Kana battles the mysterious Giant Robot, overpowering it. They escape, thanks to the bravery of Doctor Uzume, the youngest and best-looking pilot of the Robot. Uzume ends up as Kana's captive, and the shy, talented girl reminds him of his own daughter. Will a friendship between Uzume and Kana lead to the Giant Robot and the sisters of Genes teaming up?
For our primary viewing session, we listened to this show in its original language of Japanese. Even though it's only a six episode series, Media Blasters decided not to dub it and has gone with just including the Japanese language track with subtitles. The mix is a solid sounding stereo mix that does a good job of dialogue placement when required but more so in giving the robots and their action sequences a bit more depth and spread across the forward soundstage. That said, there isn't anything terribly outstanding about it but it does serve the material well. We didn't have any issues with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally released to video in 2005, the transfer for this OVA series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is enhanced for anamorphic playback. While some of the visuals in this seem to be inherently soft by design, the transfer looks great overall. It has a great mixture of colors and they look very solid and manage to avoid much in the way of noticeable noise or posterization. There is some color banding here and there which isn't too much of a surprise with any digitally painted show, but it's kept pretty minimal and looks good. The most impressive areas tend to be around the giant robots which are done in a cel shaded CG style, and the Junerin robot in particular really stands out in comparison to the rest. There's a touch of noise with some of the mid range shots but again, nothing too surprising when it comes to the mixing of the CG robots with the rest of the animation.
Packaging:
While the first cover was very heavy on the pinks, this one shifts more to the blues but still retains some pink here and there for continuities sake. The layout provides more big robot shots, including one in something resembling a wedding dress, while the various royal family members are shown along the bottom. The back cover is much heavier on the pinks as there aren't any darker shades to offset it but it still looks good. There's a mixture of shots from the show with the layout and a decent summary of the premise. The cute factor is fairly well pushed here but also the robot angle. The discs production and technical information rounds out the bottom section and is clean and very easy to read.
Menu:
The main menu is similar to the shading used on the back cover with lots of light shades of blue and purple but without any of the darkness to it. It uses several pieces of character artwork form the cover, again centered on Kana, with a bit of the vocal song playing along to it. It's not a standout design but it's certainly good for the show and it gets the job done. The layout is very easy to navigate and due to there being only one language here, our player presets weren't really an issue.
Extras:
The series has had a good number of extras included and this one is no different. A promotional video is included that showcases the show in an early draft form and there is also a decent character artwork gallery. The opening and closing sequences are done here as well but instead of clean versions we get the alternate versions. The behind the scenes featurette concludes here with the second part as the voice actress for Rincle takes us through the production of the show. Strangely, no time code is done with the extra but on our player it listed just 00:00:00 for the duration.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Kirameki Project comes to a close with the final two OVA episodes of the five episode series and we're all Vintage Trouwjurk better off for it. The folks at Studio Fantasia have certainly made some excellent shows over the years. Agent Aika is a guilty pleasure and how can I not like some of their involvement with Project-Ako and the more recent Najica Blitz Tactics. Kirameki Project however feels more like some of their other projects in the last few years where it looks and smells like a show that's barely an idea and put into production with little thought.
Because of Sexy Trouwjurken the short nature of the show, this volume opens up right in the midst of the battle between Kana and the guys in Big Mighty. These scenes are some of the best in the show simply because of how smooth and well done the cel shaded animation looks. I'm normally not a fan of it inside of shows but they really work out well here. The opening fight is fun, especially if you love giant robots in general, since it goes back to the good old days with rocket powered fists and manly men trying to make sure their teammates survive. The giant pink robot still leaves me cringing though, especially when it starts taking on so much damage that its top level coat of armor peels away to reveal skin and a giant metal bra. Giant robots do not wear undergarments.
While the robot action is fun, the character side tends to be a bit blander since it doesn't really reveal anything. Circumstances lead to Ohya and Kana having some sit down time together as she's able to deal with him because of his own love of robots. The two bond in non-creepy ways which is really nice and while it does reveal a bit more of both of their backgrounds and motivations, it doesn't add anything to the show in general or the overall plot. It does help to compel Kana to be more involved, and understand that sometimes your giant robot must fight and not just look pretty, but beyond that the impact is minimal.
Of course, you can't end a giant robot show without a big finale and the last episode does this as Director Shimada arrives in his Big Perfect robot and goes about destroying as much of the country as he can until Junerin comes out. This robot plays out like a version of the Big Mighty on steroids with a maniac in control so there is a good deal of giant robot action to it, but there is still the main issue of there not being a lot of real substance to it. The focus is on saving the country from it destroying everything in sight, but the bigger picture is lost. Not that there ever was one. The cast continue to remain little more than one note jokes or ciphers which leaves us not really caring what happens to them one way or the other.
The animation for the show and the general character designs are all pretty solid here and follow-up well from the previous volume. Studio Fantasia generally has some very good looking animation to their shows and this one is no exception with lots of bright and bold colors, plenty of fluid movements and a decent sense of backgrounds and overall design. It's an area where I certainly can't fault the show. It's attractive to watch The voice acting is decent, though Rincle's actress drives me nuts to no end, especially watching her host the behind the scenes featurette, and the music is catchy yet entirely forgettable, which is exactly what I want out of a show like this.
In Summary:
Kirameki Project is a very pretty show that's devoid of substance and plot in a pretty bad way. A lot of it set up in a way that you would expect there to be some sort of explanations for but nothing really comes vloer-length avondjurken of any of it, leaving the entire experience a vapid one. It's pretty to look at but I can get the same from a lingerie catalog and get more out of it. Studio Fantasia has done some rather good stuff over the years but their trend still seems to be dealing with the bottom of the barrel when it comes to plot these days.
Features
Japanese 2.0 Language,English Subtitles,Promotional Video,Alternate Opening,Alternate Closing,Behind the Scenes Featurette
Review Equipment
Panasonic PT50LC13 50" LCD RP HDTV, Panasonic DMP-BD10 Blu-ray player via HDMI -> DVI with upconversion set to 1080i, Sony STR-DE835 DD/DTS receiver, Monster component cable and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
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