Re: (My Review)Yeah, I watched the FMA Premium OVA Collection earlier, and...(no spoilers)
- From: "Arnold Kim" <arnoldkim@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2009 09:53:49 -0400
"Relic" <relic1980@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:h5iqer$srq$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
...ahhh, I wasn't exactly enamored with it.
Oh sure, we pretty much all have seen at least some of what
is on here (the game-looking Alchemists vs. Homunculi segment,
the omake "afterparty" segment and the "Kids" segment (which is
still my favorite part, and the only thing that makes me glad
I paid 12.99 for this)). But I dunno...it reminded me of
Project A-ko:Plot of the Daitokuji Conglomerate lengthwise,
with even less content.
Just saw this myself. And yeah, as rampant an FMA fan I am, this was
definitely a letdown.
They are (as expected), all dubbed/subbed, and you can easily
tell that there was a few years between the release of the movie
and this here in the US. I had read the review at ANN yesterday, and
I was expecting Al's voice to change the most, since he was going
through puberty around the time of the TV/movie (you can tell this
easily in the movie), but, uhm....boy. There is a live-action segment
with "Al" (really a big Al statue), and his VA Aaron Dismuke sounded
pretty much like he grew older in that suit of armor. Understandable,
of course, and he does as well as he can expect, but no way would
you confuse Al for a 12 year old. There's even a gag about this
in the omake segment.
I found the whole thing to be rather silly to begin with. Even in Japanese,
it's not that great.
Speaking of which...if you listen to the omake sequence (hell, all
the sequences involving the whole crew), there doesn't seem like there
is nearly enough enthusiasm in the spoken parts. You can almost
tell where it was like "okay guys, we know it's been a few years
since you've done these voices, but it's just a couple of hours' work,
so let's wrap it up and go for some beers afterwards" type of
enthusiasm. And interestingly enough, in the Japanese version of the
omake, think of how Envy sounded coming out of his suit. Now think of how
the American VA for Envy sounds. Yep. Oh, and they changed
Gluttony's "Yankee" remark, possibly because they feared some
people might not get it. Eh, no biggie.
I thought the Chibi wrap aprty was -hilarious-.
Lust and Scar complaining about their bit parts in the film, a drunken Winry
confronting Ed about the relationship between him and Noa (the real world
Rose doppelganger), and of course Hawkeye and her stampede of Black Hayates.
As far as the voice work goes, there was definitely something "off" about
the performances. I thought Hawkeye sounded fine, and Mustang was great in
his over the top, "Tiny Mininiskirts"/"I Love Dogs" voice, but some of them,
even Vic Mignogna, sounded like they were out of practice.
The Alchemists vs. Homunculi sequence was used in combination with
the "Interactive Experience" 4-parter (essentially Jean Havoc giving
you briefs (nono, not THAT kind of briefs ^_^). Again, most of the
actors seem to have been going though the motions (even Armstrong
sounded bored). Considering what would happen during this sequence,
bored would have been the least of their worries.
You know, I don't think I even got that far, since I skipped to the chibi
wrap party once I realized the "Interactive Experience" was just a glorified
clip show.
But of course, the "Kids" sequence is great. I was glad to have this
on DVD, but I dunno if many, other than die-hard fans, would have
found it justifiable to pay 12.99 at Best Buy (I recall it's 14.99
list) for this.
I got it via an Amazon.com gift card I got for my birthday. Don't think
it's worth the actual $15 price tag.
As for extras, you get the original TV commercials, a textless
closing song, and trailers (one showing an ad for the Slayers
box set coming up soon. Yay!) And at the beginning of the show there
is an ad for Romeo X Juliet. Looked nice.
Believe me, Romeo x Juliet is GREAT. I'm currently on episode 10, and while
it does play very fast and loose with the original story, it's well worth
watching, especially the efforts they made with the dub (they actually tried
to make the dialog sound Shakespeare-esque, though I wish they applied it
more consistently)
In short, IMO this is for completists only. (Of course, this completed
my collection, at least until the new TV series comes out on DVD).
It's competently handled, and the "Kids" sequence is great, but except
for that sequence, is not going to add anything to the series that
you don't already have (and if you haven't seen the movie, it will
definitely spoil parts of that).
I thought the chibi wrap party was -hilarious- but other than that, yeah,
kind of a letdown.
I don't know how much it would have been worth it even if they just released
this right after the movie, though. $15 for only 35 minutes of content,
only 25 of which is actually new?
Arnold Kim
.
- Follow-Ups:
- References:
- Prev by Date: Re: Eightless End
- Next by Date: Body Jack - 1987 OVA - Anime Sex Comedy (Subtitled)
- Previous by thread: (My Review)Yeah, I watched the FMA Premium OVA Collection earlier, and...(no spoilers)
- Next by thread: Re: (My Review)Yeah, I watched the FMA Premium OVA Collection earlier, and...(no spoilers)
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
