Astro Boy-Volume 7 (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	80:54
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Kazuya Konaka
Studio Distributor	SONY Pictures Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Candi Milo Wally Wingert Bill Farmer Faith Salie Lara Jill Miller 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	1.78:1
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

    Well, here we are at Astro Boy Volume 7, the latest in the series of discs charting the adventures of the popular animated robot. If you need to get up to speed on the series I suggest you check my reviews of Volume 1 and perhaps Volume 6. As noted in those reviews, the series was apparently originally produced in Japan in 2003, but the date at the end of the credits is 2004, hence the date on these reviews.

    Since my last review I have also obtained further information on the release schedule for these discs from the distributor. Volumes 1 to 6 are available individually now. Currently volumes 7 and 8 are due for release in mid-September, with volumes 9 and 10 to follow in November. The last two volumes (11 and 12) should be available towards the end of the year. Also available in mid-September will be a boxed set, rather oddly (and confusingly) titled Series 2 which will contain volumes 7-12 of the series. As of this writing there is no word on a collected set of volumes 1-6.

    The first episode on this disc, Only A Machine, is a variation on the anti-robot theme which has been running throughout the show. Astro tries to make friends with a young girl, C.J., but her father cruelly tells him "Stay away from my daughter, robot, go find a toaster to play with". It turns out dad is involved with a group of demonstrators called 'The Organics', but they are all being manipulated by returning villain Skunk, who is using a new robot to steal the Artificial Intelligence from some of the newer robots in the city. As with the other episodes in the series this one runs just over 20:00 in length.

    Robot Boy continues the examination of the relationship between man and robot with female test pilot Erika admonishing her son "You can't make friends with a robot". The third episode Legend of Tohron is a complete change of pace with Astro and his friends helping the visiting Princess Abby tour the city while avoiding the clutches of the evil Lord Zaide. Reno, the boy from the robot circus we met a few discs ago, has a nice role in this episode; is there a touch of teen romance in the air?

    If you like Teddy Bears then you will love the final episode on the disc; March of the Micro Bears. This episode is way CUTE, and my younger family members quickly declared it their favourite so far. The evil Shadow is back to test Astro, and his vehicles are the cute but deadly Micro Bears. It seems these bears have mind control powers which they use to turn all of Astro's friends against him; will friendship finally bring about his downfall?

    This disc is another strong entry in the series, nicely mixing stand-alone tales with stories that advance the main themes of the show. There has been some debate in the comments to my earlier reviews about the quality of this series compared to earlier versions. For my part, my family and I are lapping these up - the stories are fun, the voice acting is solid, and the animation is excellent. The only annoyance continues to be the Extras - I had been hoping that in the interval between the release of volumes 1-6 and later volumes we would be seeing some real Extras - sadly not on the evidence here. Still, the story rolls on, please join me soon for a look at Volume 8.

Video

    The video transfer on offer here is excellent, as befits such a recent production.

    The aspect ratio of the transfer is 1.78:1, which appears to be the original production ratio.

    The picture is nice and sharp, with good shadow detail (as at 5:43 in Robot Boy) and there is no low level noise.

    The colours are again a nice mix, with a variety of animation style and colours used to display different situations and emotions. Try 15:47 in the first episode for some very nice computer graphics and 19:23 in the same episode for some excellent use of colour.

    The transfer is in very good shape, with very little visible damage. If you try very hard you may spot some minor aliasing and a hint of edge enhancement, but they are infrequent and unobtrusive.

    The English subtitles are good. The English for the Hearing Impaired are average, missing a number of sound cues and they continue to be displayed in an annoying black box which obscures large areas of the picture at times. It is worth noting that most of the signs in the city are in English - the animators must have produced Japanese and English versions of any text in the show.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio transfer is quite good considering the television source.

    The only audio track is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded track which is encoded at a bitrate of 192 Kb/s. On my amplifier I had to manually engage ProLogic mode to take advantage of the surround sound. Once again we are missing the original Japanese audio.

    Dialogue is clear at all times, and is nicely mixed with other audio elements in the soundtrack. Audio sync is acceptable considering that this is an English dub over Japanese animation.

    The music is effective and mixed well with sound effects and dialogue. The action scenes are accompanied by suitably dramatic music, and there is a nice mix of styles to suit varied locations and characters.

    The surround activity in this transfer is subtle, with dramatic music and explosions a little subdued but effective enough. There is good projection from the front of the sound stage at times and dialogue is nicely placed and natural sounding in the mix. The subwoofer will provide limited bass if switched to do so.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Extras? Sad, sad, sad.

Menu

    The menu is static with no audio. The menu choices are: Play All Episodes, Episode Selections, Subtitles, Trailers. While there are chapter stops within episodes, these are not selectable from the main menu.

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 1-6).

    The Region 1 version of this series is available as a boxed set with a few production features, but is in an incorrect aspect ratio, with some reviews commenting on notable clipping at the sides. While it would be nice to have the complete series in a box this mutilation of the print makes the Region 4 the version of choice.

    Another fine entry in the series, this will please younger family members as a rental. If they really like the show then volumes 7-12 will be available in a boxed set, titled Astro Boy: The Complete 2nd Series, which should be more cost-effective than buying 6 individual discs.

    The widescreen video transfer is very good.

    The audio transfer is fine, with subtle but effective surround sound.

    There are no relevant Extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall