AoD Advance Review: Slayers Premium

[Chris Beveridge]

Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/2982.php)

[GHardin]

Sort of made me panic when I saw the MSRP was $29.99, before I looked it up and found it was only $14.99. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

Sounds like a good one to watch...I just wish I was able to watch more of the Slayers to begin with! (exposure limited to a couple of volumes from each season, but none of the movies/ovas)

[Jimmie M]

So Naga's in it too? Slayers Premium was already on my wish list but now I have a bigger incentive(s) to get it. I voted positive & will definitely pick this one up to round out my Slayers DVD collection. Good review, Chris.

[Jimmie M]

[ QUOTE ]
GHardin said:
Sort of made me panic when I saw the MSRP was $29.99, before I looked it up and found it was only $14.99. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

Sounds like a good one to watch...I just wish I was able to watch more of the Slayers to begin with! (exposure limited to a couple of volumes from each season, but none of the movies/ovas)

[/ QUOTE ]

Try to check out the movies & OVAs when you can-They're all good & would be worth your while IMHO.

[Buster Darkwings]

Why do you keep calling this an OVA? It was released to theaters first (I saw it in Sapporo myself, it was shown along with the Azumanga Daioh movie, the Di Gi Charat movie, and Sakura Wars The Movie), not to video/DVD. You do mention it was released to theaters in the review, is there some unwritten rule saying that all anime approximately 30 minutes long can be classified as an OVA in America or something?

Also, I'm not aware if the R2 was progressive or not, but if it was could someone check to see if this release is progressively encoded? Chris's reviews never seem to state one way or another, even though he has progressive equipment...

[Chris Beveridge]

All I know is it's called Slayers Premium and it's 30 minutes. GENERALLY that's an OVA. I went back and fixed parts of the review to state that it's a movie but I didn't fix every piece of it.

I've never said I know jack all about everything under the sun. I don't know every Slayers piece of information and which ones are movies and which ones arent. But with this one, believe me, I've been told $!^$@#^$@$^ times in the couple of hours I went out after posting it. It'll be fixed soon.

MY deepest apologies to all those who I offended.

[AnnieMae]

Out of curiosity...and because I didn't see mention of it in the review...how did the dub handle Gourry's speech patterns when he spoke in English & the rest of the characters assumed it was a different language? If I'm not mistaken, didn't he keep saying "I love you" & Lina didn't know what he was saying?

Just curious...and can't wait until I can watch it on the release date.

/images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[StarCreator]

I only spot-checked the english dialogue, but I'm pretty sure he still just says "I love you" there. Since most Americans wouldn't understand it in a different language, I guess...

[BigFire]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/2982.php)

[/ QUOTE ]

For some reason, I have the feeling that this will be the final Slayers anything to be make. It just have that finality feeling. Of course, the last time I felt that, it was the end of Slayers Try, a very good ending.

[Crimson]

[ QUOTE ]
Rod Su said:
[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/2982.php)

[/ QUOTE ]

For some reason, I have the feeling that this will be the final Slayers anything to be make. It just have that finality feeling. Of course, the last time I felt that, it was the end of Slayers Try, a very good ending.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought Slayers Try was the worst of the three series. The whole Lina/Gaury relationship went out the window, and it wasn't really as funny as the first two series.

I've yet to see Slayers Premium, i'll probably pick it up sometime.

[GyBaNO]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:

MY deepest apologies to all those who I offended.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, uh-huh! You better be! I mean, come on! It's a 30 minute movie, man! How does one go about confusing 30 minute OVAs with 30 minute movies, huh!? Oh wait! /images/graemlins/tongue.gif /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Buster Darkwings]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:MY deepest apologies to all those who I offended.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm more offended by your seemingly not caring about whether a DVD is progressively encoded or not to let people know about it in your reviews.

[ QUOTE ]
Buster Darkwings said:
[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:MY deepest apologies to all those who I offended.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm more offended by your seemingly not caring about whether a DVD is progressively encoded or not to let people know about it in your reviews.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, you're a jerk.

[Chris Beveridge]

[ QUOTE ]
Buster Darkwings said:
[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:MY deepest apologies to all those who I offended.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm more offended by your seemingly not caring about whether a DVD is progressively encoded or not to let people know about it in your reviews.

[/ QUOTE ]

Considering the debate over what actually IS progressive and what isn't, I'm not touching that arena with a ten foot pole. As mentioned in other threads, and having dealt with the encoding people from different houses, there are a number of discs that are called "progressive" but really aren't. And each of them has a different standard for what's considered progressive. And the list itself that some folks keep has its own standards of what's progressive.

It is unfortunately not as cute and dry as anamorphic or not, or 5.1 or not. So rather than put out subjective technical information, I'll leave it to the individual to be concerned over with.

[AnnieMae]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
[ QUOTE ]
Buster Darkwings said:
[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:MY deepest apologies to all those who I offended.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm more offended by your seemingly not caring about whether a DVD is progressively encoded or not to let people know about it in your reviews.

[/ QUOTE ]

Considering the debate over what actually IS progressive and what isn't, I'm not touching that arena with a ten foot pole. As mentioned in other threads, and having dealt with the encoding people from different houses, there are a number of discs that are called "progressive" but really aren't. And each of them has a different standard for what's considered progressive. And the list itself that some folks keep has its own standards of what's progressive.

It is unfortunately not as cute and dry as anamorphic or not, or 5.1 or not. So rather than put out subjective technical information, I'll leave it to the individual to be concerned over with.

[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/stunned1.gif Progressive...interlaced...whatever. I don't know the difference & probably wouldn't be able to tell.

Video + audio = entertainment

In a review, the most important thing to me is the reviewer's opinion of the actual content of the DVD, not how it is encoded. The movie/OVA comment to me is very assinine. I mean, who cares? I refer to it as an OVA myself & I've been corrected too many times to count. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

This thread as made it very clear how everyone needs to put in their two cents. What's the old saying? Opinions are like butts, everyone has one. I guess everyone wants to show their butt! haha /images/graemlins/devil.gif

[Legion]

[ QUOTE ]
lostworld said:
[ QUOTE ]
Buster Darkwings said:
[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:MY deepest apologies to all those who I offended.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm more offended by your seemingly not caring about whether a DVD is progressively encoded or not to let people know about it in your reviews.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, you're a jerk.

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL! Couldn't have said it any better myself.

[Fencedude]

[ QUOTE ]
lostworld said:
[ QUOTE ]
Buster Darkwings said:
[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:MY deepest apologies to all those who I offended.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm more offended by your seemingly not caring about whether a DVD is progressively encoded or not to let people know about it in your reviews.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, you're a jerk.

[/ QUOTE ]

Everyone write this date down!

I just agreed with lostworld.

[StarCreator]

[ QUOTE ]
lostworld said:
[ QUOTE ]
Buster Darkwings said:
I'm more offended by your seemingly not caring about whether a DVD is progressively encoded or not to let people know about it in your reviews.

[/ QUOTE ]
Wow, you're a jerk.

[/ QUOTE ]
You're just now realizing this?

[Buster Darkwings]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
Considering the debate over what actually IS progressive and what isn't, I'm not touching that arena with a ten foot pole. As mentioned in other threads, and having dealt with the encoding people from different houses, there are a number of discs that are called "progressive" but really aren't. And each of them has a different standard for what's considered progressive. And the list itself that some folks keep has its own standards of what's progressive.

It is unfortunately not as cute and dry as anamorphic or not, or 5.1 or not. So rather than put out subjective technical information, I'll leave it to the individual to be concerned over with.

[/ QUOTE ]

You don't have to say "this disc is definitely progressive," but it wouldn't be too hard to step through 10 frames or so every once and a while to see if there are any interlaced frames. The way your Noir reviews are written would make the reader think that the discs are encoded the same as the R2s.

While it isn't as big a deal to most people as anamorphic vs non-anamorphic, it does make a difference when watched on equipment that can handle it (or rather, equipment that DOESN'T render interlaced discs very well), and I certainly would consider it a deciding factor in whether or not to buy a disc.

[Buster Darkwings]

[ QUOTE ]
lostworld said:
[ QUOTE ]
Buster Darkwings said:
[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:MY deepest apologies to all those who I offended.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm more offended by your seemingly not caring about whether a DVD is progressively encoded or not to let people know about it in your reviews.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, you're a jerk.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm just following Chris's lead./images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif
He feigned apologizing for "deeply offending" his readers, and I feigned being deeply offended.

[Chris Beveridge]

[ QUOTE ]
Buster Darkwings said:
[ QUOTE ]
lostworld said:
[ QUOTE ]
Buster Darkwings said:
[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:MY deepest apologies to all those who I offended.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm more offended by your seemingly not caring about whether a DVD is progressively encoded or not to let people know about it in your reviews.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow, you're a jerk.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm just following Chris's lead./images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif
He feigned apologizing for "deeply offending" his readers, and I feigned being deeply offended.

[/ QUOTE ]

Who said I was feigning?

[Thanatos]

If I may offer some advice and make a request, I think that a much greater number of people read animeondvd.com's reviews more than any other website concerning R1 anime's content and technical information, so it would be a good idea and a nice service to the readership to provide information on whether a disc is progressive or interlaced. As Buster Darkwings suggested, you don't have to put the disc into your DVD-ROM and run analysis on it, merely taking a tiny segment of time to check 10 frames or so will give you results. Because people's and studios standards of what counts as progressive differs, you could add a simple "this disc appears to be ____" or how about writing a brief article on what YOU consider to be progressive and using that to judge per review? You lose nothing by sharing the information. I'm sure there are many fans who don't care about progressively encoded DVDs - as long as there is audio and video they will be happy - but for the high-end users to whom progressive encoding IS a factor in deciding to buy a disc, a brief mention per review would be greatly appreciated. Often, one cannot find information on the encoding format of a disc without a) trusting forum users' information (if they have ANY) to be accurate (which many times it is not) and/or b) buying the disc, which defeats the whole purpose of acquiring technical specifications on the disc BEFORE purchase.

Thanks for your time.

[Chris Beveridge]

Frankly, it's pretty simple. Based on everything I've read and talked about with various people far more video knowledgeable than I am, nothing is 100% progressive out there. Anything underneath 100% becomes subjective as to whether it's truly progressive or not. I'm not interested in joining that debate. The number of people who are looking for things to be progressive - and understand what it means, not just jumping on the bandwagon - is very small. I'm not going to "eyeball it" by stepping through frames on my standalone player. I'm not putting it into my DVD-ROM drive for analysis.

[Legion]

10 frames or so? I don't know much about progressive video, but I'm under the impression 10 frames isn't a good indication of a progressive disc, even if those frames come out looking clean. I know I've read from some of the progressive advocates on these boards that you need to run a disc through Power DVD or whatever all the way through to get a good idea of whether a DVD is progressive or not.

And really, how many DVD review sites make a point to tell the reader whether a disc is progressive or not? From what I can tell, it's not a common practice.

[GyBaNO]

I know I could careless about progressive! /images/graemlins/wink.gif As long as I have a cyrstal clear picture, I'm all golden, baby! /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[Donovan]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
Based on everything I've read and talked about with various people far more video knowledgeable than I am, nothing is 100% progressive out there. Anything underneath 100% becomes subjective as to whether it's truly progressive or not.

[/ QUOTE ]

dlw wanted us to believe this, but I still believe it is nonsense. There are only two subjective things about progressive video:

1) Whether having the flags set really means the frames give you a proper, non-combing progressive image like they should,

2) The percentage of non-progressive video that is allowed while still being progressive.

