The Discotek appreciation thread.

[greg]

That's great! We just recently watched Panda Ko-Panda, which was another early Miyazaki movie (two movies, actually). That was great fun.

The Unico movies get dark, huh? That's interesting. I'm sure my daughter would go for it. Like me, she isn't interested in all these stupid CG animated movies about penguins (penguins at the zoo, penguins dancing, surfing penguins, etc). I put in The Dark Crystal and she was fascinated. She got spooked by the owl (I sure did when I was a kid, and I was twice her current age at the time), but she sat through it. Today's kids movies just aren't dark. You won't see Disney attempting another movie like The Black Cauldron (although that movie was toned down as well).

Anyhow, I didn't know Unico was a Sanrio character. That's interesting. I'd like to pick these movies up. I sure hope Discotek will release the Cobra TV series.

[davemerrill]

I think the darkest thing about "The Black Cauldron" is what it did to Disney's bank account. Maybe I should say the "reddest" thing. What a failure of a movie.

There's another Sanrio production called "Ringing Bell", about a young lamb that's adopted by a wolf - the same wolf that killed the lamb's family. It starts dark and it stays dark, the lamb grows up to be a terrifying ram rampaging through the countryside, and how they expected kids to watch it without tears is anybody's guess. It would be great to see a Discotek release, if only to cause more cognitive dissonance. Another Sanrio Discotek release is "Sea Prince And Fire Child", which is probably the most "Disneyesque" feature Japan made in the 80s; very pretty, kind of drags in the second half, but boy is it pretty.

[greg]

I really need to get a Japanese credit card and start buying this stuff. I know that Rightstuf.com ships to Japan. I need to get both Galaxy Express DVDs, the upcoming Cobra movie, and Panda Go Panda from Discotek, all for only about $15 each. Plus I want to start getting the Hokuto no Ken/FOTNS on DVD. I get students asking me if I'm familiar with this series fairly often, and I have actually never seen FOTNS. I've only seen glimpses of the show. I certainly know the theme song, "You are shock," at least.

[raiderfan99]

I checked out their product page. They do have some great releases up there, namely FOTNS in entirety (including the movie) and demon city shinjuku, a title all my friends hated but I loved back in the day.

I am crossing my fingers for a robot carnival release as well! Hey, maybe since animeigo lost the rights to Urusei Yatsura, they could pick up the rights and release COMPLETE box sets accurately priced (under 50 dollars!).

I'm pleasantly surprised that these licenses have been picked up, especially after previous failures for releasing these titles, Manga took forever to release the FOTNS tv and eventually just gave up on it.

[Daishikaze]

I'm probably going to buy everything they put out unless I already have it from a previous release. I love what they been putting out so far, can't wait to see if they can keep going while giving us the titles we want that the rest of the fandom doesn't care about. I hope they can.

I actually have a legit R2 French DVD of Robot Carnival (though I can't read french, doesn't really matter as I have a Fansub and an MP4 of the Streamline dub on my HDD anyways), but if they put out a proper DVD with english subtitles, I'll buy it again. I can't support that movie enough, I love it.

[llj]

Discotek just announced the original 1973 Cutey Honey AND Mazinger Z!

Another pair of classic anime we thought we'd never see in North America makes it here. I'm a mild CH fan so this will be a buy for me, Mazinger Z maybe later.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Discotek- ... 8055312297

[greg]

Nice! the original Mazinger! I hope the Space Adventure Cobra TV series is next!

[Animusubi]

Oh man, here's hoping Sea Prince and the Fire Child gets a re-release via Discotek, because I would be a very happy gal.

Unico is actually not technically a Sanrio character, his manga was originally serialized in a Sanrio magazine, Ririka, so Sanrio had the rights to the character for the anime and any merchandise around that time. The rights to Unico went back to Tezuka following his death.

I just purchased Discotek's Venus Wars myself. My roommate has never seen it and we looked at the back cover and instantly he goes "Yep, that's a must buy." I've been curious about their releases so I'm very excited to watch it. They are shaping up to be a favorite of mine, I can't wait to see their future releases.

[davemerrill]

You should still be able to find the Discotek Sea Prince & Fire Child DVD somewheres; Amazon lists it as "out of stock" but at least one of the online retailers should have some available.

[Animusubi]

You should still be able to find the Discotek Sea Prince & Fire Child DVD somewheres; Amazon lists it as "out of stock" but at least one of the online retailers should have some available.

Oh! I didn't realize they had already released it! O: Well I know what I'm asking for, for Christmas then. XD;;;