Oban Star-Racers Vol 1: The Alwas Cycle DVD Credits:

Region: 1

Oban Star-Racers Vol 1: The Alwas Cycle DVD Release Date: 21st April 2008

Our Rating: Extras Rating:

User Rating:  Log in to rate this DVD

Oban Star-Racers Vol 1: The Alwas Cycle DVD Review:

When I think anime, I usually don’t think about the French. Or for that matter any country in the Western World. But Oban Star-Racers is an acclaimed anime produced by a French/Japanese team. Savin Yeatman-Eiffel and Thomas Romain, along with several of their French animation buddies from college, are the creators for the series. Their love for anime and respect for Studio Ghibli (Hayoa Miyazaki’s workplace) led them to travel to Japan to create an authentic Japanese anime serial. The collaboration creates a unique series, with strong influences from both sides of the globe.

The plot of Oban Star-Racers takes several episodes to be fully realized, a downside of the series that commonly occurs. The series focuses on the intergalactic Oban Race, hosted by the Avatar. The winner of the race will receive a great prize (which is revealed extremely late). Acclaimed race manager Don Wei and his crew head the Earth team. Molly, who recently escaped from boarding school, stows away on the ship and after an accident in the first race, becomes the team’s pilot. But Molly is more than just the pilot, she’s Don Wei’s daughter. But time has changed him and she is too scared to reveal her true identity. As the series continues, the races and the consequences become more perilous. Will Earth win and thus save their planet from extinction? Will Don Wei find out the true identity of Molly?

As mentioned earlier, plot info is given really late. The first three episodes play more like a film. If played back to back, they fall into a filmic three-act structure. Otherwise, it takes too many episodes for characters and the audience to learn crucial information. However, the series is a lot darker and more emotional than much of the anime played in America. The maturity of the series doesn’t make up for its elongated plot, but it’s a start.

The style of the anime takes a bit of getting used to. The majority of the design is clearly French influenced. The colors are bold and bright and the characters are noseless. The design on the clothes and vehicles (extremely similar to Star Wars pod racers) lack detail. However, the backgrounds and the landscape are beautifully epic. All of the camera work is very cinematic, but due to the brightness of colors used can sometimes cause a headache.

The music in the series stands out, just not in the right places. Either it overrides dialogue or doesn’t play at key moments due to important dialogue being delivered. It’s quite a shame, because the score is very lyrical and energetic. The dialogue, however, is dubbed wonderfully. The mouth movements are quite simple, creating an easier transition into many languages.

Most of the special features on the disk are useless. There are a few short star racers profiles. The only positive to those short bits is that they aren’t just plain text. There are also several trailers. But the highlight of the disk is the “Making of, Part 1: The Start of Production.” The entire documentary is done with subtitles, but the insight is priceless. Everything you want to know about the series (influences, crew bios, struggles) is available. Luckily, this part of the DVD does go long.

Hard-core anime fans may be offset by the animation style of Oban: Star Racers. The MTV generation television viewers may have difficulty becoming engaged in the series. But I highly recommend it to everyone. It has its faults, but the series as a whole contains enough drama and jokes for a wide range of audience.

Our Rating: Extras Rating: User Rating:  Log in to rate this DVD

Oban Star-Racers Vol 1: The Alwas Cycle DVD review written by: Lyz Reblin