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Page 5 - Reviews ANIMEfringe: April 2000 - Page 6 Page 7 - Review 2
Nazca Vol. 2 - Blood Rivals

Review by: Adam "OMEGA" Arnold

Kyoji Miura is the reincarnated Incan soul of Bilka, his rival trying to unleash the power of Iriyatesse on the world is Masanari Tate who is the reincarnated soul of Yawara. Yuka Kiritake was engaged to Tate until all this insanity started, she is the reincarnated priests known as Aquira. The pale skinned Shinri Shiogami houses the insane soul of Jigumi, and Tatsuko Yanagiham is Shinri's half-sister who is the reincarnated soul of Elela. Elela was in love with Kamaros who is know housed in the body of mountain climber, Takumaro Dan. The weak Keita Seino is somehow houses the soul of Amaro and is somehow in tune with the earth, and his rival is Shinri Shiogami who is the reincarnated soul of the treacherous priest Jigumi. Eight eternal souls all brought together to either bring about Iriyatesse or try to stop it from being unleashed on the world.

When we last left the band of reincarnated Incan souls, Kyoji was seemingly killed. But, Kyoji searches his soul, finds his true mission and a reason to live. Through it all three more sleeping souls are awakened in Dan, Seino, and Tatsuko on the eve of Tate's trial run at bringing Iriyatesse to the world. Tens of thousands of lives are lost in a matter of seconds as a small town at the base of Mt. Asuma is pounded into the ground by the mysterious power. Now, the sides are drawn and the first no-holds-bar battle begins.

The dub for this volume is more of the same as the English voices get more in tune with their individual characters and personalities. Thom Adcox as Shiogami and Victoria Fang as Tatsuko are probably the most standout of all the voice actors because they bring such emotion and true sense of feeling to the scenes they present. On the other hand, Dean Shelton, who voices the wimpy Seino, makes the character seem like even more of a childish and insecure and at times annoying. I found myself actually rooting for Daimon when he battled Seino in episode six. One thing really interesting about the subtitled version and the dub rewrite is that they a virtually 95% different. They present the same message, but at times the dub presents the feeling of a scene better than the subtitled version such as the case in the scene where Tatsuko awakens her sleeping soul.

The DVD release features the standard fair of Pioneer features, but one thing makes this release stand out more than the others. The ‘extra stuff' that the DVD features is none other than the super deformed Nazca manga featuring hilarious alternate takes at key points in the early episodes. The first ten paneled Mini Manga is called ‘It's Inca! Now Everyone Reincarnate!' and the second nine paneled Mini Manga is called ‘We Are The Reincarnated Souls.' Pioneer seems to of taken the mistakes they made with the comics they scanned for the Tenchi-Muyo! Ultimate DVD Collection and fixed all their errors. The Mini Manga by Dr. Morrow and Studio Kotobuki is presented in a panel-a-page format that gives easy navigation and reading. It is a rare treat for anime fans to see such things as these manga shorts translated officially. And the future volumes are expected to have the continuation of these shorts as well.

Let's hope the next two volumes are even more enjoyable than this one. On a side note, maybe a future episode of Fox's Malcolm In The Middle will feature the kids watching Nazca since Shiogami appears for a second in the opening credits. Overall another excellent volume from the guys at New Generation Pictures and Pioneer.

Review Info File
Title:
Nazca Vol. 2 - Blood Rivals
Format:
VHS Dub/Sub, Bilingual DVD
Production:
Pioneer LDC
Kadokawa Shoten
Genco
Radix
New Generation Pictures
Rating:
A-
Comments:
This volume takes the plots presented in the first one and expounds on them, but be sure you pick up the first volume of Nazca: Blades of Fate so you won't be lost.
Page 5 - Reviews ANIMEfringe: April 2000 - Page 6 Page 7 - Review 2
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