Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

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usamimi
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Re: Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

Post by usamimi »

Yeah, looks like it! Haha, man, I'm surprised there's still some floating around out there. I guess they animated a lot more than just what they used on the Saban Moon video.
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Re: Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

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usamimi
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Re: Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

Post by usamimi »

Limited and Regular editions of 90s Sailor Moon part 1 are up for pre-order now! http://www.rightstuf.com/n/FT0000007083

Also, the new dub cast listing is up! http://animenostalgia.tumblr.com/post/9 ... -cast-list

A nice mix of VA vets and newer actors, which was what I was hoping for! Even tho I'm not a huge dub-watcher, I definitely want to check it out :D
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Re: Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

Post by ParaParaJMo »

Guess I could give the new dub a shot since I spent a year watching the dub back in 1995 and then switched to the Japanese version
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Re: Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

Post by usamimi »

Someone took a 25 second clip of the dub premiere at AX of Usagi's introduction speech: http://sailormoon-obsession.tumblr.com/post/91014579068

It sounds pretty good for a dub of a show targeted originally to 5-12 year old girls, imo. ;)
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Re: Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

Post by usamimi »

So I'd heard on Twitter that there was a lot of people complaining about ghosting and color unbalance in the new release, and looking at my own blu-rays...yup, there is ghosting going on. :/ It's especially apparent in the opening sequence for me: https://vine.co/v/OiJE1BaFHWj (the most heartbreaking part of that clip is that the non-ghosted footage is from the "clean" op that's used as an extra on the blu-ray--so it's something they didn't remaster, and it looks BETTER.)

I guess I'm not completely shocked or disappointed because I had already braced myself with the fact that Viz didn't have the best blu-ray track record so far. I can live with this release simply because it's still a step up from those old ADV box sets (because they look fucking hideous, not to mention the sound quality is awful in those old releases, but at the same time, I'm still sad to see this ghosting that could've easily been prevented. So I can understand why a lot of fans are upset about it. Since this is just season 1 part 1, I'm hoping that they get their shit together for the rest of the series...being a completionist, I'll still want to get the entire series, but if the whole thing looks like this, there's always gonna be that one tiny thing that bugs me every time I watch it. :?

BUT, as far as the dub goes, Nitro and I watched a little bit and I think it's pretty good. The voice director on this series seems to have had in mind making a dub that was mostly true to the source material, but still accessible to children. (Since it IS a kid's show.) Most of the new cast is great--Stephanie Sheh does a great Usagi, I think (she sounds a bit like Terri Hawks at times, without all the super-slapsticky yodel-screaming that was a hallmark of the Dic dub). A lot of people seem to not like Michelle Ruff as Luna, but she's really growing on me! She's cute without sounding like a pseudo-British old lady like Dic made her into. Really, so far the only voices I'm not into are the new actor for Umino (he sounds kinda old for a teenager) and for Usagi's little brother, Shingo (he's supposed to be an elementary student and he sounds like a high schooler! It really threw me off!).

So yeah...basically, my only issue with the release is the picture quality. Other than that, it's nearly perfect. I hope they'll work harder on part 2.
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Re: Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

Post by llj »

It is definitely still annoying about these issues, especially since it does mean that if a better version comes out later on, I'd have to buy it again. Man, I've spent quite a bit of money double dipping on anime because of an inferior previous release so it's disappointing that this doesn't seem like a definitive or near-definitive version. I really don't know if I should buy this or wait longer for a better version. Honestly, I'm beginning to feel like such a doofus whenever I double-dip these days, so I'm a lot more picky now about what I buy.

There are some releases out there that you know will tide you over for more than a decade, and some releases that you know can be knocked off its perch with one good re-release. Nozomi's Rose of Versailles for instance is just a perfect release--even if they somehow released the Blu-Ray here, the DVD quality is so good in all aspects that I don't feel a pressing need to re-buy it should a "better" version come along. That's how I like my purchases these days. :)
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Re: Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

Post by SteveH »

According to the latest ANN podcast, Viz is basically saying "suck it". They know the quality of the new release is not the best, they have no plans for a remastering, they have no plans to find a new authoring house.

They don't freaking care.

