Castle Town Dandelion: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Castle Town Dandelion: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Castle Town Dandelion is an anime comedy featuring some science-fiction elements to enhance the series dynamic. Created by Ayumu Kasuga, Castle Town Dandelion features a theme song by Kaori Ishihara and Yui Ogura (under the name of YuiKaori) and features animation by Production IMS (High School Fleet, Date A Live II). Produced by Gou Tanaka (Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions! Take On Me, Haven't You Heard? I'm Sakamoto), Hidetada Soga (Chihayafuru 3, Tokyo Ghoul), Hiroyuki Kobayashi (The Demon Girl Next Door, Dropout Idol Fruit Tart), Kenji Yamaguchi (Locodol, Wakaba Girl), and Reiichi Aoki (Gonna be the Twin-Tail!!, High School Fleet), Castle Town Dandelion features vocal performances by Ai Kayano, Kana Hanazawa, and Kaori Ishihara. Fans of imaginative science-fiction anime comedies may wish to explore.  

Aoi Sakurada (Ai Kayano), Akane Sakurada (Kana Hanazawa), and Kanade Sakurada (Kaori Ishihara) comprise the Sakurada family. The family might seem like ordinary folk living out ordinary lives. Yet somehow these siblings are much more than commoners – their father is actually considered to be royalty – a king! This makes all of the siblings royalty themselves.

The girls lead their own big reality series, too! With nine siblings in total, the entire household must learn how to compete for the title of king. Who can take the big role? Becoming king means winning over all of the people of their town and that isn’t going to be easy. Can they become king… or superstar pop idols? The stakes are high as the sisters fight for the throne.  

The series has an imaginative visual style and this is one of the strengths of the production. The series has quality art direction by Jirou Kouno (The Snow Queen, Strawberry Eggs) and chief animation direction by Shinpei Kobayashi (Brave Witches, High School Fleet). Kobayashi also handles the production character designs. These creative talents help to bring forth great work from the series animators.

The cinematography by Koshiro Iwamoto (Arifureta - From Commonplace to World's Strongest, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha) is a highlight of Castle Town Dandelion. The cinematographic effort is impressive – enhancing the entire production. The bright and colorful aesthetic is a nice backdrop to the series conceptually. A good cinematographic style was achieved by Iwamoto.

The Castle Town Dandelion score composed by Natsumi Tabuchi (My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! , The Quintessential Quintuplets), Shu Kanematsu (The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses, The Kingdoms of Ruin), and Takashi Ohmama (Convenience Store Boy Friends, Dances with the Dragons) adds some nice elements to the anime series. The score has a lot of fun with enhancing the production and the storytelling. The composers created a score that fits in alongside the series aesthetic. A good effort from the composers involved.

Written by Reiko Yoshida (Non Non Biyori, Violet Evergarden), Castle Town Dandelion has a fun series concept and some neat ideas. Yoshida enhances the storyline with compelling protagonists to lead everything forward. The result is a comedy series that has some fun with the genre elements too.

Directed by Noriaki Akitaya (The Strongest Sage With the Weakest Crest, The Unwanted Undead Adventurer), Castle Town Dandelion is an impressively realized production in many respects. A production with a number of compelling elements. Castle Town Dandelion will appeal to some audiences who appreciate colorful and vibrant anime worlds. Worth checking out.

Castle Town Dandelion: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray from Funimation (now distributed by Crunchyroll), Castle Town Dandelion is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The series looks outstanding in high-definition on the release. The vibrant colors are outstanding and help to enhance the production. The art style is well preserved by the release. A solid presentation with good encoding.

Castle Town Dandelion: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of lossless audio options: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The series sounds crisp and clear and dialogue is well reproduced as well. The series features worthwhile sound direction by Toshiki Kameyama (Anti- Magic Academy: The 35th Test Platoon, Non Non Biyori). The lossless audio is engaging and the original Japanese sounds especially impressive. Purists will want to opt for the original language version even if the English dubbed version adds surround sound.

Castle Town Dandelion: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc 1:

Episode 3 Audio Commentary

Disc 2:

Episode 12 Audio Commentary

Textless Opening Song – "Ring Ring Rainbow!!" (HD, 1:31)

Textless Closing Song – "Honey Come!!" (HD, 1:32)

Trailers (HD, 6:44)

Castle Town Dandelion: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Castle Town Dandelion is a colorful series with compelling character designs and unique animation from the team involved. The series will appeal to anime comedy fans who enjoy the blended genre elements of the production. The Blu-ray release includes a solid video and audio presentation alongside some exclusive bonus features (including select episode audio commentaries). Fans of Castle Town Dandelion will find the release worthwhile. Recommended.