Issue 1 is practically insurmountable, as it would require painstaking frame-by-frame examination by a person to verify and could still be subjective since it revolves around video quality. Issue 2, however, is trivially solved by simply quoting the percentage and letting people decide for themselves. I don't think that is necessary for the vast majority of progressive discs with >99% progressive content (in the episode/movie itself), but it is certainly a simple solution. So does issue 1 mean it's subjective? Only if you think it is subjective to quote 5.1 audio without checking every channel for differences. It's simple enough to check that it has a 5.1 track, but is it really 5.1 if the actual sound content is just stereo? Same issue with progressive video: you don't have to verify that the content is actually progressive when stating technical specifications, just that it is encoded AS IF IT WERE progressive. The further question of whether that encoding was correct can be taken up later by examining quality and, if possible, by more technical means...the same way mono discs are identified that were encoded in stereo.

I'm not suggesting you should start doing all this, and I agree the comment above to you was rude. You put a ton of effort into making this site the most valuable resource for Anime DVDs we have, and you should do what fits your viewing habits and priorities. I just don't want to let this subjective myth grow through repeating. Whoever else is still spreading it can put their money where their mouths are and start a thread in the technical forum...I'll meet them there.

[curr]

<sweatdrops> So did anyone watch the OVA/Moive/Entertaining 30 mintues of Slayers goodness? Good deal for 16 bucks.. I wish it was long thought.

A friend told me they made another moive after this one. Anyone know anything about that? Or is my friend full of it?

[O-chan]

[ QUOTE ]
curr said:
<sweatdrops> So did anyone watch the OVA/Moive/Entertaining 30 mintues of Slayers goodness? Good deal for 16 bucks.. I wish it was long thought.

A friend told me they made another moive after this one. Anyone know anything about that? Or is my friend full of it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Your friend is full of it. Slayers Premium is the last piece of Slayers animation for now.

The reason I say "for now" is because of Big O II, Ruroni Kenshin:Reflection, and Tenchi OAV 3.

Please ADV co-sponser someone just to make another OAV series with the TV cast, or cover the last story arc in the novels.

O-chan

[akcoll99]

[ QUOTE ]
Crimson said:
I thought Slayers Try was the worst of the three series. The whole Lina/Gaury relationship went out the window, and it wasn't really as funny as the first two series.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll agree, Slayers Try was my least favorite series, but it did give a nice sense of closure at the end to the adventures of Lina, Gourry, Xellos, Zelgadis, and Amelia. I voted positive on Slayers Premium as I did enjoy it but was disappointed that the "final" Slayers story to be animated could have done so much more. It would have been nice to see more between Gourry and Lina besides the usual fighting for food, Amelia was just wasted in the story, the addition of a new character just took up time that could have been devoted to the regular cast, and I was really hoping to see Lina and Naga come face to face for one last time, but was denied. Oh well, it was still nice to get one last hurrah from the anime, and we are getting the novels and more of the manga later this year...

I really enjoyed this disc, espically with Crispin doing Zel again, also very funny to listen to in the behind the scenes

[Buster Darkwings]

Had a chance to check out this disc just now (luckily I didn't have to pay for it myself), and I allowed myself the 5 seconds it took to check and see if there were any interlaced frames, and of course they were there. I kind of had a feeling the disc wouldn't be progressive when I saw the HARDSUBBED English opening credits. At least they left in the Japanese opening credits and stuck the English ones after the Japanese ones had disappeared, but I don't see why they weren't placed on the 2nd sub track with the rest of the sign translations.

So anyways, is the R2 progressive? I'm assuming so, I'll probably pick it up next time I'm in Japan...

[Hayate Kurogane]

[ QUOTE ]
Buster Darkwings said:
I kind of had a feeling the disc wouldn't be progressive when I saw the HARDSUBBED English opening credits.

[/ QUOTE ]

FWIW, a disc can still have progressive-ish episode content while having a very interlaced OP and/or ED sequence with English credits, due to the nature of the process and/or equipment involved in overlaying said English credits onto clean versions of said sequences. Geneon's release of Heat Guy J, for example, has nigh-perfect progressive-ish episode video, while the OP and ED sequences show very visible interlacing. I say "progressive-ish" to avoid the whole "what's really progressive" issue somewhat, but there's essentially no difference to the end viewer.

