Picture: Anamorphic Widescreen. Picture falls into the average territory. It is a mixed bag of good (but not too good) and bad (but not too bad). Colors are strong, exhibiting Miike's striking color palette and heavy use of filters and exaggerated lighting. Sharpness could be better, it is just a bit too soft throughout. Overall though, in comparison to the other releases one could import, it probably fares a bit better, a cleaner print, is fairly priced, and is anamorphic to boot.

Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1 Stereo Japanese language with optional English subtitles. Mainly the track is centered, voices in the middle with a bit of musical fill in the sides. As I said, the musical numbers are largely pretty cheesy and intentionally loose and with non-professional singing and the compositions are all keyboard and synthesized sound based. It is a nice clear track though, and the subtitle translation is quite good.

Extras: Chapter Selections--- Trailers Happiness of the Katakuris, Audition, City of Lost Souls, Black Rose Mansion and Everything Put Together.--- "Making of Happiness of the Katakuris" 2 parts, first (30 mins) a really fun and briskly paced featurette. The cast and Miike and crew are interviewed about the film. Lots of behind the scenes material that show how much fun they had while filming and Miike's lighthearted, energetic interaction with his cast. Then following the featurette there is an additional (30:00) selection of interviews with Miike and the cast, as well as a behind the scenes look at creating the claymation sequences. --- Takashi Miike Interview (32:30). This interview was conducted a year after filming Katakuris and Miike talks extensively about his work habits, acting in other peoples films, and his persona. The odd thing is that the interview is dubbed, which is a bit off-putting at first.--- Commentary by Miike and actor/critic Tokitoshi Shiota (first suicidal guest in the film). There are two commentary tracks, one in Japanese, another an English dub of the Japanese track. Once again, like the dubbed interview, it is odd since the dubbers must mimic Miike and Shiota's inflections, their casualness, chuckling, and one wonders why they didn't just subtitle the commentary. Anyway, the commentary is pretty self conscious and a bit forced. While they are fairly casual and make bad jokes, there are some spots of silence. Still every now and then there are nice tidbits about the production, making it a decent listen for Miike fans.

Conclusion: ...This is the most extra-laden region one Miike DVD currently available. The DVD image and sound offer a very decent presentation, but the real selling point are the extras, interviews, behind the scenes, and commentary that will make this a must purchase for any Miike fan.