Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi 4 –

There’s No Place like Home (Animé TV)

 

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

 

 

The shopping mall goes from a place to spend money to a place of adventure and movie references in Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.  This fourth DVD is the concluding volume in the mixed Animé mini-series of sorts.  This is one of the more ambitious shows ADV DVD has issued, even if the results are above-average at best.  These are the remaining shows.

 

The film references have little point, though they might be fun for kids, while the mystery is less relevant than an episode of Hong Kong Phooey or the early Scooby Doo seasons.  The animation is more of the current style of the genre, but not the best.  Since it is a limited series, they creators knew when to quit while they were ahead, so this does not have the run-on feeling of most of these types of shows.  The episodes are not titled.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is not bad, but shows the limits of the animation and has some softness in its detail.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 English AC-3 is better than the Japanese 2.0 Dolby with some Pro Logic surrounds, but the English dubbing may not be for everyone.  It also is limited either way, coming from TV, but here is some subwoofer activity, if not spectacular.  Extras include a commentary with three of the English dub actors, textless opening and closing credit sequences, “outtakes” and the amusing AD Vid-Notes that show the film references among other things.

 

This only lasts 75 minutes, but has much information within its shows, so kids who like it will find multiple viewings in the shows.  Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi 4 – There’s No Place like Home is more of the kind of limited series that would avoid the kind of glut Animé keeps finding itself in.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo