Utakata: Complete Collection

[WTK]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81bH-3t0jmL._AA1280_.jpg

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Utakata: Complete Collection due out on 11/2/10.
Special Features: Uta∞kata Specials 1 & 2, Japanese Copyright Warnings, Japanese TV Safety Warnings, Uta∞kata Alternate Next Episode Previews, Clean Opening & Closing Animation, Trailers.

[Fencedude]

Quick temp link: LINK (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004047Y10/)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510%2BlvurtkL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

Completely unsurprising

[Glorian]

Not especially surprising, but I like the cover.

[Serial Experiments Nobue]

Considering I may be blind buying this series, this cover works in the show's favor for me.

[JmfSilentHill89]

I like this. Wish I had the money to blind-buy it :sweat:.

[something]

Completely unsurprisingHeh, knew what it would be when I clicked the link. But a good choice.

[Mitsuki]

Very cute, definitely getting this.

[TheInfiniteAbyss]

It's an alright cover...but not sure if I'm gonna get it.

[WTK]

All right the flat, 3D, and back cover should be in place on the first post now. List of extras is given there as well (it was more than the original clean OP/ED).

[WTK]

No surprises on the cover. It works for me. The spine though feels a little awkward for me (maybe it's infinity symbol). I will be getting this when the next studio sale rolls around.

[cress2000]

Curious about this title. I might pick it up blind in the next TRSI Sentai sale.

[Fencedude]

Curious about this title. I might pick it up blind in the next TRSI Sentai sale.

Its really, really good.

I'll be doing a discussion thread for it when it comes out.

[cress2000]

Its really, really good.

I'll be doing a discussion thread for it when it comes out.

It's giving off serious Nanoha vibes from what little I know. That's what's pushing me towards it.

[doubleO7]

Expected coverart. This show doesn't interest me, so I'll be passing on it.

[something]

It's giving off serious Nanoha vibes from what little I know. That's what's pushing me towards it.
It's a lot more subdued than Nanoha (even the first season). But it certainly twists the mahou shoujo genre around, just like Nanoha does. In a different way, however. There's a really well played and subtle coming-of-age sexuality to Uta~Kata that isn't present at all in Nanoha.

At any rate I'm sure you'll like it, even if not as much as Nanoha.

[HitokiriShadow]

The cover isn't anything amazing, but it looks nice enough. I'm happy to see this release actually has some extras.

[Suwako Moriya]

If nothing else the cover is highly appropriate. Heh, it's been so long, I can't really remember if I finished the series or not. I know watched part of it at least. So for now, I'm a maybe when it comes to the show.

[Damius]

This is looking really great!

[Panko]

Curious about this title. I might pick it up blind in the next TRSI Sentai sale.

ditto, the synopsis is intriguing so i'll give it some thought if i place an order.

[njchobitsfan]

A very well done Magical Girl show and I'm liking the cover. A buy for me.

[Quarkboy]

In case you're wondering, the 2 specials are 12 minute live action bits where the two main voice actresses introduce places in Kamakura and Enoshima where the anime took place.

They're quite funny and informative.

[Serial Experiments Nobue]

In case you're wondering, the 2 specials are 12 minute live action bits where the two main voice actresses introduce places in Kamakura and Enoshima where the anime took place.

They're quite funny and informative.

One of my favorite kinds of features!

Upon further review and reacquaintance with the story and approach, this series is not a likely blind buy, it's a definite blind buy. :sd:

[Damius]

In case you're wondering, the 2 specials are 12 minute live action bits where the two main voice actresses introduce places in Kamakura and Enoshima where the anime took place.

They're quite funny and informative.

Oh that is really nice! Thanks for the info!

[dragonrider_cody]

I've like the cover, though it was predictable. The logo is quite nice as well.

I've been hearing some good things about this show, so I will definitely be picking it up.

[cress2000]

It's giving off serious Nanoha vibes from what little I know. That's what's pushing me towards it.
It's a lot more subdued than Nanoha (even the first season). But it certainly twists the mahou shoujo genre around, just like Nanoha does. In a different way, however. There's a really well played and subtle coming-of-age sexuality to Uta~Kata that isn't present at all in Nanoha.

At any rate I'm sure you'll like it, even if not as much as Nanoha.

Buying this at the next Sentai sale for sure, then. If it's even half as good as Nanoha 1st/A's, I'm sure I'll love it. :catgirl:

[EyeOfPain]

There are one or two costumes I would have liked to see make the cover, but this isn't bad. Will be buying regadless of the cover.

[Zombie_Punk]

I like it, it works. This show is interesting enough to blind buy so I'll be picking it up.

[Dissonance]

That's an attractive cover.

How long are those "specials"? Extras are a good thing, but I'm a bit concerned about how much they're cramming onto two discs.

[bored@lazy]

That's an attractive cover.

How long are those "specials"? Extras are a good thing, but I'm a bit concerned about how much they're cramming onto two discs.

Top post of this page has the answer...

[Quarkboy]

That's an attractive cover.

How long are those "specials"? Extras are a good thing, but I'm a bit concerned about how much they're cramming onto two discs.

Like I said above, they're 12 minutes each, so total about 1 episode worth.

Frankly, if I were authoring the discs I would seriously cut their bitrate down, as the video quality was pretty poor to begin with (it looks like they were shot on a pretty cheap camera).

As for fitting the show onto 2 discs, I don't think that'll be too difficult at all, because aside from the transformation scenes Uta~Kata is quite laid back in terms of fancy visuals.
It also has a very pastel palate that helps to preserve bitrate. At 7+6, with the specials on disc 2, that's plenty of headroom in my opinion (3-4 episodes a layer).
Also, since it's sub only, you save the space from no dub track.

[Dissonance]

Oops, missed that post. Sorry.

My fears about the video quality have been allayed so I shall be picking this up in November.

[MitchH]

The cover isn't anything amazing, but it looks nice enough. I'm happy to see this release actually has some extras.

The heck with amazing, these days I'm happy with "not nauseating".

The grey border is a little "oops, the printer messed up the framing", but at least it's unobtrusive, so I suppose it'll do.

I'm pretty on the fence with this one, it completely slipped past my notice when it first aired, and it sounds suspiciously like Hell Girl, which I strongly disliked. But... maybe. I'm usually a sucker for dark magical girl shows.

[Fencedude]

The grey border is a little "oops, the printer messed up the framing", but at least it's unobtrusive, so I suppose it'll do.

The border is part of the artwork. Its exactly the same as the cover of the R2 DVD Box (http://www.amazon.co.jp/EMOTION-Best-%E3%81%86%E3%81%9F%E2%88%BD%E3%81%8B%E3%81%9F-DVD-BOX-%E5%BE%8C%E8%97%A4%E5%9C%AD%E4%BA%8C/dp/B002W71U12/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1259913943&sr=1-17)

I'm pretty on the fence with this one, it completely slipped past my notice when it first aired, and it sounds suspiciously like Hell Girl, which I strongly disliked. But... maybe. I'm usually a sucker for dark magical girl shows.

Its nothing like Jigoku Shoujo at all.

[something]

I'm pretty on the fence with this one, it completely slipped past my notice when it first aired, and it sounds suspiciously like Hell Girl, which I strongly disliked. But... maybe. I'm usually a sucker for dark magical girl shows.Its nothing like Jigoku Shoujo at all.
Absolutely not in the slightest. Wonder how that connection got made...

[MitchH]

I'm pretty on the fence with this one, it completely slipped past my notice when it first aired, and it sounds suspiciously like Hell Girl, which I strongly disliked. But... maybe. I'm usually a sucker for dark magical girl shows.Its nothing like Jigoku Shoujo at all.
Absolutely not in the slightest. Wonder how that connection got made...

All this stuff about subverting the assumptions of magical girl shows, disregard for the lives of humans on the part of the magical beings, and existential alienation *sounds* a lot more like Vampire Princess Miyu (which I love) or Hell Girl (which I found repugnant) than Nanoha (eh, OK but not exactly deathless Art) to me, but maybe I'm just misunderstanding the sales pitch.

