The English dub on the disc works the same way as the previous volume, being on par with the Japanese track except in one way. The voice of Ioneos in English actually sounds more like a robot, all hollow and metallic like you'd expect a robot to sound like. Whereas in the Japanese version, he just sounds like a normal person. Sure, there's some technical stuff behind it, but I'm of the opinion that a robot should be made to sound like a robot. At least Hikari's two sides come off well in both versions, cute and sweet for the “normal” version and creepy and mysterious for the “dark” version. And yeah, the actors are still using the same goofy aliases in place of their real names (save for Monica Rial, who voices a shy classmate in Episode 5), but it still makes for a good dub on ADV's part.
Nothing much to say about the bonus material on the disc. Much of it is the same as the previous volume, the clean opening and closing animation, the ADV trailers, and the “Translator's Notes” that explain the various cultural bits that pop up in the series. There are a couple of extra goodies to be had, though. We get a music video for “Metamorphose”, the show's opening song, performed by Yoko Takahashi. It's a nice little piece, but it's about as long as the actual opener, making you wonder if that's the way the song was written and composed in the first place. There's also a Japanese promotional video, which is basically a glorified music video of clips from the show set to the opening song, only this is the “extended” version you would've thought the music video would've been. While nothing to really brag about, you still have something to watch and enjoy when the DVD is done.
If you've been waiting for things to start moving in this series, then Volume 2 of “This Ugly Yet Beautiful World” provides nicely. The final scene, especially, will definitely make you want to watch the rest of the series to find out how it all turns out, proving it gets better as it goes.
Released by: ADV Films
Rating: Age 16+
Running time: 4 Episodes, 100 minutes
Score: 8 out of 10
