This release is so not meant for me.
What They Say:
What’s better than a concert by one of your favorite singing groups? A concert by three of your favorite singing groups, of course! That’s what lucky fans get when three of the most popular vocal groups from the *UTANO*PRINCESAMA franchise all come together for a single epic motion picture performance. Have you got your tickets yet? If you have, come join ST*RISH, QUARTET NIGHT, and HE*VENS as they all take to the stage! It’s an epic battle of the bands where there’s no battle and everyone wins!
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us only the original Japanese language track in 5.1 using the DTS-HD MA lossless codec. Given that it was a big theatrical project, the 5.1 mix works the music really well and the whole thing comes alive beautifully for fans to enjoy with so many songs and options for it.The strong musical performances in both the vocals and instrumentals really allows it to shine with the format used. There’s a real warmth and richness to the musical moments that you find yourself really appreciating the differences between a 4.8 Mbps lossless track and a 192kbps Dolby Digital track. Dialogue is generally well done here as it’s mostly just the cast standing around talking with some emotional moments. Everything comes across clean and clear and has a strong finished feeling to it that’s free of dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally in theaters during summer 2019, the transfer for this feature film is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. Animated by A-1 Pictures, it has a really striking look to it overall with what it offers with the detail of the characters and their designs and the fluidity of the animation in the big dance and song numbers. Essentially, we get all the strengths of the already strong performances from the TV show and it’s placed on this larger theatrical canvas where it can go bigger and longer. There’s a distinctive look to the character designs and their colors with the eyes, which can be disconcerting at first, but the whole thing is just striking from top to bottom and the transfer captures it beautifully. The content of the show is something that may not be to a lot of general fans liking, but A-1 Pictures put in a top-notch effort here and the payoff is definitely strong with what we get as it’s a beautiful looking film.
Packaging:
The packaging for this release comes in a standard-sized Blu-ray case where the cover artwork uses the main key visual that was the theatrical poster I believe showing off the expansive cast together in the stage elements from the film. They’re all done in really detailed costumes and it’s just detail upon detail upon detail. It’s not garish but it’s so busy and close together that it really draws the eye to different areas without a lot of focus. The logo along the lower left is nicely done with the kingdom element incorporated into it which I like a lot. The back cover uses mostly the same colors as past releases with whites and blues and a few other vibrant areas. The shots from the show round out both sides with a good look to them and we get a decent premise that dominates the center aspect of it while not giving away too much. The production credits cover both sides of the equation well and the technical grid lists all the details accurately and cleanly. No show related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover.
Extras:
The extras are all kept to a third disc where we get a lot of stuff to dig into. The basics are here with the TV spots and the Japanese promos used to highlight the film’s release. The next is the Dancer’s Choreography segment which is broken down into several segments (but NO play-all feature, which is frustrating) to show the recording sessions for the songs in how the dance element was recorded and captured. We also get a short but fun band comments video that comes in at about four minutes as the voice actors/singers talk about the film. There’s also a ten-minute “opening announcements” piece that’s done from several different live events and sets the stage for them.
It’s hard to believe but I’ve been watching the Uta no Prince-sama franchise for nearly a decade. Back when the first season came out in the summer 2011 period, that was a time when I was watching and reviewing close to twenty simulcasts in order to provide a lot of fresh coverage. I had enjoyed the show, especially the designs, and appreciated what went into the creation of it all. That and the following three seasons all played to episodic storytelling that really did some fun stuff in showcasing the guys and the challenges they faced while giving Haruka a good role in all of their development as the muse of sorts. Each piece built well and when other groups and characters were introduced it served well to create this larger competitive environment but one where they reached a skill level that they could also really appreciate what the other groups were doing, and how it drove them to be better.
With the fourth season out in 2016, a big project was put forward with the 2019 film Uta no Prince-sama: Maji Love Kingdom, which is what we get here. The 84-minute feature made about $16 million in theatrical tickets in Japan and sold buckets and buckets of merchandise and CDs and home video releases after the fact. The film also got Sentai Filmworks to do a one-night theatrical event in the US for it, which was really surprising since none of this was ever dubbed before and this was going to be a subtitled-only event. But there is a strong if small fanbase for this in the US and that they were given a chance to see this on a big screen must have been magical. I’ve not seen a budget for the film but like the TV show, you can see every penny of the production there on the screen and that is no exception here.
It’s absolutely bloody gorgeous.
Which is why I wish I actually liked it. As much as I enjoyed the TV seasons over the years, the actual musical performance parts were the weakest for me because this style of music simply doesn’t work for me and hasn’t for some time. I’m not the target audience and I don’t fall into it – one of my daughters is a huge fan, however. The film spends its time like a typical concert of this nature where the group takes time between a couple of songs to talk to the audience about different things and having watched enough k-pop concerts with my daughter and how they operate, this is enjoyable for the fans but is largely fluffy meaninglessness to anyone else. I had hoped it might tie into the prior TV series material in some ways and perhaps a few lines here and there do, but by and large, this is all about the concert performance itself.
The release really does deliver well. The first disc has the film plus the three different encore sequences to it that run just about four minutes each. The second disc is a karaoke version of the film which does the songs up with the scrolling color for it in its Japanese form and makes it very easy to roll along with and enjoy. The regular dialogue is done up as normal so you can still enjoy that part as well. And while I do wonder if the third disc of extras could have been slid onto one of the other discs, they do include some fun things and they’re welcome extras.
In Summary:
Honestly, I can’t bring myself to grade the film in terms of story or content because it’s just not my thing and I can’t honestly say it’s bad; it’s just not for me. I will honestly say that it’s an absolutely beautiful film in terms of the visuals, the dance routines are fantastic in how they’re done and the animation/capture aspect of it with the costume design just takes it to a whole other level. Fans of the franchise basically get a great series of performances by their favorite singers delivered in beautiful quality. Sentai’s release delivers on that even more so with a karaoke version and some really solid extras to beef it up. This is an A+ release for every fan that enjoys the actual song and dance aspect of this franchise – which is the majority of them – and I can’t recommend it enough to them. It’s just not for me.
Features:
Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Karaoke Version of All Star, ST*RISH, QUARTET NIGHT, and HE*VENS; Japanese TV Spots & Promos; Dancers’ Choreography; Band Comments; and Opening Announcements.
Content Grade: N/A
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B-
Released By: Sentai Filmworks
Release Date: July 7th, 2020
MSRP: $29.98
Running Time: 87 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
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.