Tekkaman Blade II
Heretic Entertainment
Cast:
Extras: Fan Art, Bonus Trailers
Rating:
’Tekkaman Blade II’ is an anime TV series (or OAV) from Japan, which is a sequel to the original ’Tekkaman Blade’ series. (’Tekkaman Blade’ was released in the U.S. as ’Teknomon’.) This storyline takes place ten years after the original show. Tekkaman are a group of elite fighters who use bio-suits to enhance their strength. Young mechanic Yuki Francois has just been chosen as the newest member of the Tekkaman team. Their mission is to fight the evil Radham, who are threatening the galaxy. Yuki expects to receive adequate training before going into to battle, but an unusual situation forces her to confront her inexperience and take on the Radham first-hand.
All six episodes of the OAV are presented on this new DVD from Urban Vision. While ’Tekkaman Blade II’ is entertaining and exciting at times, it really doesn’t bring anything new to the sub-genre of bio-suit anime. The animation is sharp and always very clean. At times, the early episodes were a bit too ’cutesy’ for my taste, but once the final battles begin, things got very serious. Fans of the ’Tekkaman Blade’ series will surely be impressed by this DVD collection, but overall, I found ’Tekkman Blade II’ to simply be average.
The episodes presented on this DVD are shown in a full-frame format. The colors are very good, but they do bleed together at times. There is some slight artifacting, as the halos around characters and the onscreen noise is slightly accentuated. The image is crisp and clear, and there are no defects from the source material present. There are two audio tracks present on the DVD. The English track is an impressive Dolby Digital 5.1 channel surround track. This offers clear dialogue and very nice use of the rear speakers, which is accompanied by a rich bass. Those who favor a more authentic approach to their anime may choose the Japanese 2-channel Surround track. This gives us audible dialogue and some surround action, but it pales in comparison to the English track. The English subtitles are bright and easy to read.
In an unique move, the DVD contains a still gallery which has examples of ’Tekkaman Blade’ art done by fans for the show. Also included are trailers for other anime products from Urban Vision.