My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU-Series Collection (2013)

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General		Extras
Category	Anime	Trailer-x 3 for other Anime More…-Textless Opening Song More…-Textless Closing Song
Rating
Year Of Production	2013
Running Time	301:44 (Case: 325)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Ai Yoshimura
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Takuya Eguchi Saori Hayami Nao Toyama Aoi Yuki Ryoka Yuzuki Marina Inoue Takashi Kondo Mikako Komatsu
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Dual
RPI	?	Music	Kakeru Ishihama

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Hachiman Hikigaya (voiced by Takuya Eguchi) is a cynical, friendless and antisocial male junior high school student with a negative view of people in general and students in particular: “Youth is a lie. It is nothing but evil” he mutters. As a punishment for his antisocial behaviour, class teacher Shizuka Hiratsuka (Ryoka Yuzuki) directs him to join the school’s Social Club, whose founder and only current member is Yukino Yukinoshita (Saori Hayami). Yukino is an ice maiden, cool, intelligent and beautiful from a wealthy family, but she is superior and has a habit of saying what she thinks, so has no friends. She tells Hachiman straight away that his “loneliness stems from his sour disposition and cynical perception” so, needless to say, there are immediately sparks between these two who do not fit into the school society.

     The role of the Social Club is to offer advice and a helping hand to those with a problem. The first student to come to the Social Club after Hachiman joins is Yui Yuigahama (Nao Toyama), a pretty, vivacious and sweet girl who wants to be liked by everyone, and needs to know how to bake cookies! She soon joins to become the third member of the club and, together, the three prove to be an effective team with Hachiman’s off centre ideas complimenting Yukino’s rationality and Yui’s positive thinking.

     Based on the light novel series by Wataru Watari, My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU or alternatively My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I Expected (or Yahari Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Machigatteiru) is an unexpected treat! The series covers familiar teen angst territory about friendships, belonging and relationships but is witty, funny and deadpan with some clever dialogue (which in translation sometimes flies by too quickly to enjoy fully). A comedy it certainly is, with the character of Hachiman and his observations on life great fun, but any time the series strays towards a romance between, for example Yui and Hachiman, it quickly pulls away into miscommunications and misunderstandings.

     The “problems” brought to the club each episode are frequently about relationships and growing up and the best episodes, such as episode 5 ”Once Again, He Turns Back on the Path from Whence He Came“, underlie the fun with a tinge of melancholy. As the series progresses we also learn that Yukino is not quite as controlled as she seems, and that she is trying to emulate her popular and successful older sister Haruno (Mai Nakahara). There are other recurring characters too, the b****y Yumiko Miura (Marina Inoue), the handsome, popular and sporty Hayato Hayama (Takashi Kondo), who is actually a decent guy, Saika Totsuka (Mikako Komatsu), who looks like a girl but is a boy and who only wants a friend, and Hachimon’s younger sister Komachi (Aoi Yuki).

     A second series of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU was announced in 2014. This two DVD set of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU - Series Collection contains episodes 1-7 on disc 1 and episodes 8-13, each episode running 23.15 except the last (22:44), plus minor extras on disc 2.

Video

     My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, the original broadcast ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     This is a beautiful looking print. The lines are clean and the colours have a nice pastel, watercolour look with muted blues and greens.

     I did not notice any marks or artefacts except slight aliasing on some horizontal building lines.

     It is anime so lip synchronisation is quite approximate.

     The English subtitles are generally yellow, although some sections where more than one person is speaking use white. I did not notice any spelling or grammatical errors although they the subtitles often go by very fast and include made up words, so I may have missed some. At various times, white text appears on the top of the screen to explain various terms that may be unfamiliar, such as “Chunibyo” and “Furigama” in episode 2.

     English and Japanese in western script alternatively give the opening and closing song lyrics and translation.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio is Japanese 2.0 at 224 Kbps.

     Dialogue is clear and the audio is surround encoded, so music and some effects, such as rain and fireworks, are redirected to the rears. The subwoofer did add some bass to the fireworks.

     The score by Kakeru Ishihama is pretty innocuous but does grow on one.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

     The extras, such as they are, are on disc 2

Textless Opening (1:29)

     The opening song without the credits.

Textless Closing (4:26)

     The closing song without the credits.

Trailers

     Trailers for Sword Art Online Vol.1 Aincrad Part 1 (2:22), One Piece Movie: Strong World (1:39) and Fairy Tail Collection 8 (Eps 85-96) (1:02).

     Our Region 4 release of My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU - Series Collection is identical to the Region 1 US version.

     High school girls in short skirts. Check. Adolescent problems. Check. But ignore the stereotypes (and the box cover art) as My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU is an unexpected treat, a witty, funny and deadpan anime with some delightful dialogue and endearing characters.

     The video and audio are fine, extras are minimal but we get the same as Region 1.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall