GinRei: The Complete OVA Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

GinRei: The Complete OVA Series Blu-ray Movie Review

 GinRei: The OVA Series is an action-packed adventure series. The anime series features animation produced by Mu Animation Studio (Giant Robo) and Phoenix Entertainment (Princess Nine). The television series features production by Amuse (Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Mary and The Witch's Flower) and Bandai Visual (Arjuna, Blue Submarine No.6). Created by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Ginrei: The OVA Series is from executive producers Masayuki Miyashita (Dragon Slayer, Space Travelers) and Shigeru Watanabe (Akira, Ghost in the Shell). The OVA series features a lead voice performance by Sumi Shimamoto.

GinRei (Sumi Shimamoto) is a super secret agent working for the International Police Organization (IPO). The secret agent has some exciting new missions to finish working on in her field of agent expertise. In the first adventure, GinRei must learn to help tackle her own white dress – it has been deemed one of the worlds most deadly weapons!

In the second adventure, GinRei has to battle it out with a giant robot version of herself. Lastly, the International Police Organization tackles a new task surrounding a Shizuma Drink – before also delving into a mystery around the strange disappearance of an entire IPO squadron. Even with strange events happening left and right, GinRei is always up for more exciting adventures!

The voice work by Sumi Shimamoto is excellent. The vocal performance is a nice element of the production. The voice acting certainly carried a sense of charm to the character and added an impressive element of comedy. The voice work elevates the material well.

The character designs by Akihiko Yamashita (Mary and The Witch's Flower, The Secret World of Arrietty), Akio Takami (Buso Renkin, Kanokon: The Girl Who Cried Fox), Keiichi Satō (The Big O, City Hunter: The Motion Picture), Mari Mizuta (Urotsukidōji: Legend of the Overfiend, Giant Robo), and Toshiyuki Kubooka (Yamato 2520, Giant Robo) impresses. The character designs certainly look creative and stylish, adding a nice element of fun to the production. The designs are outstanding for the series. A good job from all of the designers involved in the production.

The animation is creative and colorful, too. The animation has a lot of great elements. The art direction by Hiroshi Katō (Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance) and Toru Koga (Puppet Master Sakon, Super Atragon) is stylish and creative and works well for the series. The animation direction by Hiroshi Katō (Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi), Keiichi Satō (Giant Robo), Kōji Yoshikawa, and Masami Ozone (Cybernetics Guardian) spruces up the series with quality art and style. The work done by the animators is a nice component of the series.

The score is composed by Masamichi Amano (Demon Warrior Koji, Urusei Yatsura: Only You). The score is a nice highlight of the production. The music adds a sense of vitality and life to the production. The score is fun and creative. A nice effort by composer Amano.

The cinematography by Yutaka Saito (Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventures Special) adds to the series style as well. The cinematographic style is impressive and adds a touch of depth to the production that may have been missing without these stylistic flourishes. Saito added some nice creative energy to the OVA series with this visual approach – dark and stylish as needed.

Hiroshi Ueda scripted the first episode. Michiko Yokote & Yuu Sugitani handled scripting duties for episode 2. Michiko Yokote wrote episode 3. Yasuhiro Imagawa contributed to the three OVA’s. An impressive start with the script by Ueda being especially fun and charming.  The scripting adds entertainment value and charm. The dialogue is engaging. The concept fun.  

Directed by Yasuhiro Imagawa (Tetsujin 28, Giant Robo), GinRei is certainly an entertaining OVA with some creative bursts that add a lot to the production. Director Imagawa amps up the comedy and action. These elements are fun and it is undeniably a big part of the charm of the OVA series. A worthwhile production with good style by Imagawa.

GinRei: The Complete OVA Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray from Discotek Media, GinRei: The OVA Series is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. The Blu-ray release is an upscaled high-definition presentation and is taken from standard-definition video. The video is impressive for a standard-definition upscale. The quality offers a modest quality boost over a standard-definition DVD. Though the presentation is modest-at-best, the encoding quality on the release is a little more refined. The quality difference might seem almost negligible to most viewers but it is nice to have a slight uptick in presentation quality with the upscaling on the release. The animation looks nice and the color reproduction impresses.

GinRei: The Complete OVA Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes a selection of audio options. The release provides the English 2.0 stereo version is the 2005 NYAV Post Version and is presented in uncompressed PCM 2.0. The original language version produced from 1994-1995 is presented in Japanese uncompressed PCM 2.0 (with English subtitles). A modest lossless audio presentation and one that wasn't as impressive sounding as I had hoped. The dialogue and sound effects sound clear and easy to understand on the release. However, the track certainly doesn't "pop" with the best dynamics as some lossless soundtracks do. Perhaps the audio source wasn't as good, either (as the video is upscaled).

GinRei: The Complete OVA Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Promotions, Previews, and Interviews:

English Trailer (SD, 1:27)

Japanese Commercials (SD, 00:48)

Phone Greetings (SD, 3:46)

Playstation 2 Game Overview (SD, 00:58)

Vintage English Credits (SD, 2:06)

Interview:

Director Takeshi Mori and Voice Actor Sumi Shimamoto (SD, 14:54)

Music:

Memories of Youth: GinRei Remix Music Video (SD, 6:46)

Love Fight Music Video (SD, 1:44)

Love Fight 2020 Music Video (HD, 1:42)

Love Fight Recording Session (SD, 10:10)

Scoring the GinRei OVA Series (SD, 6:49)

Art Gallery:

Keyart & Model Sheets includes 56 click-through art slides.

Laserdisc Packaging & Bonuses includes 31 click-through art slides.

GinRei: The Complete OVA Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

GinRei: The OVA Series is a charming production with some nice comedy and action elements. Anime fans looking for a fun OVA production could do far worse than to check out this fun and entertaining series. The animation is creative and the art style adds plenty of charm. The Blu-ray release is upscaled from standard-definition. The release includes a nice selection of bonus features for fans to enjoy. Recommended.