Post by Philip on Jun 8, 2014 17:48:57 GMT -5
Hey y'all! I hope you guys still stop by here every now and then even with the lack of activity. I've been working as a tutor and as a substitute teacher alongside my full time studies, so I just haven't been able to put any energy into contributing to the fandom. Luckily, school's out during the summer, which gives me more time for such endeavours.
It felt very cool to be able to put up a review of the first Maple Town DVD box three days after its release (thanks to Amazon's quick delivery). That it took me half a year after its release to write down a review of the second Palm Town Box set feels less cool. But I would not just feel accomplished if I didn't do it. So here we go!
The cover art looks... ok. Personally I don't think it's as nice as the previous Palm box (mostly the colors don't look as nice), but still way better than the Maple boxes.
The contents of the DVDs is what was expected. The remaining episodes of Palm Town, as well as the movie edition of the first episode, and the only bonus feature is a trailer for said movie. I still think it was very nice of them to include it, considering it's just the first episode with a few clips of Maple Town #52 spliced in. There is not really any new material, so it would not have been a terrible loss to not have it included. Still, it makes the collection feel a bit more complete. (still no textless openings or endings though)
As some of you may know, after the 38th episode of Palm Town, the air time was cut down from 30 minutes to 15 minutes per episode. As a result, the last remaining 6 episodes were each split into two parts. This was clearly a post-production decision, as in the scripts and storyboards the episodes are numbered differently. (I own the script for the Yota/Guta episode. It says "episode 40" rather than "41 & 42"). So whether one should consider Palm Town to be 44 or 50 episodes is debatable, but this is at least how Toei chooses to present it:
Each "half episode" is shown with opening/ending theme and next episode preview. Each "continuation"-episode has a recap of the previous episode or repeat the last scene from it, often with different music.
Not much to say about the video quality, it's on par with previous releases. Which is pretty good. Probably as good as we're ever going to get.
This is something I found quite interesting however...
Here is a screenshot from Palm Town episode 1 from the first box set:
Here is a screenshot from the movie edition on this box set:
Notice how the colors on the movie version are much brighter, the quality is crisper and the TV episodes are slightly zoomed in by comparison.
This also holds true if you compare the clips from Maple Town episode 52:
I'm not sure why the movie cut would have held up better than the TV episodes. Maybe it is because it was made to be shown on the big screen. Oh well, I'll take what I can get!
And finally, the booklet included with the set is just as nice as the previous ones. Epsiode summaries, storyboards and model sheets. I love seeing the various locations:
Bonus screen shot:
Still highly recommend these sets! As much as I love the orignal Maple Town, being able to own the full Palm Town series in Japanese was something I once thought would never be a reality. It feels very nice, even if the show now has lost the "mystery" it once had to me. Now it's up to us fans to keep the story of Patty and her friends alive!
It felt very cool to be able to put up a review of the first Maple Town DVD box three days after its release (thanks to Amazon's quick delivery). That it took me half a year after its release to write down a review of the second Palm Town Box set feels less cool. But I would not just feel accomplished if I didn't do it. So here we go!
The cover art looks... ok. Personally I don't think it's as nice as the previous Palm box (mostly the colors don't look as nice), but still way better than the Maple boxes.
The contents of the DVDs is what was expected. The remaining episodes of Palm Town, as well as the movie edition of the first episode, and the only bonus feature is a trailer for said movie. I still think it was very nice of them to include it, considering it's just the first episode with a few clips of Maple Town #52 spliced in. There is not really any new material, so it would not have been a terrible loss to not have it included. Still, it makes the collection feel a bit more complete. (still no textless openings or endings though)
As some of you may know, after the 38th episode of Palm Town, the air time was cut down from 30 minutes to 15 minutes per episode. As a result, the last remaining 6 episodes were each split into two parts. This was clearly a post-production decision, as in the scripts and storyboards the episodes are numbered differently. (I own the script for the Yota/Guta episode. It says "episode 40" rather than "41 & 42"). So whether one should consider Palm Town to be 44 or 50 episodes is debatable, but this is at least how Toei chooses to present it:
Each "half episode" is shown with opening/ending theme and next episode preview. Each "continuation"-episode has a recap of the previous episode or repeat the last scene from it, often with different music.
Not much to say about the video quality, it's on par with previous releases. Which is pretty good. Probably as good as we're ever going to get.
This is something I found quite interesting however...
Here is a screenshot from Palm Town episode 1 from the first box set:
Here is a screenshot from the movie edition on this box set:
Notice how the colors on the movie version are much brighter, the quality is crisper and the TV episodes are slightly zoomed in by comparison.
This also holds true if you compare the clips from Maple Town episode 52:
I'm not sure why the movie cut would have held up better than the TV episodes. Maybe it is because it was made to be shown on the big screen. Oh well, I'll take what I can get!
And finally, the booklet included with the set is just as nice as the previous ones. Epsiode summaries, storyboards and model sheets. I love seeing the various locations:
Bonus screen shot:
Still highly recommend these sets! As much as I love the orignal Maple Town, being able to own the full Palm Town series in Japanese was something I once thought would never be a reality. It feels very nice, even if the show now has lost the "mystery" it once had to me. Now it's up to us fans to keep the story of Patty and her friends alive!
