6.5 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
An epic journey to the stars told across two stunning sci-fi fables. A crew returns home after 15 years in space. While they have only aged by two years, everyone they know is now fifteen years older. One hundred years have passed and mankind presses on ever deeper into the solar system. But far from establishing a new world order in space, man has brought the same old rivalries and conflicts with him. A war erupts as the race to colonize a new Earth intensifies.
Starring: Jun Fukuyama, Aya Hirano, Akio Ôtsuka, Romi Park, Gou ShinomiyaForeign | 100% |
Anime | 91% |
Action | 44% |
Sci-Fi | 39% |
Fantasy | 16% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1
English
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (1 BD, 2 DVDs)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Scheherazade kept herself alive by telling the Arabian tales of 1001 Nights, so it’s perhaps only fitting that the space age should have spawned another collection, in this case a manga entitled 2001 Nights. Allusions to the iconic Kubrick film aside, 2001 Nights was an amalgamation of short tales with a number of cross relationships which spanned several hundred years and dealt with mankind’s exploration and colonization of space. Two of the stories have been adapted into this often very exciting OVA by famed producer-director Fumihiko Sori (Vexille, Appleseed). Released under the sort of odd title TO, the OVA presents two different “nights” from 2001, Elliptical Orbit and Symbiotic Planet. Animated with the clean and shiny look that fans of Vexille, Appleseed or even Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within might recognize, the project is perhaps hampered by its relative brevity, but it offers some fantastic visuals, interesting characters, and thought provoking storylines that augurs well for the entire aggregation of 2001 stories being animated, should Sori want to proceed with the project.
TO arrives on Blu-ray with a pristine AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. As befits animation done entirely in the digital domain, this is a sharp and crystal clear presentation. Anyone who has seen any of Sori's previous CGI work knows that the director likes a smooth, relatively featureless look with regard to his human characters, and that approach is once again on display here. While each of the characters is very distinct and even distinctive, there's not the same sort of depth of detail that is sometimes on display in Western outings. The backgrounds here are what give TO its real visual edge, especially in Symbiotic Planet, which is filled with a very inventive alien topography. Colors are often gorgeous, if somewhat muted at times, featuring beautiful gradations especially within the gray scale of Symbiotic Planet. While this may be too "smooth" a look for some, it's inviting and unique and it is very well reproduced on this Blu-ray.
Both of the lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 tracks included on this Blu-ray are fairly interchangeable, other than one being in the original Japanese and the other in English. Effects, underscore and overall balances are similar if not identical on these two. Both feature excellent voicework. Immersion is not overwhelming, but both episodes feature at least some sequences of excellent surround activity. Elliptical Orbit has a nice outer space gun battle which features some good discrete channel utilization, and there are some nice, if somewhat more subtle, moments featuring some of the planetary landscapes in Symbiotic Planet. Fidelity is excellent throughout both tracks.
Once again Fumihiko Sori proves that he's one of the most innovative and visually ingenious directors currently working in anime. TO would have benefited immensely from another 30 minutes or so of content, just enough to fill in some blanks and develop backstories and character motivations. Otherwise, though, this is a fantastic looking outing that has a number of really intriguing story aspects that should enchant science fiction lovers. Highly recommended.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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