The second season draws to a close in a very strong way with lots of nods to the whole series and its very expansive cast.
What They Say:
Yuri renews his determination to fight against the Great One in order to save Wolfram and bring peace to the world. Even though Gwendal and the others are bewildered that the enemy is not the Originator but the Great One, together with Yuri, they all head out again to the Tomb of the Great One on a sortie. There, the Great One’s real plan and an unbelievable betrayal await them.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this show brings us the original Japanese language in stereo along with the English dub where they’re encoded at 224kbps for standard Dolby Digital. The show has a fairly standard TV action mix which provides some decent directionality during action scenes and occasionally with some of the dialogue. There’s a fair amount of action so we do get to have both speakers work out nicely and the dialogue has a number of good distinct moments. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout and we had no problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally airing in 2004, the transfer for this series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and is enhanced for anamorphic playback. Animated by Studio Deen, the encoding for this show is essentially problem-free and looks great both at standard display level and upconverted to 1080p. The digital nature of the show comes across really well here with vivid and solid colors that are free of gradient problems, backdrops that are free of blocking, and no visible cross-coloration. This is simply a very smooth-looking piece that’s pleasing to the eyes through and through.
Packaging:
The front cover is done with a deep blue background and is framed with some intricate artwork to give it a very polished feel. Within the frame, the title is along the top (along with a Season II tag) which gives the character artwork plenty of room to look good. Closing out this season with a look at a very determined and strong Yuri is spot on, especially with the sword he’s wielding. It gives it a very powerful feel that really works well. The back cover is done in a similar style but with a different border that holds the basic summary and numerous pieces of artwork and shots from the show. The disc’s episode numbers and titles are clearly listed next to the disc’s features and extras while the bottom is filled out with the production credits and the spread-out technical information. The insert for the release replicates the front cover artwork with fewer logos while the reverse side lists the episodes and future volume release dates along with a few shots from the show, which means this is a fairly useless insert. With the keepcase being clear, the cover is full color on both sides and the reverse side is just a purple background with a shield and crest underneath where the disc itself resides.
Menu:
Changing the design from the previous season, this volume takes a very different and almost somber turn as a bit of flickering light plays over a very worn-down book that has the series logo and navigation strip on it. Set to a light bit of instrumental music, it’s very relaxing and mellow while looking very well done. The way the light plays on it is simple but it adds a lot to the atmosphere of it. I particularly like the way going to submenus has it paging through them. Access times are decent and getting around is easy enough though the disc keeps to its own language preferences (English only) and ignores player presets.
Extras:
None.
The second season draws to a close with a lot of big epic air around it as the Great One has finally found his vessel at long last and intends to fill him completely. This season has been progressing towards this point for quite a while now and there’s a whole lot of closure to be had as events really reach a fevered pitch. After all, the return of the Originators is a big event, and having them swarming over the countryside of every nation wreaking havoc is certainly not something that anyone thought they’d see in this day and age of the world.
These last four episodes are rather good overall but they do take their time in getting to the point. This is actually kind of a standard with this series because of how long each season is. There’s a leisurely feeling to the pacing at times, even when it’s trying to be big and epic. It’s not a surprise though, given the size of the cast. Everyone has to get their bit of face time with the way the ending starts to play out and that adds a bit more of a drag to it. Well, not so much a drag but it does extend things a fair bit. With the number of countries and kingdoms that Yuri has visited, there are a lot of cameo shots throughout these episodes as they react to the events taking place. The downside to it is that they do often cheap out by providing only animation and no real vocals for it so they didn’t need to bring in the voice actors again. It’s good to see some of these characters again, but it’d be nice to have them a little more interactive.
With so much leading up to this point, there isn’t a whole lot going on here in a sense. This is the culmination of events, the final battle in a sense to settle everything. The Great One has worked his plan for thousands of years now which has led him to this point where he’s got everything he wants. The vessel he’s crafted and cultivated, which was very close when it was in the form of Julia, is now ripe with Yuri. Even knowing that he’s the end goal, everyone is intent on trying to stop the Great One in his tracks at the tomb, but that goes horribly awry when some long-thought-out plans by the Great One strike again. Murata has always been a little questionable, but his alliances are made all the more clear when he suddenly turns Yuri over the Great One so he can take him over completely. It’s not a surprise by any stretch, but the way his personality pivots slightly and events play out is simply very engaging to watch. As off as Murata seems at times, I have to admit he is one of my favorite characters in the series.
Kyo Kara Maoh does play to the psychology side a bit during this as the Great One works his magic to acquire Yuri’s body. This isn’t all that deep, which is admittedly a plus since Yuri isn’t a deep character. The internal conversation that goes on while the Great One is exposed to Yuri’s world is interesting enough, but it also reminds us that we really haven’t seen much of Yuri in his Japan settings all that much during this season and that’s a loss. The balance is a bit off in this season and I miss that, especially the simple baseball pieces or him simply hanging out around town or with his family. On the plus side, his family has some good cute scenes during these last episodes and Jennifer Yokohama continues to be one of the best anime mothers ever.
Looking back at the series as a whole, it’s been a great ride. This season has had its ups and downs, but the first one did as well and that had to deal with introducing a whole lot of the basics. This second season really did a good job of bringing in more of the history of this world and covering some of the scale of the plans that the Great One had put into motion. Though they felt out of place at times, the episodes dealing with him in the past as he came to power were a lot of fun and they painted a very intricate picture with how the various family lines evolved over the centuries. What dragged the series down at times was that the search for the boxes almost felt endless. They were more a means to showcase various parts of the world and introduce Yuri to other leaders and characters that would help shape the change he brings to the land. But it simply felt too forced at times with how it played out. But that’s really a minor quibble in the end because the show was all about watching the dynamic of the core group of characters and how they interact with each other. In that regard, the series wins handily in almost every episode, especially if Morgif is involved.
In Summary:
The final volume for Kyo Kara Maoh’s second season is pretty bittersweet. On the positive side, it really does end definitively with the stories it wanted to tell and it closed out the major themes of this season as well as expanding on some of what came in the first about Yuri’s abilities to take on a leadership role. While the series had its uneven moments here and there, in both seasons, these final volumes brought to culmination a number of things and really pushed the epic level of the show in the fantasy scale. Through these seventy-eight episodes, I’ve come to love and enjoy most of these characters and the settings and will have fond memories for a long time. It’s just that much fun and sometimes you really just need to have something that’s enjoyable in this manner.
Features
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 2.0 Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: B+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Geneon Entertainment
Release Date: December 2nd, 2008
MSRP: $24.98
Running Time: 100 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
