Search - Voltron Beast King Golion Vol 2 on DVD

Did you see vol. 1? It's more of the same.

V. Crisafulli | Lansdale, PA | 09/26/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"What's on the discs?
Episodes 19-36. Subtitled only. Three trailers on the last disk. No special features.

If you've seen volume 1, then you know what it's about. Five space travelers from Earth escape the clutches of the Galra empire. They land on the planet Altea, and fight the Galra empire with five robot lions that combine to form GoLion!

In the middle of this volume, Prince Sincle and the witch Horneva stop making giant beasts and start making 1960s looking giant robots. The first robot actually injures GoLion. But then GoLion learns a new move and everything goes back to the way it was. Sometimes The Simpsons seem less episodic than this.

This volume also has the episode where the princess loses her top in the lake :) Don't fret. They don't show any girl parts, so the kids can still watch it... as long as the kids don't mind frogs with fangs biting men's throats, images of children engulfed in flames, and a spa with a running stream of blood. And the Earth explodes. Everyone sleeps better after they've seen the Earth explode. It's not horribly offensive stuff, but Japanese children must have been very emotionally balanced to handle such dark concepts at an early age.

GoLion is very episodic, the characters are very one-dimensional, and the animation hasn't held up to well over the years. GoLion works, however, because it is simple. It's a fantasy on a grand scale with an exaggerated good versus and even more exaggerated evil. The five lions that combine into a giant robot still amaze even today.

So if you've seen it during the 80s as Voltron, or if you just like 80s Anime, you'll enjoy. I still wouldn't recommend this to the average American viewer though.


Although having 18 episodes per disk is great (compared to 4 or 5 for most other Anime) the lack of special features is a let down. No interviews? No design sketches? Older Anime series have limited appeal. I guess we're lucky to see this released at all.




"

Not your daddy's Voltron....(Part II)

M.K. | Norfolk, VA | 10/12/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"World Events Productions, Ltd., along with Anime Works and Media Blasters, presents Collection 2 of Hundred Beast King Golion. The Golion team serves up more action and adventures with episodes 19-36. This has proven to be the most lackluster bunch of episodes of the entire series.

The only few highlight episodes were:

-Goodbye, Earth
-The Prince Imperial's Dark Love
-Phantom Space Flowers

A lot of plot holes are explained a lot better in Golion, especially when it comes to the strong, emotional tension between Prince Sincline of the Galra Empire and Princess Fala of Altea. I don't want to spill the beans to anyone reading this review.

When it came to the story, World Events story editor Marc Handler explained it better when he said:
"We tried to stick with 90% of the story if we can."

....meaning, if the story was too graphic to explain, it was explained to lessen the impact of any unfortunate event (i.e. deaths, suicides, etc.)

Plus, with this set, the Golion opener is a little shorter than the original. Plus, I also noticed that, depending on the episode, the singer sings about a particular lion and its special weaponry within its bridge and chorus verses....usually, a recurring theme for some to most animated shows.

My rating is the same as the previous reviewer's. I also agree about their comments about having no special features included once again for Golion. How are you going to release a DVD box set without any extra special features?....(and I'm not talking about the other anime trailers).
In conclusion, this box set is considered the mediocre bunch of episodes for the entire series.

The next release will be the third and final box set, containing episodes 37-52. If you're a true Voltron fan, and if you have a good memory about the old Voltron episodes, then you'll know what I'm talking about.

Bottom line is that you won't be in the dark about what'll happen in the series. You'll definitely won't be disappointed either. The series will open a lot of Voltron fans' eyes about what the real deal Holyfield is (and was) about not only Voltron, but Golion as well.

Until then, form your jyuokhen, defeat evil head-on and happy viewing."

The second volume of Beast King GoLion episodes

Lesley Aeschliman | Enumclaw, WA | 12/24/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Beast King GoLion Volume 2 is a three-disc set that contains eighteen episodes of the series; this series is the original source material for what ended up becoming Lion Force Voltron in the United States. All of the episodes only have Japanese audio, and you choose whether or not to have subtitles. All three discs of the set include six episodes. Unfortunately, the audio level on the discs so soft that you have to turn up the volume quite a bit in order to hear the audio.

Just like with Volume 1, I could see where changes had been made between Beast King GoLion and Voltron. For example, shots of blood and people obviously being maimed or killed appeared in these versions of the episodes. Some of the most major changes occurred in the episode, "The Prince Imperial's Dark Love" ("The Sleeping Princess" in the American version). In GoLion, Prince Sincline is dreaming of his mother being attacked by Emperor Daibazaal, and seeing Princess Fala's face appearing over his mother's; in Voltron, the woman is only referred to as Allura (no mention is made that the woman is Lotor's mother). Also, in the English version of this episode, shots of the princess' aunt fainting were cut.

Also, the mood and information for some of the episodes was also changed. One of the most notable episodes for this was "Goodbye, Earth" (known as "Pidge's Home Planet" in Voltron). In this episode, the four men from Earth see that missiles are being fired on Earth and want to go and see if there's anything they can do. Raible threatens to have them arrested if they leave, but the four leave anyway in their lions. Raible orders them to be shot down to be prevented from leaving, but they escape. In Voltron, the planet being attacked is Pidge's home planet of Balto, and when they leave in the lions and the guns are shot at them, Keith says Coran is saluting them.

One other episode of note is "Protect the Soccer Field" (known as "Doom Boycotts the Space Olympics" in Voltron). In GoLion, they are simply building a soccer field for the kids, to help the planet rebuild after all the attacks by the enemy. However, in Voltron, it was decided they were getting ready for the Space Olympics (since this episode was written in 1984, the writer was trying to tie it in to that year's Summer Olympics). Unfortunately, the viewer is never truly convinced that any Space Olympics are going on, since all you ever see at the end is a soccer skirmish.

While Voltron would be acceptable for kids to watch, I can't say the same thing for Beast King GoLion. This set is definitely being targeted at and marketed to the adults who had originally watched Voltron when they were children over twenty years ago. Teenagers might also find this set to be enjoyable.

Even with the issues I have with the audio levels, I would still recommend this set to any Voltron fan that is curious to see what the series was originally like before it became Lion Force Voltron. However, if you do purchase this set, be sure to watch it when younger children aren't around or after they've gone to bed."

What we missed.

FallenAngelgirl | 10/13/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This isn't the kiddy version you all remeber. This is a lot darker, has a lot of deep themes and isn't for younger children. That said, the animation is a bit in need of a update. Still this is watchable and for grown fans of the show. I feel this is a must buy at a cheap rate however. It's worth it to own this if for no other reason than to learn what was cut out of certain eps. Some of the eps on the disks look a little low quality to be honest.

However as you get more into it the footage is far more crisp. Some of this can be blamed on the age of the footage used. The rest can be blamed on cheapness from the copyrights owners. No special features no comentary. no nothing extra. That is compleatly wrong and shame on those cheap punks.

I'm still going to get volume one and the other relases. But that is because I'm a very hardcore Voltron fan. I hope that they do more for the third vol. The best thing I can say about this volume. is that it reminded me of why I loved Voltron back in the day. And got me to get off my butt and start picking up the american volumes. Which are far better in quality.

This is a buy for fans of the show. But only if you can find it at a reasonable price. Not more than 15 if you were just short of into Voltron. And not more than 20 if you were very into the show. Still I did like the vol for what it was. even if it was short on extras and the footage in some of the eps was a little old looking."