Lonely Planet-Six Degrees: Tokyo (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Main Menu Animation Theatrical Trailer Featurette-Asha Gill On Six Degrees
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	44:57 (Case: 52)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Asha Gill Toby Amies Malcolm McDonald
Studio Distributor	SBS Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Asha Gill Toby Amies
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$9.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Lonely Planet are synonymous with the best that travel guides can offer. Having used Lonely Planet books in various countries and locales I was quite interested to see what their new Lonely Planet Six Degrees DVD series would bring to their brand and product offering.

    This disc examines the metropolis of Tokyo. As someone who has spent considerable time there, I went into the program with more first-hand knowledge of the city than your typical viewer. To my surprise, the show was not your typical Getaway travelogue but a look at a few different lives of people who actually call Tokyo home.

 Some of these include;

    - Quena: A bouncy underground events promoter shows a side of Tokyo culture with Fight Club Death robot style.

    - Dr NakaMats: Apparently the world's most prolific inventor. The eccentric old codger is a mix of Liberace and Thomas Edison and needs to be seen to be believed. He invented the floppy disc and has also dabbled in sex toys.

    - Captain Morita: A rock and roll fisherman who works at a fish market by day and rocks clubs at night with music and sashimi.

    - James: An Aussie who gets paid to talk to women at a host club. Really creepy.

    The idea of the series is that you can get to know the city vicariously by the Six Degrees of separation of meeting a few of its inhabitants.

    In that way it both works and it doesn't. The show is an reasonably interesting look at the lives of a few Tokyo-jin, but ultimately to make the show interesting they have to get the least typical Japanese. So you get an amusing show, but not necessarily one that reflects reality.

    Anyway, the show does go to a few interesting locale like a host club, Shinto shrine and a capsule hotel.

    It's brief and mostly harmless, so enjoy the ride.

Video

    The show is presented in 1.78:1 and the PAL disc is 16x9 enhanced.

    Considering the show is shot on location the picture is generally quite clear and I was surprised at how good it looks.

    For the most part colours look good and skin tones are natural.

    Shadows look good but in the nightclub scene get bit muddied.

    There are no MPEG artefacts.

    There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio is a competent English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s) track.

    Considering it was a 2.0 track (and a urban documentary) there was a considerable amount of range.

    The dialogue is crisp and clear.

    There are no sync or audio issues.

    The music sounds good.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Theatrical Trailer (2:47)

    Series trailer. Ad for the Sydney episode.

Featurette-Asha Gill On Six Degrees (2:57)

    Brief chat with Asha (one of the two hosts.)

    It appears that the versions across different regions are the same.

    Overall, an interesting look at one of the world's most amazing cities.

    The video is good.

    The audio is good.

    Special features are really only trailers.

    At a RRP of $9.95 I can't complain. Worth a look for sure.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall