“The final volume concludes with a more political storyline, more battles, more confusing characters and an ending that only Tomino Yoshiyuki would dare do in an anime series. I was literally left with a ‘what the heck just happened’ moment and had to scour the Internet to get everyone else’s opinion the final scene. You’ll either see it as brilliant or cruel!”

DVD INFORMATION:

DVD TITLE: The WINGS of REAN Vol. 3

DURATION: Approx. 48 minutes + 18 minutes (special features)

DVD INFORMATION: COLOR/NTSC / 16:9 LB / Japanese Audio (Dolby Digital 5.1 ch and Dolby Digital Stereo / English subtitles

CATALOG #: BUDH0108

COMPANY: Bandai Visual/Honneamise

RATING: Suggested 13 and Up

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

STAFF INFORMATION:

DIRECTOR: Tomino Yoshiyuki

VISUAL CONCEPT CREATOR: okama

CHARACTER DESIGN: Kudoh Masashi

MECHANICAL DESIGN: Shinohara Tamotsu, Sakura Takumi

COLOR DESIGN: Yokoyama Sayoko

ART DIRECTOR: Ikeda Shigemi

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Oogami Youichi

MUSIC: Higuchi Yasuo

SOUND DIRECTOR: Wakabayashi Kazuhiro

PRODUCED BY SUNRISE, BANDIA VISUAL, BANDAI CHANNEL

Aura Battlers dance wildly in the skies above Tokyo. Who is the Wings of Rean warrior who will save the two worlds from total annihilation?

Guided by the Auro Road, Aesap and King Sakomizu roam beyond time and space. To wipe out the festering hatred, Aesap musters his last ounce of strength and streaks through the sky!

The Hojo Army and resistance force have passed through the Auro Road and emerged on Tokyo Bay. There, the two armies decide to join forces and follow the same path. In cooperation with the Hojo Army, Rori and Kanamoto strike down Tokyo Tower, shocking the city into a state of unprecedented chaos. Meanwhile, led by the Wings of Rean, Aesap and King Sakomizu arrive in Japan at the end of the World War II. Skies riddled with B-29’s…atomic booms…the battle of Okinawa… Sakomizu is filled with anger and sadness. Aesap sees his parents before he was born. When their journey to the past ends, they find themselves in the skies above present-day Tokyo Bay.

Tomino Yoshiyuki is a director and writer that is a person who I highly regard his talent for creating such series such as “Mobile Suit Gundam” (and many more series under the Gundam monicker), “Heavy Metal L-Gaim” and “Aura Battler Dunbine”.

With the latter, Yoshiyuki introduced to viewers back in 1984, a new world known as Byston Well (a world that exists between the land and ocean) and from the 49-episode series of “Aura Battler Dunbine”, in 1988 with the three episode OAV series “Aura Battler Dunbine: The Tale of Neo Byston” and an OAV with the 1999 “Tales from Byston Well: Garzey’s Wing”.

In 2005, Tomino returned with the six episode ONA (Original Net Animation) series titled “The WINGS of REAN” which is based on a light novel of his published back in 1983 through 1986.

Before I review this final volume, I just want to say that each time I can watch a Tomino-created series, I’m excited. Similar to Shirow Masamune and other mangaka and directors, I have admired those who are able to create anime series with a detailed storyline but also see how their experience from their well-know work from the past three or four decades deviates from their modern work.

“The WINGS of REAN” is Tomino’s modern work. An ONA (original net animation) series that he said he didn’t want to recreate from the novel and at the same time create something with his young staff in mind and creating for a new generation of anime viewers.

So, with an anime series like this, there is so much story to be told, so many characters introduced but only six episodes to tell it. And unfortunately, this is the caveat for a series like “The WINGS of REAN”. Where Tomino has had the luxury of telling his stories from “Mobile Suit Gundam” to “Aura Battler Dunbine” in many episodes, but for this he has only the luxury of six episodes.

Six episodes are not enough and this series is so beautiful, characters aplenty but because the technical accomplishments of the battles and use of 3DCG, Tomino was able to get his staff to create something special but the double edge sword hurts this anime series with the fact that you hardly get any character development and viewers are limited to battles galore, characters and mecha all over the place and all out chaos.

Episode 5 titled “Above Tokyo Bay” features that similar, confusing battle of episode 1 between the Hojo Army, the resistance and this time, major buildings and landmarks in Tokyo are destroyed and possibly mass casualties.

One thing that I found important from the series is Tomino’s interview when he said the main story was always between Aesap and King Sakomizu. But early in the series, you are somewhat led to believe that the story was about Aesap and Sakomizu’s daughter Lyukus.

In episode 5, as war between the factions are now taking place in the Upper Realm with everyone fighting including the Japanese and American military, both Aesap and King Sakomizu get to see an almost real glimpse of the past during World War II.

For Sakomizu, his Japan, his Tokyo was during a time when there were land, trees and not the concrete jungle that it is now. His face and reactions is captured as a man of awe and disgust to see the land he loves, no longer the same. His goal to protect Japan from the US aggressors are spoiled to find out that Japan and the US are allies. But to see the atrocities committed through war not by the Americans who dropped the nuclear warheads in Japan but also the Okinawans and what they suffered from the Japanese Imperial Army.

As for Aesap, watching his parents….Japanese mother and American father married and even Sakomizu seeing for himself, a Japanese and American in love.

Needless to say that this episode features part of modern Tokyo being destroyed because of war and past Japan being destroyed by war. But most of all, Tomino’s gutsy coverage of the battle of Okinawa on an anime series, especially since its a touchy subject between the Okinawans and the Japanese government today.

In episode 6 titled “Sakura Tempest”, the war continues but Sakomizu’s rage of seeing how Japan has changed is starting to consume him. But most of all, to find that he was a man that was fighting for his homeland, now knowing that those who are fighting against him are the Japanese and USA military.

As for Aesap, he confronts his terrorist roommates who want nothing more but to cause destruction to Japan and he tries to put a stop to their destruction.

As volume 2 featured a spontaneous kissing scene never seen in an anime series, Tomino does something at the end of the final episode that is definitely going to make people either really ticked or people to think Tomino as creative and gutsy for the final scene alone.

VIDEO:

Since this DVD release is from Bandai Visual, and BV releases are known for its quality, the video is 16:8LB and presented with a framerate of 1.78:1. As for the animation, the animation was very colorful and the character designs are by Kudoh Masashi, known for his work his character design work for “Aquarian Age”, a few episodes of “Planetes” and “Witch Hunter Robin” but mainly for the popular series “Bleach”. The mechanical designs were done by Shinohara Tamotsu (known for his live action work with the “Kamen Rider” series and creature designs for “Samurai Deeper Kyo”) and Sakura Takumi (who has worked for Tomino in series such as “Turn A Gundam” and “Brain Powered”).

AUDIO:

With the amount of battles happening in the first episode, that is where you start to enjoy the audio from Banda Visual releases. Again, known for their quality for encoding at 448 kbps, “The WINGS of REAN” sounds very cool ala Dolby Digital 5.1.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The special feature on volume 3 features a promotional trailer and “The Wings of Rean ‘Orchestration Guide’”.

This was quite interesting to watch as Higuchi Yasuo talks about creating the music and not being held by any boundaries by Tomino and given somewhat free reign to create what he wanted.

Most of all, to hear from the musicians talk about Yasuo’s style and talking about the stress and frustration of creating the musical score for the animated series.

A lot of information and found Higuchi’s approach to music and working with Tomino quite interesting.

And similar to the past two volumes, the behind-the-scenes booklets are very informative.

Included is an interview with Shinohara Tamotsu who designed the Aura Battlers and a mechanical settings gallery. Also, an interview with Chief CG Designer Katayama Ayuki and 2D Effects Chief Furuhashi Hiroshi in regards to the challenge of creating the scenes, especially the chaotic war scenes.

A very interesting interview with Tomino Yoshiyuki in regards to his directing the 3rd installment of the series. I find his interviews fascinating, nearly cerebral in his answers of logic and more. Reading these interviews is actually what enhanced my appreciation for this animated series and what he was able to do, is not something that can be easily conveyed in a live action film Especially with so many characters and so much destruction.

And last, the book concludes with the storyboards for episode 5 and 6.

I have to admit that on my first watch, I felt that this story was just too confusing with so many characters being thrown at the viewer. Things got much better in vol. 2 as it featured more character development but vol. 3 returns to a similar setting as vol. 1 but instead of the battles galore and many people being shown (and can easily confuse the viewer), I felt that Tomino’s coverage of Sakamizo and his eyes of seeing Japan in the past and how he sees Japan in the 21st Century.

And his prejudices and how it contradicts Aesap (a half Japanese and half America) and his view of a more modern Japan just goes against everything that Sakamizo believes or thought he believed in.

Episode 5 was quite a political episode and episode 6 was more or less the grand finale.

Personally, I felt there was just too much story that could have been told and so many characters introduced that I wish that an ONA series this complicated, could have had a longer episode run.

So, with what they were able to accomplish in six episodes, especially visually, was well done. Animation was just beautiful, acting was well done and for mecha and action fans, battles galore.

And what you are left with is enjoying the series on its technical merits and what was accomplished or a lack of a strong, character driven storyline.

I’ve read so many Japanese blogs that credit Tomino’s logic and perspective and I can agree 100% with these fans because he really has an answer for every question thrown against him in the interview. So, I really enjoyed reading how his mind works (in the special booklet).

“The WINGS of REAN” is not a perfect anime series that has a share of problems and mainly, the series is just too busy with the Hojo Army and Resistance at war and Japanese and US military just thrown into the mix. It does get confusing.

But I can’t help but enjoy this series on a different level for it’s animation but also the logic behind those scenes. I will admit that the booklets that came with each volume enhanced my appreciation for this ONA series.

And last but not least, the final scene. This will depend on the viewer but I find it interesting to see how it all played out and Tomino’s way of showing that not all things end with a happy ending.

+ Another story from “Aura Battler Dunbine” written and directed by Tomino Yoshiyuki

+ Cool video and audio and an informative booklet provided again by Bandai Visual/Honneamise. Gives you appreciation of the work of the director and character designer.

+ Very good voice acting

+ A very cool interview included in the booklet. Full of information!

- No English dubs for those who need that.

- This anime series is not for everyone. A lot of characters and a lot of storyline that is pretty much made into six 20-minute OAV’s on a world and storyline that probably could be effectively told in a dozen or two dozen (or more episodes). The focus is more on the battles, character philosophies and not so much on character development.

+/- - The final scene of episode 6. You either will love it or hate it.

“In the second volume of Tomino Yoshiyuki’s ‘The WINGS OF REAN’, The King of Hojo, Sakamizu is revealed to be a WWII Kamikaze pilot that has somehow ended up in another world. A very intriguing volume and possibly one of the best, spontaneous kissing scenes to ever be featured in an anime series!”

DVD INFORMATION:

DVD TITLE: The WINGS of REAN Vol. 2

DURATION: Approx. 48 minutes + 9 minutes (special features)

DVD INFORMATION: COLOR/NTSC / 16:9 LB / Japanese Audio (Dolby Digital 5.1 ch and Dolby Digital Stereo / English subtitles

CATALOG #: BUDH0108

COMPANY: Bandai Visual/Honneamise

RATING: Suggested 13 and Up

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

STAFF INFORMATION:

DIRECTOR: Tomino Yoshiyuki

VISUAL CONCEPT CREATOR: okama

CHARACTER DESIGN: Kudoh Masashi

MECHANICAL DESIGN: Shinohara Tamotsu, Sakura Takumi

COLOR DESIGN: Yokoyama Sayoko

ART DIRECTOR: Ikeda Shigemi

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Oogami Youichi

MUSIC: Higuchi Yasuo

SOUND DIRECTOR: Wakabayashi Kazuhiro

PRODUCED BY SUNRISE, BANDIA VISUAL, BANDAI CHANNEL

The blind ambition of King Sakomizu has been unleashed. With a premonition of impending war, Aesap and Lyukus reunite on the battlefield!!

King Sakomizu prepares for his invasion of the Upper Realm. Meanwhile, rebels within the US forces make contact with the Hojo Army. Amid premonitions of impending chaos, Aesap’s Aura Battler, Nanajin, takes to the sky!

It turns out that, just like Aesop, the King of Hoo, Sakomizu is also from the Upper Realm. And he was a kamikaze pilot in the waning days of World War II in the Pacific theater. Now that he’s acquired weapons in the Upper Realm, Sakomizu at last sets in motion his dream of invading his former home. Meanwhile, Aesap and Lyukus get separated and Aesap rides Aura Battler Nanajin in search for her. In a scuffle with the Hojo Army and resistance force, Aesap and Lyukus reunite in dramatic fashion. “I wanted to see you, Lyukus!” “Aesap!” They finally fell the warmth of each other’s embrace… but can they stop King Sakomizu?!

Tomino Yoshiyuki is a director and writer that is a person who I highly regard his talent for creating such series such as “Mobile Suit Gundam” (and many more series under the Gundam monicker), “Heavy Metal L-Gaim” and “Aura Battler Dunbine”.

With the latter, Yoshiyuki introduced to viewers back in 1984, a new world known as Byston Well (a world that exists between the land and ocean) and from the 49-episode series of “Aura Battler Dunbine”, in 1988 with the three episode OAV series “Aura Battler Dunbine: The Tale of Neo Byston” and an OAV with the 1999 “Tales from Byston Well: Garzey’s Wing”.

In 2005, Tomino returned with the six episode ONA (Original Net Animation) series titled “The WINGS of REAN” which is based on a light novel of his published back in 1983 through 1986.

Now here we are with volume 2. With volume 1, I felt that there was a big chance that viewers could have been led to a state of confusion with so many characters being thrown into the mix and there was just so much featured in terms of battles and various oppositions and really, things got too confusing.

It’s one thing to have breathtaking backgrounds and cool animation but when the storyline is hard to follow, it makes things a bit difficult.

So, let’s do a quick recap:

Aesap Suzuki - Half American and Half Japanese and the main character of the series. His father is a commander of the US military base in Iwakuni City. He lives with Rori Yahan and Heiji Kanamoto and it appears the three were going to do some terrorist activities against the American base.

Lyukus Sakomizu - The other main character who ends up being saved by Aesap. She is the daughter of Sakomizu, King of Hojo. She is rebelling against her father and takes “The Wings of Rean boots” and somehow the battle in her own world ends up in the upper realm (where humans and modern time takes place).

Amahlgan Rudol - Created a country along with the help of Sakomizu but the friendship ended with Sakomizu continued to expand his domination to other lands and now Amahlgan leads a resistance force against his former friend.

In episode 3 titled “Groundling Aura Force”, after the last confrontation between Sakomizu’s forces, Amahlgan’s forces and Aesop and Lyukus, Aesop ends up on Sakomizu’s side and doing what he can, so he can get close to Lyukus. Lyukus on the other hand is now with Amahlgan’s village. If anything, what is known is that a battle between the King of Hojo Sakomizu and Amahlgan is going to happen.

But the most important reveal was that Lyukus’ father Sakomizu was from Japan as well. And in his mind, wants to take his weapons from the new world and destroy the Americans and even the Japanese and take the war back to the Upper Realm.

In episode 4 titled “The King’s Designs”, the Hojo army has captured Amalghan and Lyukus. Both are imprisoned but for Aesop, he will do what he can to find Lyukus. And the war between the Hojo Army and the Resistance goes into full force.

VIDEO:

Since this DVD release is from Bandai Visual, and BV releases are known for its quality, the video is 16:8LB and presented with a framerate of 1.78:1. As for the animation, the animation was very colorful and the character designs are by Kudoh Masashi, known for his work his character design work for “Aquarian Age”, a few episodes of “Planetes” and “Witch Hunter Robin” but mainly for the popular series “Bleach”. The mechanical designs were done by Shinohara Tamotsu (known for his live action work with the “Kamen Rider” series and creature designs for “Samurai Deeper Kyo”) and Sakura Takumi (who has worked for Tomino in series such as “Turn A Gundam” and “Brain Powered”).

AUDIO:

With the amount of battles happening in the first episode, that is where you start to enjoy the audio from Banda Visual releases. Again, known for their quality for encoding at 448 kbps, “The WINGS of REAN” sounds very cool ala Dolby Digital 5.1.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The special feature includes Tomino’s Aerial Research Documentary “Over Tokyo 2006″. Pretty much Tomino Yoshiyuki goes on a helicopter ride and takes pictures of Tokyo from above. Scouting areas that will be seen in the battle in the Upper Realm for OAV episode 5. Storyboards are shown and animation as well in this 17-minute special feature.

This was pretty cool and good to see how the scouting location paid off for Tomino and crew as evident in episode 5.

And similar to the previous volume, there is “The WINGS of REAN” behind-the-scenes book with another in-depth interview with Tomino Yoshiyuki and his approach to the second installment. The interviewer does a great job asking questions in regards to scenes, setting, storyline and more.

Yoshiyuki does talk about the difficulties he had with these ONA’s because he was working on the Zeta movies at the same time and thus when he was working on these episodes, he approached it as a movie version and mentioned that he should have taken a single, self-contained episode approach instead. And how he had regretted that.

Also, another interesting reveal is when asked why the content on the ONA’s are different from the novel, Tomino tells the interviewer that he does not like to take something from the past and doing it again. He wants to create something original and in this case, from the vision of a new generation through his young staff.

Also, because many people are not familiar with the novels or have seen “Aura Battler Dunbine” or “Garzey’s Wings”, it was really cool to have Bandai Visual to explain things from the novel and certain areas that may have been cloudy for those unfamiliar with Tomino’s works.

And of course there is so much to the interview that it is worth reading. Also included is another interview but with okama (Visual Concept Creator), rough sketch gallery, storyboards and more.

Again, Bandai Visual does a great job of supplying a booklet that really features a lot of information!

With episode 3 and 4, I actually enjoyed it because now things are a bit settled down, you can focus on the characters and get a little bit more of character development than too many images and battles from the first volume.

I really do feel that “the WINGS of REAN” is a story that needs more than six episodes to tell. With so many characters and so many things happening, it’s really easy to get lost with this anime but unlike the first volume with fighting and characters all over the place, you get to see character development. How Lyukus and her mother don’t get along. How Lyukus is really compassionate towards Amalghan and how he shows the same thing back for his former friend’s (and now enemy) daughter.

If there is one highlight from this series, it’s episode 4 and it’s one of the most spontaneous kissing scenes you will ever see in an anime. I was quite surprised of how much was put into that kissing scene but nevertheless, I enjoyed it.

Again, the series is beautiful to watch. Great background, cool mecha and space ships galore but at the same time, so many characters that it’s easy to get confused. Not as bad as the first volume but fortunately, episodes 3 & 4 is much easier to follow and I found it quite enjoyable.

Again, the booklet that has come with these first two volumes are just amazing. Very in-depth interview with Tomino and he speaking his mind especially sharing plus and negatives of his experiences in working o this animation series and things that he wish he had done.

This series is not going to be for everyone especially those who want an well-written, in-depth storyline. The truth is that you have a world created by Tomino and a storyline that probably worked so well in the novel but there is only so much you can do with six episodes. Give him 50 like he has done with Mobile Suit Gundam and I would be curious to see how different the series would have turned out.

But nonetheless, again, I enjoyed this second volume and I definitely look forward to the next and final volume.

+ Another story from “Aura Battler Dunbine” written and directed by Tomino Yoshiyuki

+ Cool video and audio

+ an informative booklet provided again by Bandai Visual/Honneamise. Gives you appreciation of the work of the director and character designer.

+ I really enjoyed the special feature of watching Tomino on scout location via helicopter around Tokyo and taking pictures and seeing the storyboards and eventually how it all played out in episode 5.

+ Very good voice acting

+ A very cool interview included in the booklet. Full of information!

- No English dubs for those who need that

- This anime series is not for everyone. A lot of characters and a lot of storyline that is pretty much made into six 20-minute OAV’s on a world and storyline that probably could be effectively told in a dozen or two dozen (or more episodes). The focus is more on the battles, character philosophies and not so much on character development.

“Tomino Yoshiyuki returns with a a six-episode ONA (Original Net Animation) spinning off from his ‘Aural Battler Dunbine’ series. The first volume really doesn’t need for one to be familiar with the original series but it is a series that requires your attention because its one of those series that thrusts you into a setting where there are so many things happening all at once.”

DVD INFORMATION:

DVD TITLE: The WINGS of REAN Vol. 1

DURATION: Approx. 48 minutes + 20 minutes (special features)

DVD INFORMATION: COLOR/NTSC / 16:9 LB / Japanese Audio (Dolby Digital 5.1 ch and Dolby Digital Stereo / English subtitles

CATALOG #: BUDH0108

COMPANY: Bandai Visual/Honneamise

RATING: Suggested 13 and Up

OFFICIAL WEBSITE

STAFF INFORMATION:

DIRECTOR: Tomino Yoshiyuki

VISUAL CONCEPT CREATOR: okama

CHARACTER DESIGN: Kudoh Masashi

MECHANICAL DESIGN: Shinohara Tamotsu, Sakura Takumi

COLOR DESIGN: Yokoyama Sayoko

ART DIRECTOR: Ikeda Shigemi

DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Oogami Youichi

MUSIC: Higuchi Yasuo

SOUND DIRECTOR: Wakabayashi Kazuhiro

PRODUCED BY SUNRISE, BANDIA VISUAL, BANDAI CHANNEL

Two decades after “Aura Battler Dunbine”, legendary director Yoshiyuki Tomino returns to the land of Byston Well!

The Aura Road has been opened… As two unfamiliar worlds collide in a fog of war, the Wings of Rean call for the holy warrior. Thus begins an epic tale of fantasy and romance!

Terrorists have attacked the US military base in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. When it’s discovered that the culprits are two of Aesap Suzuki’s friends, Aesap is also mistakenly hunted by US forces and the Japanese police. As the innocent Aesap escapes arrest, he spots of a flying warship suddenly emerging from the luminous ocean. A the bow is a young woman with wings of light on her feet. Her name is Lyukus, daughter of King Sakomizu of Byston Well - a world located where land and sea meet. “My father is a Japanese named Sakomizu Shinjiro,” she says. “You will help me, won’t you, Aesap Suzuki?” Unwittingly drawn into the war of an unknown land, Aesap can only wonder what fate the future holds for him-and the world he thought he knew.

Tomino Yoshiyuki is a director and writer that is a person who I highly regard his talent for creating such series such as “Mobile Suit Gundam” (and many more series under the Gundam monicker), “Heavy Metal L-Gaim” and “Aura Battler Dunbine”.

With the latter, Yoshiyuki introduced to viewers back in 1984, a new world known as Byston Well (a world that exists between the land and ocean) and from the 49-episode series of “Aura Battler Dunbine”, in 1988 with the three episode OAV series “Aura Battler Dunbine: The Tale of Neo Byston” and an OAV with the 1999 “Tales from Byston Well: Garzey’s Wing”.

In 2005, Tomino returned with the six episode ONA (Original Net Animation) series titled “The WINGS of REAN” which is based on a light novel of his published back in 1983 through 1986.

Having only seen the first DVD volume of “Aura Battler Dunbine” (originally released in the US by ADV Films and probably won’t watch it since vol. 12 is one of the most expensive anime DVD’s and has one of the lowest print runs for an anime volume in the US), I was happy to watch “The WINGS of REAN vol. 1″ and know that I didn’t need to own the previous anime series or side-stories.

If anything, my main reason for wanting to watch this anime series is because frankly, I think that as long as Tomino Yoshiyuki releases an anime series, I’m going to be one of the first Americans to purchase his anime directorial or written works.

So, after watching the first episode titled “Uninvited One”, I have to admit that I was really scratching my head and was a bit confused. The episode wasn’t cerebral but you are immediately thrown into a war where you see a young group of kids who want to rebel against the Japanese government working with the US and China and acquiring weapons to either make a statement or become terrorirst against their own country.

While the police go after these young kids, you learn that Suzuki Aesap is not just part of the group but his father is a high ranking military officer.

That’s when things start to go a bit haywire as these huge spacecraft start to come out of the ocean and a girl named Lyukus has the ability to fly through her boots that sprouts wings (aka the WINGS of REAN) and give her the ability to fly. Lyukus happens to be the daugther of King Sakomizu of Byston Well.

Through all the confusion, we see Aesap and Lyukus together, trying to survive but all these other characters wanting to go to war. Sound confusing?

Well throw into the mix that aircraft from the US military start attacking the spacecraft and all of a sudden, everyone is sucked into some portal and into a new world and everyone then you have these ships from another world battling each other, US and Japanese government (mainly US) taking on the various spacecraft and introduced to people of those spacecraft and really episode 1 ends up to be an episode that really didn’t offer any character development.

You’re literally watching multiple battles ensue and I have to admit, I found myself lost.

In episode 2 titled “The King of Hojo”, after a US jet flies directly towards one of the alien spacecraft, everyone around is sucked into Byston Well.

The episode then focuses on Lyukus and Aesap being joined by a fairy like creature known as the Ferario and many people not too thrilled that Lyukus brought the WINGS of REAN (which so far you learn that these are boots that grow wings and allow a person to fly) to the surface world (real-time Earth) and that there is an expectance of Aesap to be the next holy warrior and should take command of the WINGS of REAN.

You also learn that Lyukus, the daughter of King Sakomizu is rebelling against her father. Eventually, he has been a changed man since marrying his second wife whose tribe have helped him build the Aura Battlers (a special type of mecha suit). From the holly warrior who created the country of Hojo, her father has now become a tyrant.

VIDEO:

Since this DVD release is from Bandai Visual, and BV releases are known for its quality, the video is 16:8LB and presented with a framerate of 1.78:1. As for the animation, the animation was very colorful and the character designs are by Kudoh Masashi, known for his work his character design work for “Aquarian Age”, a few episodes of “Planetes” and “Witch Hunter Robin” but mainly for the popular series “Bleach”. The mechanical designs were done by Shinohara Tamotsu (known for his live action work with the “Kamen Rider” series and creature designs for “Samurai Deeper Kyo”) and Sakura Takumi (who has worked for Tomino in series such as “Turn A Gundam” and “Brain Powered”).

AUDIO:

With the amount of battles happening in the first episode, that is where you start to enjoy the audio from Banda Visual releases. Again, known for their quality for encoding at 448 kbps, “The WINGS of REAN” sounds very cool ala Dolby Digital 5.1.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

I have to admit that there was one special feature that I just had to see and that was the “Cross Talk” segment which featured director Tomino Yoshiyuki and singer ANNA TSUCHIYA (who sings the ending theme “My Fate”).

For those who are not familiar with Tsuchiya’s music and how she is during interviews, she’s an artist that really speaks her mind out, a professional who knows how to communicate effectively of flirtation, sexuality and darkness through her music.

And interesting enough, Tsuchiya is upfront of how she feels about Tomino and all in all, a very interesting interview with both individuals. If anything, I enjoyed Tsuchiya’s candidness and Tomino talking about how difficult it was to come up with the animation for ANNA TSUCHIYA’s song with only two weeks to work.

A very cool interview with both individuals.

Bonus features also included are the textless ending and promotional trailer (English subtitled).

And last but not least, with every Bandai Visual release is a cool informative insert and in this case, you get a 32-page booklet that showcases overlook details from the anime series, an interview with Tomino on drawing the storyboards, the drama, the characters, fast-paced storytelling. There is also an interview wtih Kudoh Masashi and his approach to the character designs. Also, an informative piece on the characters which helps for the appreciation of the series.

To end the booklet, there is a rough sketch gallery by Kudoh and storyboard extracts from episode 1 and 2, which I am so happy to see included in this first volume of the DVD.

I’m not going to lie to you. My first view of the first episode left me with question marks and I was confused. I felt that maybe I needed to stop and watch “Aura Battler Dunbine” to understand what the heck was going on because I was lost.

Fortunately, after the second episode, things started to make sense and I’m glad that the frenzy of battle and too many characters introduced, episode 2 started to focus a lot on the main two characters Lyukus and Aesap.

I also have to admit that on the second viewing, I started to appreciate it more after reading the insert booklet. I have to be thankful for Bandai Visual for their continuing effort to include these booklets because they really do put you in the shoes of the director and character designer and see things from their perspective.

Also, how the booklet introduces the characters and explains things that you may have not picked up in the first two episodes.

I would expect that the majority of people who are watching the ONA series are fans of Tomino’s work and know that it takes patiences when watching his animated series.

For me, that’s quite fine because so far I enjoy watching each series director and written by Tomino that I just find very intellectual, very entertaining and all out awesome!

The first volume of “The WINGS of REAN”, I may have been a bit confused with the first episode but I’m sticking with this series because really, Tomino’s works have been special and I look forward to watching how this one ends.

I look forward to volume 2!

+ Another story from “Aura Battler Dunbine” written and directed by Tomino Yoshiyuki

+ Cool video and audio and an informative booklet provided again by Bandai Visual/Honneamise. Gives you appreciation of the work of the director and character designer.

+ Very good voice acting

+ A rare interview to see both Tomino Yoshiyuki and music artist ANNA TSUCHIYA. An unusual pairing for an interview but quite enjoyable!

- No English dubs for those who need that

- First episode is very confusing