Move over Pen-Pen, stay away Chiyo-chan penguin, there are new penguins in town and they are the Prinny Squad dood! Oh yes, and a son's attempt to reclaim his throne. Dood.
What They Say
The King of the Netherworld has died and various demons are now building their own empires in an effort to take control. However, the late King's son has arrived and is out to reclaim his rightful place as ruler of the Netherworld! Along to help him is his vassal, Etna, with her Prinny squad, and Flonne, an angel-in-training originally sent to assassinate the king only to find that he has already died. Join our three intrepid - and somewhat eccentric - heroes as they initiate their plan to conquer the Netherworld, Heaven and Earth!
The Review!
Audio:
For this review I went for the English 2.0 Stereo. Unfortunately there is no 5.1 on the UK Release '" no problems found during the checks of both English and Japanese, in reference to timing with subtitles or transition. The audio however is very good for a 2.0 mix as it is quite clear, the amount of content and the ability to literally everything going on at the same time (whether it's a battle sequence, a Prinny national anthem, or instruments during Flonne's finale) '" this has been one of the strongest releases audio wise because there are no glitches, and everything from background to foreground is made perfect clear. Overall, this would have been the first A+ if there was a 5.1 release, but definitely very high quality.
Video:
The video transition for the release of Disgaea was overall very good. The effects between conversion (especially with the CGI Effects) along with the subtitling were spot on, with no elements of choppiness and full screen converted beautifully. With a lot of action and mixed animation incorporated with a lot of the battles, explosions, heavenly animations, etc the fluidity of the animation has to be spot on especially considering it's a colourful show, which combines elements of darkness and hellish colours with bright angelic palettes, the transition to video is overall excellent, and seems to have cleared up a lot better from the original single disc reviews.
Packaging:
The packaging is quite clear, as we get a nice shot of the main three (Laharl, Etna and Flonne) on a dark blue night background over a moon. The back has the description mentioned above, with a smile game like shot of the three (including a chibi-Laharl) with some small screen shots of the show.
However, the lower grade is due to the packaging inside. It's set up as a 3 disc set, with two of the discs on one circlet, with the third just as would expect on a normal single DVD. When I opened the disc, the two DVDs put together, the plastic holding broke IMMEDIATELY on the first time of opening. So basically I now have a one disc DVD and a separate disc which I've had to simply put in some plastic sleeves for protection. So the plastic disc holding was obviously not very strong to break so easily, which can be annoying for collectors.
Menu:
The menu is fairly straight forward, with simple selection for Play All, Extra and Episode Selection for each disc, illustrated nicely with small pictures of scenes from the episode. The menu screen consisted of our three 'heroes' in Laharl, Etna and Flonne, with Laharl seems to be in the background compared to the colourful shots of the two girls, in front of a hellish background of a castle on a sky of red. Simple, straightforward and nice to at.
Extras:
The extras showcase basically what the release of this box set is to me. The good news is that there is some lovely extras on disc 1 - an English trailer featuring scenes not on this disc, showing a bit of Etna/Laharl mischief, the always welcome textless opening and close, a Japanese promo which is more of a standard trailer compared to the English one, and trailers for Solti Rei and Desert Punk. We also get a near 20 minute in total interview involving Kaori Mizuhashi '" the voice of Laharl. This is in particular a delight for me, as it basically discusses how it transferred from game to anime, the characteristics of her character, how things have changed in the transition, and some general chit chat. It doesn't help that it's one of my favourite seiyuu either, so a double treat. It's entertaining and informative, and if you are a fan of the games as well, it's a must see.
However, you may notice that this is similar to my review of Disgaea 1 '" and there is the problem. Discs 2 AND 3 have the same trailers on there, and that's all '" trailers for Slayers and Samurai Deeper Kyo. ON THE SAME DISCS. This suggests this box set was basically the 3 single releases put together with no additional thought. So whilst the excellent Disc 1 extras are still there, the other two discs are void of anything additional and even repeat the same trailers on the two discs, suggesting to me this was quite a lazy box additional release from MVM.
Content:
I had previously reviewed the first two discs, but never received the third and was a pity, as was enjoying this series, so was glad to hear this box set was coming out so I could finish the series off. Whilst I've commented on the laziness of the release and the packaging, the show itself was an excellent comedy up to where I left off, and I'm happy to tell you that the finale continues that, albeit they do rush some plot onto the end which actually slightly dampens the experience for me, but overall it's still entertaining.
We are introduced first of all, to an angel-in-training named Flonne, who was sent down from Heaven to the Netherworld to assassinate King Krichevskoy, the demon king'only to find out that he is already dead. In turn, she wakes up the demon king's son, Laharl '" who had been poisoned so that all the other demons staking their claim for the throne wouldn't have to worry about him. Flonne and Laharl are complete polar opposites, so much so that when she learns of Laharl's refusal to believe in love, she becomes Laharl's follower in order to find good in him. To say they are a weird combination is an understatement, but it provides quite a good amount of comedy and fun interaction between the two.
Shortly after their introduction, we are also introduced to Etna, a fiery redhead and Laharl's subordinate. She's a double edged sword as whilst she supposedly serves him faithfully, she's got her own agenda and demonstrates that throughout the series, whether it's putting the prince's head on a bounty, or trying to manipulate Flonne to the dark side. Etna is a fun character as she interacts with demon and angel differently, and the trio became a unit together travelling for Laharl to stake his claim to the throne.
