|
|
61 of 64 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Takahashi's epic moving along marvelously., December 6, 2002
"Inu-Yasha" is one of Rumiko Takahashi's biggest properties, and American publisher Viz knows that. After publishing 12 volumes and counting of the manga, they were determined bring the anime series to America and give it as much exposure as it deserved. So they approached Cartoon Network and managed to get the property onto the network's highly rated Adult Swim block, and the series just took off from there. Now the series is being released monthly on DVD, and like the first DVD, the second DVD, "A Girl's Best Friend", is a solid release.With the Shikon no Tama shattered, Kagome and Inu-Yasha must team up together so they may search for the possibly hundreds of fragments. But the cocky half-demon, unable to even call Kagome by her own name, refuses to even consider the idea. But when a hair-controlling oni called Yura arrives and steals the single shard Kagome has in her possession, the middle-school student and her reluctant companion must put aside their differences and face the demon together. Then, when an old acquaintance of Inu-Yasha's, Myoga the flea-demon, enters the picture, he reveals that someone is attempting to rob Inu-Yasha's father's grave. Inu-Yasha soon discovers that that "someone" is his own elder, full-demon brother Sesshoumaru, who plans to use any despicable means possible in order to find a priceless treasure within his father's grave. While the true essence of "Inu-Yasha" isn't found until later in the plot, these episodes do well to flesh out the story marvelously. The plot makes a quick jump from the first story arc to the next, deciding not to weigh the story down with unnecessary exposition or backstory. And each story moves along at a perfect pace, bringing Takahashi's already excellent manga to life. Granted, the anime does tone down the manga's violence and nudity somewhat (ex: Sesshoumaru breaks a man's neck instead of rips his head off), but that's merely a minor gripe. Visually, "Inu-Yasha" continues to amaze with its beautiful art direction. The series is definately one of the best looking animes on the market, comparable to series such as "Cowboy Bebop" and the movie "Metropolis". Character models are perfect renditions of their manga counterparts, and scenery is vivid and detailed. A lot of work went into this series, and it undoubtedly shows. Audio-wise, Wada Kaoru creates a beauatiful tapestry of sounds that fit the nature of the series perfectly. With orchestral melodies and downbeats, emotional tension is brought to its full potential, complimenting the visuals wonderfully. In regards to the opening and ending, the opening doesn't fit the series that well but the ending ends each episode on a haunting and perfect note. As for the English dub, it's really starting to grow away from the "average feel" it established with the initial set of episodes, although it still has a way to go. Richard Cox by now has firmly established himself as Inu-Yasha; he may not sound as powerful as the original Japanese voice actor, but Cox is possibly the closest an English-speaking Inu-Yasha can get. Monica Stori has improved as Kagome in this set of episodes, but she hasn't yet reached the level established by Cox's performance. Paul Dobsen, while he doesn't sound like an old man, manages to voice the tiny flea-demon Myoga marvelously. David Kaye is a perfect fit for Inu-Yasha's condescending brother Sesshoumaru, and Don Brown voices Sesshoumaru's lowly assistent Jaken wonderfully. Overall, the dub cast is a stellar one, but there's still one thing hindering the overall quality of the dub: the script. Unfortunately, the script still uses cliches, catchphrases, and puns throughout the show; episode four is actually a good example of how not to Americanize a Japanese anime series. Even so, the script is improving quite a bit, the biggest improvement no doubt being the allowance of curse words. It was widely thought that Viz would eliminate curse words from the "Inu-Yasha" dub altogether, but episode six thankfully proved this idea false. In all, the English dub as taken a step in the right direction and will only get better from here. Overall, "A Girl's Best Friend" is another worthy DVD from Viz. Many will complain about Viz's decision to put only three episodes on each disc, but people must be aware of two things: 1)Viz has stated that the series will either be released three episodes per disc monthly or four episodes per disc every two months, and they decided to go with the slightly more expensive yet faster method; and 2) the Japanese "Inu-Yasha" DVDs also have three episodes per disc yet cost almost twice as much. If that explanation doesn't work for you, then you can always wait for a boxed set. But for those who cannot wait for a boxed set, then this DVD, along with the first one, should be more than enough.
|
on 
