Cyberteam in Akihabara Volume 1: Cyber Genesis - animatedbliss.com
- animatedbliss.com
- 11/10/04
- click here
"Cyberteam in Akihabara is a cute and entertaining show."
Like all girls, Hibari Hanakoganei covets the latest fashion in mechanical pets ? a PataPi to call her own! But when a strange White Prince provides one, an equally mysterious Black Prince plots to steal the prized pet. It?s PataPi Densuke to the rescue, however, transforming into a powerful Diva with astonishing battle agility and amazingly bears a striking resemblance to Hibari herself! Together with the Cyber Team, the Black Prince will certainly get a run for his money!
DVD Features:
? Production Sketches
? Clean Opening
? Clean Closing
? ADV Previews
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INTRODUCTION
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Originally released in Japan in 1998, Cyber Team in Akihabara is one of the latest additions to the ever growing magical girl genre. With a total of 23 episodes and a Sequel Movie, Cyber Team continues to grow in fan base to this day.
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STORY - Rating: 7 (out of 10)
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Cyber Team is a simple and easily entertaining series for all magical girl fans. It?s story is often weak but this isn?t something that will bother the majority of the shows audience. However, if your looking for something with more substance than ?Cute Girl Anime Meet?s Mecha Action? you might as well look elsewhere. The five episodes presented on volume one are all entertaining but only to a degree. On one hand, these episodes give off a welcoming feel to the show. On the other, it feels like a cliché and already used up story - something that isn?t always worth one?s time, especially given the amount of episodes usually found per volume. But with 5 whole episodes on this DVD it?s bound to make buyers recognize and reconsider what they might have otherwise resisted.
The main character, Hibara, is a young, sweet, and dim-witted girl. She is often faced with dreams of her ?prince?, whom she believes is the giver of her very own PataPi. PataPi are the latest trend in children?s toys. Hibara and her friends, however, each have a PataPi that can transform into a powerful diva that bears a remarkable resemblance to themselves! Forming their very own ?Cyberteam in Akihabara? they battle one well-endowed woman after another.
For the simple reason of a few good jokes here and there, and a promising premise that could develop into something greater in episodes to come, Cyber Team is an anime worth investigating. It may not appeal to everyone but it will undoubtedly find it?s loyal fan base.
This DVD Contains Episodes:
? 1. Diva
? 2. The Black Meteor
? 3. Homunculus
? 4. Death Crow
? 5. Cockatrice
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ANIMATION - Rating: 8 (out of 10)
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The animation looks rather good from an artists standpoint, but as for video quality, the anime looks surprisingly dated. The series only premiered a few years ago back in Japan. One can only assume that the original prints were not as well cared for as they could have been. It works out in the long run, but it is still something that I found to be puzzling.
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AUDIO - Rating: 9 (out of 10)
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The audio is superb. The English language track is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The Japanese language track is not quite as good quality wise, but it is made up for by the sometimes weak English language dub. Both dubs were good for the most part but the English one lacked the formal speaking from the original. One of the characters in particular, played out as rude instead of polite because of the way the series was translated. The English voice-actors also occasionally get annoying while the Japanese dub was fairly solid throughout every episode.
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EXTRAS - Rating: 2 (out of 10)
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Just like nearly every other Anime-on-DVD release there is an extreme lack of extras. This volume isn?t any different. It only includes Production Sketches, A Clean Opening, A Clean Closing, and ADV Previews. None of these features are particularly interesting either. It should be taken into consideration that there is a total of five episodes on this disc. While there may be a severe lack of extras there is a handful of episodes to keep the viewer entertained.
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OVERALL - Rating: 6 (out of 10)
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Cyberteam in Akihabara is a cute and entertaining show. It will succeed at bringing in new fans to the magical girl anime genre. There is an abundance of cute characters, PataPi, and Mecha to appeal to fans of series such as Cardcaptor Sakura or Bubblegum Crisis. Volume One is an interesting introduction and it has left room open in the show for growth and maturity. Only time will tell how the series progresses.
Posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 (Archive on Friday, December 10, 2004)