I'll lament, it took a lot of self control not to tear into this release after seeing the opening sequence to the DVD, in which AnimEigo displays the Daiei logo (on a movie that they had nothing to do with) subtitled as Toho. Someone was asleep at the wheel. This aspect aside, though, I have to admit that Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril is a adequate release, about on par with their previous disc for the series: Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades. The audio and video presentations here are handled reasonably well, while the collection of extras here, as expected from AnimEigo, is pretty bare bones.

The video presentation on Baby Cart in Peril is handled fairly well, although still a far cry from the superb work AnimEigo was known for at the start of this series. The most noticeable inconsistency here is the coloring, as the entire film has a slight brown tint to it, washing out what could have been some vibrant colors and replacing them with more monotone shades. The brightness level is set a little too low here as well, although not enough to make any scenes difficult to watch. Digital inconsistencies present a slight problem too, as some signs of artifacting are noticeable, in particular with the manner in which some of the reds here bleed (a obvious indication of compression). On the other hand, edge enhancement is handled very well here, as the film looks sharp in most scenes. The condition of the print, or the level of restoration as might be the case, is a highlight here, as the movie has almost no noticeable print damage during the course of the film.

Baby Cart in Peril is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and is Anamorphic for widescreen TVs.

The audio aspect of this disc is a slight notch above the company's other Lone Wolf and Cub discs, surprisingly. Granted, the audio track present here is a 2.0 mono presentation of the Japanese audio track, but that was the original audio format of the film. Unlike the other Lone Wolf and Cub discs, though, there aren't many inconsistances to be found here, with no pops in the audio track and far less crackling sounds to be heard during the course of the film, the lone exception is the higher pitched main title theme.

The audio here is accompanied by, removable, English subtitles that are also color coded to show when more than one character is talking in a scene. There is also a second set of subtitles that can be turned on to provide definitions for certain words associated with the era in which the Lone Wolf and Cub films take place.

AnimEigo as usual here. If one has never purchased a AnimEigo release before, they might find this aspect of the disc interesting. However, if one does own one of their discs, skimming over this section altogether probably wouldn't be out of the question. I'll digress a little here, having reviewed so many of AnimEigo's releases, it's getting damn hard to give a slightly new spin to saying basically the same thing for each of these discs. Anyway, to sum up this aspect quickly: the disc features a collection of, rather heavily damaged, trailers (Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Land of Demons, Zatoichi At Large, Zatoichi in Desperation and the film's own trailer, in this case) and some linear notes (both on the disc and in print format inside the cover) that pertain to Japanese customs and are often fairly irrelevant to the film itself. In this disc's defense though, the linear notes here are more interesting to read than others, as they at least cover some of the origins of the warring clans in the film.

Bottom line, far from a bad release, although not a great deal here that demands praise for this disc either. Fans of the Lone Wolf and Cub series shouldn't hesitate to pick up this DVD, although the rather hefty price tag that AnimEigo discs come with might cause new comers to the series to think twice before purchasing.

This disc is also featured in the box set: Lone Wolf and Cub: DVD Collector's Edition Box.