Company: Bushido-Kai Budoya
Tape Name: The Principles of Aiki: Part 1
Tape
Cost: $69.95
Length of Tape/Time: 120 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques:
30+
Return Policy: ?
Experiences in dealing with this company: Fantastic
The
Instructor: Don Angier & Tony Annesi
Company's Address: Bushido-Kai Budoya,
300 Elliot St. Ste. 369, Ashland, MA, 01701
Company's Phone Number: 508-881-4007
Web
Page: http://www.bushido-kai.net/budoya/aiki_dvd.html
E-Mail:
bushido-kai@pobox.com
Primary Grading Criteria:
1. Production/Tape Quality: 1
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 1
3.
Comprehension Score/Immediate Understanding: 1
4. Degree to which this will make
someone a better Martial Artist: 1
5. Score on delivery vs. hype: 1
6. Degree
to which we'd recommend this product: 1
7. Wasted Time (The higher the number,
the less "fluff"/repetition): 1
8. Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over
again: 1
9. Would I purchase more of this company's products: 1
10. Overall
grade based on cost vs. value: 1
Grand Total: 10% (Poor = 
)
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1. Beginners benefit: Poor
2. Intermediate benefit: Poor
3. Advanced benefit:
Poor
4. Time to benefit: Could definitely take awhile.
5. The need to buy additional
tapes to understand this one: None
Written Summary:
I really liked this tape.
Mr. Angier and Mr. Annesi are extremely skilled. So much so they sure make things
look easy. This tape scored lower than it probably should of due to its production
quality. I understand it was shot and edited from a live seminar, however the production
wasn't as well done as I feel it should've been. I liked the information they provided,
and what I could understand, and see, was excellent. I may of understood about half
of what they went over and explained due to some poor audio problems on Mr. Angier's
side of the room, and a lot of camera shots that were only from the waist up. If
I was Mr. Angier and Mr. Annesi I'd have a talk with Eric Bickernicks about the sound
quality and make sure that on all future tapes, every technique shows the whole body,
including foot placement. I don't think it's fair that on some techniques I have
to guess about the proper foot placement.
The problem seemed to be this,
the way they did the seminar, they seemed to have broken the room up into 2 sections.
Mr. Angier it seemed was teaching the higher ranks on one side, while Mr. Annesi
was teaching the lower ranks on the other. The camera shows excerpts from each instructor.
Mr. Annesi's side of the room had good audio, sometimes though the foot placement
on his techniques wasn't shown. Mr. Angier's side had poor audio, and the foot placement
sometimes wasn't shown also. And sometimes while listening to Mr. Angier, you couldn't
hear him clearly due to a loud buzz (noise problem) and Mr. Annesi talking loudly
on the other side of the room.
I looked at the box the tape comes in, and
on it, referring to the techniques/instruction, "clearly illustrate them",
I disagree, if I can't hear clearly everytime, Mr. Angier's explanation of the techniques/principles,
and see the foot placement, to me it isn't totally "clear".
I don't
blame Mr. Angier or Mr. Annesi, it appeared that they made every attempt to show
and explain the techniques/principles, however the production quality fell short
in my opinion. The noise level should of been filtered out, and every technique should
of shown the proper foot placement.
Overall the tape does cover a lot of
information. And for me the longer I watched it, the more impressed I became. Towards
the end of the tape, Mr. Angier discusses various anatomy prinicples and how they
relate to the art. Also, I was very impressed with the various self-defense moves
shown, many I'd never seen before, and the ease at which they could be done and applied.
Also you get a full 2 hours on this tape, and with the various problems already mentioned,
it is a good value. Alot of Aiki principles were discussed. And towards the end,
Mr. Angier showed a few counters that were very impressive.
Overall it wasn't
as bad a tape as it sounds. In fact I might just watch it a few more times. It did
have some very interesting information.
