The newest teacher in the school discovers that she’s the actual assignment.
What They Say:
When the new professor arrives, her lesson plan is filled with debased acts and sinful examinations! The only way to get some extra credit is to volunteer for some hands-on learning. It’s Debauchery 101 as this insatiable instructor satisfies her thirst for knowledge with the eager student body.
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this release brings us the original Japanese language track in stereo as well as the previously created English language mix, both of which are encoded at 192kbps. Like most hentai shows, there isn’t a lot in the way of very noticeable directionality across the forward soundstage in this stereo mix but overall it sounds good and pretty much problem free. Dialogue is generally well placed when needed but for the most part it has a full soundstage feeling to it. The mixes for the release are both clean and clear throughout and we didn’t have any problems with dropouts or distortions during regular playback.
Video:
Originally released in 2002, the transfer for this two part OVA is presented in its original full frame aspect ratio. This release is essentially identical to the previous release by Anime 18 in 2004 as the disc has not had its encoding changed at all, it’s simply a repressing with a new package. Colors are nicely solid and free of any overly noticeable macroblocking. There are some scenes where there’s a bit more softness to things than elsewhere but it looks more like a style choice than an authoring issue. Cross coloration is a bit more noticeable this time around with the equipment with have while aliasing is mostly non-existent throughout the two episodes. Some of the mid-range character shots tend to be less detailed than other scenes, particularly the faces.
Packaging:
The Critical Mass edition of this release is the same for the front cover, though it makes out better by removing all the large extraneous text from the 2004 release and going with just the character artwork and the logo. The fully colored piece that draws the attention here is very well detailed and uses some great colors to go with the attractive character design. Thankfully her breasts aren’t as massive in the show itself as they give indication here since they look like balloons. The back cover provides another shot of her from above as she’s laying down while mixing in a pair of film strips across her that showcases some rather juicy scenes from the show itself. The summary is very minimal, which mirrors the plot pretty well, and has a good clean listing of the discs features underneath it. The technical grid is straightforward and easy to read with useful and accurate information. No show related inserts are included nor is there a reversible cover..
Menu:
The menu layout is well done with a close-up of the character art from the first cover floating across the screen as animation from the show plays behind it but in dark muted colors set to a brief bit of creepy music. The layout looks good and adds some character to the show with its font and overall look. Access times are nice and fast and the layout easy to navigate but our players preset languages were ignored and it defaulted to English language only.
Extras:
The extras for this release are pretty simple and expected as we get a brief video art gallery showcasing pieces from both episodes.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Xtra Credit takes us back to the classroom where things just aren’t like they were at my school. Or at least I don’t think it was, though I would essentially be the most minor of background characters in such a situation. Which may not be a bad thing when I think back and remember most of my teachers and realize that it’s probably a good thing. With this particular show, we see an area where the after school lesson plans are devised more by the students than the teachers but everyone makes out in the end.
The story moves very simply as we’re initially given to the lovely Professor named Keiko. She’s something of the Madonna of the school and the subject of many schoolboy dreams. Her time is close to being over though as a new Professor has just started named Miyuki. Seeing her position being threatened, she brings Miyuki, a nervous and quiet teacher, to her home where she intends to ensure that she’ll remain the dominant one by having the boys she gives her private lessons to take Miyuki down a few notches, making her easier to control. One of the boys, Koh, only has interest in Miyuki which suits Keiko’s plans for some time until he becomes a bit more trouble than she expected.
Throughout the show we watch as Miyuki becomes more and more subjugated by what she’s experiencing as it gets nastier and nastier, from scat to bondage. She even gets the worse thing possible: ugly old guys. Even worse, ugly old guy with warts? there. These scenes are worse than some of the scatological ones since the old guys are just creepy. There’s a sequence where the vice principal is having his way with her and his thinned out head with the glasses on just looks like a suckerfish going to town on her breast. Some things just aren’t right.
The show goes on with Miyuki becoming more and more desirable by the crowd that’s involved in all of this while Keiko’s start shines just a bit less. Miyuki ends up becoming involved in some much higher level sessions with faculty and more, leading her into a mental spiral that proves to be her undoing. With the heavy emphasis on domination here, the show plays up the aspects that are key to such things without going too far over my perceived line. The scat is actually fairly well for the most part, though still there, and the bondage isn’t too much in general. But it’s the mental control aspect where the lead becomes less and less human and more like a breathing doll that gets to be too much in some ways. The character designs for the show are decent for the women but once more the men look awful in a lot of them. Especially the old guys. There are some things I just don’t need to see.
In Summary:
Xtra Credit didn’t earn much with me beyond an average grade the first time around about a decade ago and it didn’t improve much when I saw the previous release in 2009. Visiting it now five years after that, well, you can pretty much see that it’s working a particular angle that a lot of hentai does, or least in the land of licensed titles. It’s not something that’s all that enticing, the sex wasn’t all that great and while there are some nice designs on the cover and the basics look good, it didn’t hold up throughout the show. Add in gobs and gobs of ugly men throughout it and it’s just not worth spending too much time with. And in the end, it’s just not worth spending a whole lot of time talking about either. There’s far better school/bondage material out there that works much better than this.
Features:
Japanese 2.0 Language, English 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Art Gallery
Content Grade: C+
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: C+
Packaging Grade: B
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: C+
Released By: Critical Mass Video
Release Date: October 7th, 2014
MSRP: $14.99
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.
