The Daichis – Earth’s Defense Family 3: Pay Day

(Animé TV)

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: C     Episodes: C

 

 

The Daichis – Earth’s Defense Family 3: Pay Day has come out at a time when it was hoped Pixar’s The Incredibles could help it and the also-similar Game Over series (reviewed elsewhere on this site), but it turns out sales of The Incredibles dropped rapidly on DVD all of the sudden and a sizable number of copies had to be sent back!

 

I would still take that film or Game Over to this silly show that never seems to end.  It ran out of ways to advance its storyline from DVD 1 and the third batch of shows are:

 

10) Eight O’clock At Hachiko Plaza

11) The Darkness Hanging Over The Daichis

12) The Birthday Of Flames

13) Final Battle!  Flowers For You!

 

 

All one can repeat over and over is that it is for ages beginning at 13 and as to whether this is really over, I do not know.  At least it is technically not awful.  The 1.33 X 1 full frame image is still one of the clearest we have seen on an Animé series to date, offering better color than usual and does not fake the out-of-focus look or softness that has become a cliché of the genre.  That makes it worth a look on that level, though it is nothing groundbreaking.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo still has Pro Logic surrounds in both its English and Japanese versions, so the sound is not bad and makes sense for a recent production.  The extras this time are more numerous, with previews for three other Geneon DVD titles, alternate version of shows 11 & 12 that are not much better than the regular versions, and a commercials collection.  That would be a nice wrap-up, but we’ll see.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo