Three short tales of henati action across the spectrum.
What They Say:
Hentai Heaven Collection 4 contains Invasion of the Ballbusters, Green Eyes, and Dishonor Student.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this series brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo as well as the new English language dub, both of which are PCM produced. The show is fairly standard material for hentai shows in that it’s dialogue/moan driven and works the full feeling without a lot in the way of directionality. Not that it needs it since it tends to be pretty focused. There’s not a lot to it outside of these moments since there’s no “action” in the traditional sense and the focus is mostly just on the two main characters and their interactions through dialogue and copious amounts of sex. These are well played though and achieves the results it wants.
Video:
Originally released in 2007 and 2008, the transfer for the three OVA series are presented in their original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. Animated by Bootleg, the show has a pretty good look overall with its designs and animation with some good detail and some very fluid sequences. Most of it is fairly standard in style and quality though, which means it at least avoids the very low rent designs that we get with some hentai from time to time. The transfer captures the look of things well with clean lines, solid colors, and some good pop throughout. The detail where it stands out is pretty good, especially in some of the clothing choices from time to time, and seeing it in high definition definitely gives it a nice boost in terms of color quality and vibrancy.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release comes in a standard sized Blu-ray case where the front cover goes for a nice breakout of the three shows with the layout so you get a good sense of them. It’s one that places them side by side, which is just a touch awkward when you look at it more closely, but a first glance approach has it looking good. There’s a nice collage of subdued shots from the show filtered behind each of them to give it a little more detail as it’s set against the somewhat thematic coloring. I like the character designs so they’re appealing here, though the font for the collection name doesn’t do much for me. Each is listed with their individual titles on the front cover as well, which is really nice. The back cover does a fifty/fifty split where we get a smaller version of the usual covers. The logos are along the top and we get a decent little summary of the premise, the extras, and even good shots from the show. Production credits are easy to read and the technical grid along the bottom breaks out the disc as a whole with how it’s put together. No show related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Menu:
The menu design for this release works pretty nicely with how it has to handle three distinct properties with it. The main menu that we get is similar to the idea of the cover where we get the three properties side by side but using the full unzoomed and uncensored imagery. We get to select which show we want and within that submenu it has the fuller image there and the standard navigation and setup for the shows as well as the extras. It’s done with good colors and an eye for design that works as the artwork and everything complement each other well. The layout does allow for moving to the other OVA easily as well which is a big plus. I definitely like it since it lets us have more artwork and each show get a distinctive menu and section of it.
Extras:
None.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
One of the best things about hentai in the last few years is the growing accessibility of it for fans that gets us past the usual hardcore/violent material that had dominated for so long. Getting to see so much more romantic material, comedy material, relationship material, in the manga side of it has certainly reminded that there’s a lot more to what’s out there. The anime side doesn’t produce this kind of show as often as one would like, and getting them brought over is even harder, but having been a fan of hentai since the 80’s, well, getting some fun material that doesn’t involved evil men dominating their partners is welcome. I’ve no problem with that kind of material – we’ve reviewed a metric ton of it over the years – but this kind is what I find more appealing.
Dishonor Student:
This story is a frustrating one on a few levels but it all plays into the poor way Japan handles gay and lesbian relationships and views. The story focuses on Yoko, an honor student at a school who has been called in by the principal to explain the pictures that surfaced of her being intimate with another woman. Well, they don’t really want an explanation but rather for her to try and make up for it by becoming a sex slave to a group of adults. The bulk of the episode focuses on her getting the treatment of a plaything by the guys who torment her but generally don’t go in a depraved direction. The problem is that they basically screw the lesbian out of her and it even ends with her saying that she’s no longer a man-hating woman, which is just one of the worst stereotypes. The best way to watch it is without subtitles if you just want to enjoy a little domination hentai and ignore the actual story elements.
Green Eyes:
Based on the manga short by Yuzuki N’, this episode is a fun one if you discount the whole brother/sister thing. It focuses on Makabe and her younger brother Haruto. She’s the beautiful and confident type who has enjoyed tormenting him with chores and things for a long time. But now she’s taken to messing with him sexually and enjoying the power she holds over him, no matter how much he resists. She’s at least creative in what she does without his consent, just grabbing at him or taking advantage of him while he sleeps, but he feels powerless against her and continues with everything. When it goes from all the simple things to full on sex, it shows just how well she’s manipulated him into this and just how much she craves. It’s a really well animated and designed work with distinctive designs and colors that really makes it work better than it should. Coming from manga also helps a lot with the structure and flow of it.
Invasion of the Ball Busters:
The final story here, coming in at twenty-one minutes, comes from an erotic game with at least something a little different. It’s your standard near future where something has happened, mainly where something has happened – this time a virus – that has turned the women of the world into sex hungry types. This mostly just gives us a range of women that are going at it hungrily but it’s problematic because the animation is so bad. The designs themselves aren’t bad but it often employs that stretching to simulate motion -especially in faces – and it looks terrible. There’s some fun in that you get women that are not infected and men trying to stay out of their grasp because of how badly it all impacts them since they’re just abused to hell. But at the same time, the women are all talking and normal beyond the craving of sex which feels weird because you get the sense that it should just have them in an almost-zombie-like state. Overall, the real problem here is the bad animation as it’s little better than some early ‘00s cutscene stuff.
In Summary:
While problematic content tends to not bother me all that much and little here just makes me go ew, simply because of exposure to so much for so many years, there are things that will make others cringe. I really liked Green Eyes for the animation and how it worked some solid story. Dishonor Student is a fun little romp if you turn off the story. Invasion of the Ball Busters is just terrible animation with a story that could work but ends up falling apart all too easily. The high definition aspect definitely helps with the first two stories but just makes the third look even worse. But it’s a good varied work that could hit up some fetish side fans decently without going too far into the weeds.
Features:
Japanese 2.0 PCM Language, English 2.0 PCM Language, English Subtitles
Content Grade: C+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B-
Extras Grade: N/A
Released By: Kitty Media
Release Date: May 29th, 2018
MSRP: $39.99
Running Time: 126 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
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.
