The Toonami Reactor

The Toonami Reactor is the latest thing in modern technology, an innovative design that allows you to stream video footage from the Internet. In case anyone isn’t familiar with the meaning of this, it basically means you can watch things on your computer without having to download them. The video is just shown whilst you’re online, it really is a good and useful feature that has been invented.

So as previously stated, Toonami have bought perhaps the first legal full episodes to your computer. The most intelligent part of the unflawed structure is the fact that they are only available as streaming media, meaning they cannot be downloaded. This prevents people from distributing them illegally, or storing them on their computers without the need to actually purchase the episode. FUNi's profits aren't even phased by this, and it also gets people more interested in DBZ, making the Reactor a very novel idea.

Now I'm sure that you're aware of the fact that the Reactor offers more than just streaming video, but for now I'll speak of the MPEGs that it offers, in detail. Please note that I have got a 56k modem, and thus I will be talking about the 56k episodes and site. 

These are largely like the episodes on TV, except for the fact that the quality is far inferior. The dialogue, sound, and footage is exactly the same as the American version, except for it has purposely toned down quality, so don't expect to see anything different here. If you've already seen the episodes shown on the Reactor, and the likelihood is that you have, then they won't be anywhere near as good. Of course if you want to relive parts of the series then this is an excellent place to do so.

Now when I say that the quality is inferior, let me stress exactly how inferior it is. Imagine a fandub, not a good one,  but one you'd download from the internet. Now the resolution is small, and it flows badly and jaggedly. Whilst this is acceptable for most, some are quickly put off by these minor niggles. 

The image quality of it isn't all that bad in the stationary scenes were characters are standing and talking, but when they begin fighting it can become blurry and annoyingly, they're almost unidentifiable.

Whilst there are many cons to the episodes on the Toonami Reactor, I can't honestly say that they're not enjoyable, despite their numerous inconsistencies. The episodes may not flow perfectly, but it's good enough to satisfy most fans, and the episodes that are currently up are the ones from the Ginyu sub-saga, with mainly talking and no action. The reason that this is significant is because where there's little action, the flow of the episode is close to TV quality.

Another thing is that the streaming of the episodes is incomprehensively fast, and you can begin watching it in practically no time at all. They're the fastest streaming files that I've seen on the internet, an accomplishment to be proud of.

Each episode has four parts, and all you have to do is click on them in order to see their respective clips of the episode. Each contains a quarter of the full episode, with no adverts or interruptions, and rapid streaming, making them pretty damn efficient.

If there were more episodes up then I'd much prefer it, but as the situation is, it's definitely worth checking the episodes out for some free viewing. It will only be available for a limited amount of time, as the Reactor is currently just an adventurous project, set to become a full time website if it is successful.

Now, as mentioned earlier, I'll go onto the other aspects of the site which, whilst they aren't as well-advertised or impressive as the episodes, are still nice little touches. The first thing is the help. It's pretty short, but describes most of the questions that you'll need to solve the problem that you're having. If it were a more comprehensive trouble shooting guide then I would much prefer it, as countless things can go wrong depending on your computer, but what they've got is probably enough to solve most problems.

There is a nice little feedback section as well, which shows that Toonami actually care what the fans think about, and are aiming to improve their site. This is always nice to see, and allows you to see a great deal of dedication. They seem to take all this into account as well, probably reading it all. I can say this because they quote feedback that people have written in with on the episodes at the bottom, along with trivia and facts.

Another great feature is the fact that you can get 15% off at the DBZ store just by entering a simple password given to you in an easily viewable place. I won't give it you just now, I'll let you go on their site to check it out, but it is an excellent offer, and one not to be missed by anyone who regularly buys from there, or who is interested in buying some DBZ merchandise.

Perhaps the second biggest part of this site is the games section, which is a really innovative and interesting idea. Rather than hastily doing a bad job of these, and shoving them on their site, two high-quality games have actually been made. One is called Mission to Namek where you must fight Frieza and the Ginyu Force, with an original style of play, which is pretty good fun and allows you to employ well thought out strategy. The other is called Dragonball Z tournament which is in my opinion the inferior of the two, where you must chose where to attack and where to move. Your opponent will do the same, then your commands will be executed, with people losing energy depending on whether the attacks hit or not. Whoever drains the most life out of the other first is the victor. It is comparatively good fun, albeit a little frustrating.

These are useful additions which are good fun, and can be used to waste a few hours online. They are surprisingly addictive, and you just want to play them until you've completed them. Whilst they are by no means good enough to be released commercially, they're easily good enough to be put on a respective site and maintain its dignity.

I've told you all about the contents of the site, but I'm sure you're still wondering about the sites layout. The navigation seems to be efficient enough, and I was easily able to find everything that I wanted within a few seconds. 

The colours are also done well, blending in well with the black background, and actually working impressively. There's no clashing, and it is easy to read too.

The loading time of the page seems to be fairly fast, although on a slow modem it could probably be a pain. With that said though, why would you even be on the site if your internet connection was slower than 56k? I can't really criticize the Toonami Reactor on that point, as they have taken precautions to make sure it works as well as possible with 56k and broadband connections

The only low-point that I can think of about the layout is the excessive use of images, too many are used. Because of the fact the basically the whole site is constructed with images, it can cause problems when these pictures don't show, as you may not be able to see a link, or an important element of the site.

Overall I wouldn't say that the layout is brilliant, but it is far from bad, and I'm sure that anyone whose seen it will agree. The let down of the whole thing is the dodgy images that only load properly about 75% of the time, making it very annoying.

Well, I've given you information on just about every single part of the whole Reactor, and in case there's still any confusion, I'll give you a quick rundown of everything to refresh your memory.

The episodes are pretty good overall, but do have a few minor faults. The games are of a high quality, and one of the better parts of the site. Other sections such as the feedback and help pages are pretty good, but with a bit more work could be made better. Finally the layout of the site isn't brilliant, but it's far from terrible, or even bad.

When the Reactor first came out, I was really excited, and desperate to see it. I wasn't disappointed, as it lived up to pretty much everything I had expected. If the site stays up then I'm sure it'll gradually get better, improving its layout and episodes, and adding more games. I urge all of you to go and check it out, as it is worthy of everyone's attention. Click the link below to visit it.

>>>Click here to visit the Toonami Reactor

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