For most of the series, it becomes episodic, with Laharl having to overcome something with the aid of his followers, but in doing so brings us some great comedic moments, mainly due to a combination of the three's unique interaction (Flonne trying to find compassion in Laharl, Laharl denying he has any, and Etna just smirking in the middle), and some wonderful side characters. First, we have the Earth Squad '" Captain Gordon, an over the top man trying to assault evil doers in space, his buxom female partner Jennifer (who surprisingly is a vital point of the plot by the last disc but is hardly mentioned until then) whose large breasts are a running gag due to Laharl's fear/disgust of them, and the Lost In Space reference Thursday, a robot who is the analyst of the group. Secondly, we've got Vyers, a demon who always tries to challenge Laharl to battles (and sometimes even helps the group out) but is always defeated to a point that he's called Mid-Boss. And last but definitely not least we have the Prinnies, human souls who are locked in penguin shaped vessels that do Etna's bidding (and thus Laharl's bidding '" but not without compensation as episode 4 hilariously found out) who say dood a lot. And have their own colony. And try to take over the world themselves. And have their own national anthem.
Yep, it's a weird show.
It's not until the final disc when the plot decides to hit '" up until then, we've had mostly comic episodes which have included Etna and Flonne switching personalities, taking out would be pretenders to the throne, discover Laharl's possible sister, a hilarious Game Of Life parody, and the aforementioned Prinny takeover. During the first disc there is a plot point where a Tome is discovered which can grant eternal power which ends up in the hands of the Earth Squad '" and is barely mentioned after that. If Disgaea has a major weak point, is that the plot which hits us in the final disc is downright weak because the little mentions of it before are pretty much forgotten about. For example, Jennifer '" who up until that point is basically fanservice, is suddenly a key link for the Earths Defence Forces to take over the Overworld. When Laharl is officially overlord, we get introduced to a character named Curtis, who is basically Gordon's rival '" and thus, the Earthlings, who have been running gags for 8 episodes, suddenly become a vital point in the takeover as Jennifer's father appears to try and take everything for himself, and it's up to Laharl and company to protect the Overworld'
'and it then leads to another minor plot point mentioned earlier in the series '" Celestia, a.k.a. Heaven, and the character Seraph Lamington who sent Flonne down for the original assassination. He is barely mentioned in passing prior to the final disc, yet after conquering the Overworld, Laharl suddenly decides he wants to take over Celestia. It even brings the Prinnies back into the equation, with a surprising revelation about one of them'which is actually one of the few instances the show does serious quite well. The final episode is quite good despite the plot being confusing, because heaven now sees Flonne as a traitor, and Laharl has to wonder if what Flonne has been saying to him about love is actually in his soul, and what he feels about her. Is it simply the fact she's been betrayed by her friends that is hurting him, or something else? It's actually a really good finale because Laharl does things you would have never expected to do at all and the ending is quite touching'but then the very final few minutes turn it back to slapstick.
Yep, Disgaea mood whiplash right until the end.
I'm definitely in two minds about the series '" as overall it's solid. On the minus side, the plot is all over the place and even the final few episodes where it's all supposed to come together, it doesn't really as the addition of the additional Earth characters didn't really do much aside from getting the Earthlings a chance to be useful, which really wasn't their role and the revelation about Jennifer, whilst surprising, just felt tacked on. A lot of the plot elements are shuffled around and even forgot about, and whilst the battle in Celestia was very good, it again seemed an afterthought. On the plus side, it does the comedy well '" all of the main characters and until the final disc, the side characters (Mid-Boss in particular stands out as a scene stealer almost as much as the Prinnies) are hilarious in their interactions, and all of them are quite fun. They don't really get much characterisation apart from Laharl (and even that is mostly done in the final episode) but their interactions are fun, and there's definitely a lot of laugh out loud moments. Seriously, PRINNY NATIONAL ANTHEM? The dub is also very strong and the Japanese is fantastic '" and with an excellent audio track with outstanding visuals, it's one of the most fun shows I've seen in a while until in my opinion the rather tacked on plot in the final disc. Needed more Prinnies.
In Summary:
It's love and hate for the full season of Disgaea. The first two discs did what they knew how to do right, which is comedy. Some very fun characters where even the one episode characters were fun, Laharl and the gang entertain you at a very good rate. Sadly, the final disc stopped a majority of what they could do well to try and give a bit of a plot with some attempts to make you feel sorry for the cast. It doesn't work despite some shocking revelations and whilst the final episode nearly works, the return of the comedy makes it against it's favour. Still, Disgaea is definitely a good series if you're a fan of the games, and even if you're not, you'll definitely bust a gut laughing at some of the antics of the group. Dood.
Features
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Interview with Kaori Mizuhashi (Seiyuu of Laharl)
Review Equipment
Toshiba 37C3030 - 37" Widescreen HD Ready LCD TV '" Tangent Ht-50 Home Theatre System Multi-Regional DVD Players/Speakers '" Tangent Subwoofer 50-150 Hz, Impedenced 8 OHM.
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