Oh, Japanese anime companies trying to sell to the U.S. :(
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Re: Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

Post by usamimi »

SteveH wrote:According to the latest ANN podcast, Viz is basically saying "suck it". They know the quality of the new release is not the best, they have no plans for a remastering, they have no plans to find a new authoring house.

They don't freaking care.

Oh, Japanese anime companies trying to sell to the U.S. :(
I'm listening to it right now, and it sounds SOOOOO awkward because it sounds like they....WANT to explain what the hell is going on, but CAN'T? To me it sounds like Toei's giving them even shittier copies of the show than they gave to Italy and Mexico and they have to say it in such a way that doesn't sound like they're outright blaming Toei, which...yeah, like I said, HELLA AWKWARD. It makes me wonder if Toei specifically gave them inferior copies to work off of so Japanese fans wouldn't run out and buy the American blu-rays (which would be SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than buying any Japanese DVD release)...people have been talking about reverse importing a lot lately, and it's apparent Japanese companies are trying to work against that more and more, so it made me wonder...

The thing I'm facepalming about the most though is the fact that they're not even offering a replacement program for people who aren't happy with their pillarboxed DVDs (since they said they'd stop doing that in future releases). Even much smaller companies like Sentai and Aniplex have done replacement programs when shit like that happens, so that's really baffling to me why they couldn't offer it. Even if it cost them money out of pocket, it would gain back a lot of customer's trust, at least! I've seen a lot of people on Twitter say they're not gonna buy any Sailor Moon at all because of this, and I can't say I blame them. This is kind of turning into a huge mess and it's really disappointing. Like I said before, I'll probably try to buy the releases just because I want official hard copies again, but I do lament that the release definitely does suffer from picture quality and it's a real shame -__- (Thank goodness their Ranma blu-rays are just the Japanese blu-rays, so those look fine...sigh.)
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Re: Sailor Moon to be licensed by Viz Media

Post by SteveH »

usamimi wrote:
SteveH wrote:According to the latest ANN podcast, Viz is basically saying "suck it". They know the quality of the new release is not the best, they have no plans for a remastering, they have no plans to find a new authoring house.

They don't freaking care.

Oh, Japanese anime companies trying to sell to the U.S. :(
I'm listening to it right now, and it sounds SOOOOO awkward because it sounds like they....WANT to explain what the hell is going on, but CAN'T? To me it sounds like Toei's giving them even shittier copies of the show than they gave to Italy and Mexico and they have to say it in such a way that doesn't sound like they're outright blaming Toei, which...yeah, like I said, HELLA AWKWARD. It makes me wonder if Toei specifically gave them inferior copies to work off of so Japanese fans wouldn't run out and buy the American blu-rays (which would be SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper than buying any Japanese DVD release)...people have been talking about reverse importing a lot lately, and it's apparent Japanese companies are trying to work against that more and more, so it made me wonder...

The thing I'm facepalming about the most though is the fact that they're not even offering a replacement program for people who aren't happy with their pillarboxed DVDs (since they said they'd stop doing that in future releases). Even much smaller companies like Sentai and Aniplex have done replacement programs when shit like that happens, so that's really baffling to me why they couldn't offer it. Even if it cost them money out of pocket, it would gain back a lot of customer's trust, at least! I've seen a lot of people on Twitter say they're not gonna buy any Sailor Moon at all because of this, and I can't say I blame them. This is kind of turning into a huge mess and it's really disappointing. Like I said before, I'll probably try to buy the releases just because I want official hard copies again, but I do lament that the release definitely does suffer from picture quality and it's a real shame -__- (Thank goodness their Ranma blu-rays are just the Japanese blu-rays, so those look fine...sigh.)
Given the fact the people sound so constrained and awkward, I would bet it's 100% Toei and the fear of reverse importation. Italy is a different Blu-Ray region, I don't recall offhand if Mexico falls in our region or not.

It's a sad thing. I'm not a big Sailor Moon fan but I surely wouldn't wish crap discs on the fans who love it.

It's funny, as the world struggles to be more open, segments of Japanese business struggle to become even more and more isolationist. Seems it's time for the Black Ships to show up in Kyoto again. :)
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