Shadow Skill TV Volume 1 DVD Review

By sothis Published: May 8, 2006

PACKAGING AND MENU

6 / 10

I like the front of this volume. A bright and colorful picture of Elle and Gau in front of a moon is displayed, with a red logo. The spine has a busy picture of Elle along with the same logo. The back is fairly forgettable. Immediately, your eyes are drawn to the one part of the picture that isn’t red: the screenshots. Everything else on the page (actually there’s nothing, except a picture of Elle’s face) is red. The text is white. The insert has the same cover picture on one side, with sketches of Elle on the other.

The menu is fairly underwhelming. The entire thing is the same red texture, static except for a moving design in the background. Even putting the cover image in there would have helped… something to liven it up.

FEATURES

0 / 10

This volume has absolutely no features! To be honest I’m a little confused, and did a double take when I couldn’t find the extras button. I then looked on the back of the DVD to see if there was a mistake. What can I say, I’m shocked! I’d imagine there should be something out there, even if it’s just character art or an interview with so and so.

VIDEO

6 / 10

There is an exceptional problem with aliasing. One scene in episode 1 where the city is shown from a distance, for example, was very bad. Lots of grainyness as well, and heavy artifacting fairly often, especially in dark scenes. I’m hoping it’s because of a bad source file and not the transfer itself.

AUDIO

6.5 / 10

The Japanese 2.0 track sounds decent. The English 5.1 is pretty good, though the only times the surround shines is during action scenes. Elle’s voice actress sounds fairly scripted some of the time. I like how she pronounces “Gau” as “Gah”. I really think all anime voice actors need to learn basic Japanese sounds, because this sort of mispronunciation seems to happen all the time. The dub is watchable on some levels, but definitely not the caliber I’ve seen before in ADV releases.

CONTENT

6 / 10

Shadow Skill follows a famous fighter named Elle Ragu, and her “brother” Gau, as they wander the land thwarting assassins and trying to pay off their drinking bills. These first few episodes are a set up for things to come, and introduce most of the main characters. Feisty Elle who can’t stop drinking, spunky Gau, Timid Kyuo and more. The minor adventures that follow are akin to Kenshin TV, which similarly combines comedy and seriousness. So far Shadow Skill shows promise, though I would have liked for there to have been more direction. As it is now, it’s difficult for new viewers to tell if anything substantial will ever happen, or if it’s merely an episodic series.

Although fairly recent, the animation style is severely lacking. Character designs were quite weird, though not as strange as the OVA for sure. Faces were very animal-like with very simple shading. Non animal-like faces such as Kyuo looked super girlie, but still extremely simple. Elle looked like a beast, a male beast at that, with extremely ugly hair (a sprayed mullet, almost, with a giant braid down the back.. ugh). Male characters wore giant ball earrings that were extremely tacky, etc.

Colors used were equally as obnoxious, from Elle's bright orange hair with bright pink clothes, to Kyuo's bright red hair with bright neon green clothes. Other characters had nicer colors used, like neutral black for Gau, and an enemy's dark red hair with black. But in general, very clashy colors used everywhere. The one part that was nice was the backgrounds, such as the sun setting or the forest at night.

The music tended to be very generic most of the time, or rock music intermixed with synths once the show became more serious. Appropriate, but still generic.

Overall, the first few episodes show a rather mixed bag. The animation isn’t super great, nor is the music, and the plot could go either way. I guess it’s just time to watch more and find out!

OVERALL

4 / 10

The lack of extras constitute a serious problem, in my opinion, if I’m considering purchasing a DVD. In addition, the moderate packaging and video problems leave much to be desired. Based on the content alone I’d say this is a potential buy, but I’d almost suggest renting first. This is definitely not one of my higher rated ADV reviews. Still, if you like fighting series and can handle the lack of extras, perhaps check this out.