The old-school anime DVD/BD news thread.

[llj]

I'm not a HUGE fan of Akira, but I respect the film enough to own a copy of it. The old Streamline dub is tempting, but what would really make me buy the new one is if they fix the windowboxing issue in the original BV blu-ray.

[yusaku]

I will giving the Right Stuff International's website a visit. They have a lot of titles I actually had through ADV films, yet I would like to rebuild my collection of my anime standard titles before they go extinct again. Plus, I would like to get the Rose of versailles title because Utena was based of that title.

[PinkAppleJam]

I assume those BDs don't have subtitles.

My question too. If they did, they would make a KILLING!

[usamimi]

I'm not a HUGE fan of Akira, but I respect the film enough to own a copy of it. The old Streamline dub is tempting, but what would really make me buy the new one is if they fix the windowboxing issue in the original BV blu-ray.

I was wondering about this, too...Funimation seems pretty good at stuff like that, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[llj]

Managed to get someone else to buy me a copy of the Japanese BD of Laputa. Honestly, just don't bother with the other versions. This version includes the original 2003 english dub AND real, "literal" subtitles. No other version internationally has the original 2003 dub with Jo Hisaishi's BGM re-score. If you're a Laputa completist, the Japanese BD is the one to get. I don't understand how Disney screwed up the Castle in the Sky BD so much. I mean, all they had to do was use the Japanese BD's english subtitle track instead of moronically sticking to their flawed "dubtitle" script from the 2010 DVD...IT'S RIGHT ON THE JAPANESE BD FOR PETE'S SAKE, YOU DON'T NEED TO PUT FORTH MUCH EFFORT TO GET IT AND USE IT. The same could be said for the 2003 dub...but I can see some of the reasons why they might have wanted to alter it (even if I don't really agree with their reasoning. Purists don't give a crap what you do to the dub as they won't watch it anyway; so changing it here and there is just going to piss off fans of the original dub and nobody ends up happy)

[usamimi]

Laputa isn't the only one--all of Disney's Ghibli releases suffer from "Dubtitles", I'm pretty sure...if not directly lifted from the dub scripts, then at least highly influenced by them. :/ I have no idea why, like you said, it'd be extremely easy for them just to use the English subtitles that were already a part of the Japanese release...But then again, it's Disney--they seem to think they have to add unnecessary dialog in quiet scenes for no reason other than they seem to think kids or casual fans can't handle a movie being "quiet" for a minute.

[llj]

Whisper of the Heart, Ponyo and Arrietty have good "literal" subtitles on the Disney BDs. I don't have Totoro on BD yet, but I think The Cat Returns and Castle in the Sky were the only ones with "dubtitles" in their North American home releases.

Not sure about Kiki though. I've only owned the VHS versions of that so I can't say how any of the DVD releases for that went.

[usamimi]

I just recently watched Kiki & I think some parts of it sounded dubtitle-y, but I could be wrong. Mononoke's I think I remember being the same, too, but it's been a while since I watched it.

[davemerrill]

Wasn't there a Streamline dub of Laputa? I seem to recall having a VHS copy of that years ago. Certainly pre-2003.

[usamimi]

Wasn't there a Streamline dub of Laputa? I seem to recall having a VHS copy of that years ago. Certainly pre-2003.

There was! It came out in 89, I think?