The old-school anime DVD/BD news thread.

[usamimi]

I'm so excited, I haven't watched Only Yesterday in ages. I'm glad we'll finally get a blu-ray here. And it'll be released in theaters, too! That kind of surprised me.

[usamimi]

So Discotek did another Facebook update with lots of new cover-art preview and some news: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Discotek-Media/

Of note: Space Adventure Cobra The Movie and Venus Wars are getting blu-rays in December! They're not sure if they can do a Wicked City blu-ray, so that might be DVD only. The Night on the Galactic Railroad DVD will be out in November (blurays coming later), and they announced a new pick-up: Hana Yori Dango/Boys Over Flowers! I've been saying for a while now I that they should re-release that one, so I'm happy to see they listened (I kid~). Now if only they'd get Marmalade Boy, then the 2 big 90s shoujo series that were released here will be back in print!

[llj]

Urgh. Looks like I'll have to re-buy Cobra again for BD someday. Good thing I held off on Venus Wars. Betcha Fatal Fury TMP will be a blu-ray sooner or later.

[Daniel]

Originally written by greg on 2015/11/04, 19:23:46 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

During the last AP online chat, I ordered Fatal Fury TMP, Robot Carnival, and Dallos from Rightstuf. They finally arrived in the mail yesterday, so I'm pretty happy!




Originally written by usamimi on 2015/11/04, 20:28:57 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

quote greg During the last AP online chat, I ordered Fatal Fury TMP, Robot Carnival, and Dallos from Rightstuf. They finally arrived in the mail yesterday, so I'm pretty happy! quote

That Robot Carnival DVD is great. The picture is so clear and crisp!!




Originally written by greg on 2015/11/05, 14:51:34 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

Yeah, now I can finally toss that lousy Chinese bootleg into the trash. The subtitles are good for a laugh, though. Dialogue translated from Japanese into Chinese and then into English is fun stuff.




Originally written by llj on 2015/11/06, 09:34:54 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

quote usamimi

That Robot Carnival DVD is great. The picture is so clear and crisp!! quote

I need to get it.

And Fatal Fury TMP was actually restored from the original film negatives specifically for the Discotek release. There isn't even an anamorphic DVD in Japan, so Discotek's release really is currently the best in the world.




Originally written by usamimi on 2015/11/06, 10:24:05 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

YEAH! I was super impressed with that. It gives me hope that in the future, they won't be limited to just re-releasing stuff that's out of print--theoretically we could get releases from them that never even got DVD releases in the past, if the material's available to them.




Originally written by usamimi on 2015/11/07, 15:00:09 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

Nozomi Rightstuf announced that they'll be re-releasing all of Magic User's Club Mahou Tsukai Tai! next spring! I have a fondness for that old OAV still have Media Blaster's Magic Box! , so I'm glad to see it getting back on shelves!




Originally written by usamimi on 2015/12/09, 18:13:32 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

Rightstuf has preorders up for the first Zeta Gundam blu-ray set!




Originally written by llj on 2015/12/10, 11:36:41 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

SteveH is gonna be disappointed to hear this, but I have it on good word that the Sedaka songs will not be included again on the new Zeta release.




Originally written by SteveH on 2015/12/10, 13:52:49 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

quote llj SteveH is gonna be disappointed to hear this, but I have it on good word that the Sedaka songs will not be included again on the new Zeta release. quote

You are correct. If true, that's a no sale for me.

I'm sure some would say I'm being stupid but look, part of the reason we love this crap is the totality, the songs, the actors, the animation, the design. I can't take part in supporting a 'crippled' release regardless of what ever made-up mollifying excuse is used. The reason for the alteration boils down to that fear of reverse importation. The Japanese fans wouldn't accept a release with a missing episode Original Gundam or missing OP and ED songs.

