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Category:    Home > Reviews > Anime > Animation > Action > Adventure > Fantasy > Racing > Japanese TV > Videogames > Battles > CGI > Comedy > Kandagawa Jet Girls: Complete Collection (2019 - 2020*)/Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV 4K (2016/Sony 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Laidbackers (2019*)/Twittering Birds Never Fly - The Clouds Gather (2

Kandagawa Jet Girls: Complete Collection (2019 - 2020*)/Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV 4K (2016/Sony 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Laidbackers (2019*)/Twittering Birds Never Fly - The Clouds Gather (2020/*all Sentai Blu-rays)



4K Ultra HD Picture: B Picture: B+/B-/B+/C+ Sound: C+/B & B-/B+/B+ Extras: C Main Programs: B+/C/B+/B+



Here's a new group of animation for older audiences...



Rin Namiki came to study in Tokyo, but her dream is to join the Jet Ski races along the Kandagawa water ways. Girls would form pair teams where one drives (a jetter) while the other shoots (a shooter) with high powered water guns at their opponents trying to blow them away (and their swimsuits too). Rin teams up with Misa as they become the newest Jet Girls on the Kandagawa waters to watch out for in Kandagawa Jet Girls: Complete Collection (2019 - 2020).


Rin just wants to follow in her late mother's footsteps and become a Jet Ski racing girl on the rivers of Tokyo. She is joined by the cool mature beauty Misa an ace shooter with her own shadowed past. As they clash with their opponents (and each other) Rin and Misa eventually become closer and their teamwork makes them the dark horse in the jet ski racing competition.


This anime series is full of females who basically treated like idols and celebrities on jet skis in bikinis with high tech water guns (be warned, all the girls are well endowed and aren't afraid to show some skin with cleavage, also there is plenty of frontal and fanservice). Extras include clean opening and closing animations, Japanese promos and trailers.


Episodes include:


The Kandagawa is Calling - Rin Namiki arrives in Tokyo and meets Misa Aoi and immediately chooses her as her 'fated' partner and she challenges the current champions of Kandagawa river.


The Ace's Pride - Rin and Misa challenges Kaguya in their first race together, Kaguya barely wins and acknowledges Rin's raw potential.


Country Comes to Town - Rin must find new members to help rebuild the school's Jet Racing Club.


My Favorite - Rin and Misa race a pair of American girls that love Japanese samurai and ninja culture and earn their first win.


Pop Idol Racers - Rin and Misa go out on a shopping and challenges the twin idol sisters to a jet ski race.


What They Lack - Rin and Misa go out on a date, but Misa gets jealous when other girls start flirting with Rin.


Why They Race - Rin needs to score better on her next test exam or she will not be allowed to race. Rin gets a cold and Misa and her friends get to play nurse for Rin.


The Great Nyu-Nyu - Rin, Misa and their friends go searching the underground water ways for a beast, the Great Nyu-Nyu.


The 180 Jetter - Rin and Misa race a pair of shrine maidens who are also Jet Girls.


A Summer Gig Receive - Rin and Misa work part time jobs to raise enough money for new parts for their jet ski.


Rin Goes Home - Rin goes home to mentally prepare for the race while Misa's past is revealed that she wants to get out her older sister's shadow.


Our Jet Race - It's the big race, can Rin and Misa's hard work finally payoff and they have a chance to winning the championship?


and Tokyo Girls Promotion Starts Here - All the girls must come up with a promotional video to create a Jet Ski commercial.



Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV 4K (2016) is an upgrade of the straight-to-video release we covered years ago at this link:


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/14471/Kingsglaive:+Final+Fantasy+XV+(2016/Sony+Blu-r


My fellow writer here liked it much better than I did, a simple quest plot that takes advantage of casting voices of two of the key actors from the now-wrapped-up Game Of Thrones megahit TV series (see our 4K coverage of the Complete Series elsewhere on this site) and that is reason enough to do this upscaled upgrade. I did not think the older disc looked or sounded that great like he did, but the upgrade will be one fans like. Few others will be impressed, so be warned.


Extras include Digital Copy from Movies Anywhere, while the regular Blu-ray repeats its four Making Of featurettes, including one on the music score and one of the voiceover work.



Kumi just inherited her grandmother's candy shop, but what she didn't expect was to find was 4 reincarnated heroines living there Harami, Mai, K and Arnelia. Together they are to find the Demon Lord who has also reincarnated in our world, only problem is the Demon Lord botched up her reincarnation and is now a cute girl, Ran who wants to atone for her sins. Now with the 'former' Demon Lord in tow they have to find the remaining shards of the Demon Lord's powers and prevent her from ever become the evil she was in Laidbackers (2019).


Kumi has 4 boarders living with her, but secretly they are super powered girls reincarnated to find the Demon Lord that destroyed their world. However, after being reincarnated Harami was a martial arts master but became an overnight internet idol sensation, Mai was a large axe wielding berserker but now is lazy and loves junk food, K was a magician but has been turn into total fujoshi and finally Arnelia was originally a princess warrior but somehow turned into a dog. But the Demon Lord has been turned into cute girl named Ran and no longer has her powers and they can't beat her up if she's innocent. Ran now fights alongside them to help collect and seal away her former evil powers.


This was a comedy movie about a bunch of girls with superpowers fighting the forces of evil alongside the very enemy they were sent to capture. The comedy comes in when the heroines can't decide wither to trust their 'former' foe and the fact without her powers she is an extremely kind, cute and innocent girl. Extras include trailers.



And finally, Yashiro is a high-ranking lieutenant within the Yakuza, only thing is he is also a homosexual masochist. And he is totally attracted to his newest body guard Doumeki who is also a former cop. But as Yashiro and Doumeki get to know each other, each one has their hidden past, but it is because exactly they both have a tragic past do they become attracted to one another in Twittering Birds Never Fly - The Clouds Gather (2020).


Yashiro is also a fast-rising lieutenant within the Yakuza ranks, he is a sexual deviant he enjoys being forced on or forcing blow jobs on his subordinates. However, his life became a tragedy long ago when he was raped as a boy by his father and the boy liked was his best friend but he liked someone else. However, Yashiro falls fast and hard for his new subordinate Doumeki who seems just as stoic as him and accepts all his 'faults'. Doumeki was a former policeman, but after witnessing his father rape his step-sister (who is also in love with Doumeki) Doumeki beats his father almost to death and was sent to jail for it and afterwards he became sexually impotent. Yashiro becomes immediately attracted to Doumeki for his ability to remain stoic and sees Doumeki as a challenge to get him sexually excited. Doumeki respect and admires Yashiro after learning his past and helping him move on from his own. The movie ends on a question when Yashiro gets randomly shot and Doumeki rushes him to the hospital, Yashiro's fate remains unknown. We will save the rest for you too see.


This definitely a yaoi series, but be warned it is a mature series in which there is rape, incest, violence, tragedy and the relationships were the result of sexual disfunction. It also captures the yakuza culture when the worst things are, the more stoic a yakuza leader must be and how in a society mainly made up of mostly men, half are pseudo homosexuals. Extras include shorts, Japanese promos and trailers.



Now for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Kingsglaive should be the best performer here, but it is just correcting softness and blur you can sadly see on the also-included regular Blu-ray of the film in the same 2.35 X 1 frame. This was not a 4K production, though this still might have cost more money at the time than it looks.


On the other hand, the 1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on all three Sentai releases have better color, color range, detail and depth than the 4K release here, which has us asking once again: where are the 4K Sentai releases?


As for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mix on Jet Girls is here in disappointing Japanese original sound and an even worse English dub, so consider yourself warned. The rest of the discs here are in DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mixes that sound great in the cases of the Japanese-only tracks on the remaining Sentai releases. In the case of Kingsglaive, the mix is weak and a little compressed on the older Blu-ray, but the 4K corrects this and the soundmaster sounds much better, likely the way it should have to begin with.



- Nicholas Sheffo (4K) and Ricky Chiang


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