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written by Juice / photos by Juice
A big box
and a VERY limited edition gives you a basic overview of the Memories
LE coming from Taiwan. A large, impressive showpiece, it's time to dig
into one of the 300 copies of this set that exist worldwide.
This is a big box!
At 30cm x 30cm x 5cm it takes up a lot of space on your shelves.
It comes with a fairly thick cardboard shell that covers the guts
of the set. The front of the box has a full color, raised image
that is a collage of images and characters present in the movies
included. The beautiful artwork showcasing the different styles
of the movies look s wonderful in such a large format. The back of the box
lists the 3 episodes included, the titles in English. Two parts
of the back of the box have diecut holes in them, the top just showing
black when you look into them, but the bottom row of diecut holes
allows you to peer into the box and view mor estills taken from
the movie. This is a nice effect, since it makes the images appear
to have a 3D quality when glanced at. Interestingly, when
you pull out the box contained within the box, you realize that
the size of this set is really created to contain the large booklets
included. I'll go into more detail about those later in this review,
for the time being I'll focus on the box and DVDs. The actual DVD box
sits within a large, cardboard "container" box, that has
an cut out area for the DVD box to rest in. The title, "Memories",
is printed repeatedly across it. This box serves no purpose other
than to hold the actual DVD case.
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The DVD case itself is very nice, built out of thick, strong, hard board, it folds out using a hidden magnet as a clasp. It snaps shut well, and has a band with information on it the surrounds the bottom of the box. The cover of matches the cover of the outside box, as does the back. The interior has a line drawing sketch in it which serves as a nice background. To the right, both DVD cases rest snugly. |
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The two disc set is contained in two standard cases. One houses the movie
and it's episodes, the other is an extras disc. The movie disc has an
attractive pattern of verbiage following concentric circles around the
spindle hole. The extras disc pattern is more line art which matches the
extras cover.
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Two large booklets come with this set. The first is in a square format,
and has
beautiful, full color full bleed spreads throughout. Large, it is 29.5cm
x 29.5cm. It appears to go into detail about episode creation, ideas,
and structure. Images of the directors are included, making me believe
there are also interviews or comments by them included.
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The second book is also
large, but smaller than the first since it is not in a square format.
It also comes with full color, full bleed spreeds, but appears to focus
more so on the artwork and characters present in the movie and episodes.
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This is a very nice set, and the two booklets are a nice addition.
The big problem most collectors will have with this set is if they do
not speak Japanese or Chinese. The movie is in Japanese, with only Chinese
subtitles present. Both of the included booklets are in Japanese. It's
up to the collector whether they feel the price and collectability of
the set is worth having.
The movies are beautiful, each a work of art, but none of them are in English, making it difficult to comprehend exactly what is occurring. If you are an avid collector of limited DVDs, and don't mind that this set is not in English and can enjoy wonderful artwork and animation, than this set would be worth the pick up.
- Juice's Verdict -
- Build
Quality: 7 -
A well made box. The
only materials it is built from is cardboard and paper, but there are
no folds, dents, or creases. The only area of concern is the diecut holes
in the back, they tend to catch on the box when you are removing it which
will eventually lead to some wear and tear.
- Content
and Extras: 7 -
The two booklets are both very nice, but this set does not come
with any sort of LE certificate. If there is any numbering on the box
anywhere, I couldn't find it.
- Overall
Rating: 7 -
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