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Blue Seed - The Nightmare Begins (Vol. 1)

Blue Seed - The Nightmare Begins (Vol. 1)

List Price: $29.98
Your Price: $26.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Id give it more stars if i could
Review: A DVD is way better that a VHS we all know that but the ability to see these in English Dubbed and subtitled adds to the experiance the dubbing is to fit the words in as the characters mouths move. and subtitles are as best a translation as possible so you get a better idea of the story which is good in a series involved in japanese customs that americans dont know about scale of 1-10 i give it a 10! ...this is perfectly fine for Jr high, the blood is very little the langauge is mild in dubbed more in subbed. ... no nudity or gratuitese sex scenes.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Immature and pedophilic
Review: Any fan of the Blue Series should definately get the DVD over the VHS. Volume one contains episodes 1-7, and includes both the Japanese w/ subtitle and English Dubbed versions of the show! Considering single episodes on VHS are the same price, you just can't do wrong with the Blue Seed DVD.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Value!
Review: Any fan of the Blue Series should definately get the DVD over the VHS. Volume one contains episodes 1-7, and includes both the Japanese w/ subtitle and English Dubbed versions of the show! Considering single episodes on VHS are the same price, you just can't do wrong with the Blue Seed DVD.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: On par with Evangelion DVD
Review: As ADV continues to release old classic titles on DVD, this one is most anticipated. It's kinda like Fushigi Yugi. There are to fairy tale monster fighting each other. The Aragami and the Kushenada. The Aragami were made to protect the Aragami, but since almost none are left, they decide to kill them all off. And a high school girl named Momiji is one of the Kushenada and doesn't understand all of this at all. While the TAC track her down, Momiji comes under attack at her school by a big vine creature only to have a human Aragami named Kusanagi come to the rescue. The two form a weird love for each other which could be close to Fushigi Yugi. Anyway, Momigi spends most of the time in the first two episodes screaming when under attack by the plant Aragami. The last two episodes are basically character development episodes along with a little action mixed in here and there. The Omake Theater can be found in the extras menu. The Omake Theater is a little silly short that is included every two episodes. They are extremely funny! Extras also include Character Bios. The picture quality is like that of Evangelion: Mediocre, but not criminal to its origin. Dubbing for English is ok, but this was dubbed in the golden age of anime. The Japanese track does more justice I think. And hey, why not try the Spanish language track which I think is included on this one. Anyway, if you like the animation of Evangelion and your in the mood for monsters, check this one out. However, Blue Seed is too great for me to tell you just how comical and action packed it is. You have to see it for yourself. You won't regret it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Creative Monstering 101
Review: Because we see the cream of the anime crop in the US, we have a somewhat skewed perception of the typical level of quality in Japan. Truthfully, a large amount of anime production is entertaining, but not at all outstanding. 'Blue Seed' is such a series. Derivative and predictable, its success very much due to the strange cast of characters rather than plot, or soaring narrative. But, it is indeed, enjoyable watching.

Momiji Fujiyama is a young woman who wants nothing more than an ordinary life. The death of a twin she has never met finds Momiji being hunted down by evil creatures called Arigami. She is now the Kushinada, whose sacrifice will put the Arigami to sleep for decades, unless she is killed in special circumstances. She escapes, and is taken under the wing of the TAC Organization, dedicated to preventing the Arigami from devouring Tokyo.

TAC is the typical paranormal defense group. A gruff commander, efficient assistant, scientist, gun geek, and a computer freak. Add to this poor Momiji, whose desires for having a normal adolescence go up in smoke as one monster after another plague Tokyo. Momiji has a strange connection to the Arigami, through the blue seeds that are the essence of the monsters.

One of the problematic issues with this series is that the English dubbing considerably softens the original Japanese dialog. This would be bad if it were not for the problem that the Japanese narrative is very blunt and harsh. To the point that it seems out of pace with the story itself. Add to this the fact that the dubbing is unevenly recorded, and you have a dilemma of modest proportions. To be honest, I find the English dub a little easier to listen to than the Japanese is, but it is a personal choice.

This is a series where many of the characters specialize in being rude. Kome Sawaguchi, TAC's military specialist ignores her duty, insults the rest of the team, and is permanently angry. Mamoro Kusanagi, the Kushinada's guardian, uses unusually pithy language and behavior around 15-year-old Momiji. Everyone seems fixated on what cute animal print is on Momiji's unmentionables. The dubbing cleans this up enough to get the age rating down to 12+, but I think that is a bit optimistic. Some of this is funny, but it sets an uncomfortable tone to a series that has a very serious main theme.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Creative Monstering 101
Review: Because we see the cream of the anime crop in the US, we have a somewhat skewed perception of the typical level of quality in Japan. Truthfully, a large amount of anime production is entertaining, but not at all outstanding. 'Blue Seed' is such a series. Derivative and predictable, its success very much due to the strange cast of characters rather than plot, or soaring narrative. But, it is indeed, enjoyable watching.

