary, and handsome man, the writer Eiri Yuki (technically Yuki Eiri, if you're watching the Japanese). So begins Shuichi's obsession with Yuki, leading to their sometimes cute and certainly turbulent relationship. Yes, they date each other, live together, and are both guys. If you strongly disapprove of this sort of thing, then you shouldn't buy this anime. However, the only thing you'll see on screen is a few kisses and some implied sex. The series mostly revolves around Shuichi's band and Yuki and Shuichi's relationship.

The Story Itself: To tell you the truth, this first volume is not the best. The story takes a few episodes to really warm up. Still, I wouldn't recommend beginning with the second volume, since you'd miss out on a lot. I just remember being worried, because I'd gone out and bought all four volumes ($20 a pop, eek!) and was wondering if I'd made a mistake. It really does get better, and these first episodes were definitely rewatchable after I realized that. The JPop music that is a big part of this anime is really pretty good, so you might find yourself wanting to buy the soundtracks after watching this.

The Voice Acting: When I get new Japanese anime, I first watch everything with the English dub, unless this is too painful to bear (I had that problem with Full Metal Panic). This way, I can get all the plot without having the watch subtitles, which might make me miss important and/or pretty visuals. Gravitation's English voice acting isn't awful, although there are certainly far better dubs out there (Fruits Basket and Cowboy Bebop, for instance). Of all the English dub voices, my favorites were K, Tohma, and Hiro. I now usually watch Gravitation in the original Japanese, because those voices are really excellent. It helps that Yuki's Japanese voice actor, Kazuhiko Inoue (who also voices Kakashi in Naruto), is one of my absolute favorite male Japanese voice actors.

The Extras: If you buy this licensed version, like I did, good for you, although you, like me, will probably spend more than you would like to. The extras are good enough to make the price paid seem not as horrible as it could have been. I know, that sounds wishy washy, but I always feel awful about paying $20 or more for only three episodes of something, especially when the episodes are only about 20 minutes each. Such is the sad life of an anime fan. Anyway, this disk includes a US trailer for Gravitation that I have never seen on anywhere besides this disk. There are also episode liner notes that are helpful for understanding some of the puns and thoroughly Japanese bits of the episodes. There are also profiles of Shuichi, Fujisaki, and Hiro, and an art gallery with black and white line drawings. This disk's trailers include His and Her Circumstances, Comic Party, Boogiepop Phantom, Shingu, Dangaizer 3, and KO Beast.

Overall Verdict: I've watched Gravitation over and over, so I would recommend this. However, the price is a consideration, especially since these episodes are not collected in a boxed set that would make things a little cheaper than buying one disk at a time. Some people may have problems with Shuichi, who can be whiny and annoying, or Yuki, who can be a cold jerk. Also, people with hang-ups about guy/guy relationships will probably have issues with this series. Finally, if you don't like JPop, this series will be a problem. If none of that is an issue for you, than by all means, buy this disk and the rest of the series. It's a bit cheaper than buying all the manga. And a quick word about that: the anime is not the manga - there are a ton of differences between the two. The anime shortens the overall story, which I found a bit disappointing, since I think this could've been a good 26 episode series, instead of 13. Several characters get cut or shortchanged due to this fact, and Shuichi and Yuki's relationship gets less development than I would have liked. However, on the plus side, the characters in the anime have much more stable personalities (Shuichi and especially Yuki's personalities seemed to fluctuate with every book in the manga), and the story is more cohesive.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gravitation: My first BL series, and forever my favorite., July 14, 2004

By 

Meinos (Maine. 'Tis cold here.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gravitation - Fateful First Encounter (Vol. 1) With Series Box (DVD)

I can't tell you how much I love Gravitation.

I had never understood yaoi. Why did so many girls seem to like it so much? What was the big deal with it? Then, one day, I thought, "Well, I've heard great things about Gravitation, and I know it's one of those kinds..." So, I downloaded the first episode. Later that night, the episode was done. So, I plugged my headphones into the computer's speakers, and watched it.

I was shocked... Amazed... And quite giddy. I couldn't stop grinning for an hour. I finally understood. "These guys are impossibly CUTE as a couple."

Later that night, I watched the episode again. I went on to download all of them, plus the OVAs, almost every single song. (I'm missing a few, and regretting downloading so many, because now there's not much left when I buy the CDs.) Bought a deck of Gravitation playing cards at a convention, along with the only Gravitation poster they had! (I was luck-y!) And currently am anticipating the release of the seventh volume of the manga.

Now I'm a crazy yaoi fan, and have Gravitation to thank for it. (Note: This is in NO way a bad thing!)

I absolutely cannot wait to buy this, and I absolutely will NOT buy it without the box. (I'm broke for a while, and have promised myself lots of manga and David Bowie CDs, as well as the Labrynth DVD before anything else.)

You, reading this review! Buy this!