Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Is the Order a Rabbit? BLOOM: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom is the third season of the popular anime franchise. Created by Koi, Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom continues the comedy antics of the series with more fun for devotees of the anime. Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom features animation production by Encourage Films (Merc Storia: The Apathetic Boy and the Girl in a Bottle, Chillin' in My 30s after Getting Fired from the Demon King's Army). Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom features voice-performances by Ayane Sakura, Maaya Uchida, Risa Taneda, Satomi Satou, Inori Minase, Sora Tokui, and Rie Murakawa. Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom continues the series tradition of charming and fun adventures with the girls of the Rabbit House.

The girls are growing up. Chino Kafū (Inori Minase), Maya Jōga (Sora Tokui), and Megumi "Meg" Natsu (Rie Murakawa) are almost done with middle school. After graduation, the girls have to pick out the perfect high school to attend. What happens if the girls don’t all attend the same school together? Going separate ways doesn’t sound fun and even though change can be exciting it’s never quite the same when saying goodbye to friends.

Even as some of the girls face changes at school, there’s comfort in knowing that they have friends at The Rabbit House: Cocoa Hoto (Ayane Sakura), Sharo Kirima (Maaya Uchida), Rize Tedeza (Risa Taneda), and Chiya Ujimatsu (Satomi Satou) are back, too! The Rabbit House keeps a great groove for everyone. And, who knows, attending a new school could mean more new girls to hang out with? The adventures of The Rabbit House continue on as the restaurant and boarding house continues to deliver great food, amazing drinks, and a bunch of great company! (There’s even a cute and sweet bunny rabbit mascot, too.)

The characters are at the heart of the series and the main reason the production became such a big success with anime fans. The cast of characters are fun and charming. Cocoa is a wonderful leading character for the anime. The supporting cast of characters including Sharo, Rize, Chiya, Chino, Maya, and Megumi “Meg” are great, too. These girls are bubbly and sweet. The sweet-natured personalities of the characters shine through. The result is a more enjoyable production. The character designs by Yousuke Okuda (Blend S, Conception) are well-done and add a lot to the series aesthetics as well. The character designs are well-worthwhile and provide a lot of value to the series.

The animation is top-notch. The animation for Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom features art direction by Reiji Kasuga (Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness, Sasami: Magical Girls Club) and chief animation direction by Masako Itou (In the Heart of Kunoichi Tsubaki, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai), Sakae Shibuya (Magical Girl Site, Girl Friend Note), and Yuki Imoto (Aria the Scarlet Ammo, Non Non Biyori). The team of animators did a solid job with the series and brought some quality animation to the forefront with good background animation and line art. Both the character animation and the environmental elements in the artwork (for The Rabbit House restaurant and boarding house setting) are well-done.

Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom changes the animation production studio and this comes with some new animators and some changes in the production. The earlier seasons were from a different production company. With the new animation production handled by Encourage Films, one might expect a big change in quality. Fortunately, the new animation production team keeps the aesthetic similar and in line with the earlier seasons of the series.

There are some differences between seasons, of course, and the artwork is noticeably a bit more refined looking with even more detailed line art but the style is true to the previous two seasons. Fans of the series will appreciate the fact that the third season still retains a similar aesthetic style even while branching out a bit with a new animation production company. A job well done by Encourage.

The cinematography by Yūichi Takezawa (Nyanko Days, Seton Academy: Welcome to the Pack) is one of the highlights of Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom. Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom features a more robust and colorful aesthetic in some respects when one compares the third season to the earlier two seasons. An even more bright, crisp, and colorful aesthetic is provided. The cinematographer handles these visuals well and stays true to the spirit of the series. The Rabbit House looks outstanding.

The score composed by Ruka Kawada (If Her Flag Breaks, Isekai Quartet) is enjoyable and provides a nice and light backdrop to the production. Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom features charming score music that adds a sense of serenity to the production. The series style shines through and the characters are well reflected with the score by Kawada.

Written by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (Black Clover, That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime) and Hiroyuki Hashimoto, Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom is a kawaii anime series. The cute anime storyline and fun characters adds a lot of warmth to the production. The characters are key to the series success and the screenwriter has fun with the cast – providing nice dialogue for the comedy series. Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom keeps the charm of the original.

Directed by Hiroyuki Hashimoto (Is the order a rabbit??, Magical Girl Raising Project), Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom is a good continuation of the hit franchise. The third season has more of the fun that audiences have come to expect based on the earlier seasons. Director Hashimoto continues to bring that magic quality he delivered with the earlier seasons. Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom does the trick: bringing hopping magic at the Rabbit House.

Is the Order a Rabbit? BLOOM: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Sentai Filmworks, Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high-definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. An impressive high-definition presentation with crisp and colorful animation. The colors on the release certainly "pop" with considerable animation clarity and detail. The background animation and line artwork are well highlighted on the release. The crisp animation looks even more vivid and detailed compared to earlier seasons of the anime. The change in production studios may have something to do with this change. The art is even more crisply detailed here and the result is a sharper image.

Is the Order a Rabbit? BLOOM: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release is presented in Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (with English subtitles). The Blu-ray release capably preserves the quality sound direction of Jin Aketagawa (Fruits Basket, Wasteful Days of High School Girl).  The release does not include an English dubbed option. The lack of an English dubbed option is quite the surprise. It is strange to see Sentai provide a new anniversary reissue for the series without providing a new English dubbed option to accompany it. Unfortunately, this is par the course alongside the other anniversary reissues for the anime franchise. A new English dub would have been something to spruce up the set even more and add extra incentive for fans who might be considering a double-dip. Nonetheless, the original Japanese language version is provided with an excellent sounding lossless audio presentation. Dialogue is crisp and clear on the release. The soundstage is quite impressive overall. The English subtitles are well done and are free from egregious spelling or grammatical errors.

Is the Order a Rabbit? BLOOM: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The release comes in a standard Blu-ray case. The release does not include an o-card slipcover. The package design does feature a new cover-art that emphasizes the color purple. The artwork does a excellent job matching the other anniversary reissues for the anime series franchise – with season one featuring a "blue" emphasis cover-art and season two featuring a "green" emphasis cover-art. The three anniversary reissues look excellent side-by-side and the cover arts are much nicer looking compared to the earlier releases.

On disc supplements include:

Clean Opening Animation (HD, 1:47)

Clean Closing Animations (HD, 13:48)

Unfortunately, the release includes a somewhat lackluster supplemental package. The extras could be more robust. It is especially disappointing to see such an average set of extras on an anniversary set reissue. The extras are close to barebones. The inclusion of some audio commentaries, making- of documentaries, cast/crew interviews, roundtables, featurettes, and photo galleries would have certainly rounded out the package and made for a nicer collection for fans considering a purchase.

Is the Order a Rabbit? BLOOM: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom is the third season of the beloved anime series. The third season continues to offer fun adventures with the charming cast of characters. Is the Order a Rabbit? Bloom offers quality animation, production values, and music.

The Blu-ray release provides a quality video presentation and lossless audio encoding. Unfortunately, the anniversary reissue doesn't add an English dubbed option (the collection only provides the Japanese language version with English subtitles). The set doesn't add anything substantial in the supplements, either. The set does come with a nicely designed new cover-art. Fans considering a double-dip may wish to consider the art-work unison across all three seasons with their anniversary reissues highlighting a different color emphasis – blue, green, and now purple. Newcomers will want to opt for the new anniversary editions. Recommended.