Mixing together a plot that makes almost no sense and several scenes of very disturbing sexual encounters, A Time to Screw provides more revulsion than anything else.What They Say
What They Say
“There was no time here… until you brought it with you.”
A young man wakes up in an old mansion, isolated among high, snow-topped peaks. The maids tell him that he was carried there after hitting his head, but he doesn’t remember a thing. Since he arrived, the old grandfather clock has begun to work again, for the first time since anyone can remember. When the clock strikes twelve, the maids are overcome with irresistible desire, and all manner of orgies and bizarre sex acts fill the mansion.
The Review!
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language track and English language dub in stereo encoded at 192kbps. We tried listening to it in English but the adaptation is anything but as it radically rewrites so many scenes in ways that make it almost incomprehensible. The stereo mix for both tracks is decent but there isn’t much to it since it’s just all dialogue or background music. The music does come across well but that’s likely owed more to the score itself than the mixing. Dialogue is clean and clear throughout ” including a couple of bleeps on the Japanese track for words that you still can’t say even on video ” and we didn’t have any dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally released in 2005, the transfer for this two part OVA release is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio. The materials for this are in very good shape and the authoring for it is pretty good but some of the source problems, notably color gradients, tend to look pretty strong here. Some scenes aren’t all that good, though, such as some of the early ones where it shows all the lights going on as you can see a good deal of fuzziness to it. The show, in general, has a bit of a soft feel to it which looks like grain. Reds show a fair bit of chroma noise as well, from the episode title to pans across the control panels. The show does seem to be free of cross coloration though and there wasn’t much in the way of noticeable aliasing.
Packaging:
Adult releases continue to have some of the best-looking covers out there and this release is no exception. With a very soft color palette for the background, the main image is that of Kasumi in her maid outfit laying down and feeling a bit hot and bothered by everything. Some of the other maids show up along the edges but the focus is definitely on the attractive Kasumi. The back cover highlights a number of women from the show but the focus is strongly on Kasumi again and the collage is nicely put together. The summary inside of the oval explains more of what’s going on than the show itself does and is followed by the basic production information. The technical grid lays out all the information that you need to know about the show in a very easy to read form. No insert or reversible cover is included with this release.
Menu:
The menu layout uses a portion of the character artwork from the back cover with an upper body shot of Kasumi in her maid outfit looking all wistful and longing. With the soft background colors that have the faded imagery of clock hands along with the instrumental music, it’s a very good looking piece that comes together well even if it is simple. With little on the disc beyond the show and trailers for other releases, the navigation is quick and effective as well as problem free. The disc didn’t read our players’ language presets though and played with English language and sign/song subtitles. Someday hopefully they’ll learn to actually label their subtitle tracks instead of leaving them blank.
Extras:
None.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The more I see titles from Discovery, the less I want to see titles from Discovery. The titles that they’re involved with tend to be along the more extreme end of things and A Time to Screw is no exception to that. Even worse, the show seems so incredibly muddled in its presentation of the already paper thin plot that you’re left scratching your head at that as well.
The show revolves around an isolated mansion that’s apparently out in the mountains and very difficult to get to. Lots of attractive young women serve as maids there and work about the house in very good looking outfits that aren’t all that sexual compared to many others. The house seems to be run by a man who lurks in the shadows of it and watches everything that goes on, as well as an older woman in a wheelchair. A strange young man was apparently rescued and brought into the house. All the maids are a twitter over it though their loyalty still lies completely with the mansions owner, Setsuya.
Everything changes quickly though when the chained up grandfather clock in the mansion goes off thirteen times. This is something of a legend within the household that is now a reality as once it happens, everyone inside it is overcome with sexual urges. This has maids that are doing their usual chores suddenly having to pleasure themselves, be it together or alone. This leads to scenes where two of them are going at it on a pool table as well as some having to take care of their need with the broom that they have. The young man that was brought in is apparently Setsuya’s brother and there’s some deep seated issue between the two men, so much so that Setsuya puts him to task in some cruel sexual ways.
Setsuya’s plan to punish his brother is the main plot point here which is weak in itself and essentially meaningless. The sex scenes throughout the show, while interesting at times, don’t have any real sense of connection other than something that’s just happening. None of the maids really have any personality to them outside of Kasumi who seems to be able to get close to the men, and the headmistress Aoi who gains a bit more character because she’s in a wheelchair. The sex scenes mostly tend to turn to the more disturbing side that goes beyond the obvious nonconsensual nature of it all. There’s a bit of scatological material which is just cringe inducing for me but there’s also a really weird and, well, gross sequence where near delirious male is covered with cut up vegetables and then messed around with.
In Summary:
In watching the show twice, I’m not really sure what the creators were seeking to do with this. For quite awhile now most of the shows that have been picked up have moved away from the more extreme material which is a welcome trend but a few of these still make it over and this is a good example of one. Where it does fail though is that the plot that they use to hold it all together is so poorly executed that you’re just left dumbfounded. If you like the extreme material, you’ll likely be able to look beyond the plot. But if you’re not into the extreme material, this will be a very hard show to get through.
Features
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 2.0 Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: D
Audio Grade:
Video Grade: B-
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: N/A
Released By: Kitty Media
Release Date: December 5th, 2006
MSRP: $29.95
Running Time: 60 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
