3 out of 5

This is a rating for the collection from Arrow itself.  For individual flicks, see here, here and here.

Let me clarify that the quality of this set is excellent: Arrow’s high standard artwork; clean disc menus; conpact packaging; full liner notes; and wonderful quality on the transfers – lighting, sound, and subs are all expertly replicated.  The rating is more reflective on the purchase necessity beyond that, if you already own these.  While the quality bump to bluray is undeniably a selling point, I sort of like how raw early Miike stuff looks, so the DVDs I had look fine to me, but that’s certainly a matter of opinion.  Otherwise, your extras are two interviews – one with Sho, a lengthy one with Miike – Mes commentaries on all three flicks, and essays on all three in the liner notes.

If you’ve listened to Mes commentary previously, you know he’s a verrrry drawl speaker.  And frankly, he doesn’t have much to say on these films.  Or rather, the sparse feedback he offers is somewhat repeated across the trilogy.  It’s definitely worth a listen, but there have been other times I’ve found him to be more talkative, and that wasn’t the case here.  The interviews are sort of a wash as well.  It’s good to see these guys in the real world, but the G and As feel more generic than specific to the films, and the liner note essays, excepting the one on Rainy Dog, are either annoyingly pedantic (e.g. Shinjuku) or naught more than a summary (e.g. Ley Lines).

None of this is to rag on Arrow: they delivered the goods professionally.  However, the only aspect of this set I’ll revisit will be the films themselves.