Burn-Up W: On The Case & In Your Face

Episodes 1 To 4


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Details At A Glance

General
Extras
Category Anime DVD Credits
Trailers (6)
Rating
Year Released 1995-1996 Japanese version
1996-1997 English version
Running Time
105:33 minutes approximately
(not 120 minutes as stated on packaging) 
RSDL/Flipper No/No
Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region 2,4 Director Hiroshi Negishi
Studio
Distributor
ADV Films
Siren Entertainment
 Starring  
Case Transparent Brackley
RPI $32.95 Music Hiroyuki Namba

 
 
Video
Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English (Dolby Digital 2.0, 224 Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio No
16x9 Enhancement No
Theatrical Aspect Ratio 1.33:1
Miscellaneous
Macrovision ? Smoking No
Subtitles None Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits Yes, after credits of episode 4

Plot Synopsis

    After something of a hiatus on the anime front as far as my DVD player is concerned, I finally get my hands on another one of those leave-the-brain-at-the-door type pieces of fun. I certainly had no knowledge of Burn-Up W: On The Case & In Your Face Episodes 1 To 4 before the obligatory wander through the Internet resources to check out the Region 1 information on the DVD. It became fairly clear from that wander that in general this is a fairly lightweight piece that delivers a whole heap of chicks in tight costumes doing things with weaponry. My kind of brainless fun! Initially I came to the review session with too much thought about basic things like plot and character, and soon found the whole experience tiresome. So I decided that I must be missing something here, and left the DVD for a day or so before returning to it. After a fairly lousy day at work, I bunged this back into the DVD player just seeking some light relief and it suddenly had a whole different feel to it. Sure the plot was not much, and one or two of the characters were really annoying, but the mindless action and animated babes actually start to draw you in after a while.

    The package comprises four episodes from the series, namely:

    As you may have figured out, the latter two sort of form a two-parter episode, whilst the first two are pretty much independent episodes with no connection. Broadly speaking, Burn-Up W is about an elite team within the police force of Neo-Tokyo called The Warriors, used for high-priority counter terrorist activities. As such, they do a lot of stuff that no one else does, usually to the accompaniment of extensive costs - hence the reason why all their missions are supposed to be authorized for budgetary purposes prior to commencing action! The team is commanded by Maki, but the main team members are the hot babes Rio and Maya, with support from the intellectual Lilica and the useless token male Yugi (who has a predilection for virtual reality babes, used women's underwear and Rio - in just about that order) . Most of what they get up to is ludicrous, but who cares - this is nice action stuff with no real depths to be plumbed and with plenty of decent animation. However, if you have an objection to animated nudity and animated come-hither type scenes, then this is perhaps one that you might like pass over.

    Whilst certainly nothing as mind-blowingly essential as Ghost In The Shell, this is certainly the perfect antidote to turgid trash like The Mod Squad or House On Haunted Hill when you need some fun. Well directed by Hiroshi Negishi, the end result is certainly entertaining stuff that will make it back into your player again.

Transfer Quality

Video

    This is the first locally authored DVD from Madman Entertainment, which demonstrates an amazing commitment to the genre from one of the more enthusiastic local distributors. Michael D had the pleasure of spending some time recently talking DVD with Tim Ryan who authored the DVD, and certainly came away impressed by that enthusiasm. However, enthusiasm means diddly if the end-product is not up to scratch. In broad terms this one is, with the exception of one large caveat that I will address shortly.

    The transfer is presented in a Full Frame format, reflecting its television origins, and it is not 16x9 enhanced. As the DVD is locally authored it is of course a PAL-formatted DVD and therefore there are not the usual problems of having NTSC-capable display devices.

    Interestingly enough, this is not as sharp a transfer as I was expecting for an anime title, suffering just a few sections where the transfer demonstrated just a slightly diffuse image. However, after checking out reviews of the Region 1 equivalent, where this softness is also commented on, it would seem that this is a source material problem and not a mastering problem. Other than that, the usual high standard we have come to expect from ADV-sourced material is again demonstrated. Detail is very good, with nicely handled shadow detail. This is a nice clear transfer with no problems of grain to create any blemishes. There is no problem with low level noise in the transfer.

    The colours present the usual bright, mostly vibrant palette as is typical of the genre. Some of the more extravagant colours, such as Maya's green hair, show a nice consistency in tone and do not hint of anything approaching oversaturation of colours. There are a few moments of softer, more pastelly type colours here and there, but these are source material issues and not mastering issues. There is no problem with colour bleed in the transfer.

