Real Bout High School 1 - Enter the Samurai Girl

Anybody familiar with Japanese animation is also aware of its key elements. Giant robots, inter-dimensional rifts, large eyes, short skirts, bad English dubbing, hyper-kinetic fight sequences and meticulously rendered backgrounds. When it works, the results can be breathtaking (Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Neon Genesis), but even the better examples of anime still require the viewer to forgive some of its more unorthodox eccentricities. This volume of Real Bout High School features the first four episodes screened in Japan and where some of its more stylish predecessors still manage to hook the Western audience, this series may prove more of a stretch for those not already enamoured with the genre. At the same time, it is actually that same unapologetic, local style and use of traditional Japanese weaponry that gives this disc a fighting chance.

The story revolves around the Samurai Girl, Ryoko Mitsurugi. Ryoko attends Daimon High School, where disputes are settled by a K-Fight (for Kenka – or ‘streetfight’), an organised form of combat both sanctioned and supervised by the school board. Ryoko is the reigning champ with a record of 22-zip and faces the same rivalries and insecurities that most teenagers do (though most teenagers don’t sort their differences by cracking each other across the noggin with lengths of bamboo). Ryoko soon finds a mysterious pendant that transports her at the most inopportune times to - you guessed it - another dimension, where she must fight all manner of demons and sinister beasties.

The concept is serviceable to what they are trying to achieve which, it would seem, is to show as much leg and underwear during combat as possible. That’s fine if you have already worn out your special Kournikova edition of Ralph magazine but, sorry sports fans, it doesn’t necessarily make for entertainment. Where the plot is meaty enough to drive the story forward, you still need the characters to supply the gravy and make the whole experience worthwhile. Unfortunately, most of the combatants are brash and egotistical, or at the very least, soon become a little tiresome.

More of a challenge to the viewer is the minimalist nature of the animation itself. Still shots of characters are often utilised for dialogue while for motion, a foreground shot will often remain static while a simple motion blur appears behind. Add this to kooky character faces in place of legitimate humour, cutesy supporting characters and the biggest eyes this side of a Margaret Keane painting, and you have a very Japanese animation experience. Whether this is something that endears it to a western audience or alienates it is largely irrelevant because, let’s face it, Real Bout High School was never really aimed at us in the first place.

Real Bout High School ultimately contains many of the qualities that make anime a popular genre, but with little of the finesse that so often makes it shine.

One thing that this disc does bring to the party is a fine looking transfer. It is presented with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 (and so naturally is not 16:9 enhanced) which is standard for most animated series'. The picture quality on Real Bout High School is impressive indeed. The colours are as sharp and as vibrant as on any animation release I have seen while the picture suffers from little of the more common ailments such as aliasing and interlacing. The darker tones are shuriken sharp with the blacks in particular look deep enough to fall into. Overall, it is an impressive looking transfer that highlights why animation can be such a dazzling medium.

Real Bout High School is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and comes with a choice of both a Japanese and an English soundtrack. I found the Japanese preferable for viewing pleasure, but listened to an episode in English to give a balanced assessment and found both to be more than adequate for the task at hand. With a release of this type, sound effects (swishing swords and the dulcet tones of a bokken to the head) play a large part and in this case, are excellent. Obviously, where the English soundtrack is concerned, the dialogue synch is out of whack with the visuals and my Japanese is not sufficient enough to judge the other. Overall, the sound is of a high standard though and is balanced evenly over the two speakers with an occasional bass thump bringing the subwoofer to life.

For starters the menu system on Real Bout High School is set up to resemble a Tekken-style arcade game which is a nice touch and one that is executed very well indeed. The extras are accessed through the section entitled ‘Special Moves’.

Special End Corner – With so many discs providing so many extras of late, it has almost got to the point where we, the consumer, can pretty much take a stab at what to expect before the disc even hits the stores. I doubt though that anybody saw these ones coming. The ‘Special End Corner’ features four very entertaining and wonderfully pointless featurettes:

1. Voice actors, Ikue Kimura and Sakura Nagowa visit the beach! In full character costume! (1:30)
2. Ikue and Sakura have photographs taken for the jacket photo! Note: There is no jacket photo. (2:31)
3. Ikue and Sakura discuss the wonder that each day brings with two other voice actors! (2:30)
4 .Ikue and Sakura talk over the top of a hapless web-developer who eagerly tries to show off his work on the Real Bout High School website! (2:31)

Japanese TV Spots – Four very similar advertisements each weighing in at around 30 seconds and each ending with the same dialogue gem from our feisty heroine: ‘Would you like to be slashed by my sword?’ Um…

Outtakes – 1:52 worth of bloopers from the English voice actors. Don’t expect Pixar-type bloopers though, instead the animated figure just keeps on stuttering through the ‘performance’ while the wrong dialogue spews forth. If it weren’t so mirthful it would actually be quite disturbing.

Previews – Four trailers to upcoming releases. They are: Spirited Away, Arjuna, FLCL and GTO.

Credits – A single, static frame lets us know who is responsible.

I am sure that I am applauding these extras for all the wrong reasons, but applaud them I must.

If schoolgirl ninja are your thing (and if they are, perhaps you need to ask yourself some serious questions as to why?) you may want to look more in the direction of Blood: The Last Vampire for a more stylish and darker outing. Alternatively, if you appreciate the fight action of say, Dragonball Z (and once again you may want to enter into a little self-analysis here) then you may find that Real Bout High School is just the ticket.

If it is, and you’re over 16-years old, just don’t go around telling too many people, OK?