DVD
Karas: The Revelation

Starring (voice): Asuka Shibuya, Kasumi Suzuki, Keiji Fujiwara and Toshihiro Wada
Manga Entertainment
RRP: £19.99
MANG5001
Certificate: 12
Available 22 October 2007


Demons have forever been with us, lurking in the shadows, kept at bay by the Karas. But humanity has forgotten the old wisdom and with this memory of the demons and the guardian Karas has faded. Now the lives of police officer Sagisaka, Otoha (a young man who has inherited the powers of a Karas) and Eko (a disenchanted Karas) are on collision course...

Karas: The Revelation is the second part of a six episode OVA directed by Keiichi Sato. To be truthful if you have not seen the first part the show is going to be very confusing, as this contains episodes four to six strung together to make a stand alone movie.

As they say... the story so far. Karas keep the peace but it is peace which Eko has decided to challenge by creating an army to destroy humanity, forcing a confrontation with the Karas.

The show contains some great animation, a lot of brooding and some great fight scenes, just don't expect it to make any sense without having watched part one, Karas the Prophecy.

In The Revelation things are coming to a head as Eko is finally ready to confront the Karas and unleashes his hordes on to Tokyo. Standing in his way of total domination is Otoha, who needs to overcome his own self doubt before he can be triumphant.

The show runs for nearly an hour and a half with a great print and a nice audio selection of audio options. You have the choice of either English or Japanese stereo, 5.1 or DTS, with subtitles. Both the English and Japanese voice actors do a good job, though I would have liked to have heard a more dynamic use of the rear speakers during the fight scenes.

The disc comes with a reasonable set of extras. In the Voice-over Booth (22 min 14 sec) looks at the production of the English dub track, which goes to show that it's not just a case of turning up and saying your lines - these people actually seem to care about their performance. Rough Cut Excerpt (27 min 37 Sec) shows various early versions of the 3D and 2D animation. On top of those two good offerings you get a self playing gallery with around twenty static shots from the show and the original theatrical trailer.

Overall a great show which makes almost no sense without part one, perhaps the distributors should have offered it up as a two disc box set.

Charles Packer

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£18.74 (Amazon.co.uk)
   
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£14.99 (Play.com)
   
£11.99 (HMV.co.uk)
   
£13.43 (Asda.co.uk)
   
£13.43 (Thehut.com)

All prices correct at time of going to press.