I recently got my hands on two box sets from my friends at VIZ Media to review. Pokémon Advanced and Sailor Moon S are here for your reading pleasure so get those Poke balls ready and be ready to be ready to fight the evil by moonlight!
First up is the Pokémon Advanced box set for the Advanced generation. This complete collection has five discs and covers up to Ash’s visit to the Mauville City Gym. Fans that are going through Brock withdrawals with the newest movie retelling Ash’s early adventures without the Pewter City Gym leader will be happy because Brock’s back! All forty episodes from the first Advanced saga are in this box set. Watch new trainer May start out on her Pokémon journey and Pikachu master Iron Tail for the first time. There is a lack of special features with the Pokémon DVD’s from VIZ in that there aren’t any to speak of. Fans of the series have been wanting box sets of the Pokémon Anime for quite some time but it would have been nice to have something, special features wise. They could have put in the theme songs for the show or a Pokémon mini game.
Sailor Moon S: Season 3 Part 2 Blu-Ray DVD is up next and fans of the series won’t want to miss it. It comes in three Blu-Ray discs as well as three standard discs so you’ll be covered either way. The world is close to being destroyed and it’s up to the Sailor Guardians to protect it. The Guardians will have some “help” with the likes of Sailor Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto to prevent the disaster from occurring. However, they have a different plan to achieve this goal and they won’t let anyone stand in their way, included Sailor Moon.
There are three talismans to locate as well as the legendary Holy Grail but how can these items stop the silence? Chibi-Usa is still around and befriends a young girl named Hotaru, who has mysterious abilities, but the question becomes “how is she involved in all of this?”
The Sailor Moon DVD’s always have a lot of special features and this installment is no different. You’ll have the option of selecting dialogue language as well as what language the signs/captions are written in. You can also look at an art gallery that shows off all your favorite characters from the series. The cast interviews and interactions are always my favorite special features because it’s always fun to finally be able to put a face with the voice of certain characters.
This time there was an interview with Keith Silverstein, voice of Usagi’s father and Professor Tomoe. You get the feeling that he’s a down-to-Earth guy just having a great time. The other cast interaction had three of the newest cast members, Erica Mendez, Christine Marie Cabanos, and Lauren Landa watching an episode of the series together and getting their thoughts on it. The voices of Sailor Uranus, Neptune and Hotaru in the same room, what could possibly go wrong, ha? It’s always interesting in my opinion to hear the voice actors give their opinion on the show they’re in as well as their work as a whole.
Fans of both series will want to get their hands on these DVD’s and I would like to thank Viz Media for sending me these for review!