Astro Boy-Volume 4 (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Trailer-Kermit's Swamp Years, Muppets From Space, Trailer-The Muppets Take Manhattan, Swan Princess Collection
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	80:56
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Kazuya Konaka Yukio Suzuki
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Candi Milo Wally Wingert Faith Salie Susan Blu Jennifer Darling Gregg Berger David Rasner
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	William Kevin Anderson

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Once upon a time there was a young boy called Tobio. Tobio lived with a rather enigmatic scientist called Dr. Tenma. Dr. Tenma was rather disappointed with the way humanity had turned out and was involved in the development of a new form of artificial intelligence called 'kokoro'. Fast forward a few years as Dr O'Shay of the Ministry of Science activates a new intelligent robot he calls Astro. Astro soon becomes a hero as he strives to save humanity from a multitude of perils, but why does he have strange memories linked to the name Tobio?

    Well, here we are at Volume 4 of the popular Japanese animated series about Astro and his futuristic adventures. In the earlier volumes we met the main characters, followed many robots on rampage, and started to get to know the supporting cast a little more. While I have enjoyed all of the discs in the series so far, I was now hoping to see some more variation in plot to keep up the interest in future volumes.

    The very first episode on this disc, Little Sister, Big Trouble, immediately moves the show in a new direction with the introduction of Astro's cute and mischievous little sister Zoran (much to Astro's bemusement - "I have a sibling, should I have it removed?"). Zoran is soon trying to detach the enormous nose previously attached to Dr. O'Shay's face. Astro tries to stop her - "That's his real nose"; "No Way!!" replies the youngster. Zoran is less powerful than her big brother, but has the power to communicate with animals which comes in handy during this episode. When admonished over her capacity to find trouble, and told that she should learn to behave, she strikes her cutest pose and replies "I don't gotta cause I'm too cute".

    In the next episode, Micro Adventure (running around 20:00 like all the episodes in the series), a mad scientist places a miniature bug inside Zoran in an attempt to discover the secrets of Astro's power. In Robot Hunters we meet the Anti Robot Robot Squad (ARRS he he), a new unit in the police force, and their leader Delta who will be another regular character in the show. In the final episode on the disc (The Rise of Pluto) Dr Tenma returns with a giant killer robot in yet another test of Astro's abilities (the story in this final episode is not resolved - it will continue in the next disc in the series). We also meet the weather robot Epsilon who features in the opening credits and so we might expect to meet her again.

    All in all I found this an excellent disc - the new supporting characters (Zoran, Delta, Epsilon) are interesting, and a number of the villains from earlier discs are also back wreaking havoc (Skunk, Katari, Tenma). With this volume the show is really finding its feet and now has enough variety in its characters to support a variety of plot lines. The animation is also very good in these four episodes and if you are only looking for one disc to sample the show, this is the best I have seen so far. I look forward to Volume 5 to see if the momentum continues. If it does we could have a very solid series on our hands - join me then to find out.

Video

    As with all of the discs so far, the video transfer here is good for a television source.

    The aspect ratio of the transfer is 1.75:1, 16x9 enhanced, which is acceptably close to the original aspect ratio of 1.78:1.

    The transfer is nice and sharp, with excellent focus but just an occasional hint of edge enhancement. The shadow detail is fine (as at 4:06 in episode 1 - the detail in the dark woods is very good). There is no low level noise.

    Colours are vivid on this disc and are looking brighter than they have on other volumes so far; check out that night sky at 9:50 in the third episode.

    There is very little damage in the transfer - artefacts are few and far between. There is some very minor aliasing, but the picture is in great shape overall.

    The English subtitles are very good. The English for the Hearing Impaired (labelled 'English Captions' in the menu) are acceptable, but miss a number of cues for audio effects (and are once again in a rather annoying style with white text in an obtrusive black box).

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio transfer is good, and better than many other television shows of the same vintage.

    The only audio track is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded track (192 Kb/s). I suggest listening with ProLogic engaged on your amplifier for the best listening experience. It is a pity that there is no original language track on the disc.

    Dialogue is good, clear at all times, and audio sync is probably as good as can be expected for an English dub of Japanese animation.

    The main music theme is excellent, and the supporting music does a good job, adding to the enjoyment of the show without being obtrusive. All of the audio elements are well balanced in volume, though the opening theme tends to be louder than the rest of the show.

    Surround presence is subtle, with reasonable forward projection and some music and effects activity from the rear speakers. The subwoofer is rarely engaged, with only minor bass support if switched to provide it.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    The Extras are sadly lacking- all we have here are a few unrelated trailers.

Menu

    The menu is static with no audio. Your choices are: Play All Episodes, Episode Selections, Subtitles, Trailers. There are no scene selections within episodes on the menu (though there are chapter stops on the disc if you use your remote to access them).

Trailers

    Trailers for Kermit's Swamp Years, Muppets From Space, The Muppets Take Manhattan and the Swan Princess Collection (yes, the same ones from Volumes 1, 2 and 3).

    The Region 1 boxed set features a Pan & Scan transfer which makes the Region 4 the version of choice.

    This was a very enjoyable disc, for my part the best in the series so far. The animation is very good, and the characters in the show are likeable. The story is developing well, with Dr Tenma and his mysterious agenda for Astro a key thread. If you want to try the show, this would be a great disc to sample.

    The video transfer is very good.

    The audio transfer is good.

    There are no extras worth mentioning.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall