Lone Wolf and Cub 3: Baby Cart to Hades (DVD – AnimEigo)

This is AnimEigo’s licensed DVD release of the original, unedited and Japanese-language version of BABY CART TO HADES, the third film in producer Shintaro Katsu’s celebrated, six-volume LONE WOLF AND CUB film series. The U.S. distributor originally released this title in 2004 and has since repackaged it with all six films in a value-priced set called the LONE WOLF AND CUB DVD COLLECTOR’S EDITION BOX, as well as separately releasing the English-dubbed version re-titled as SHOGUN ASSASSIN 2: LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH.

British budget distrib Artsmagic previously released this film in the U.K. but their releases are substandard in quality which leads me to believe they’re also unlicensed and unworthy of purchase should you still find them available anywhere.

DVD cover and menu art are rather dull and unimpressive. The cover is too busy and lacks any eye-catching qualities to capture the artful and bold presentation of the film itself. At least the release delivers where it really counts.

AnimEigo’s print looks fabulous by DVD standards. Colors are strong. There is little degradation. The image is sharp and very little compression artifacts can be seen. It’s appreciated that the movie is in the 16×9 format for widescreen displays. Unfortunately, the picture size is not optimized to fill widescreen monitors and a thin black border still appears on either side.

Original two-channel Japanese audio is preserved in its original form.

Removable, color-coded English subtitles have been painstakingly translated by the distributor. Fourteen pages of program notes that appear on the disc attest to the amount of research that went into the translation.

Trailers – Original theatrical trailers (with optional English subtitles) are provided for SWORD OF VENGEANCE, BABY CART IN PERIL, WHITE HEAVEN IN HELL, and ZATOICHI AT LARGE.

Program Notes – Fourteen pages of program notes were generated from the process of research that went into the translation of the subtitles. As such, the notes focus on historical and cultural points of interest in relation to the movie, rather than providing film essays as is often the case with liner notes that accompany DVDs. The navigation for these pages is poorly authored and DVD-ROM users may have a hard time clicking on the arrows with a pointer because the hover links are not where they should be. A standard DVD setup with the remote control is recommended.

• Format: Region 1 NTSC DVD
• Aspect Ratio: 16:9 Widescreen (2.35:1)
• Audio: Japanese 2.0
• Subtitles: English
• Length: 89 minutes
• Release Date: 2004.05.11