Dirty Pair: The Original TV Series, Pt. 1 DVD Collection Review

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(More customer reviews)I just received Dirty Pair: The Original TV Series, Pt. 1 DVD Collection and viewed quite a bit to write up this review.
There was a time a few years ago where if you asked me if it would ever be possible that Dirty Pair TV would see release in the US, I would have given you a flat "no." With the market being in a state of flux, it seems even some of the same series we never expected to have official DVD releases for (Fist of the North Star, Dirty Pair, etc) are actually coming out. This makes me happy as a fan of older classics that deserve proper releases.
The story: Kei and Yuki are best described as intergalactic private eyes working for the World Welfare Works Association. Their codename is "Lovely Angels" but the rest of the galaxy refers to them as the "Dirty Pair." You see, their job is to resolve intergalactic problems that the WWWA assigns them. This doesn't tend to be a problem. The reason they are known as the "Dirty Pair" is because what generally follows in one of the "successful" missions is that the problem is resolved but more often than not their is some catastrophe that occurs through... questionable coincidences and happenstance. Because of these coincidences, the team's catch phrase is always "It's not our fault!" and thus they are known galaxy wide as the "Dirty Pair."
Video:
I'm slightly disappointed in the video on this one.
It turns out that the video is interlaced, not progressive. Fist of the North Star: TV Series 1 (6pc) (Full) sets a bar quite high for video quality on a budget release of an 80s era Anime classic. The video on FotNS is progressive and I don't think Dirty Pair has hit the bar.
Is this a problem? The answer is; it depends on where you are viewing the discs. If you are watching using a decent DVD player that does upscaling of video on an HD TV, it probably is a super non-issue for you. If you're watching on a non-progressive capable SDTV, you won't have any issues with the video at all being interlaced. If you're watching on a computer, as I spot checked it on, your mileage will vary unless your hardware/software can upscale video.
That being said, in the large amount of time I spent watching Dirty Pair TV on my HD TV using a nice upscaling DVD player, I didn't notice any issues personally.
So how is the encode/authoring? In motion I didn't notice any blocking or compression issues. The encode itself, while interlaced, looks very good.
As far the quality of the animation/on screen image, I believe the video had been remastered by Bandai Visual in Japan from the original film elements. This remastered video appears to be what Rightstuf has used on this release and only rarely did I find any minor issue (maybe a speck of dust/dirt) to complain about, but over all for a series this old, the video quality is amazing. You won't be disappointed with the image quality.
Video- 3.5 stars
Audio:
You have a single audio choice here: spoken Japanese dialog.
The audio is encoded using Dolby Digital Stereo. Directionality is there, but given the age of the series don't expect to be "wowed" by the amazing stereo effects. Explosions sound decent and there are no pops or hisses to be heard.
Audio is solid.
Subtitles are typical yellow with white when two people are speaking in succession and the translation needs to be on screen at one time and, knowing only rudimentary Japanese, it looks, to me at least, that the translation is pretty accurate/faithful to what is being spoken.
On screen text that is in Japanese is translated using soft subtitles.
Opening/Ending credits are in Japanese. The lyrics are translated into English and also Romanji for viewers. Very nice!
Audio- 5 stars (accurately represents the original source IMO)
Extras:
A clean opening. That's the extent of real extras here. Also included are trailers for Dirty Pair TV part 2 and other Nozomi/Rightstuf catalog titles.
Pretty chintzy extras. I don't know what extras were on the original Japanese releases, so I'm not sure if there are any other Japanese extras to be had.
Extras- 1 star (pretty lacking)
Packaging:
One thing that I'm glad for, is that Rightstuf didn't take same budget Anime release route packaging Discotek did on Fist of the North Star: TV Series 1 (6pc) (Full). Rightstuf has provided a nice chipboard type cardboard box that houses 3 slim DVD cases, one for each disc.
Artwork on the box is quite nice and seems to be taken from high quality materials. The artwork on the covers of the individual cases appear to be nothing more than Photo Shop jobs of screen shots. They look nice, but pale in comparison to the artwork seen on the main box itself.
Disc art matches the cover of the cover art found in the individual slim cases.
Very nice for a budget release.
Packaging- 5 stars (comparing to budget releases, 3 stars compared to standard releases)Over all I am pleasantly surprised and highly pleased with this set. While the video could have been progressively encoded, I don't mind as my equipment, as most equipment purchased in the last 2-3 years will, mitigates most all of the video "problems."
If you're a fan of classic Anime, pick this one up. You won't regret it.

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Anime producer and distributor Right Stuf, Inc. and its Nozomi Entertainment division are pleased to announce the release of DIRTY PAIR: The Original TV Series, Part 1 DVD Collection. Kei and Yuri are operatives dispatched by the for-profit World Welfare Works Association to resolve crises throughout the universe. Their preferred codename may be ''Lovely Angels,'' but their on-the-job effectiveness, which is only rivaled by the path of destruction left in their wake, has earned them a very public, very unwanted nickname - the ''Dirty Pair.'' Includes episodes 1-13.DVD Features: Scene access, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo audio for Japanese dialogue, English subtitles and English on-screen translations. Plus: Clean opening, U.S. Part 2 trailer and Nozomi Entertainment trailers.

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