[ QUOTE ]
At least they left in the Japanese opening credits and stuck the English ones after the Japanese ones had disappeared, but I don't see why they weren't placed on the 2nd sub track with the rest of the sign translations.

[/ QUOTE ]

The only reason the Japanese credits are ever left in for an ADV title is if there wasn't a clean master available or the off-chance that someone got lazy (see the fourth episode of Mazinkaiser for an example of this). I don't trust my memory as to who specifically said it, but it has been stated by someone at ADV that they think softsubbed credits look bad and thusly will never use them, although I have no idea if that's company-wide policy or not. Personally, I think working the credits around, in-between, or on top of Japanese credits (with or without a heavy localized use of a diffuse filter; you take your pick) due to a lack of clean masters looks really bad, but that's just me. God forbid they leave some Japanese credits unmolested if there aren't clean masters, or someone at ADV might stroke out. Oh, wait. Mazinkaiser. I wonder if a position has opened up...? /images/graemlins/wink.gif /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

[Buster Darkwings]

[ QUOTE ]
Sakura Shinguji said:
FWIW, a disc can still have progressive-ish episode content while having a very interlaced OP and/or ED sequence with English credits, due to the nature of the process and/or equipment involved in overlaying said English credits onto clean versions of said sequences. Geneon's release of Heat Guy J, for example, has nigh-perfect progressive-ish episode video, while the OP and ED sequences show very visible interlacing. I say "progressive-ish" to avoid the whole "what's really progressive" issue somewhat, but there's essentially no difference to the end viewer.

[/ QUOTE ]

Right, I know. I did check in locations other than the opening sequence for interlaced frames, and I'm not saying that just because an opening is interlaced that the rest has to be interlaced as well.

I still somehow get the feeling that ADV hasn't done a mostly-progressive disc like Pioneer/Geneon has, however.

[ QUOTE ]
The only reason the Japanese credits are ever left in for an ADV title is if there wasn't a clean master available or the off-chance that someone got lazy (see the fourth episode of Mazinkaiser for an example of this). I don't trust my memory as to who specifically said it, but it has been stated by someone at ADV that they think softsubbed credits look bad and thusly will never use them, although I have no idea if that's company-wide policy or not. Personally, I think working the credits around, in-between, or on top of Japanese credits (with or without a heavy localized use of a diffuse filter; you take your pick) due to a lack of clean masters looks really bad, but that's just me.

[/ QUOTE ]
It's not just you... decent-looking soft-sub credits are certainly possible (I had to turn the Macross opening credits off myself to realize they were soft-subbed), but I'm not sure if many people at ADV realize this. It's hard to say how close they pay attention to what their competitors are doing, I remember DLW or someone gave the old excuse of "the liscensors won't allow it" for their reasoning behind not including a Japanese track with now subs in the menu options, when so many other companies have the audio options and subtitle options as separate selections...

[GyBaNO]

I've only seen the first season of Slayers, but I really wanted to order this one soon as well. Do I have to finish Slayers Try before watching this!? I'm kina waiting until the price drops on the Next and Try boxes before picking the series up. /images/graemlins/sweat200.gif

[akcoll99]

[ QUOTE ]
GyBaNO said:
I've only seen the first season of Slayers, but I really wanted to order this one soon as well. Do I have to finish Slayers Try before watching this!? I'm kina waiting until the price drops on the Next and Try boxes before picking the series up. /images/graemlins/sweat200.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

No, you can pick this up and enjoy it without having seen the TV series all the way through. Slayers Try provides a nice sense of closure to the show, but there's not really anything in Premium that will spoil that ending and conversely, there's nothing in Try that you have to see in order to enjoy Premium. Definitely pick it up and enjoy! /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[Shale]

You'll be a little lost on one character who was introduced in Slayers NEXT, but he's not important to this story.

[ObiKenobi]

Just got my copy of this from Best Buy and boy does the video quality on this release blow all other Slayers discs away. Plus the movie itself is pretty good too.