PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Chobits-Volume 3: Darkness Descends (2002)

Chobits-Volume 3: Darkness Descends (2002)

If you create a user account, you can add your own review of this DVD

Released 24-Oct-2003

Cover Art

This review is sponsored by
BUY IT

Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Anime Main Menu Audio
Main Menu Introduction
Credits-Non-credits closing
Credits-Japanese opening
Gallery-Art (15)
Trailer-Madman Propaganda (5)
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2002
Running Time 122:40 (Case: 125)
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (73:35) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Morio Asaka
Studio
Distributor

Madman Entertainment
Starring Rie Tanaka
Tomokazu Sugita
Tomokazu Seki
Motoko Kumai
Houko Kuwashima
Fumiko Orikasa
Kikuko Inoue
Megumi Toyoguchi
Ry๔ka Yuzuki
Case Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI $34.95 Music Keitaro Takanami


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

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    This is volume 3 of one of the most beautifully drawn anime series I've ever watched. If you are new to the series, I strongly urge you to start with my review of the first volume, called Persocom — it provides some background material that I won't repeat. You might follow that by reading my review of the second volume, called The Empty City. This volume has the ominous title of Darkness Descends, but I think that's somewhat inappropriate; maybe this title should have been given to the next volume...

    This volume does advance the main line of the story a little, but only a little, and mostly by hints. Most of the content here is filler, but filler of the best possible kind. What I mean is that these episodes could be left out, and you'd still follow the main plot, but each is entertaining, a chunk of Chobits goodness.

    The five (yup, five!) episodes on this disc are:

9 Chi Buys Chi wants to buy something for Hideki; meanwhile Hideki is being told that he must bathe Chi
10 Chi Meets Hideki is going on a date, and looking to Shinbo for dating advice
11 Chi Confirms Hideki is scaring himself out of sleep, thinking that a ghost story about the apartment building is true
12 Chi Plays Hideki, Shinbo, Chi, and Sumomo join an internet adventure game, but they can't find Chi in the game
13 Chi Goes to the Ocean Chi, Hideki, Yumi, Shinbo, Sumomo, Ms Shimizu, and Ms Hibiya visit the beach as guests of Minoru

    Hideki is a virgin (that's no surprise). These episodes goes some way to explain why he gets so ridiculously embarrassed at the merest suggestion of sex, or even at being told that he must bathe Chi (the fact that the bath house is public doesn't help, though). It's silly how much he over-reacts when Chi starts to disrobe in front of him; he has already seen her naked, after all, and she doesn't mind in the least. And Chi has been trying to learn by studying Hideki's favourite reading material, which are magazines featuring the undraped female form (I did mention that this was an M rated series, and definitely not for children, didn't I?) — the English dub simply calls them "magazines", but the subtitles call them "yummies" (an interesting cultural difference, perhaps?).

    Chi buys a second picture book, following on from the one she got in the last volume. This one is just as mysterious. I do hope we're going to discover the significance of these books — they are so tantalising, and hint at things that arise in the next volume.

    Chi continues to become more articulate, but you'd still not mistake her conversation for human. Even so, she is wonderfully sweet and utterly devoted to Hideki (who still doesn't deserve her!). She is hurt when Hideki goes out on a date (he, of course, is oblivious to this), and that's when she sees (or is it imagines) a duplicate of herself, but dressed in dark clothing — the duplicate speaks much more naturally, though — I'm sure this a hint of the future, but I guess we'll see. Meanwhile, Minoru has received a photograph from an anonymous source, a photograph that looks just like Chi. The Chi lookalike has what looks like the word Chobits on one thigh.

    I don't know where this storyline is leading, but I certainly want to find out.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    This DVD transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1. It is 16x9 enhanced. This series is drawn widescreen from the beginning (not cropped, like a certain movie I could mention...).

    The image is clear and sharp in all but long shots and sweeping pans. There's no film grain and no low-level noise.

    Colour is mostly well rendered. This series is coloured using a wide range of mostly lighter colours. There are times when the picture looks a little too bright, as if the transfer was a touch over-exposed to emphasise the pastel colours — it is not too bad, but it does look a tiny bit overblown. Other than that, there are no colour-related artefacts.

    There are only a few film artefacts, and those are tiny.

    There is some very minor aliasing, but there are many scenes without any. There is next to no shimmer and no MPEG artefacts.

    The usual two subtitle tracks appear, both in English, with the first being a "signs only" track while the second is the full subtitles. The subtitles are quite different from the English dub, which is normal, although the level of difference is a bit higher than usual.

    The disc is single-sided and dual layered, formatted RSDL. The layer change is far from obvious. It is located at 73:35, in a black frame between the third and fourth episodes. It could not be better placed.

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

Audio

    The soundtrack is provided in English and Japanese. Both soundtracks are Dolby Digital 2.0, not surround encoded, at 224kbps. I watched all the episodes with both soundtracks.

    The English dialogue is easy to understand, and synced well between the animation and dialogue. The Japanese dialogue sounds clear enough, but is less well synchronised — see for example 7:02, where Chi's mouth is moving for a while before her voice starts. Even so, I found the two soundtracks pretty much equal in terms of voice acting.

    Keitaro Takanami has provided an entertaining score that makes the occasional ironic comment on the on-screen action. The closing song, Raison d'สtre, is sung by the Japanese voice actress for Chi.

    This disc makes no use of the surrounds or subwoofer, but offers plenty of stereo separation.

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

Extras

    There's not much in the way of extras on this disc.

Menu

    The menus are animated with music. They are themed to look something like Mac menus, but they don't work that way — you don't click on the menu bar, but rather on the more standard menu in the middle of the screen. The transitions between menus are nice.

Non-credits Closing (1:31)

    Now we get the closing without credits, instead of the opening that we got on the first two discs.

Japanese Opening (1:31)

    This is the opening we're familiar with, but with Japanese credits over it, instead of the English.

Gallery — Art

    Fifteen images from the series, shown in a frame. Most seem to be drawn from episodes on this disc.

Madman Propaganda (7:07)

    Five trailers that run one after another (not the usual Madman Propaganda format):

DVD Credits

    A single page that shows credits for the folks at Madman who worked on this disc.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 1 version of this disc is very similar, starting with the front cover. It has roughly the same extras, but not including the Madman Propaganda. They do get an insert with some nice images from the series that we miss out on, though. I get the impression that their transfer is about as good as ours.

    Call it a draw between the two versions, but I'm buying the local product.

Summary

    Chobits is an anime series that is beautifully drawn. These are interesting episodes, but they don't advance the main story much. They are presented well on DVD.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is excellent for a stereo soundtrack.

    The extras are scanty.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Tony Rogers (bio-degrading: making a fool of oneself in a bio...)
Monday, December 22, 2003
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-S733A, using Component output
DisplaySony VPH-G70 CRT Projector, QuadScan Elite scaler (Tripler), ScreenTechnics 110. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationDenon AVC-A1SE
SpeakersFront Left, Centre, Right: Krix Euphonix; Rears: Krix KDX-M; Subwoofer: Krix Seismix 5

Other Reviews NONE