Pet: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Pet: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Pet is a science-fiction action series with a mind-mending concept. The series features imaginative animation produced by Geno Studio (Star Wars: Visions, Genocidal Organ). Created by Ranjō Miyake, the series explores a dream world with surprises in store for audiences. Produced by Karen Imagawa (Burn the Witch) and Nozomi Ishii (Babylon), Pet takes a cue from Christopher Nolan’s Inception with heavy inspiration.

Pet explores a boundless world where people can hack in to one’s mind and change memories. In order to change memories and events, the brain is hacked – causing people to eventually do things they never expected to do. Someone might commit suicide unexpectedly and another might commit murder and other atrocities.

Yet only some individuals are born with this “gift” of brain hacking. Hiroki (Keisuke Ueda), Tsukasa (Kishō Taniyama), and Satoru (Yūki Ono) must grapple with the realities of memory alteration while working as top psychic hitmen entering in to others brains. Yet reality becomes complex and soon it becomes difficult for these hitmen to understand what is real and what is only perceived. Was it all a dream?

The characters are on a mind-trip unlike anything else. These characters are thrust in to a world that is equal parts dream and nightmare. The characters must confront their own fears with the dream state. These elements help the storytelling to explore the characters in a compelling way.

The series animation is one of the finer points of the production. The animation direction by Masaki Hinata (Sankarea: Undying Love, Tenshi na Konamaiki) and Masaki Yamada (Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040, The Book of Bantorra) is complex and involved. The animation feels experimental in some of the manners in which it explores the dream world.

The art style often delves in to abstract (with imagery of characters in strange circumstances – such as a body being held entirely in a hand). These types of unique and otherworldly elements help to set the tone for the production. The art style is more experimental than conventional and approaches the concept with a mind-trip style (bending the sense of reality presented by the series). The team of animators involved on the production certainly help to push these concepts forward with interesting art.

The character designs by Masashi Kudo (Hayate the Combat Butler!, Sakura Wars the Animation) are distinct and manage to make an impression as well. The designs aren’t simply what some audiences might expect to find with conventional anime productions. Kudo excels with creating distinct and compelling designs for the central cast members.

The cinematography by Wakana Moriya (Baka and Test - Summon the Beasts, Attack on Titan) is compelling and a visual wonder to absorb. The cinematographic style highlights the colorful animation. The crisp cinematography makes a mark on the production. Moriya did excellent work here and the effort is appreciated.

The score composed by Hideyuki Shima doesn’t stand out as much as desired. Unfortunately, the music simply isn’t that memorable. Shima is not as well-known a composer and the score done for Pet seems fairly standard and there isn’t a lot about the music that stands out. As background music, the score is adequate, but it isn’t as exciting as audiences might hope to find.

Written by Sadayuki Murai (Boogiepop Phantom, Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040), Pet is experimental with its creative voice. Murai has a compelling voice for exploring these characters and the strange dream world these characters inhibit. The results are interesting. The dream-state element has a number of arenas to explore with a mind-bending quality to the story and how the concept is utilized.

Directed by Takahiro Ōmori (Natsume's Book of Friends, Gakuen Alice), Pet is well-directed even if not as perfect a creation as desired. As director at the helm, Ōmori certainly enjoys experimenting with the world created and finding ways to tinker with the abstract elements of the dream-state and the mix between horror and fantasy. Audiences who enjoy science-fiction with action and illusionary elements will find it worth checking out.

Pet: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks, Pet is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The release has a quality presentation with excellent color reproduction. The stylistic world of the animation is well preserved with excellent depth and detail. The art style has considerable "pop" on the release and the image on the encode is sharp and clean. An excellent effort from Sentai Filmworks.

Pet: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blu-ray release includes a Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo audio presentation. The audio quality on the release is excellent. Dialogue is well reproduced. The presentation capably handles the soundtrack and the atmospheric stereo audio sound design. The release does not include an English dubbed option. Unfortunately, anime dub fans will have to either accept that no dub has been produced or wait and see if a future re-release might include a new dub option. The Japanese audio sounds crisp and clear regardless. A quality encode by Sentai.

Pet: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc 2:

Clean Opening Animation (HD, 1:32)

Clean Closing Animation (HD, 1:32)

Japanese Promos (HD, 3:49)

The release also includes a selection of trailers promoting other releases available from distributor Sentai Filmworks: Aragne: Sign of Vermillion (HD, 1:05), Kandagawa Jet Girls (HD, 1:34), Killing Bites (HD, 1:33), and Ascendance of a Bookworm (HD, 1:33).

Pet: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Pet is a compelling animated science-fiction series with a mind-bending concept in the same vein as Inception. The series explores a world of dreams where minds are hacked and hitmen go out on a strange mission inside others minds. The Blu-ray release has an excellent video and audio encode. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray release only provides a Japanese language audio option. No English dub option is provided. Fans of the series who were expecting an English dub track will need to decide if picking up the series with only the Japanese audio will suffice or if it is better to wait and see if Sentai will re-release with an English dub at a future date (as the studio sometimes does). Nonetheless, fans will find the release worth picking up. The set also includes a small selection of bonus features. Recommended (unless the lack of an English dub option is a deal- breaker).