Iria (of 1)

By: Chris Beveridge
Review Date: Wednesday, August 26, 1998
Release Date: Wednesday, August 26, 1998



What They Say
Zeiram - the most dangerous life form in the galaxy. It's virtually unstoppable - perhaps even invulnerable. The Tedan Tippedai Corporation secretly attempted to import Zeiram to be used as the basis for a powerful new bio-weapon, and now it's loose. Iria, a ruthless young bounty hunter whose brother was butchered by Zeiram, uncovers this information while stalking the monster - evidence that certain parties would rather have silenced. Now Iria must expose the silent conspiracy before any more innocent people are massacred by the monster. With the aid of her young sidekick, Kei, and a mysterious benefactor, Iria will avenge her brother's death... only who is hunting whom?

The Review!
Iria is probably the third most eagerly awaited anime DVD's to come out since Image and CPM began announcing titles. Six episodes, dubbed and subtitled, one on dual layer disc for an incredible price. And you know what? It's an incredible disc.

The story, based (I believe) both on a series of novels, which also inspired a live action movie (with one very cute Japanese actress), is about Iria, an apprentice bounty hunter who gets caught up in things way over her head. In the initial episode, we meet her, her brother, and a couple of other characters. Actually, this show is kind of hard to describe, in that it's pretty unique in its stylings and visuals. And, with everything SF fans see today, that's a good thing. This is basically a fun ride with great visuals and good writing.

The audio is standard Dolby Surround 2.0, meaning no activity in the rear speakers at all. Sound across the front stage is well done, with dialogue very clear and directional when appropriate.

The video on this disc is in top form. I saw no evidence of any pixellation, compression artifacts, or anything else that even detracts in the slightest. If all anime DVD's looked this good, especially catalog titles, I'll be in heaven.

Since this is an Image release, they're using the Warner snapper case. That brought it down a tad in my ratings, mostly because, as much as I know it's not going to happen anytime soon, I would love to see some standards in packaging. Ah well. The cover art is very eye-catching though, and should be displayed facing forward on store racks.

The menu is very functional, with just a couple of still graphics on the few selections. Though, compared to the CPM releases, the menus are very smooth, which is a plus.


This is definitely a disc worth waiting for overall. Excellent presentation all around, and bodes well for future catalog compilations.

Features
English Language,Japanese language,English subtitles

Review Equipment
Toshiba CF36H50 36" TV, Pioneer 414 codefree DVD player, Sony STR-DE915 DD receiver, Monster S-Video cable and Sony speakers.