L/R: Licensed By Royalty Mission File 1: Deceptions (DVD)

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A novel feature in this show was the background music. Rather than synthesizer or orchestral pieces, there´s full vocal songs, in English (Engrish, if you like) no less. The songs are pretty much always allowed to play regardless of the action on the screen, which lends a nice music-video feel to it all. The only other anime show I remember doing this was FLCL (Fooly Cooly), which I also happened to enjoy.

Video:
The video aspect ratio is 1.33:1 (full-screen on 4:3 monitors). A recent release, this show doesn´t suffer from any encoding errors. However, I was a little disappointed by the colors. The color palette is pretty sparse, even on characters´ faces, which has the effect of making a lot of what you see appear to be two dimensional. Perhaps this was an area more money could have been spent on.

Audio:
You can watch the show in either Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo Japanese or DD 2.0 stereo English. There is an option for English subtitles. I watched it in Japanese with English subtitles. I didn´t hear any problems with the audio. The voice acting is pretty good, too, as far as I know.

Extras:
Despite being a new title, there are few extras. In fact, all there is are the opening and closing credits, once with the Japanese credits, and once without any credits at all. There are also some previews. As much as I´m always annoyed by companies calling their advertisements "extras", essentially saying that a commercial you paid for is added value, they´re kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. I´m one of those people who just can´t miss the previews before the movie, so it´s not like I´m not going to watch them. I just want them to be put somewhere other than the Extras section.

--Miscellaneous--
The DVD comes with a single-page, fold out, colored insert with chapter listings on one side. On the inside is a split panel manga (Japanese comics) style drawing of Jack and Rowe up close. It´s a little better than the usual chapter listing, nothing major.

Film Value:
"L/R" won´t change the way your friends look at anime, nor will it provoke any late night discussions. There´s no real detail to the characters, who come off as 2D as they look. Still, it´s not like this show aspires to be anything more than what it is, a decent spy-action series. In broken English, the show describes itself as being a "kiss kiss, bang bang" kind of show. Thanks to the internet, I´ve learned that that´s how the Japanese describe spy shows like a "James Bond" movie. If you´ve been saving your spending money for some other purchase, then pass this one up without looking back. But if a friend offers to show it to you, or you can get it on the cheep, "L/R" is good enough popcorn entertainment to make it worth your while.

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