Wish Upon The Pleiades: Complete Collection (2015/Season One/Sentai Blu-ray Set)

Picture: A Sound: B Extras: C Episodes: B+

A young girl, Subaru one days discovers she is a magical girl. Along with her friends Aoi, Itsuki, Hikaru and Nanako, they help gather the shooting stars/comets which are fallen pieces of the Pleiade's spaceship in Wish Upon The Pleiades: Complete Collection (2015).

Subaru is a clumsy but earnest girl whom one day accidentally finds herself on a whole team of magical girls. Together, they are trying to help collect pieces of dimensional spaceship for their mascot/president (which looks like a turquoise stuffed toy mollusk). As Subaru learns from her friends how to be a magical girl, she meets a mysterious boy, Minato in which she falls in love with and he becomes her emotional support/confidant. With each new piece the girls magical powers increases and they are able to travel farther and faster. However, they are not the only ones after the pieces, a mysterious horned boy is after the pieces for his own reasons. And it becomes too late when Subaru realizes it is Minato, that he tricked her and that he and horned boy were the same person.

This was very much your typical 'magical girl' anime series; a young girl(s) that realizes she has a special power within her. Through friendship, teamwork, tragedy, love and lost their powers grows and is able to transcend time, space and even the laws of the universe (that why magical girls are considered ultimate beings in anime). The animation focuses on more on it's beautiful vistas and backgrounds than the characters and has bits of facts/information on the solar system and space.

Thus the 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image is outstanding and up there with Sentai's very best playback to date, while the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Japanese lossless Stereo with Pro Logic-like surrounds is warm and fine, again without any sonic surprises, but able to just support the great visuals and animated art. Extras include clean opening and closing animations and trailers.

Episodes include....

Meteor Shower Forecast: Rain with Occasional Shooting Stars - Subaru one day meets a mysterious boy Minato and then discovers she is a magical girl.

The Star Travel Song - Subaru learn how to fly with her magical broom/engine, Aoi uses a song to help them find and track a fragment, only to be stolen by a mysterious horned boy.

The 5 Cinderellas - After losing the fragment to the horned boy, it is up to Subaru to cheer everyone up and to not give up.

The Dream of Sol - The girls travel to the moon and Hikaru remembers her father's piano piece which helps them catch the next fragment.

A Hat, Ice, and a Princess - The girls put on a play, but who gets to be the princess and who has to play he prince? Aoi and Itsuki learn to be true to themselves and capture another fragment.

The Flower of Awakening - Subaru is trapped inside the school with the horned boy and their fragments are endangered from getting stolen.

Two Treasures, or the Smell of Strawberries - Subaru realizes that they are all from different dimensions, with different potentials, future and destinies, but she fails to notice the horned boy is a dark version of Minato.

Nanako 13 - To find the next fragment, Nanako travels solo outside the solar system and is gone for 3 months, but after capturing the fragment, the girls gain the ability to traverse time and return to the exact moment they left.

Planetarium Rendezvous - As the school festival approaches Subaru puts on a planetarium. Minato discovers and steals the all the girl's fragments from Subaru.

Shining Night - Subaru learns magic is the ability to change one's destiny and that Minato real body is in a coma and he is dying and he is trying to change his own destiny.

The Final Light and His Name - Realizing Minato fate is to die, Subaru loses her magical girl's powers. The girls go after the final fragment, but are unable to catch it without Subaru.

At the Water's Edge - Subaru and Minato exchange vows to change their destinies and to always be together and then suddenly gain new powers. Together, they then re-join the girls to help recover the last fragment from a black hole. They realize the source of all magic is to believe in the potential/hope for new possibilities and futures.

- Ricky Chiang