The old-school anime DVD/BD news thread.

[_D_]

Just thinking about plans for a BD Gatchaman set for the English language market makes me wonder what they will add as extras? The stuff on the ADV set is sparse. I would have liked to have seen interviews (if they exist) done with key personnel from the Japanese side of things but mostly we get things from English voice actors and such. I used to get quite a few top 100 or "best" type shows back in the 1990s that had stuff like old interviews but I miss background info like Ann Nichols used to provide from old books published in the 1970s and early 80s. I can't find that stuff online at all and much of what I had was destroyed over the years. But some if it is still here. Mostly it was translations of Mooks and other printed Japanese publications but it had a lot of insight as to what the creators, technical advisors, etc. wanted for the show. Do they even have extras like translated interviews with the original creators, etc.? One thing about an old series like Prisoners of Gravity was all the fan and pro interviews that were incorporated into the show. That show was the greatest back then and even supported by authors like Harlan Ellison. Too bad it's rarely shown anymore probably because its a bit dated. You can find lots of episodes up on YouTube though.

Wikipedia article says the Sentai Filmworks release in October will be the English language dub from the ADV set. So, probably nothing much extra. In that regard, it might be better for me to hold on to what I have and just buy the 2 volumes I'm missing since they are quite reasonable to purchase. I have vol. 7 which is the hard to get one. They look fine up converted on my Pioneer DVD recorder and displayed on the Sony Bravia. No word on additional content for the Blu Ray discs...

[SteveH]

Well, again, have to consider history and market reality.

I strongly believe that Sentai Films will put as little effort and money into their Gatchaman release as is needful to push the product out. I can't even imagine what they would have to spend in order to sweeten the release in order to get those that already have it to double-dip.

And, to be frank, I really don't think it needs a Blu-Ray release. I don't think ANY anime produced before 2005 needs a BD release. There's just no actual benefit to it, unlike film movies. Old movies taken thru a 4k frame-by-frame remastering look ASTONISHING with the proper high-end TV, and the extra room on BD allows less compression for more detail.

Compare that to most anime and the usual telecine conversion to digital tape from original film, where the cels were shot AT THE BEST 'on twos' and usually on 3s, even on 4s. Hell, Macross, some of those episodes looked like they were just the key frames with no inbetweening!

What I'm saying is, with anime, there's no real hidden detail to reveal, no added depth or texture. Frankly, if it's TOO clean you get to see animator's fingerprints and brushstrokes in the paint. The one thing that BD can bring to anime is the ability to fit more episodes on a disc with no significant compression issues and I note that nobody is taking advantage of that.

[_D_]

I hear you! Yeah, the Hanna Barbera stuff looks just fine up converted but some live stuff like Have Gun Will Travel looks very grainy. So, what point would a BD box set do if they aren't going to re-encode it from the masters again? Probably nothing...so this has led me to just try to get the last volumes and leave it at that. $40 vs. potentially hundreds of dollars for essentially the same thing? SFW must think there is a big market though they would be better off doing these as a demand set IMO. That's what Warner's is doing with a lot of material these days. Seems to be working just fine for them...

[_D_]

Reports out now say Dragonball Z "Battle of Gods" to be released on September 13th on Blu Ray and DVD. No word if either is subbed though. Can't find a pre-order link on Amazon Japan. Anyone have any other news?

[Animusubi]

Funimation will be re-releasing Dragon Ball Z in a Broadcast version boxset, that includes the original Ocean Studios dubbing, including a 48-page book that talks about the history of DBZ. And it also has the "Rock the Dragon" theme song.

I grew up on the Ocean Studios version, and since I don't own a boxset of DBZ yet, this would most likely be the version I'd get. <:

[_D_]

I had the series from about episode #21 of DB to #104 of DBZ in English subs from KIKU in Hawaii, so I never watched a dubbed version. I recorded it when it first appeared on TV in North America but I can't really remember much about it. And no one on these discs ever mentions KIKU at all, like it didn't exist and makes outfits like Funimation appear to be the ones that "discovered" it...

[Path]

Don't know if it was announced, but I notice that Kimba the White Lion is being re-released in a cheap box under Rightstuf's Lucky Penny line in July: http://www.rightstuf.com/1-800-338-6827 ... 7885/4/0/0

[Animusubi]

I had the series from about episode #21 of DB to #104 of DBZ in English subs from KIKU in Hawaii, so I never watched a dubbed version. I recorded it when it first appeared on TV in North America but I can't really remember much about it. And no one on these discs ever mentions KIKU at all, like it didn't exist and makes outfits like Funimation appear to be the ones that "discovered" it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIKU
I looked up KIKU after mentioning it to my friend who used to live in Hawaii. That's really neat that they used to show so many Japanese television shows.

It looks like Funimation Channel became a partner with KIKU. KIKU is much like International Channel, it was just a station that broadcasted Asian programming, so it's not really like a company that licensed anime, which is probably why it's never mentioned. Besides we all know Saban was the first one that got Dragon Ball Z, then Viz, and then Funi. XD;

[_D_]

Not old school, but of interest:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/aw/d/B00D2QQ ... 59-2162662

DBZ: Battle of Gods movie BD release September 13th. Does not appear to have English subs though. Bummer...

Features & Details
Cast:
Masako Nozawa
Release Date:
2013/9/13
Language:
Japanese
Subtitles:
Japanese
Sold by:
TOEI COMPANY, LTD. (TOE) (D)
Time:
85 minutes

[_D_]

I had the series from about episode #21 of DB to #104 of DBZ in English subs from KIKU in Hawaii, so I never watched a dubbed version. I recorded it when it first appeared on TV in North America but I can't really remember much about it. And no one on these discs ever mentions KIKU at all, like it didn't exist and makes outfits like Funimation appear to be the ones that "discovered" it...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KIKU
I looked up KIKU after mentioning it to my friend who used to live in Hawaii. That's really neat that they used to show so many Japanese television shows.

It looks like Funimation Channel became a partner with KIKU. KIKU is much like International Channel, it was just a station that broadcasted Asian programming, so it's not really like a company that licensed anime, which is probably why it's never mentioned. Besides we all know Saban was the first one that got Dragon Ball Z, then Viz, and then Funi. XD;

Lots of stuff missing from the Wiki article. The DB/Z tapes I have say they are from 1992/3 but they were getting stuff from Fuji TV which was the preface to each episode. Hard to believe it's been 20 years since getting these tapes...