Sweet Reincarnation: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Sweet Reincarnation: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie Review

Sweet Reincarnation is a fantasy-comedy anime with a taste for sweets. Created by Nozomu Koryu, Sweet Reincarnation highlights original character designs by Yasuyuki Syuri. Sweet Reincarnation features animation production by SynergySP (Hayate the Combat Butler, Too Cute Crisis). The production features theme music by Sana  (opening) and YuNi (ending). Sweet Reincarnation features voice-performances by Ayumu Murase, Hiroshi Tsuchida, Hitomi Nabatame, Kaede Hondo, Kaya Okuno, Maaya Uchida, Natsumi Fujiwara, Rumi Okubo, Wataru Katō, Yōko Hikasa, and Yū Wakabayashi.

Pastry Mille Morteln (Ayumu Murase) is a young boy with an unyielding love of pastries and baking. Yet the young boy chef wonder started out as a famous chef who got killed by his own creation – a special edible statue. Now reincarnated as Pastry Mille Morteln, the young chef is determined to perfect his pastries and be the best chef the world has ever seen.

As a reincarnated genius chef, Pastry Mille Morteln retains all of the knowledge and skill sets that made him a renowned chef in his previous life. Yet Pastry Mille Morteln still has a lot of work cut out for him – including figuring out how to bring together all of the right ingredients to bake perfect pastries and a delicious apple pie. The journey forward might not be easy as bandits get in the way. Can Pastry Mille Morteln overcome obstacles left and right to be the number one chef?

Pastry Mille Morteln is a compelling hero for the tale. Pastry Mille Morteln has a passion for cooking and baking sweets. Pastry Mille Morteln wants to be the best chef out there and the competition is fierce to be number one. The dream of Pastry Mille Morteln is something that any dreamer can relate to – the ambition to be the best of the best (and the cream of the crop). As a young kid with big hopes for his future, Pastry Mille Morteln is determined to master everything in the kitchen – of course, it helps to be the reincarnation of a master chef.

The character designs by Tomoko Miyakawa (Jewelpet Sunshine, Onegai My Melody) are well-done and add a lot of charm to the series. Miyakawa is a gifted character designer and someone with a superb sense of the characters and what is needed for the production. The effort is commendable and well worthwhile.

The animation is top-notch and one of the major highlights of Sweet Reincarnation. Sweet Reincarnation features art direction by Minoru Akiba (Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea, Pokémon the Movie: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel). The animation quality is splendid and well worth appreciating. The animators did an excellent job with the production quality.

The cinematography by Shinichi Igarashi (Psychic School Wars, Trigun: Badlands Rumble) is a major highlight of the series. Sweet Reincarnation features excellent cinematographic qualities and these elements are well worth enjoying – the cinematography showcasing the colorful animation and the visually bold animation at its best.

The score composed by Hiroshi Nakamura (Someday Will I Be The Greatest Alchemist?, Tonari no Seki-kun: The Master of Killing Time) is enjoyable and provides a light and airy backdrop to the series. An engaging and charming score for the anime. Nakamura is a solid anime composer and the effort is commendable. Nakamura has done other excellent scores in the past and this is another worthy production for the composer.

Written by Mitsutaka Hirota (Bibliophile Princess, Rent-A-Girlfriend), Sweet Reincarnation is a solid concept and script. Hirota has fun with the story and the idea of a young chef aiming to be the greatest. Fans of cooking anime and series about fulfilling your dreams will find something worthwhile. The script is entertaining.

Directed by Naoyuki Kuzuya (Saiyuki Gaiden, Bikini Warriors), Sweet Reincarnation is an engaging and colorful anime series with good production values. Kuzuya is a solid director for the production and certainly understands the world of the cooking series. A fun anime series for fantasy-comedy fans – something well worth checking out.

Sweet Reincarnation: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, Sweet Reincarnation is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The Blu-ray has impressive picture-quality. The high-definition presentation has crisp animation and detailed artwork. Background animation and line art are well highlighted on the series. The presentation is colorful and crisp. The cinematography is a nice component of the presentation, too.

One of the strengths of the Blu-ray disc format is the superior encoding quality. Streaming video services tend to provide lower video bit-rates compared to Blu-ray and physical media. The Blu-ray format offers an advantage with more emphasis on the encoding on higher bit-rates. For home theater enthusiasts, it is nice knowing that one has the best video quality available.

Streaming has a lot more variables sometimes and can even sometimes be impacted by the quality of an internet connection. People in rural areas or people with standard internet data plans can also see an improvement with physical media and the Blu-ray format. There's even the fact that some people might live in large families or households with more people connected to the wi-fi all at once (from internet gaming, to video streaming, to music playback, and more). These elements are variables that can also showcase and differentiate streaming from Blu-ray as a format providing a more consistent encode – often with higher video bit-rates. Even in the age of streaming, it remains incredibly important for physical media options to exist for consumers.

Sweet Reincarnation: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The sound direction by Jun Watanabe (Ascendance of a Bookworm, All Purpose Cultural Cat Girl Nuku Nuku) is well reproduced. The soundstage on the release is engaging. Dialogue is crisp and clear on the release. The soundtrack score is also a nice highlight of the presentation.

Blu-ray provides a noteworthy difference compared to streaming video services – lossless audio encoding. Streaming video services provide only lossy (non-lossless) audio encoding. For home theater aficionados and audiophiles seeking the best possible audio quality, the Blu-ray disc format offers a great benefit for enthusiasts.

Sweet Reincarnation: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release includes a well-designed o-card slipcover. The slipcover features unique artwork different from the key artwork highlighted underneath the slipcover. The effect is one gets "double the art" for the release. This art element is something that adds significant value to the packaging. The result is an impressive package that looks great in hand and nice on a shelf.

On disc supplements include:

Mini Anime (HD, 27:43) will add to the fun for series fans by offering some "mini anime episodes" to expand on the series. It is nice to see this type of inclusion provided on the release. A nice bonus for fans.

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Song (HD, 1:31)

Unfortunately, the release does not include a more robust supplemental package and this can sometimes mean the difference between a purchase or a pass for fans looking to maximize their collecting dollars. The best inclusion is the mini anime. The release could still have benefited by including some audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes, making-of documentaries, featurettes, cast/crew interviews, photo galleries, and more. Special features enthusiasts appreciate more supplements and these kinds of extras can add a lot of extra value for collectors.

Sweet Reincarnation: The Complete Season Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Sweet Reincarnation is a "sweet" and charming anime series. The anime is cute and entertaining for fans of kawaii anime. The production values are worthwhile and the team of animators did something fun with the series aesthetic. Pastry Mille Morteln is a solid lead protagonist for the anime.

The Blu-ray release provides a quality high-definition video presentation and lossless audio. The release also includes an o-card slipcover on the first print run. The set provides some mini anime episodes, too. Fans of the series looking to own a permanent copy for their collection may wish to pick up a copy. Recommended.