Yes I know, there's a famous Ultraman series that has a 'forbidden' episode because it involved allegory to radiation injury like the Hiroshima bomb, that's deemed acceptable. That missing Gundam episode is supposedly due to the animation quality and yeah, things go off-model but other episodes are just as bad. but I suspect the truth goes back to interviews Tomino had back in the '80s, where he ripped out Americans just can't understand Gundam. I think the crux of the problem with that episode is, there's a Jion MS pilot who decided to stop fighting and just chill, and then crap happens. It's a fairly morally complicated episode, there's no hard 'good guy bad guy' deal going on, and I think it's this that Tomino was was saying Americans couldn't understand.

Back at the end of the anime bubble, Zeta Gundam was announced to be airing on Toonami. There was promotional material at Bandai America's booth, they showed off some of the MSiA toys for Zeta it was all woop woop. Then the deal fell thru. It was likely due to the poor performance of Original Gundam on Toonami having the run interrupted by the events of 9 11 2001 didn't help any but either way, they clearly had the 'adapted for American TV' version ready to go which would have followed the pattern of Original Gundam, altered OP and ED credits.

So now Bandai had a whole release that was expected to be supported by Toonami viewing and toy sales, both of which evaporated, which led to that 'deluxe' whole series box set with special bottle topper MS! . Since I'm convinced that the planned release of Zeta called for single discs dub only following the pattern of Original Gundam , the box set being bi-lingual plus really shockingly messed up English subs, a mix of dubtitles and Neil Nadelman's various translation drafts, the release was a train wreck.

Later released in two part boxes with somewhat cleaned up subs, it was still a flawed release and many shunned it.

Now here we go again. Shawn must be frustrated by Bandai's stupidity. IF THERE ARE NO POSITIVE CHANGES, WHY SHOULD ANYONE BUY THIS? Having the OP and ED themes restored would get most every person who bought one or the other previous release to double dip. I can't wait to hear how the TRSI Blu-Ray isn't as high quality as the Japanese BD release, so that could be seen as another intentional flaw to hinder reverse importation.

Also, I'm kind of sick of the lack of disclosure of things like this. Not listing things like missing episodes or missing songs is a bit deceptive.

Feh.




Originally written by DKop on 2015/12/10, 19:54:53 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

quote llj SteveH is gonna be disappointed to hear this, but I have it on good word that the Sedaka songs will not be included again on the new Zeta release. quote

Wait, so this is the almost EXACT issue we had a decade ago when Zeta was released on DVD? I would throw money down to get it on BD if those original OP and ED tracks were used, not some BGM like in the original releases.

Now I know why I had that feeling not to put money in on Zeta on BD. I have all the singles when they were released, so I will just keep using them. Also, i'm assuming the release won't have a dub? If its true then again ill hold onto my releases because of the dub with it. Sure, it may not be the best thing ever, but its still not half bad to watch either IMO.

quote SteveH Back at the end of the anime bubble, Zeta Gundam was announced to be airing on Toonami. There was promotional material at Bandai America's booth, they showed off some of the MSiA toys for Zeta it was all woop woop. Then the deal fell thru. It was likely due to the poor performance of Original Gundam on Toonami having the run interrupted by the events of 9 11 2001 didn't help any but either way, they clearly had the 'adapted for American TV' version ready to go which would have followed the pattern of Original Gundam, altered OP and ED credits.

So now Bandai had a whole release that was expected to be supported by Toonami viewing and toy sales, both of which evaporated, which led to that 'deluxe' whole series box set with special bottle topper MS! . Since I'm convinced that the planned release of Zeta called for single discs dub only following the pattern of Original Gundam , the box set being bi-lingual plus really shockingly messed up English subs, a mix of dubtitles and Neil Nadelman's various translation drafts, the release was a train wreck.

Later released in two part boxes with somewhat cleaned up subs, it was still a flawed release and many shunned it.

Feh. quote

Adult Swim did air MSG a year later, because I did happen to tape the first 5 episodes of it off TV. Eventually that run didn't last long either and stopped airing probably up till ep 10 I think? This was a network that had it where Initial D was gonna air also, but only it aired in Australia. You'd figure it might have had a chance on TV because of how well Fast and Furious movies were, but anime fans were not going for that. I was pretty excited about it.

