Presentation
The animation is this series is superb. Its sharp angles and dark settings really add to the horror aspect of the entire series. The character designs are flawless and the emotions displayed by the characters usually fit perfectly with the mood. The music for the most part is classical and violin. They also do much to enhance the general creepiness of several scenes and even do a good job giving the action that extra dose of tension. The opening and closing songs are both Japanese Rock songs done by a band name Acid. The opening song is a hard hitting, blood pumping set that begins with the Lyrics “Time to die”. Given the nature of the series that opening line could not fit any better. The Closing song is a bit softer though a bit more uplifting, almost borderline happy. The box art is simply stunning. The slim box design displays the main characters on a black background while the individual cases (two of them) of the DVD’s display additional characters from the series. The only real issue with the series is that during the first few episodes things seemed to be jumbled up. They episodes tend to cut away quickly from one scene to the next, and while beautiful it does tend to confuse the watcher. Also there seems to be a lot of scenes that have nothing to do with the current plot at all. However, all this means is that you’ll have to watch it all the way through. By the end everything makes pretty good sense with only a few unanswered questions (presumably answered in later seasons). The menu presentation is also very nice. It immediately brings you to the episode list and once you hit play, it will play that episode and every episode afterwards. No more having to press extras buttons between episodes.
Extras
Unfortunately the extras here are bare bones. There’s a clean closing and opening and a handful of really entertaining trailers. The voice acting work, however, is amazing. Both the Japanese and American crew do a fantastic job of filling their character’s roles and giving them a voice befitting of the scene and emotion. Unfortunately there is very little else to be said of the extras.
Overall the series is a wonderful conglomerate of action horror and intense character drama. If you can manage through the first few episodes you will be wonderfully surprised at the intense plot twist and amazing character development. I definitely recommend curling up with this moving in the middle of the night during a storm.