Bandai's Freedom Vol. 1 offers up to cast/crew info by hitting the A button, storyboards using the B button, and up to seven bookmarks using the C button (all of which is explained by a handy tutorial readily accessible in the main menu). The storyboard feature here is awesome. I've got to admit that I'm not an anime guy, so this material didn't grab me as much as it might some of you. But, think of looking at storyboards and art in band with the movie with something like Lord of the Rings, or even Martin Scorsese's crude storyboards for Taxi Driver (oh wait, that's a Sony movie). Still, you get my drift.

The web-enabled features for Freedom start with the Download Menu- Connect Server grabs a menu of the available downloads and checks for updated content. I saw and downloaded the 1080i HD intro trailer, a prologue to the series, and a commercial promo. Each of these were 5MB in size, and downloaded super fast over my Internet connection, which is a good one- your mileage will vary depending on your own connection. The Contents icon in the menus then populate with the pieces you downloaded, allowing you to access them and play them back at will. Already a cool feature, and who knows what features I'll be able to download for this movie next month?