16 DVDs? That just makes me Melancholy

With the release of “Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu Volume 5.999999″ the full version of the television anime has been finished on DVD. The grand total amounts to 16 DVD sets consisting of 24 DVDs and 8 CDs of content for fans.

The above picture is the “official” order of the DVDs according to the GAMERZ exclusive poster when you purchased the 5.xxxxxx volumes from that store. The only chronological change is moving the first DVD to after Tameki V (Kyon’s cover).

These are the “Limited Edition” versions of the DVDs, which include several special goodies. The types of items included differ between the sets, so I’ll point them out in the pictures below.

The 2006 DVD sets include the main disc and a limited edition CD that has the BGM (including the TV size opening from Asahina Mikuru no Bouken Episode 00) and some of the radio broadcasts from the Lantis website. They also include a postcard set with the cover art for both the limited and common editions and a sticker set for the episodes in each volume (and my set comes from Toranora which included the postcards for each set’s left).

Episode 00 didn’t come with a sticker set, but they included the storyboards for the TV Ending animation. Instead of only putting the same sticker set in every set, there were 5 variations with only one sheet per set. In addition to that randomness, there was another lucky opportunity. For the lucky people, a special sticker set containing images from Episode 00, the OP, and the ED was included in random sets. My set that I ordered had three of said sheets.

This shows the differences between the two sets. While the 2009 sets didn’t come with any stickers, they do carry over the postcards. Since I didn’t get my discs from Toranora or any Japanese anime store, I didn’t get the postcards for these sets. Instead of putting stickers, Kadokawa put coasters instead. Like the stickers, the coasters come in 5 varieties with only one in each set.

Also like the stickers, there were special coasters included randomly. I didn’t get any of them, but they go as follows: Haruhi, Mikuru, Yuki, Koizumi, Tsuruya, Kyon’s Sister, Ryoko, Kyon. Kadokawa also topped themselves by including special film bookmarks randomly in sets for those episodes. The one above is Koizumi at the night meeting in Endless Eight II.

Lastly, the set design is different. Instead of a solid plastic double case, Kadokawa put in a special sliding tray digipack. As with packaging changes, the limited edition disc changed from a CD to a DVD containing the BGM over scenes as well as footage of Minoru Shirashi travelling around Japan and speaking over “memory album” scenes from those episodes.

The Endless Eight sets also add another item to the mix. In addition to the coaster and postcard set, each E8 set had another physical extra included. The first set had the special box and postcard case. Each following set has a special clear mini file that has the art from the special prologue included on the limited edition disc on volume 5.285714. SP coasters and film bookmarks were still randomly included. The one above is Koizumi and Kyon on the rooftop in Endless Eight VI.

Once again a mixture of 06 and 09 sets. Nothing additionally was added here besides advertisements. The film bookmarks were of the family watching filming in Tameki III and Kyon on the bridge in Tameki V.

Here are the non-postcard extras for each set:

Here’s the scenes from the film bookmarks:

On each postcard set is the artwork for the limited and common edition covers with an instruction set.

As for the content on the discs, each DVD has 1-2 episodes in good-great quality. The differences between the two sets of DVDs becomes very apparent once the content starts. The 2009 episodes were animated in HD quality while the 2006 ones had to be upscaled for the re-airing, so their quality has diminished over time.

The top picture is from Yuutsu II and the bottom picture is from Sasa no Ha. There’s a little bit of structural changes that go on, but the lighting is vastly different. The backgrounds are simply more vivid and detailed in the 2009 set.

While the backgrounds are more detailed, the character designs have changed as well. As people have noticed, the quality of the designs vary depending on episode, but for the most part the new designs do work well. Here are some common themed pictures (2006 on the left, 2009 on the right):

I apologize for the readers of this blog who have not seen the series (or even the second set of episodes), but if I go into a review of each episode I’m afraid a 28 post series would follow. I ask for your forgiveness so I have something to do this summer while we wait for Disapperance.

As for the special features, each set of releases has their specific ones. The 2006 DVDs start with the original TV previews with Kyon/Haruhi speaking, the textless OP/ED (including the one from Asahina Mikuru no Bouken Episode 00), a gallery of the nekomen (a little craze the seijuu started), and various “making” clips from behind the scenes. Set 7 has the item everyone was waiting to see though: the full textless dancing ED.

