Pet Shop of Horrors

By Mark McPherson     February 16, 2002
Release Date: February 27, 2001



The Review!
I haven't been seeing a lot of horror anime titles out there. There was Perfect Blue, but that was more of mentality thriller. Bio Hunter was ok, but really didn't thrill me. This probably the best horror OAV series I've ever seen. Actually, its the ONLY horror OAV series I've ever seen.

Audio: Urban Vision still rocks the house on DVD with their brilliant Dolby 5.1 taking the stage. The audio sounds crisp and smooth on all three tracks with no distortion.

Video: The sad thing is Urban Vision has been going strong on another DVD with better picture quality. This one, however, slipped through the cracks. There is a lot of slow framerates on the disc including what some call "jitteriness". You've seen it on the Wings of Honneamise DVD and it's back again. Thankfully, it won't bother you that much and the colors look great.

Packaging: It's pretty much the cover of the first VHS volume combined with the second. Very dark and scary. I wish Urban Vision could have atleast listed who was doing the audio commentary.

Menus: This disc resembles that of the Golgo 13 DVD. The main menu and all other menus are stills, but the main menu has some haunting music to it. Pretty much your standard Urban Vision menus.

Extras: Your going to love it. The first is a deleted opening to POH when TBS (not the US television channel; TBS: Tokyo Broadcasting System) put it out on video. Im glad they didnt use it on the DVD though. Pretty odd ball. Urban Vision went all out on this DVD with audio commentary by the voice actors and directors of the English version. If there is one reason to buy this disc, this it. Tons of funny punchlines such as when the count says "Yes, the guard let me in. He has a nice little doggy" then adding "I slipped the guard a puppy, he let me right in". My brother actually laughed at that scene. I could go on all day about how fun the commentary is, but I'll end this portion with one of my favorite lines from the commentary: Oh, now I'm banging to plastic bottles together! *plastic bottles hitting against each other* Ya hear that out in DVD land! I've got two plastic bottles and I'm hitting them!

Content: I'd like to say this show is like Gremlins, but that would be an understatement. This show is just bizzare and funny to watch. Not Go-Nagai-bizzare, I mean like Madhouse-Studio-bizzare.

The first episode takes off with a cop, Leon, checking out Count D's petshop after discovering a man was killed by a tiger bought from D's petshop. You wouldn't know it, but D is actually a guy. Later, D sells a rabbitgirl to a family who has lost their only daughter. In order to keep her, they must not feed her any sweets. However, the parents can't help but give her one when she reaches for it like a child. What transpires next is just so bizzare, I don't even want to give it away.

The same trend continues on. The second. episode has a mermaid that resembles a guy's dead to-be-fiance and the third episode features a guy buy a medusa that resembles his wife who left him. The only episode that derives from this plot is the last one. It involves two men working for the presidency and buy the Kei-Lin that can bring about the Kirin which will grant you one wish. I think a lot of people will like this episode mostly for the fact that the two main characters resemble Yu Watase's character designs.

Here are some little tidbits on the show. All the episodes start with D and the Count's name is D. Also, POH premiered in Japan at 11:00 at night on a MTV-style show for about two minutes. This DVD combines all of these shorts in to four episodes.

Overall, this show is unlike anything you will ever see and is worth a look. If you like horror, you'll love this disc. If you don't like horror, this disc is still worth looking at.

Review Equipment
Oritron 2001 DVD100; RCA 19-inch television