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Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episodes IV – VI) [Blu-ray]
Star Wars: The Original Trilogy (Episodes IV – VI) [Blu-ray]
Star Wars: The Original Trilogy on Blu-ray will feature Star Wars Episodes IV-VI utilizing the highest possible picture and audio presentation. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Nineteen years after the formation of the Empire, Luke Skywalker is thrust into the struggle of the Rebel Alliance when he meets Obi-Wan Kenobi, who has lived for years in seclusion on the desert planet of Tatooine. Obi-Wan begins Luke’s Jedi training as Luke joins him on a daring mission to rescue the beautiful Rebel leader Princess Leia from the clutches of the evil Empire. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
In this installment, Luke Skywalker and his friends have set up a new base on the ice planet of Hoth, but it is not long before their secret location is discovered by the evil Empire. After narrowly escaping, Luke splits off from his friends to seek out a Jedi Master called Yoda. Meanwhile, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, and C-3PO seek sanctuary at a city in the Clouds run b
List Price: $ 69.99
Price: $ 44.99
Claymore: Complete Series Box Set [Blu-ray]
- Prey for Revenge.A brutal scourge stalks the land. Yoma, monsters driven by a hunger satisfied by only one quarry Humanity. The dark breed knows but a singular foe: Claymore. Human-Yoma hybrids of extraordinary strength and cunning, the Claymores roam from skirmish to skirmish delivering salvation by the edge of a blade.Thus begins the twisting tale of Clare, one such sister of the sword driven by
A brutal scourge stalks the land. Yoma, monsters driven by a hunger satisfied by only one quarry – Humanity. The dark breed knows but a singular foe: Claymore. Human-Yoma hybrids of extraordinary strength and cunning, the Claymores roam from skirmish to skirmish delivering salvation by the edge of a blade. Thus begins the twisting tale of Clare, one such sister of the sword driven by pain in both victory and defeat. A child silent and suffering hidden in her past, Clare’s march toward vengeance unfolds along a path marked by violence, solitude and scorn. In a land where even the predator is prey, the haunted hearts of hunter and hunted alike wear the scars of the age.
List Price: $ 54.98
Price: $ 32.33
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M. Zveris
March 22, 2011 at 7:21 am
Mature Anime with Sweeping Vision,
Claymore is a series for the more serious anime watcher; I think that should be stated first and foremost. There is no jarring change from the plot with ultimately wasteful filler meant to make you laugh nor is there any comedy involved in the series. It is a very good series to start an adult on if you have a friend who is interested in anime and wants both the plot aspect and the violence that comes from the more mature fare. It is the blending of these two factors, along with the fantastic artistic style of this series that makes it so successful in appealing to both the male and female audience.
Claymore does not start gradually, but it builds to a maturity of storyline that should be envied by other animes that attempt to blend the typical violence of a storyline revolving around combating demons, monsters, or other evil forces and balance it with serious dialogue and characters. Claymore is not a cliché series in any way.
The story starts out with the arrival of a Claymore named Clare who has been sent by a mysterious organization to defeat a Yoma (monster/demon) found in a small town. Though the chief of the city has requested the presence of a Claymore that does not mean she is welcome. This is a running current throughout the series. As the Claymore (derogatorily referred to as Silver-Eyed Witches) are both human and Yoma they are almost universally feared and reviled. While they are needed and even sought out for their unique ability to combat the Yoma they are outcasts of humanity. Ironically their own humanity being the greatest thing they have forsaken in order to become these powerful slayers this sacrifice is not truly appreciated by most of the people they save. Anyone that has come into contact with a Yoma is considered tainted, dangerous, and possible of transforming into one of these ravenous beings that adores feasting on entrails.
Raki is one such individual who is forced away from all he ever knew because of his close proximity to a Yoma. Outcast from his people – who feel they are only doing what they must to protect their village – he ends up falling in with Clare who frostily keeps him at arm’s length even as she allows him to accompany her. It is from this starting point; the relationship between the young Clare and her even younger companion that the series begins to build.
There is the usual fighting fare, the fast paced and epic battles that we have all come to expect from anime, but there is remarkably little boasting to be found by the characters (which is not typical) unless it is their honest personality as portrayed by the series. As we travel through the episodes, watching Clare and other Claymores going about their duty of dispatching both novice and aged Yoma we understand more and more the painful relationship and the hard choices they have all made. We also learn more about the mysterious organization that created the Claymore and the way they view the world.
This is not a soft and gentle anime, the stories of these women (all Claymore’s are female) and the sacrifices that they make are touching and compelling. They provide an earnest reasoning for why the Claymores continue to fight and why some girls become Claymore. Ultimately this is an anime about relationships and the stark dichotomies of society more than an epic battle between the forces of good and evil, which is in itself a murky concept as the series aptly points out.
Aside from the plot this is a stylistic anime with both the dark overtones and the artistic talent to bring that to life. The series can be light and uplifting in both appearance and story when it needs to be, but the pain is palpable throughout even the happiest of moments for the characters.
The box set is a beautiful addition with beefy extras on both the DVD’s (textless songs, original commercials, interviews, et cetera) and in the set which comes with two full color booklets detailing all of the characters and several two page art pieces. The dub is not bad, which is a hard thing to say of many anime, and the Japanese language with the subtitles (that are very clear and easy to read) is of impeccable quality in translation. All in all this is a series worth owning and a box set well worth the price.
If you are looking for a more mature anime that doesn’t pander to the audience but instead draws it in, this is certainly a must have for your collection.
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|ONENEO
March 22, 2011 at 6:26 am
Fianlly, Claymore Gets the Box Set Treatment it Deserves,
I’ll come right out and confess it; there is much to be excited about when an anime company like FUNimation decides to release a beloved franchise in a single complete collection box set. Not only does it save the buyer money but it makes a given property much more accessible to viewers who would otherwise be reluctant to track down half a dozen volumes to enjoy the show in it’s entirety. Enter Claymore the Complete Series, a property of which I’ve long been campaigning for a complete box set release. The show, which is really unlike any other anime series out there, has been released to the North American market thus far in a pace that could only be described as “trickling” as in six, 4-episode releases that each ran 95 minutes. I’ve got them all but won’t lie about waiting impatiently for each release to come out so that the story could continue.
Coming in at a total runtime of 650 minutes, Claymore The Complete Series release contains all 26 episodes across 6 discs in three thin packs. The set is housed in a cardboard outer slipcase that is minimally artistically decorated (as should be with a show this mysterious). The show wears a very appropriate TV MA (17+) rating due to some rough language, topless female nudity (or maybe topless monster nudity is more appropriate), and a near-endless succession of violent/gory sequences.
Language options are standard fair sub and dub, which of course means dialog presented in either original Japanese (Stereo) or an English dub in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. And, like always, the choice to run English subtitles exists for either spoken language option.
Extras are surprisingly robust and include a pair of nice 24-page full color books highlighting key characters from the series, six commentary tracks from some of the English voice actresses and creative staff, Japanese staff interviews, original TV commercials, cast audition reels, textless songs, and a crop of Funimation trailers scattered throughout.
The story could best be described as a sweeping supernatural epic set in a grim fantasy environment in which an order of pale, blonde-haired girls are humanity’s last hope in a struggle for survival against a race of beasts known as Yoma.
Yoma are incredibly powerful and twisted human/monster hybrids that come in many shapes and sizes and are driven by an endless appetite for consuming human innards.
The story primarily focuses on one of the Claymore sisters named Clare who sets off on a mission of bloody vengeance against the Yoma with hints of a disturbing and suffering-laden childhood popping up periodically along the way.
No ordinary pale girls, these Claymores, however as they are in fact only half-human and half Yoma themselves. Their beastie-half provides them with superhuman abilities (among them: strength, endurance, special attacks and healing capabilities), at the cost of a constant threat of accidentally “going too far” in a battle and hence allowing the Yoma portion of their being to forever consume them.