I remember hearing about Zeta airing on Toonami also, and it probably would have done alright, with the necessary censorship needed to make Kamille be less of a jerk to others.




Originally written by usamimi on 2015/12/11, 06:46:56 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

It will have a dub track included, according to the listing on Rightstuf.

Missing music is always frustrating with a home video release, but I try to get them when I can, regardless. I own several series where the American licensers couldn't get the op end themes to the series, which is a bummer, but I liked the shows enough to want to support em. But I can understand why some people don't feel that way.




Originally written by llj on 2015/12/11, 11:06:25 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

I have the Anime Legends Zeta sets, and it had a dub. So I assume this re-release will be the same one. It's not a very good dub, though.

I was actually quite impressed with the video quality of the Anime Legends DVDs, so it would have taken a lot to make me buy the BD anyway--original OP and EDs, and improved subs. So I guess I am leaning towards sticking with my DVDs. It's too bad ZZ and Victory will probably be DVD only. I don't like how the Gundams we've already seen are getting prioritized for Blu-ray releases while the ones being released for the first time will apparently be DVD only.

As for the missing MSG episode, I think if we all outlive Tomino, we'll eventually get to see it released. Since he's 74, well, if he lives another 20 years he'll be around 95 which is already way past most people's expiry dates. So yeah, 20 years isn't a long wait...of course, by that point we may not have physical releases anymore...

OH BABY I can't wait for that 50k Super Ultra HD download release of MSG in 2035...Cucuruz Doan's Island FINALLY in glorious 50k.




Originally written by DKop on 2015/12/12, 06:51:18 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

quote llj I have the Anime Legends Zeta sets, and it had a dub. So I assume this re-release will be the same one. It's not a very good dub, though. quote

Well that release seemed to scrap together the same voice talent for four different roles, like how Heninken and the Narrator are the same person Dave Pettitt, who also did Master Asia in G Gundam . Too bad we didn't get Micheal Kopsa to do his Char role again

quote I was actually quite impressed with the video quality of the Anime Legends DVDs, so it would have taken a lot to make me buy the BD anyway--original OP and EDs, and improved subs. So I guess I am leaning towards sticking with my DVDs. It's too bad ZZ and Victory will probably be DVD only. I don't like how the Gundams we've already seen are getting prioritized for Blu-ray releases while the ones being released for the first time will apparently be DVD only.

As for the missing MSG episode, I think if we all outlive Tomino, we'll eventually get to see it released. Since he's 74, well, if he lives another 20 years he'll be around 95 which is already way past most people's expiry dates. So yeah, 20 years isn't a long wait...of course, by that point we may not have physical releases anymore...

OH BABY I can't wait for that 50k Super Ultra HD download release of MSG in 2035...Cucuruz Doan's Island FINALLY in glorious 50k. quote quote

I had seen that episode on a Japanese DVD rip, which I guess for us we can see the random Gundam weapons changes in 50k holographic 3D we should be promised. You know what, that would be well worth it. Funny enough, the only way that story arch technically made it to the states was through the PS2 translation of the Gundam Federation vs Zeon game. I remember playing that level and wondering Why is this here, was in this in the original show?

Know what, I am just happy Victory Gundam is being released in the states. I thought I would NEVER see that here after first seeing the show that I bought off a friend of mine in high school in the spring of 2002. My first version of seeing Victory was in low quality real media files that are like 100 mb large, with chinese subtitles, and had like 5 episodes per video file. So for 4 discs of all 51 episodes, it came to 4 bucks to own a show in the most crappy hellish format by today's standards. But hey, it worked alright for me in 2002. I later finished the show in better quality fansubs after high school years later. Still my favorite Gundam series to this day...




Originally written by usamimi on 2015/12/24, 06:57:28 PST :

Re: The old-school anime DVD BD news thread. :

Forgot to post this earlier, but Discotek announced on their FB that they'll be releasing Lupin TV series part 2 on DVD in the future!

