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DVD Reviews: King of Bandit Jing


The Final Say!

Review Score
7.5/10
Extras
5/10
Reviewed by Sacha Chambers
Review Date: May 2004
Distributed by:
The AV Channel
Running Time: 100 minutes

 

 

 

 

King of Bandit Jing is a fantastic series. It has plenty of funky color, whacky irreverent plots, engaging action scenes and fast paced story lines.

This series is simple and inspiring on initial viewing, which given its PG rating, indicates kids are the primary audience. However, there is enough humor and adult references to keep parents or traditional Manga fans as happy watching this, as the kids will be. A prime example of the adult humor is the relationship between the main character Jing, (King of Bandits) and his side kick Kir, a talking bird. Their main attack on foes is to throw a green power ball from Kir's throat called "Kir Royale", an alcoholic drink for those who remember. Also Kir's penchant for women is amusing to say the least, as clearly the humorous notion of interspecies love would be lost on younger audiences.

This DVD has four episodes on it, Capital of Thieves, The Ghost Ship of Blue Hawaii, The Adonis Capital of Time Pt 1 and Pt 11.

Capital of Thieves is the introductory story which establishes the relationship between Jing and Kir. Jing is the unflappable, ever lovable, righteous, serenely intelligent young boy, who is King of the Bandits. This a secret to the people Jing meets, which he uses to his advantage at all times. The underlying motive behind this is so Jing can get what he wants, help who he can on the way, and the still ride off into the sunset as the honorable thief.

Kir, is a talking bird with only one thing on his mind, human female attention. His purpose is comic relief, companionship and the provision of the "Kir Royale". They wonder through strange landscapes fighting evil, looking good, with a minimal of overt violence and always coming off with goods.

The Ghost Ship of Blue Hawaii tells the tale of a ghost ship haunting a sea side town and how Jing and Kir overcome it. My favourite part of this DVD is when a Piggy Bank monster is apparently killed and then regenerates as all coins in the area flow into his body. His comment to Jing as he prepares to fight again is corny but you have to laugh: "You'll witness my true power when I combine all of my savings. And now I think you can pay me back what you owe me... with interest!! To which Jing replies, "you're nothing but pocket change?.."

The final two series deal with a town enslaved by the purported demon of time and how the people are executed for the modest crime of being late.

This was actually a two part series and displays for the first time a Jing that isn't on top of the situation. Unsurprisingly, Jing prevails and he gets the booty he was chasing all along.

A little quirk I picked up was the inclusion of a crazed smiley face in each episode. If you are going to look for it, it's on the front DVD cover in the middle of the clock.

As I stated earlier, King of Bandit Jing is a fantastic series, one that is well worth your time and money.

Video

4:3 Frame ratio. King of Bandit Jing display clean vivid colors, which get exponentially better the larger the viewing screen. It's the sort of eye candy animation style that kids of all ages will thrive on. To illustrate the point, at almost all times the main protagonists will keep their colors, despite the environmental conditions. This is unashamedly deliberate and works very very well.

Audio

English 5.1 with and without subtitles
Japanese 2.0 with English subtitles
The English translation was quite average, with a lot of voices doing what I can only describe as "overacting". Also the translation wasn't checked quite thoroughly with obvious mistakes. The worst being in the first episode where a lizard-bird is referred to as him, when clearly it lays eggs and is called her only a few sentences later. Watch the Japanese version otherwise you are doing the DVD a disservice

Extras

Very cool cover, which may not sound like much, but a good cover is hard to find, and ultimately if you don't know anything and are browsing a good cover will catch your eye.

-Creditless openings and closing,

-Trailers- the previews for angelic layer, Chance pop season, Nadesico series and the impressive looking Voices of a Distant Star.

-Production sketches- only a few sketches not worth looking at -DVD credits

   

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