[GMT]

So . . . Bandai is actually on-time with the release of Volume Three of the first season. Again, I present to you my mini-review; starting with the extras!

Skip the extras . . . they're not worth the disc space devoted to them. There's the English version of "Watashi no Koi Wa Hotchkiss," which is an improvement over English "Fuwa Fuwa Time"; in much the same way that getting kicked in the nuts is an improvement over being kicked in the teeth. There's also an interview with Cassandra Lee Morris, where we learn that she thinks Ritsu has ADD . . . moving on . . .

This disc is Azusa-heavy, so we get a really good look at how Christine Marie Cabanos plays her. The answer is that she's a really good fit for Azusa. The only problem I had with her performance is that she couldn't quite match Ayana Taketatsu's energy during the "Azusa's bandmates slacker ways makes Azusa go <mumble, mumble, mumble> . . . go crazy? YES CRAZY! DON'T MIND IF I DO! WHOOOOO!" scene.

Cristina Vee has settled very well into the role of Mio. I actually feel my hate for her fading away. Since I am a curmudgeon, I think this means I need to go find her old fandub stuff on Youtube again . . . hey, Cabanos has a Youtube channel, I didn't know that . . . hey, that's actually a pretty good fandub of "Fude Pen Boru Pen", but I digress . . .

Even Karen Strassman seems to have finally settled on an even portrayal of Sawako. And that portrayal manages not to be grating.

On this disc, everyone turns in good performances. Especially episode 11, where Cassandra Lee captures Ritsu in all-up jealous-teenaged-girl mode (I still believe hers is the stand-out performance on this particular dub, by the way) and Cristina Vee portrays Mio with a very appropriate "Earth to Ritsu, Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot? Over" feel.

It will be interesting to see how well they mix Episode 12 on the next disc. Not only are there two songs, back to back, but Yui spends much of the time talking over the first one.