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Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid Box Set [Blu-ray]
Full Metal Panic The Second Raid Box Set
Blu-ray
Actors: Chris Patton, Luci Christian
Director: Don Rush
Genres: Anime & Manga
NR     2009     4hr 40min

Studio: Funimation Prod Inc Release Date: 08/11/2009 Run time: 320 minutes

     
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Movie Details

Actors: Chris Patton, Luci Christian
Director: Don Rush
Genres: Anime & Manga
Sub-Genres: Anime & Manga
Studio: Funimation
Format: Blu-ray - Color,Widescreen - Subtitled
DVD Release Date: 08/11/2009
Release Year: 2009
Run Time: 4hr 40min
Screens: Color,Widescreen
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaDVD Credits: 4
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 2
Edition: Box set
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Languages: Japanese, English, English
Subtitles: English
 

Movie Reviews

In addition to being upscaled from SD, the opening animation
Jordan S. Derber | Pittsburgh, PA United States | 08/25/2009
(2 out of 5 stars)

"While it still looks good (much better than the highly compressed DVDs that have tons of blocking artifacts), this show was originally animated in SD resolution and was upscaled for Blu-ray (it's still worth buying if you don't already have the DVDs or are bothered by their compression artifacts).

What's more, it was encoded at 1080p24 despite the opening animation being animated at 30 frames per second. This means that while the main show animation is fine, the opening appears choppy on Blu-ray compared to the DVDs. The movement is not as smooth since frames are missing.

Since 1080p30 is not supported by Blu-ray, the opening would need to be encoded at 1080i in order to show all 30 of the frames per second. Since it's not possible to have the opening at 1080i and the rest of the show at 1080p, they could either encode all of the show at 1080i (like the Japanese Blu-ray release), or encode the show at 1080p while encoding the creditless opening in the extras at 1080i. I would personally prefer the latter, but I would be satisfied with either solution."
FMP! The Second Raid QUICK REVIEW
R. Caymo | California | 08/12/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since FMP! The Second Raid has been out for sometime now I am not going into the story in detail, but the Video/Audio transfer (Which is, for the most part why we invest in blu-ray). As some would note, this is one of the most cleanest and slickest looking animes to date. Coming from Kyoto Animation I would expect no less as this new addition to FMP! on Blu-ray was inevitable due to its slick visuals and fantastic designs. I should note that this is a triple dip for me. (Collected individually, then the Box Set, now this Blu-ray addition)

THE MOVIE ITSELF: (Maybe some spoilers)
If anyone has followed the first season to FMP! and even the addition FMP!Fumoffu you will know that this is the second season and a hell of a season it was. Unlike the last season, the 2nd Raid is really straight forward and it leaves out the random filler type episodes. This time around the story continues almost 3 months later and sorely focuses on Kaname and Sousuke's relationship. To be short, in the amidst of all the craziness, they both realize how important they are to each other. As I said, I will not go into much detail, this was a great season you should check it out if you have not already.

VIDEO: (Presented in an AVC-MPEG4/1.78:1/1080p)
I will be up front and say; "You haven't seen FMP! The Second Raid in all it's glory, if you haven't seen it in Blu-ray!"
I have watched the DVD additions time and time again and this one is an eye opener the first time viewing it. It is definitely more vibrant, sharp, and the lines are really clean; not just another plain upscale like some thought it would be. The studio actually went in and remastered it for HD release and more importantly they removed a lot color banding. Though I might add, it is present in some scenes but rarely apparent. Just to check if my eyes were not lying to me, I went back to the DVD addition (Upscaled 1080p), and yes this is definitely a step up from that.

AUDIO: (Presented in 5.1 ENG/JP Dolby TrueHD) ^^b
Unlike the video presentation; the audio has been beefed up enormously. Some of the key upgrades in audio are more rear surround use and a bombastic use of the LFE (sub). What I appreciated the most was the liveliness that they gave the Arm Slaves; whether they were just walking or in the amidst of action, they definitely rocked the LFE thundering the house. Good stuff, not audio demo worthy, but good stuff for an anime. It would remind you of the Cloverfield monster rampaging through the city.

EXTRAS:
Unfortunately they did not add anything that the DVD additions didn't have already. All of the extras which included Episode 000 and the Bonus OVA (presented in HD as well) are all crammed into the second disk. I should note that you can view a short trailer of the Blu-ray addition of Burst Angel; if your are wondering how it would look that is.

In conclusion, if you are a video/audiophile like me and you love to watch your anime in a high fidelity or you just love FMP! that much; you definitely want to add this one to your collection. This one is a nice addition to the Funimation Blu-ray venture. Here's hoping for Season 1 and maybe Fumoffu for Blu-ray!

Reviewed with:
Samsung LN4061F
Yamaha RX-V465 w/Orb Audio satellites and sub
Sony PS3"
Wow...
Stephen Lerch | Elkton, MD United States | 07/09/2010
(4 out of 5 stars)

"Having been a long time owner of many of the Full Metal Panic releases (I have the original series on R3 and R1 DVD, Fumoffu on R1 and R3 DVD, FMP: TSR on R1 and R2 (limited editions) DVD), I was a bit leery of jumping into an upscaled release.

Honestly I'm glad I took the plunge.

First, for those that don't know, this release is upscaled to 1080p from a 480p source. In layman's terms it's the same thing your upscaling DVD player does, only it's done in a studio with almost universally better results than any hardware can accomplish (when handled properly). It also has the added benefit of being able to use the higher Blu Ray bit rates to allow for higher quality video/audio.

VIDEO:

To size up the video, I compared the Blu Ray release of Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid to my Japanese R2 DVDs upscaled via an Oppo DVD player. The Blu Ray video quality blows away the upscaled DVD, hands down. I also compared the Blu Ray to my R1 DVD release and it definitely blows that away. As stated by another reviewer, because of the multiple angles used on the R1 DVDs, the video quality in the opening and ending suffered. There is also some over all softness in the R1 DVD that is not present even in the R2 DVD release as well. NONE of these issues are present on the Blu Ray. There are some issues with shimmering and so on, but those are source related from what I can tell, meaning there won't be a release that doesn't have these issues (both the R2 and R1 DVDs had similar problems).

One issue, also pointed out by another reviewer, is that the opening was animated 30 fps (frames per second). Blu Ray only allows 24 fps in 1080. The result is that the opening AND ending animations appear choppy. This does not affect the show proper, but the opening and ending of an Anime, to me, IS part of the show and should be handled with the same care the "meat" of the show is handled. For this I could only go as high as 4 out of 5 stars for this release.

One solution I would have preferred for the op/ed is separate "title." What this would allow is that the opening and endings could be encoded at 1080i and allow for the 30 fps, while the meat of the show could reside in another "title" where it could be upscaled to 1080p as it is. It's splitting hairs at this point, but there are solutions that FUNimation decided not to follow.

Also missing is the ability to view the opening/ending with the original Japanese title cards. Anyone familiar with the previous R1 DVD release you'll notice you can't switch angles to see credits in Japanese. This is disappointing because it was an option on the DVDs and probably wouldn't have taken a lot of work to replicate on the Blu Ray release.

AUDIO

This is probably the best the show has ever sounded. Using DTS-MA for both the Japanese and English audio tracks is a real bonus. The clarity is superb and the spatial effects come across all the speakers really, really well. No complaints here.

EXTRAS:

One other reason I dropped a star is because of the lack of audio commentary. On the original DVD releases you were able to choose to listen to the Japanese voice actors speak some commentary (with subtitles). For whatever reason, FUNimation chose NOT to include these commentaries with this release and I don't know why. It's unfortunate but it means that if you want all of the extras available you have to purchase the DVDs, if you want the best video you have to choose the Blu Ray release. Disappointing.

All of the other extras from the previous release ARE retained and presented in 480p. I believe they were recorded this way, so the decision was made not to upscale to 1080p on these sections. Wouldn't have taken much effort to do, but wouldn't have offered much improvement though.

CONTENT:

This is my favorite FMP series. Unfortunately the Japanese audience was turned off by some of the violence in the early episodes, which cost it ratings which also means we aren't likely to see further animated FMP series.

Sousuke and Kaname face some big relationship issues while managing to get closer still. There is some light hearted fun to be had, but the majority of the episodes are quite serious.

Lots of action and a great story make this one worth watching.


Final verdict:

A good buy though if you have the DVD release and are satisfied how it looks on your TV, you may want to spend your money elsewhere."