Mitsuboshi Colors: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		4.5

Mitsuboshi Colors: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie Review

A Smart, Charming, and Breezy Slice-of-life Anime

Mitsuboshi Colors is an entertaining, sweet-hearted, and energetic anime series in the same vein of other charming slice-of-life series like K-On! and One Week Friends. The series is produced by the animation studio Silver Link (Battle Girl High School, Kokoro Connect, Dusk Maiden of Amnesia). Appropriate for audiences of all ages, the series is a pure delight which can be enjoyed by the entire family.

The series revolves around the day-to-day adventures of three young girls named Yui, Kotoha, and Sat-chan who spend their time around the Tokyo area. The girls call themselves the “Mitsuboshi Colors” and each girl has a distinctive color-theme in hair-do and costumed attire (and hence the title of the series). These girl's ultimate goal? To protect their local town community from all evil-doers!

Yet the reality resides in the three girls spending most of their free-time (every day) goofing off, getting into strange mishaps, and harassing their local police officer (who they are secretly friends with). The girls goof off at their regular group meetings, play video-games, purchase silly off-the-wall devices (such as fake bazookas) and are mischievous but sweet on a daily basis.

Mitsuboshi Colors is a breath of fresh air for the slice-of-life anime genre. While there are so many anime series which are produced in this vein, there aren't as many made with such a high-quality of artistry. The animation quality is top-notch from beginning to end.

From the stunning background animation (the details in the trees, buildings, and overall infrastructure) to the creative character-designs, Mitsuboshi Colors is a superbly animated series which feels high-quality at every turn of the story. Each episode feels well-produced and is superbly crafted. The rich cinematography by Atsushi Satou (Magic of Stella) is impeccably orchestrated with an authenticity to the natural landscape which counter-balances the art to the character-designs.

The music (including the catchy opening and ending themes) is incredible as well. The score has a breezy, laid-back energy to it which is delightful and charming at each turn of the story. The score composed by Michiru (Pure White) is the perfect compliment to the charming storytelling and the noteworthy animation.

Written by Katsuwo and Shogo Yasukawa (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), the series has many charming episodes and scenarios. There are episodes where the girls are attending local festivals (such as the “Halloween” themed episode) to trying to sell-off a load of bananas before they expire. Episodes revolve around simple but effective themes and the cast of characters make the series entertaining. Directed by Tomoyuki Kawamura (Infinite Stratos, Innocent Venus), Mitsuboshi Colors is one of the most charming anime series produced over the last several years. It's an incredibly energetic show and never misses a beat.

Mitsuboshi Colors: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The series is presented on Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded presentation in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1:78:1 widescreen. This is a terrific presentation which has an impeccable encode quality. The animation looks so vibrant and stunning. The artwork is superb. Beautiful color reproduction helps the art to stand out as well. The video quality is top-notch.

Mitsuboshi Colors: Complete Collection Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The audio on this release includes both English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo audio presentations. Fans of the series will be pleased with the ability to view the series with either lossless audio option. The brand new English dubbing produced for the Blu-ray release is exceptional and the cast for the English dub did a terrific job of bringing these characters to life. Dialogue is crisp and clear and the music is wonderfully reproduced. The soundstage is fairly straightforward for a 2.0 stereo track but is highly effective throughout.

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

Clean Opening Animation (HD, 1 min. 32 sec.)

Clean Closing Animation (HD, 1 min. 32 sec.)

The release also includes trailers for the following Sentai Filmworks releases: Hakumei and Mikochi, Girls' Last Tour, Action Heroine Cheer Fruits, and Princess Principal.

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

Mitsuboshi Colors is one of the best anime series of the last few years. The animation quality is top-notch. The characters are charming and fun. The setting and design of the series rivals that of K-On! Anime fans should definitely give the series a spin. The new English dub track is terrific and the cast for the dub brought their best to the respective roles. The Blu-ray releases features first-rate video and audio and comes highly recommended.