UK DVD - Cowboy Bebop Volume 1 First Impressions
Date: 2005 January 03 11:58
Posted by Joe
The Otaku News Crew have been sent a review copy of the UK edition of Cowboy Bebop Volume 1. Content wise it's mainly the same as the US Edition, featuring the first five episodes on disc one, English and Japanese Stereo tracks, and English subtitles. This hit series has been in the US since the year 2000, so some UK anime fans have had to wait almost five years to get hold of this show (or of course they imported the US edition, or a bootleg three disc edition commonly found from bad on-line retailers).
UK fans who haven't already got the US edition or taped it off cable TV when it first broadcast will probably want to know is the UK edition worth buying or should they go for the US edition instead? Read On to find out!
Full Story
DVD Cover
Well the bottom line comes down to the extras, the UK edition is not a straight PAL Conversion of the US disc. It's been totally reauthored with new menus and different extras. Sadly the only extras on the UK disc are trailers for other Beez features (Cowboy Bebop, .hack//SIGN, Witch Hunter Robin and Wolf's Rain which suggests that they'll all be hitting the UK this year), the US disc however has a Tank! Music Video and Character Introductions, along with trailers for other Bandai Titles. We hope that future volumes of the UK edition of Cowboy Bebop has the extras found on the UK edition.
UK "Bonus" Screen
And The US Extras
The Menus look totally different from the US edition, it's not a bad thing, the US menu's were based around Tomato - Ed's computer, while the UK menus are based more around the single bold colour schemes found on the Bebop opening sequence, both UK and US menus are nice slick and well polished.
Below is a screen shot of the UK Main Menu
And The US one for comparison
Our readers should already know that Cowboy Bebop is truly a fantastic series, it has great music from Yoko Kanno, excellent animation and some great storylines, each episode of Cowboy Bebop stands on it's own as superb anime, which is incredibly rare for any series.
In fact it's one of the best anime series released, and we're not just saying this, a recent Newtype USA reader survey with over 11,700 votes gave Cowboy Bebop second place, it was beaten by Neon Genesis Evangelion.
UK Scene Selection Screen
And The US Episode Selection Screen
The UK edition of Cowboy Bebop Volume 1 is due out on 17th January 2005
BBFC Certificate - 12
Suggested Retail Price - £19.99
UK Setup Screen
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