Review by Dan

Image is indeed new, but due to scanner noise, a fact brought to my attention by another user, detail can become lost depending on the scene; the original Jewel Case actually has superior PQ in these instances. That being said, Jewel Box is HD (DVD), and the fresh colors, along with the updated 5.1 which is now lossless, makes 2008 a marked improvement. There are a couple moments where video seems to down-convert though; think Do You Remember Love's DVD remaster and its incorporation of Flashback 2012. When Rumi and Tadokoro are together discussing a recurring role for Mima, a couple shots appear this way, and the hallucination of Mima dancing with her former band mates; very cool.

Image is new, but due to near constant color banding, which is even more apparent on the digital version, as well as the mist/haze, PQ's identical to (R2) DVD. What looks to be burn/scorch marks haven't been resolved either, and appear as they did before. Shame, because despite the dreary environments, there really isn't a bad looking instance; animation's good like any other, but Saya's fight with the chiropteran inside the hanger, and everything thereafter (and before) is still plagued with distractions. Audio goes without saying, but if you've seen/own the original Japanese DVD, expect the exact same issues.

Jaw-dropping image and detail, with a beautiful 5.1 sound. You also get the TrueHD animation like you do the DTS on Blood's Blu-ray, which is nice. No subtitles though, unlike DVD which did.

A neo-noir style color palette that gives it a great retro look, coupled with a stellar DTS track. And other than some color banding, PQ's superb.