7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 1.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
Foreign | 100% |
Action | 19% |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080i
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (2 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 2.0 | |
Audio | 2.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
Ultraseven X debuted on October 5, 2007 in Japan and was marketed more towards an adult audience. Indeed, fans were presented with something substantially different from previous Ultraman entries. While the very essential core remained, the show took a darker turn, losing the playful antics and streamlined formula construction of past entries and here presented a far more morose, gloomy, and hopeless vision. Ultra vs. Kaiju battles remain, but the show's characters and larger narrative support structure radically depart from previous entries, especially Ultraseven, this show's forefather and the source for this re-imagining. For better or for worse fans need to realign expectations in order to get anything of value from this one.
Mill Creek brings Ultraseven X: The Complete Series to Blu-ray with a disappointingly choppy Blu-ray presentation framed at 1.78:1 and presented at the 1080i resolution. The picture is flat and visually unarresting, which is partly due to the bland digital video photography but also the shoddy encode work which leaves much to be desired. Banding is a regular occurrence, macroblocking is steady and renders backgrounds – and some foregrounds – unnaturally choppy and inorganic. Noise is minimal, at least. Detail and definition are subpar. The picture lacks crispness and fluidity, favoring a flatness and poor texturing that leaves humans and environments looking smooth and video-flat. Color dynamics are virtually nonexistent. The palette is very drab, very spartan – there's not much life here – and even when some would-be examples of splashy color appear on the screen, there's just no sense of life or visual interest. Black levels are flat and pale, whites lack dynamism, and skin tones are flat and pasty. This is nothing at all special to behold.
The included DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack is presented in the native Japanese only; optional English subtitles, which default to the on position, are included. The track is weak. There's no saturation to driving rain in the opening minutes, falling with a tinny sensation across a limp and lame front side. Explosions lack heft, large dynamics are flat and uninteresting, and battle scenes lack any kind of real tangible range, intensity, or really anything of sonic interest at all. The presentation struggles to concern itself with anything other than basic delivery, and even in musical and spoken word essentials there's a certain detachment and disinterest at play. The action is the biggest hit, though, with that inability, or unwillingness, to power through with even a semblance of something sonically resembling the literally larger-than-life action playing out on the screen.
This Blu-ray release of Superior 8 Ultra Brothers contains no supplemental content on either of the Blu-ray discs. The main menu screen only offers options to select episodes and toggle subtitles on and off. No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase. This release does ship with a non-embossed slipcover. Inner print artwork is included.
Ultraseven X does not rewrite the entirety of the Ultraman formula, but it is certainly amongst the most divergent and potentially divisive franchise entries of them all. Far darker, far moodier, far more atmospheric, far more human-focused, the show favors shadowy sets, drab colors, and bleak visuals to carry its darker themes and heavier social commentary. Longtime fans will want to check it out, but this about the last place to start for newcomers, if only because it's so tonally unique within the larger Ultra canon. Mill Creek's two-disc Blu-ray set delivers subpar video and audio. No extras are included. For hardcore fans and those collecting the franchise on Blu-ray only.
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1968
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1978
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1982
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1977
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1966
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