[usamimi]

Maiden Japan will be re-releasing Gunbuster The Movie on DVD/BD: http://www.fandompost.com/2016/01/21/ma ... vie-anime/

article mentions that the original series is apparently impossible to license now. I wonder why...

[llj]

Maiden Japan will be re-releasing Gunbuster The Movie on DVD/BD: http://www.fandompost.com/2016/01/21/ma ... vie-anime/

article mentions that the original series is apparently impossible to license now. I wonder why...

Seems like a lot of older Gainax stuff is impossible to license now for an affordable price. I wonder how much Sentai paid to get Wings of Honneamise. Evangelion TV seems to be lost forever now, and End of Evangelion hasn't seen a re-release in the US since the crappy Manga Ent version

Oh, and I'd like to report another "bad news Gundam piece" for SteveH: the recent MSG movie trilogy DVD re-release again only has the remixed 2002 jp track, no original mono track again.

[SteveH]

Well, bugger that, Gundam Movies. If one were to picture me shaking my fist at heaven as I scream outrage, that's a bit extreme given my preference for the TV series to the movies but eh, what is fandom if not extremes of emotion?

It was my understand that the entire reason for the audio changes (specifically the sound effects and I believe the Japanese dialog was completely re-done, correct me if I've gotten that wrong) for the movies had to do with some changes and new contracts regarding seiyuu that took place sometime around the end of the 20th Century. I also had read somewhere the sound FX didn't meet the new licensing/contract regulations because they were mainly licensed from Toei (because, remember, Nippon Sunrise for a time worked for Toei as an animation contractor, see also Raideen, Voltus V and Combattler V) and Something Happened, likely some dispute over re-licensing fees.

Or maybe they didn't have the stems of the sound effects track separate from the dialog and so stripping out the Toei sound effects required a complete re-recording of the dialog. It's something like that. I call shenanigans either way because changing things sucks LUCAS! ORIGINAL STAR WARS! SROP SCREWING AROUND! (sez the man who seems to be forever stuck in the 20th Century or something. )

[DKop]

Seems like a lot of older Gainax stuff is impossible to license now for an affordable price. I wonder how much Sentai paid to get Wings of Honneamise. Evangelion TV seems to be lost forever now, and End of Evangelion hasn't seen a re-release in the US since the crappy Manga Ent version

Oh, and I'd like to report another "bad news Gundam piece" for SteveH: the recent MSG movie trilogy DVD re-release again only has the remixed 2002 jp track, no original mono track again.

I'm glad i got my OVA set from Bandai when I did a few years ago. Ive got autographs from Mikimoto, the seyuu for Noriko and one of the animation directors. I wont give up that thing any time soon.

[llj]

Well, bugger that, Gundam Movies. If one were to picture me shaking my fist at heaven as I scream outrage, that's a bit extreme given my preference for the TV series to the movies but eh, what is fandom if not extremes of emotion?

It was my understand that the entire reason for the audio changes (specifically the sound effects and I believe the Japanese dialog was completely re-done, correct me if I've gotten that wrong) for the movies had to do with some changes and new contracts regarding seiyuu that took place sometime around the end of the 20th Century. I also had read somewhere the sound FX didn't meet the new licensing/contract regulations because they were mainly licensed from Toei (because, remember, Nippon Sunrise for a time worked for Toei as an animation contractor, see also Raideen, Voltus V and Combattler V) and Something Happened, likely some dispute over re-licensing fees.

Or maybe they didn't have the stems of the sound effects track separate from the dialog and so stripping out the Toei sound effects required a complete re-recording of the dialog. It's something like that. I call shenanigans either way because changing things sucks LUCAS! ORIGINAL STAR WARS! SROP SCREWING AROUND! (sez the man who seems to be forever stuck in the 20th Century or something. )

The 2007 JP DVD release had the original mono track. Same with the JP BD release. So we shoulda been able to get it.

[usamimi]

Discotek will be re-releasing 8 Man After as well as the Lupin Alcatraz Connection special. No exact dates except for "2016". 8 Man After will have the original Japanese language track included, which is nice since the old release didn't.