Should this happen, (a process called awakening here) the sister in question is to be slain by their own commanders-in-arms on the spot. As such the show presents a unique tension in the thralls of battle, as the temptation to push the limits of their fleeting humanity is a constant concern and more than a few Claymores will fall to the charms of the Yoma along the way.
Fighting the Yoma can best be described as a physically grueling hack-fest with blurring blades from multiple Claymores chipping away at the oftentimes massive forms of the flesh-eating monsters. The good news for the viewer is that this means some wickedly cool battle sequences where many (and I do mean many) lovely Claymores meet their gruesome demise in the hopes of taking down a few of the enemy with them.
Almost in a video game style of presentation, the show bides its time with the Claymore girls having to dispose of countless lesser beasts (such as the Abyss Feeders) while reserving the major player (think bosses) bad guy battles for the conclusion of the major story arcs. Among these is the wicked cool Silver Eyed Lion King (Rigardo), The White Silver King (Isley), and the Blood Soaked Warrior (Ophelia).
The show’s art is fantastically appropriate with shadowy backgrounds, eerie lighting, and clear-cool skies that are sure to inspire a shiver. The character-model art is deliberately pale, bordering on black and white in fact, which goes a long way to provide an almost vampire-like appearance to the Claymore girls.
The soundtrack is made up of intense musical numbers and subtle stray electric guitar notes that are so well integrated that they tumble away into the creepy sounds of the night.
It should be noted that the finalized cover art is actually a bit different from the photo Amazon has shown here. The…
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|F. Krubl "Scarlet Evenstar"
March 22, 2011 at 5:37 am
A recollection,
I vaguely recall a very controversial interview with Lucas from years past, when he said he would not release the original trilogy ever again UNTIL the technology which he desired was finally available. Of course, he never really described such-mentioned technology.
Well we all have heard that the apparent reason why he ‘tinkered’ with the original releases in the first place was because some of the ‘technology’ he needed to make those ‘added’ scenes was non-existant back in the 70’s (CGI). Apparently those added scenes were in his notes, and just not do-able back then. Again, this is all arguable.
But my point here is…..okay Lucas, you added your ‘beloved’ extra scenes as soon as you were able to. So what about the re-release of the originals? What more could you want from the ‘technology’ then BLU RAY? It’s won the HD war. It is arguably, the future. Do what you said you would do… release the ORIGINALS on blu. And soon! This is finally a format large enough to include everything and anything everyone could possibly want all in 1 place. Satisfy us all by releasing a single blu-ray for each movie that includes every version ever released (they did it for T2!)….and every extra ever released. That would be a SINGLE SET OF 6-7 BLUs (perhaps 1 seperate disk for all of the extras). Not 10 seperate regular dvd sets (and lets not forget those old vhs sets some of us are still hanging on to). The double, triple, and ten-touple dipping has got to stop! Imagine that; product for the people. Your patient fans await!
*****Update 8/2010*****
So Lucas has announced in Celebration V that all of the episodes will be released on Blu in fall of 2011. Part of me is overjoyed. Part of me is not so sure. Time will tell with what is included. All we know is that it will most definitley be the ‘ammended’ versions. And, of course, he’ll pull footage out of his vault that we’ve never seen before in the extras. So much for my idea of housing a majority of the previous extras all in one set. 🙁 However, one of Lucas’ comments left a bad taste in my mouth and I thought I would share it here. He is quoted for saying at Celebration V that “We’ve been wanting to do it as soon as we possibly could, but we just wanted to do it when enough people would be able to buy it and see it.” What exactly is that supposed to mean? Hmmm? My euphemism-detector is about to explode! So in other words “I didn’t wanna do it until the opportune amount of people have jumped on the blu-ray bandwagon, so that I may make the most amount of money possible during it’s first weeks of sale, therefore making my efforts worth while.” Really???? Say it ain’t so George!
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