Momiji Fujiyama is a young woman who wants nothing more than an ordinary life. The death of a twin she has never met finds Momiji being hunted down by evil creatures called Arigami. She is now the Kushinada, whose sacrifice will put the Arigami to sleep for decades, unless she is killed in special circumstances. She escapes, and is taken under the wing of the TAC Organization, dedicated to preventing the Arigami from devouring Tokyo.

TAC is the typical paranormal defense group. A gruff commander, efficient assistant, scientist, gun geek, and a computer freak. Add to this poor Momiji, whose desires for having a normal adolescence go up in smoke as one monster after another plague Tokyo. Momiji has a strange connection to the Arigami, through the blue seeds that are the essence of the monsters.

One of the problematic issues with this series is that the English dubbing considerably softens the original Japanese dialog. This would be bad if it were not for the problem that the Japanese narrative is very blunt and harsh. To the point that it seems out of pace with the story itself. Add to this the fact that the dubbing is unevenly recorded, and you have a dilemma of modest proportions. To be honest, I find the English dub a little easier to listen to than the Japanese is, but it is a personal choice.

This is a series where many of the characters specialize in being rude. Kome Sawaguchi, TAC's military specialist ignores her duty, insults the rest of the team, and is permanently angry. Mamoro Kusanagi, the Kushinada's guardian, uses unusually pithy language and behavior around 15-year-old Momiji. Everyone seems fixated on what cute animal print is on Momiji's unmentionables. The dubbing cleans this up enough to get the age rating down to 12+, but I think that is a bit optimistic. Some of this is funny, but it sets an uncomfortable tone to a series that has a very serious main theme.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A very interesting anime.....
Review: Having grown up with Japanese animes, I have been able to watch a great range of different styles and stories, with various degrees of quality. I must say that this one rates high on my list of favourite animes. What stroke me most, when I first saw it on TV, was the focus on Japan. In most other Manga (Japanimation) I have watched in the past, the locations are not specifically mentionned and actions take place in a multicultural frame, where Western and Eastern cultural references are happily mixed (the animes "Saint Seya", "Captain Harlock" or "Cats'Eyes" are very good examples of that phenomenon). In the case of "Blue Seed", the story is deeply rooted in Japanese history and mythology, presenting religious symbols, political setting and social evolutions characterizing present day Japan. There is especially an emphasis on the widening gap between the elder generation, that tends to see the world and its country through the lens of conservative traditions, and the younger people, impregnated with a mix of Nippon-American-European culture.

However, there is one thing that comes to cloud the quality of the English version of this anime: the voices. My God, they are bad! Momiji, an air-headed, silly 14 years old highschooler sounds like a geek who has put on a saintly air, Takeuchi, like a 50 years old frustrated woman and Yaegashi like a boring little boy. Kusanagi, on the other hand, talks through his nose, when in the Japanese version he has a somewhat raw and deep, young voice that gives a mysterious, sexy tone to his cynical and ironic retorts. And let's not talk about Matsudaira's, Kome's and Mr.Kunikida's English voices, which completely undermine their characters because they are way too smooth. Blue Seed is not the only Japanime to suffer from this bad translation of the voice tones, but when you have had the opportunity to watch it in other language (French and Spanish) you cann't just help wondering why the Americans responsible for transcribing the dialogue into English have such bad ears as to completely change the voices of the characters.

Fortunately, the DVD technology allows for the recording of several versions in different languages. And I must say that the English subtitles on this one seem to be much closer to the original Japanese dialogues than the French version, which has been very much censored. That is why I still give it a 5 stars rating!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Immature and pedophilic
Review: I am a lover of Anime but the sexual themes are generally a bit off. This one is the epitome of what I hate about that aspect of Anime... EVERY SINGLE EPISODE (from the first disc at least) shows the main characters, a 15 year old school girl, underwear. Not only that but it generally makes a point of talking about it as well. I'm not against a little gratuitous sexuality/sensuality but showing a 15 year girl as such is wrong.

I'm not into that whole little girl thing. Taking advantage of underaged children is sick... even cartoon ones.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Anime Ever
Review: I have seen this series and i think that it is the best anime ever created. For anyone that likes anime, I think that you should definitly buy this DVD. I have already seen this entire series and im still buying it. This is a must have for any anime fan.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An interesting, and surprisingly humorous, beginning
Review: I managed to catch the second episode of Blue Seed at a friend's house one day, and it piqued my interest. When I found this DVD, with 7 episodes, I had to check it out.

Learning about Momiji, our Kushinada-hime, and the demonic Arigami combines elements of Sci-Fi and horror anime. Much to my surprise, the series also combines a surprising amount of humor in it as well.

While I usually steer clear of dubs, this one is actually very well done. The voices fit the characters well, even though I love Megumi Hayashibara, Momiji's english voice actress does a commendable job. However, Kusanagi's character was changed around quite a bit. In the dub, he is much more light-hearted and joke-y, while in the original he is much darker and sinister.

This first volume spends a great deal of time introducing the characters, and starting to ask the deeper questions of the series. However, there isn't much to the story so far. You can start to see the story forming, but this disc is pretty much just filler. Regardless, this is an enjoyable series with some excellent animation, music, voice acting, and some truly hilarious omake segments.


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