Laserdiscs

[xsquid]

"Stagefright" gets no love, and it's rather unfair.
Blame the producers. If they had sprung to produce two more songs, or even one more, fans wouldn't cringe quite as much; the song suffered from overexposure. Considering how much editing was done, there was probably no way to allow for more unless they were part of the storyline, i.e. "We Will Win" and "It's You" (which I thought was a very good ballad). They managed to squeeze that one into the Southern Cross arc of the series. As it is, "Stagefright" merely solidified Minmay's image as a shallow, self-centered hussy, when fans of the original work know she wasn't as bad as all that.

Of course, 'Reba West' wasn't trying to build a career as a singer/songwriter, either.
But this section is about laserdiscs, of which I have none. So I'll stop here.

[greg]

No worries. We wander off topic from time to time. Just as long as it isn't too severe.

[Heibi]

"Stagefright" gets no love, and it's rather unfair.
Blame the producers. If they had sprung to produce two more songs, or even one more, fans wouldn't cringe quite as much; the song suffered from overexposure. Considering how much editing was done, there was probably no way to allow for more unless they were part of the storyline, i.e. "We Will Win" and "It's You" (which I thought was a very good ballad). They managed to squeeze that one into the Southern Cross arc of the series. As it is, "Stagefright" merely solidified Minmay's image as a shallow, self-centered hussy, when fans of the original work know she wasn't as bad as all that.

Of course, 'Reba West' wasn't trying to build a career as a singer/songwriter, either.
But this section is about laserdiscs, of which I have none. So I'll stop here.

Oh, and we can't forget "To be in love".....argh! My ears bleed every time I heard her sing in Robotech.

[greg]

GOD BLESS THE MACHINE!

....Assuming the machine is a giant robot named Dancougar with a sneezing problem. This is my recent LaserDisc box set acquisition, the God Bless the Machine: Dancougar (originally went by the name of Dancougar Mellencamp in the early '80s, but since shortened it to Dancougar) LD box set 1. This includes 4LDs comprising the TV series episodes 1-20, plus a 5th LD with music clips and the Dancougar movie. I paid only 2,000 yen on YAJ, yay-ah! (Plus shipping, which was about 900 yen.)





These were sold as-is, so I hope there's no laser rot!

[llj]

I don't own any LDs and probably won't for a long time. But I can't help but browse this thread at least once a week.

I love LD cover artwork. I almost want to just buy empty LD cases of anime titles I already own and stuff my DVDs inside them.

[cosmosamurai]

I recently picked up the "Z Gundam Memorial Box Part I" 7 LD box for just $20 on eBay:



Gatefold jackets for the discs are cool:



Laserdisc packaging just blows away everything else.

[Animusubi]

Man those are nice! I love Laserdisc covers, I have yet to own any anime laserdiscs myself (I used to have Tenchi Muyo when I was younger) but that will change! >:D

[greg]

I just recently scored the Gundam Movies LD box set for only 100 yen! Shipping was 900 yen.
As always, you can click the images for closer looks.

The front looks snazzy.


The three Gundam movie trilogy LDs just come in sleeves, but Char's Counterattack has its own cover.


Here's the back of the box and Char's Counterattack.

[SteveH]

Watching a movie on laser disc is one of the most frustrating experiences ever. The limitation of an hour per side hurts, and given how many of those key '80s anime feature films tended to be over 2 hours, it's just agony. Everyone I knew who had a LD player generally popped for a high-end VHS deck with flying erase head and jog/shuttle wheel, the procedure being to 'cut together' the LDs into one (more or less) seamless feature on tape, and watch it that way.

Saying that, Laser Disc was PERFECT for TV series. 4 episodes fit comfortably on a disc (two to a side) which made for a nice way to watch an entire series in a casual way. Just a side a night and it didn't take up ALL of your free time. Naturally, when you got to those epic length series such as Galaxy Express 999 (113 episodes and a bunch of TV specials and 'festival' short films) that was a fairly massive hunk of aluminum and lacquer (and cardboard!) going on. I remember helping Jerry hunt high and low for strong, sturdy shelving that could handle the load.

and not to be all "YAY Japan is ICHIBAN BANZAI BANZAI!!" but they really had stellar production values on the jackets. The covers for the Yamato 2 and Yamato III LDs are just beautiful works of art and every one of them should be a poster. I look at the covers of American DVDs (both anime and mainstream releases) and weep at the lazy, inept creations that afflict at least 95% of releases.

Hell, even without a LD player (and I'd probably try to hunt one down) I'd buy a bunch of anime LD sets just because the whole package is so beautiful. Shipping those back home would be a serious issue...

[cosmosamurai]

Yeah Steve, the epic Galaxy Express 999 series received an equally epic "Triplet Box" laserdisc release spanning 29 discs at a wallet busting 143000 Yen list price total. I have the first two boxes (need to track down 3), and the art, thick boxes with prismatic reflective lettering, and sheer mass of the thing is just impressive. The huge, 70s tech, lds feel appropriate for Matsumoto's retro futurism: you could just picture Maetel and Tetsuro sliding one of these shiny records into a gauge festooned panel .

My copy of box 1, the "Megalopolis Box" (Click for large image):



And here's box 2, the "Tetsuro and Maetel Box" (also click to enlarge):



You can't beat the sheer "presence" of a big set like this: in an era of increasingly cheap DVD packaging (cases hollowed out by "Recycle" symbols, lack of liner notes), sets like these are mindblowing. Japanese LD jackets use very thick cardboard, and you can just feel the quality. A "...massive hunk of aluminum and lacquer (and cardboard!)" really sums up the 999 TV set .