Adventures Of Mini-Goddess - Vol. 1 - The Gan Chan Files (Subtitled And Dubbed) (Animated) (DVD)

Advantages: Fantastic characters, great and original story line.
Disadvantages: That the anime only covers so little of the manga story.

...rare occasions where I preferred the English dub to the Japanese with English subtitles. Main reasons being that I disliked the Japanese cast for Yuki Sohma, and that the English cast did the series justice and didn't sound wooden at all. Music: The background music (BGM) fit the series well, and is for the most part light and pleasant. Nothing special, though, even the opening and ending theme are non spectacular. So though it fits well, Fruits Basket isn't a series I would buy the soundtrack for. Value for money: Amazing. Seriously, this disc has the first 6 half-hour episodes. It is a 26-part anime series, and fits on 4 discs total (you can also buy a special boxed set of the 4) whereas most 26-part series' can drag them out for 7 or even 8 if they're clever (a la Escaflowne). From manga to anime: As with most anime series Fruits... Read review

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Advantages: Curiously sophisticated story and psychologically telling examination of violence - and girls with guns, too
Disadvantages: Nothing, really.

.... And having read the book you can understand why. But I'll say no more on that. Certainly, it is a superior piece of television, regardless of origin; Yuki Kajiura's music perfectly matches the mood of the series; sometimes pulsating, often melancholy, it adds that extra element of class. My only comment: do not watch this in an English dub but subtitled. As usually, the dub is pretty average and somehow American accents just don't work for me in anime (not that English ones do either, for that matter!). Stick to the original. As for extras there's but a few. Clean opening and closing sequences (which is worth it for watching the fabulous opening credits); production sketches; Japanese promos and the obligatory trailers. There's an easter egg in there somewhere but it tells you all about that on the web somewhere. When I first... Read review

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Advantages: Very funny, nice art style, good value for money.
Disadvantages: Main character is a bit one-dimensional

...with the occasional fist-fight thrown in. But there is a dark side as well, which slowly develops over the rest of the series. This volume does not touch on it though, and sets up the basic aspects of the characters nicely. The dub is very good, although many people who watch the sub (subtitled into English with the characters speaking Japanese) first complain that Yuki does not sound right in the dub (in Japanese he is voiced by a woman, while in the dub he is voiced by a man) but it grows on you are a while. My main problem with it is that Tohru is far too nice. She never gets angry, or is selfish and has a permanent smile on her face. After a while it gets a tad nauseating. But the rest of the characters are fantastic, from Yuki and Kyo’s near constant arguments to Shigure’s inability to take anything seriously, and that is just in this volume! This... Read review

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