Kaleido Star: New Wings Volume 1: Eclipse of the Star - CineGeek
- CineGeek
- Suzie Lackey
- 02/13/06
- click here
"If you were a fan of the first Kaleido Star series, you will not be disappointed..."
"The show is full of excitement, rivalry, charm and sight-gags."
Kaleido Star: New Wings Volume 1:Eclipse of the Star continues the story of little Sora, her pet seal Jonathan and her friends and they continue their rise to fame. Sora Naegino is in training to become a star on the Kaleido Stage, a show that is a mix of music, magic, dance and a circus. She has a big heart that is full of hope and daydreams that one day she will be the main attraction.
Sora has become close friends with Mia and Anna, two other girls training at Kaleido Stage Training School. They help her deal with the recent death of her parents and help her adjust to life in the United States. A positive indicator that Sora will be successful is that she can see Fool, the spirit of the stage. She feels that this is a sign that she has great promise as a performer.
Layla Hamilton was the biggest star in the history of Kaleido stage. However, she is now mysteriously missing. Before she disappeared, Sora promised Layla that she would carry on the tradition of Kaleido stage to the best of her abilities. Yet, Sora still faces many obstacles on the road to fame.
One of the biggest obstacles is Leon Oswald. Oswald is a former circus performer from France. He has a massive attitude problem. Contrary to other Kaleido Stage performers, Oswald views the audience as a nuisance as he performs for himself only. He is constantly demanding that other performers shorten their acts to allow him more stage time. Oswald has to be the biggest diva to this the Kaleido Stage.
If dealing with Oswald was enough, Sora must also deal with May Wong, a new trapeze artist from China. Nothing nice can be said about May and sets about to make Sora?s life a living hell. She even refuses to let Sora share her practice space, let alone a single inch of the Kaleido Stage.
If you were a fan of the first Kaleido Star series, you will not be disappointed with Kaleido Star: New Wings Volume 1: Eclipse of the Star. However, if this is your first introduction to the series, you will be brought up to speed quickly and be able to immerse yourself in the Kaleido Stage world with little trouble.
The show is full of excitement, rivalry, charm and sight-gags. There is not any fan service of any type present, so male viewers will probably come away disappointed. It may be surprising for long time Kaleido Star fans to witness Sora have to struggle to a large degree in this new series. In prior seasons, Sora did always seem to finish on top. I think this humanizes her character more and gives the series some needed depth.
The animation is beautiful and the character designs exquisitely detailed and uber cute. There is a bit of computer animation utilized but it is seamlessly meshed with the hand drawn animation segments.
While sugary cute anime series are not my cup of tea, I am sure that there are plenty of anime fans that will simply adore Kaleido Star: New Wings Volume 1: Eclipse of the Star and can?t wait to get this disc into the player and watch little Sora try to achieve her dreams.
7/10
The Video
Kaleido Star: New Wings Volume 1: Eclipse of the Star is presented in the original full frame aspect ratio. The colors are absolutely brilliant and I did not notice any instances of grain or artifacts. All things considered, a great job by ADV Films.
8/10
The Audio
Kaleido Star: New Wings Volume 1: Eclipse of the Star is presented with a choice of the original Japanese language track in Dolby Digital 2.0 with optional English Subtitles or in a English language track presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The language is crystal clear in both options and mixed well with the soundtrack.
8/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features
Kaleido Star: New Wings Volume 1: Eclipse of the Star is presented in a standard amaray case with artwork suited to the series presented.
A few nice bonus features await the Kaleido Star fan. Day With a Kaleido Star is a featurette that follows a day in the life of voice actress Serena Varghese. Kaleido Star fans will see Varghese spend a day a school before heading over to the studio to provide the voice for the character Rosetta.
Rounding out the selection of bonus features are production sketches, clean opening animation, clean closing animation, and previews of upcoming ADV Films releases.
While not the most substantial offering of bonus material, the ones that are present are pleasing.
Posted on Monday, February 13, 2006 (Archive on Monday, March 13, 2006)