The certificates shown on each review reflect the certificate granted by the British Board of Film Certification and are denoted by the following symbols:-

 Universal - Suitable for all.
 Parental Guidance - Parents may wish to review title
 12 - Not for sale to persons under 12 years of age
 15 - Not for sale to persons under 15 years of age
 18 - Not for sale to children
 US Import (not a BBFC certificate)

Please note that it is illegal in the UK to distribute any commercial video title that does not have a valid certificate. (US Imports may only be imported for personal use, not for resale).

Ratings

You could probably work this bit out. The more stars you see, the better I like it. Five means I like it a lot, one star means I had to fumigate my eyes afterwards. :)

Go to Complete Library listing Now split into a handy bitesize format! Best with frames and tables but will handle without too!

Note that I, like ANY reviewer, am expressing my opinion here. If you really want to know, don't just go by my word alone. Get a consensus. If all else fails, go watch it. You may have a different view to me. I try to be objective, but reviewing is never an exact science. If you do spot any technicality that I might have missed, however, please feel free to let me know at the Lurker's Retreat Admin address (at the bottom of the page - please don't just email me to express a point of view since I will probably ignore it. If you want to do that, please do it on the UK anime newsgroup uk.media.animation.anime where I and a good cross section of the anime viewing public of the UK will be happy to discuss terms... :)

For more info, have a look at the two UK based sites, BritAnime and Animejin. I have also now started my library file, so now you know exactly what I have available to me, though please read the note at the top. If you need a review of any given UK released title, I shall be glad to try to oblige (I do have a couple of holes in my early Manga collection but otherwise I'm pretty complete). Note that I cannot give any reviews for fansubs (there are better people to ask for those than me) and I can only give reviews for a limited number of US releases where I have actually seen them! It would be unfair of me to prejudge a title!

 A note on DVD (Digital Versatile Disks)
At the end of 1998, I started to collect DVD's. Just in case anyone wished to know, a DVD is the same size as a CD, but due to compression techniques developed since the CD was invented and the use of a different arrangement of data on the disk, the DVD is capable of storing far more on a single side than previous attempts at compact video disks. The overall idea (as far as manufacturers are concerned) is that these disks will eventually replace the VHS cassette as the common home system, though the entry of the DVD into the market in the US and UK will undoubtedly also affect the LDV market. Where this symbol is shown, it signifies that I have reviewed the DVD version of the programme. This does not necessarily mean that the DVD of the programme given is available in the UK. Although some rumour abounds about UK DVD production in anime, the majority of DVD's here will be US releases.

The region shown denotes the region lock given on the disk. Where region 2 is omitted, then you should take it as not suitable for UK players (unless you happen to have a player that can override the region lock). Disks marked "ALL" do not possess a region lock and can therefore be played on all players irrespective of country of origin. As law stands in the UK, it is illegal to modify a player to work in regions other than the region specifically allocated to that player for the country in which it is used.