    There are no MPEG artefacts in the transfer. There is, however, a fairly consistent problem with aliasing in the transfer, most noted during any up/down pan shot. At times it becomes a little too obvious and hard to ignore, but is certainly not the worst I have seen in the genre. There is also a very noticeable problem with cross colouration in the opening credits to the last two episodes. These are done in black and white, manga style, and display a rather pretty, if unintended, rainbow effect to the image: interestingly, this is also an issue with the Region 1 NTSC version of the DVD. Other than that, there are no problems with film-to-video artefacts. There was no problem with film artefacts in the transfer.

    There are no subtitle options present on the DVD, and this forms part of the caveat noted below. You should also note that the running time shown for the DVD is approximate, as the opening credits are not encoded with any timing information and therefore are not included in the overall running time of the episode. Since they run to about two minutes each, there would be an additional eight minutes to be added to the running time.
 
 

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain
Film-to-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Oh boy, now we get to the large caveat. Now when it comes to the sub/dub debate in anime, I am firmly in the dub category and prefer to watch anime in dubbed English - considered to be sacrilege by some, I know. Accordingly, I have no problem with the options taken by Madman Entertainment. However, based upon the poll conducted on this site a short while ago, a lot of people prefer to watch their anime in the original Japanese with English subtitles on - the sub camp. These people are going to be spitting chips over the choice made by Madman Entertainment. I must admit, I did miss the opportunity to indulge in a Japanese soundtrack here.

    Yes anime fans, there is only one soundtrack on the DVD and it is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. That is all you get. I will now duck to avoid the vengeful response of those aggrieved Japanese soundtrack aficionados! Yes it is a little disappointing, but I presume that there are very valid reasons as to why it was not possible for Madman Entertainment to include a Japanese language soundtrack here.

    Apart from the rather annoying vocalizations of one or two characters, the dialogue comes up very well in the transfer, always clear and easy to understand. There are the usual animation sync issues here, but these are of course unavoidable!

    The music comes from Hiroyuki Namba and whilst it is not the greatest effort that you will ever hear, being largely unmemorable in fact, it does seem to support the episodes quite well indeed.

    Since the source material is a television series, we cannot expect to get much more than a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack, surely? Whilst a nice, dynamic Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack would have really made the episodes zing, what we have serves the DVD well. There is no surround channel use, and of course no bass channel use, but the overall feel of the soundtrack is still pretty good. It does not sound frontal at all, so the sound is quite believable, and it is free of any distortions or dropouts at all. There is certainly nothing here that I can raise much of an objection to.
 
 

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    Not an overly inspiring effort at all, but considering that the four episodes are pushing the capacity of this single layer, single sided DVD, no doubt costs were a factor in the decision here as well.

Menu

    A quite good looking effort, albeit completely devoid of any audio or animation enhancement. Presented in a Full Frame format, this would perhaps have been improved with some audio enhancement.

Preview Trailers (6)

    The six offered preview trailers include some new ones we have not seen before, so the listing is:     There is nothing much wrong with the technical aspects of the presentation at all, and since this is a local master, hopefully indicates what is on the way shortly in the case of four of the titles.

R4 vs R1

    The Region 4 release misses out on:     If you fall squarely in the sub category as far as anime is concerned, the lack of a Japanese soundtrack on the Region 4 release makes the Region 1 the preferable version by a long shot. If you are like me and belong to the dub club, then there is less of a clear-cut decision between the two regions, but I would think the decision is marginally in favour of the Region 1 release.

Summary

    This is certainly a release that is going to raise the hackles of some anime fans in Region 4, and possibly justifiably so. However, for those less bothered by the Japanese soundtrack issue, Burn-Up W: On The Case & In Your Face Episodes 1 To 4 is an entertaining way to spend a couple of hours - just don't expect too much here in terms of plot, character and depth. There are however some problems with the video transfer that people with larger display devices might have an issue with too. Well worth investigating nonetheless.
 
 

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Ian Morris (have a laugh, check out the bio)
24th October 2000

Review Equipment
DVD Pioneer DV-515; S-video output
Display Sony Trinitron Wega 80cm. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Audio Decoder Built in
Amplification Yamaha RXV-795. Calibrated with the NTSC DVD version of Video Essentials.
Speakers Energy Speakers: centre EXLC; left and right C-2; rears EXLR; and subwoofer ES-12XL