For the 2009 releases, the common themes are TV spots (for the first DVD and then the series), staff location scouting, and Aya Hirano’s Super Driver PV “making of” clips. There is the textless ED/OP on the first two DVDs in that order, plus the easter egg 7/7/2007 video on the first DVD as well. These sets also have English subtitles, though the quality isn’t the best.

One consistent theme between the two sets is the fact that Kadokawa hid special wallpaper galleries on the normal discs. The 2006 edition has them in 720×405 pixels while the 2009 edition have them for 1920×1080 pixels.

So there’s my Haruhi shelf. Overall, I absolutely love these sets and feel more fulfilled than when I obtained the R1 releases in 2007, but that could also be that I appreciate the series more than at that time. If you have the funds to purchase these sets, Yahoo Japan auctions are always offering sets at varying prices.

There are two additional music DVDs (Gekisou and Gensou) that are included with the 2006 catalogue, but as I don’t (and won’t) possess Gekisou, I didn’t include it in this review.

Fanime Highlights: Part 2: I Love Reuben Langdon

Here is the second part of Fanime Highlights! Featuring my thoughts on the panels I actually attended!

Friday

Nothing much happened on Friday, usually nothing does. However my friend and I read that the Reuben Langdon panel was on that day.  Reuben Langdon. We attended his panel/autograph session last year. He’s such a cool guy. BUT. The panel was called in because he was doing some filming (?) for the film Avatar (no, not the Last Airbender, the James Cameron one). Luckily the panel was moved to the next day.

Besides getting lost looking for a place to eat, I also attended a showing of so bad, they’re awesome music videos. There was T.M. Revolution, YUKI, Go!Go!1788, Soul’d Out  and Halicali, but what took the cake wasn’t Japanese, but was this German group’s music video.

Saturday

Two of my friends were in the Introduction to Lolita & Fashion Show, and I offered to record. My hand shook a lot while recording, but you can see lots of the different styles of lolita fashion featured! I learned a lot about different styles I’ve never heard of and what constitutes as lolita, not a costume. Here is the first part of the show:

After the fashion show and meeting up with some friends, I didn’t have anything to do. However in the middle of the convention center is Stage Zero and on it was Reuben Langdon playing Street Fighter IV. It was a charity event and you have to donate money to play against him. It was very intense and exciting because it would seem like Reuben was losing, but he would turn around the battle with a sliver of health. He always played as Ken, as he voiced the character. Then of course he was pummeled by a state champion or few, but he put on a good fight, and it was all fun for a good cause. Then a challenger appeared, it was Keith Burgess, the voice of Akuma. Keith played as Akuma, and Reuben played as Ken.

Sorry for the small image. This was taken from Reuben’s blog . Actually if you squint hard enough you can spot me in the picture.

Another highlight is always Masquerade, (is it called Cosplay Spectacular now?) it’s an event in which people perform skits or dances on a huge stage. Sometimes people recreate famous scenes in an anime, do a dance in cosplay to a song/sing, but the best are the comedic ones. This year didn’t have any many skits I liked compared to last year’s. However I couldn’t help but sing along with the crowd in this skit. By far my favorite skit in the whole event.

It was a first ever sold-out event, and everyone was singing the Pokemon theme at the top of their lungs. I screamed so hard.

Sunday

Patricia Lee, Karen Dyer, Ken Lally, and Reuben Langdon

We waited an hour and a half in line for autographs for Reuben, but it was a line for other voice actors from Resident Evil 5 too. It was worth it, even if we only came for Reuben. We finally got up to Reuben and my friend and I created this skit which involved mentos. When Reuben was in Japan working on the show (B-Fighter), he starred in commercials for extra income. They were very cheesy, but we loved them.

So anyways, we both had a pack of mint mentos, popped them in our mouth in front of Reuben and yelled “JACKKKIIEEE!!!!”. Reuben, the other voice actors, and the staff started bursting out in laughter. Reuben then had the brilliant idea of asking for the mentos and some soda. Luckily I had a bottle of coke with me. He asked the other voice actors to join him and he gave them all a bunch of mentos to put in their mouth. He then passed the soda around to everyone and had them drink some. When nothing happened, one of the voice actors (Patricia Lee) gestured with her hands, in which I guessed correctly “the soda was flat”. After that Reuben signed my friend’s and my poster of Dante from Devil May Cry. We had such a great time, and just as we were leaving, he yelled out “MATHIIILDA!!”. And we responded back immediately with “JACKKIIEEE!!!”. Greatest moment of my life.

Next time! Hopefully Cosplay or anything else that comes to mind!

-shirokiryuu

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