Tokyo Ravens: Season 1, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

Tokyo Ravens: Season 1, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Harry Potter and the Half-Baked Anime...

Tokyo Ravens isn't the first anime series set in a magic school and it certainly won't be the last. It's one of the more derivative, though, with more clichés per minute than even the most conventional anime fantasies typically indulge. Taken as a genre parody (a la Ouran High School Host Club, there are a few much-needed laughs. More importantly, there's a memorable cast of characters that helps keep things clipping along at a nice, lighthearted pace. But for all its comedic value, Ravens isn't aiming for genre parody. It tends to play it straight, right down the magic-school middle, making friends, casting spells, ditching classes, surviving awkward high school romances, saving Japan, battling evil, taking names and chewing bubblegum. All in a day's work, right? It's fun, funny, offers solid action, and some welcome dramatic punch. Yes, the rather convoluted nature of the plot and the abundance of characters can prove challenging. The less invested you are in the story, the more likely the plot and mythology will lose you from time to time. (Brace yourself for some head-scratching mid-way through Part 1's 12-episode run.) Still, there's nothing particularly bad about Tokyo Ravens. There just isn't anything particularly remarkable about it either. And in a sea of similarly themed anime, that doesn't quite cut it anymore.

• Shaman Clan: Promise: All Harutora Tsuchimikado wants is to spend his days idly with his friends, but as a descendant of the famous onmyo mage, Abe no Seimei, he has no choice but to follow his family's traditions.
• Shaman Clan: Confession: After the festival, Hokuto is mad at Harutora, and Harutora and Natsume meet to sort out family issues. An interruption leads to a confrontation with Suzuka near the Tsuchimikado main house.
• Shaman Clan: Calling the Dead: Harutora and Natsume interrupt Suzuka as she tries to bring her older brother back from the dead.
• Raven's Nest: School: Harutora and Touji arrive at the elite Onmyo Prep School, which Natsume also attends, but their presence causes conflict with some of their new classmates.
• Raven's Nest: Bonds: Harutora makes friends with his classmates after the battle of the familiars, which upsets Natsume. However, when Natsume is in danger, Harutora and his new friends fight to save her.
• Days in Nest: Holiday: Weird rumors are going around about Harutora and Natsume, and they are made worse when Harutora and Natsume go shopping together on their day off.
• Chimaira Dance: Ogre Eater: Six months have passed since Harutora and Touji transferred to Onmyo Prep, and it's time for their end-of-year exams.
• Chimaira Dance: Half-Ogre: Touji's past is revealed as he struggles with turning into a half-ogre, and Harutora has to choose between helping his friend or protecting Natsume.
• Chimaira Dance: Purification: Harutora runs to join Natsume and Kogure in their fight against the nue as the other exorcists fight the other spirit disaster.
• Girl Return: Prodigy: When the new school year starts, Suzuka also enrolls at Onmyo Prep, and Harutora and Natsume must keep her from finding out that Natsume Tsuchimikado is really a girl.
• Girl Return: Tiger: In order to keep Suzuka from telling everyone that Natsume is a girl, Harutora and Natsume are forced to do everything Suzuka wants, and Kon ends up in a predicament.
• Girl Return: Love: Harutora's class is going to a special training camp, and Harutora and Natsume are excited to get a break from Suzuka. But when they get to the camp, a certain someone is already waiting for them.

Tokyo Ravens: Season 1, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tokyo Ravens: Season 1, Part 1 features a solid 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation, true to its not-quite-razor-sharp animation. There are mild hints of banding here and there, a bit of faint macroblocking from time to time (look closely enough and you'll notice it in the dark grays of the students' school uniforms), but none of it amounts to much of a distraction. Colors are pleasant, with instances of striking primaries and vibrant bursts of magic energy, and black levels are satisfying, though not especially deep. Contrast is consistent too, as is overall clarity. The series' line art is clean, neatly defined and free of ringing or significant aliasing, and background textures and clothing patterns don't disappoint. Visually, Tokyo Ravens never rises to the tip-top of the anime heap; nowhere close. But FUNimation's encode is sound, without anything in the way of serious issues.

Tokyo Ravens: Season 1, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Blu-ray release of Tokyo Ravens: Season 1, Part 1 offers two lossless audio options: a Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 mix and an English Dolby TrueHD 2.0 dub. Both are more than sufficient, delivering clear, intelligible voicework, crisp sound effects, and smartly prioritized music that doesn't crowd the soundscape. The series' magic battles would obviously benefit from LFE oomph and rear speaker support, but the stereo tracks are engaging enough to alleviate any major complaints.

Tokyo Ravens: Season 1, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentaries: Two audio commentaries are available, one for Episode 5, "Raven's Nest: Bonds," with voice actors Monica Rial (Kon), Clifford Chapin (Harutora) and Ian Sinclair (Touji), and the other for Episode 12, "Girl Return: Love," with voice actresses Jād Saxton (Suzuka), Leah Clarke (Kyoko) and Caitlyn Glass (Natsume). Both groups deliver decent overviews of the series, the casting process, developing a character through voice alone, and a general glimpse behind the curtain of the FUNimation English dub recording sessions. However, there's a lot of cackling, cracking up, and tangential anecdotes too, making for two less-than-focused chats that will irritate anyone hoping for more insight into the production or series.
• Video Commentary (HD, 20 minutes): Episode 7, "cHImAirA DanCE: Ogre Eater," features a video commentary with FUNimation ADR director Colleen Clinkenbeard and voice actors Monica Rial (Kon), Clifford Chapin (Harutora) and Ian Sinclair (Touji). Clickenbeard begins by revealing Episode 7 was one of the more challenging to tackle, then proceeds to discuss the team's initial confusion when approaching the convoluted plot. Rial giggles endlessly, but otherwise, this is a solid video commentary.
• Kon Explains It All! (HD, 11 minutes): Defense familiar Kon (voiced by Monica Rial) explains the world of Tokyo Ravens in two animated shorts, covering everything from Onmyo mages to spells, talismans, element powers, spirit seers, spirit energy, phases of magic battle, ogres and other creatures, spirit disasters, schools, magic jobs, and much, much more.
• Textless Opening Song (HD, 2 minutes): "X-encounter," in Japanese with English subtitles.
• Textless Closing Song (HD, 2 minutes): "Kimi ga emu yuugure" in Japanese with English subtitles.
• Trailers (HD): One Piece, D-Frag!, Space Dandy, Ben-To, School Rumble, Sankarea, .hack and a general FUNimation.com promo.

Tokyo Ravens: Season 1, Part 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tokyo Ravens: Season 1, Part 1 doesn't do anything you haven't seen a dozen times before, but it does it well enough to hold your attention, with a breezy comedic flair, a fun cast of characters, and a decent story (convoluted as it sometimes gets). Remarkable? Not quite. Forgettable? Not entirely. It hangs somewhere in between, north of average but south of a series that would be easier to recommend. FUNimation's Blu-ray release is better, with a pleasing AV presentation and fan-friendly selection of special features.