[einhorn303]

I hadn't heard about this title at all before its licensing, but the forum-goer hype is making me strongly consider it.

I like the cover too. And that it has actual special features. Sentai seems to be doing much better than Funimation on this recently. I'd take a few original Japanese on-disc extras over a bog-standard dub any day (not that all Funi's dubs are bog-standard, just most).

[Fencedude]

All this stuff about subverting the assumptions of magical girl shows, disregard for the lives of humans on the part of the magical beings, and existential alienation *sounds* a lot more like Vampire Princess Miyu (which I love) or Hell Girl (which I found repugnant) than Nanoha (eh, OK but not exactly deathless Art) to me, but maybe I'm just misunderstanding the sales pitch.

Two shows can subvert the expectations of the same genre, but still be absolutely nothing alike.

Miyu may be a marginally better comparison, but not all that appropriate either.

Honestly, none of those three shows (Nanoha, Miyu, Jigoku Shoujo) really apply well to Uta~Kata. Its very much unlike just about anything else.

[Shiroi Hane]

All this stuff about subverting the assumptions of magical girl shows, disregard for the lives of humans on the part of the magical beings, and existential alienation *sounds* a lot more like Vampire Princess Miyu
Interestingly, Megumi Kadonosono did character designs for both series, and both her and director Keiji Gotoh did animation work on it.
He does seem to take things away from shows he's worked on - there have always been comparisons drawn between Kiddy Grade and Dirty Pair and I found out later that he actually did work on one of the OVAs, and it was only after noticing similarities between the KG ship La-Muse and the titular Sol Bianca that I spotted him in the credits for the 2nd OVA.

[Fencedude]

Interestingly, Megumi Kadonosono did character designs for both series, and both her and director Keiji Gotoh did animation work on it.

This I actually did not know.

[something]

All this stuff about subverting the assumptions of magical girl shows, disregard for the lives of humans on the part of the magical beings, and existential alienation *sounds* a lot more like Vampire Princess Miyu (which I love) or Hell Girl (which I found repugnant) than Nanoha (eh, OK but not exactly deathless Art) to me, but maybe I'm just misunderstanding the sales pitch.
I don't consider Jigoku Shoujo to be mahou shoujo in any meaningful way, which I guess is the cause of the disconnect. Utakata is very much mahou shoujo though, in its own way.

[Shiroi Hane]

Interestingly, Megumi Kadonosono did character designs for both series, and both her and director Keiji Gotoh did animation work on it.

This I actually did not know.
Seeing her on the back of the DVDs credited with "Character Planning" (actually キャラクター設定, with Narumi Kakinouchi credited as キャラクター原案 since she originally created the characters for the manga and OVA) was the reason I picked up Miyu in the first place, although I still haven't watched the whole series ^^;. Megumi and Gotoh worked on the OP, ED and episodes 2 and 26 together (her as sakkan and him as key animator) - the ED in particular since Gotoh was the sole key animator under her.

[MitchH]

I don't consider Jigoku Shoujo to be mahou shoujo in any meaningful way, which I guess is the cause of the disconnect. Utakata is very much mahou shoujo though, in its own way.

Neither is Miyu, really. I meant by that the whole amoral supernatural 'la belle dame sans merci' impression some recent descriptions offered. (The anti-villain protagonist of Hell Girl struck me as basically a djinn anyways, just without the name, so since the "magical friend" in the descriptions of Uta-Kata was called a Jinn, well...)

Like I said, probably a misunderstanding. I think I've talked myself into buying this at the next neo-ADV sale just to satisfy my curiosity at this point.

[Darkex]

I like the cover Sentai choose for this release and I'm really great they didn't use the cover of the first Japanese Limited Edition release. I will pre-order it soon.

[magicalgirlj]

wow what a beautiful cover, will get

[bci110]

Gorgeous cover; will definitely pick it up.

[nagaraventeel]

I think this is easily one of Sentai's best covers. The pictures chosen seem really fitting, and the text is very cute. I can't wait for this release!