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Sorry, it was begging for a bad pun  I think it's about time we had a Bluray thread of our very own to discuss releases. I haven't been burned by a bad release yet, but I've been very cautious when buying. Doctor thodt has graciously allowed me to use his OP from Cinema Discussco. doctor thodt posted:We are almost 4 years into the lifespan of the format, so I guess it's time to refresh our thread a bit. What does this mean for Anime? Well for starters it means most series produced these days will get a Bluray release as well as a DVD release. It also means that a lot of anime companies are doing what western studios are doing, which is going into their archives to remaster some of their older releases. Unfortunately a lot of these releases are a hit or a miss as far as the buyer is concerned. Companies either don't spend the money to remaster them correctly or they upscale old digital shows. What's upscaling and why is it bad? Short version is as it sounds on the side of the box. You take a lower resolution image and upscaling it to fit a bigger one. It generally won't look bad per se, but it completely misses the whole point of the format. During the middle of the 2000s the anime industry was in the middle of it's digital revolution. Traditional cell animation was being phased out for pure digital and a lot of series that were produced in this decade were created at a set resolution. DVD releases in this era looked great, but now when studios went back to remaster them for a Bluray release a lot of the time they were simple upscales with very little effort put into them. This was either due to the studios not having access to the original masters themselves or the studios being lazy by double-dipping on a Bluray release to maximise profit. Again upscaling isn't necessarily bad, but you really don't want to waste your hard-earned money on something that doesn't make your jaw drop in awe. So yeah suggest poo poo for the OP to make it ADTRW specific. I'll throw up a bunch of links to poo poo like CDJapan later.
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Dec 3, 2010 05:11
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I'm going to start us off and highly recommend Studio Ghibli's remaster of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. This is exactly what you want in a remaster. They took a very old cell animated film and handled it with an incredible amount of care and the end result is a pleasure to watch; you'd expect nothing less from Ghibli. The amount of detail that now pops out of both the animation and the backgrounds really just make it a pleasure to watch. It's as close to flawless as we're ever going to get. It's jam-packed with extras as well which are a really lovely bonus if you're a Ghibli fan. How about this one? Audio commentary with Hedeaki Anno and Assistant Director Kazuyoshi Katayama. It's really fascinating to hear them both talk about the movie and it's one of those rare times you'll get a really solid commentary on an anime film. There's hours of extras packed on top of it, so there's nothing bad I can say about the release at all. Oh what's that America? You don't get it till next year? I'm so sorry  quote:I've always wanted to ask, but is there a reason the only Blu-rays produced for Gunbuster/Diebuster was of the compilation movie? I mean, if they could do that, why not for the full set of 12 episodes? Because Gainax are dumb and don't want our money.
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Dec 3, 2010 05:33
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Revolute posted:Wings of Honnêamise is BEAUTIFUL. This. It's just such an amazingly beautiful film that really lends itself to Bluray and you really gotta hand it to the remastering crew. Almost every scene in it has really gorgeous backgrounds and it just looks good to watch.
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Dec 3, 2010 05:38
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Zorak posted:Most hand drawn things from the 80s transition extremely well to Blu-Ray. Cell animation lends itself incredibly well IF the money is spent on the remaster. For example I heard the Legends of the Galactic Heroes release was loving terrible and hardly improved on the DVD release. Which makes it extra shameful because the 4 boxsets costs $600 each.
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Dec 3, 2010 06:20
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Mason Dixon posted:Besides the obvious draw of better quality audio and video, my other main reason for buying the Blu-Ray version whenever possible is to save on storage space. In general for series, the larger capacity should mean more episodes/disc. Try telling that to Japan. My Eden of the East collection fits 11 episodes 2 BDs and the picture is flawless throughout. I paid $60 for it. A new release in Japan packs a whopping 2 episodes per disc. Different markets I know, but gently caress paying $100 for 2 episodes of Panty & Stocking. It's insulting if you want to import the rare release that's region free.
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Dec 3, 2010 06:36
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That's the thing though and I think you're missing the point. I agree that a lot of old TV series honestly don't look good, but if you remaster them like you actually care about the source material they can look spectacular and brand new. All the grain, fuzz and blur gets removed and you're left with something that feels like you're watching that was created yesterday. For example if a decades old series like Ranma 1/2 was choosen for a bluray release it has the potential to look amazing if all the stars align and the time and effort is spent on it. However the source material itself is obviously quite dated and the animation quality isn't going to be that great.
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Dec 3, 2010 07:01
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Zorak posted:No amount of remastering will make Yang's face stop changing dimensions in certain conversations. But at least like it'll look like they hosed it up yesterday Dj Meow Mix posted:I don't think any of Macross' dubs are Blu-ray, but Macross Frontier and it's first movie are region free. I would love to have the original series on Blu-ray. Macross is still stuck in Harmony Gold licensing hell last I heard. Hell I still don't own a DVD copy of Zero, let alone the bluray that's out
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Dec 3, 2010 07:45
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Plorkyeran posted:Normally upscaling stuff doesn't actively make it look worse than it already did, but naturally the anime industry can never miss a chance to do as terrible a job as possible. The latest example is the (massively overpriced) Haruhi BD box set, which was almost artistic in its destruction of the video: DVD BD Yup, this is exactly the kind of poo poo you hate seeing. I'm not a Haruhi fan, but if I was and I spent good money on it I'd be pissed. As I said it really is the period of around 2000-2008 that you need to be really loving cautious with series because of this digital upscaling nonsense studios are want to do. Speaking of being cautiously optimistic. Read or Die + Read or Dream collection  Dat. Box.  I will murder someone if it's region locked.
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Dec 3, 2010 07:59
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tsob posted:I feel blind even with my glasses on because I'm honestly not seeing any difference between the DVD and Blu Ray version. What am I missing that's so awful? Don't take this the wrong way, but you seriously can't tell the difference? Compare these 2 bluray samples: Nausicaa 1920x1080 screencap Haruhi 1920x1080 screencap See how clear the Nausicaa cap is compared the to the swirly Picasso that is Haruhi? Character outlines should be sharp and colours should be well defined, but in this case it looks like it's literally been run through a Photoshop swirl filter. It's disgusting.
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Dec 3, 2010 08:22
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Hahaha goddamn. That's classy.darkgray posted:I thought the Nausicaa BD release had gotten tons of poo poo for being overly red? I watched it about a week ago. I didn't notice it being overly red. You'll get a whole bunch of really anal retentive film buffs when a film gets reviewed. It looks gorgeous so I wouldn't worry about it some crappy review giving it a 9/10, bitching about how horribly red the picture was and asking that Miyazaki personally come around and suck their dick in forgiveness.
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Dec 3, 2010 08:42
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Space Fish posted:
Bleh it looks horrible. Go for it if you don't have the DVDs already, but I'm personally not going to update my collection for it if those screenshots are any indication. Yet another crap release from the digital era. Really really disappointing because I was looking forward to it as soon as I found out it was getting a bluray release. quote:I made a point of watching Akira as my first blu-ray, and I've been sold on the format ever since, star alignments and all. Paprika and Evangelion 1.11 are also stunners. Akira is stunning. I truly mean that in every sense of the word. It got cleaned up so amazingly that there are scenes in the movie where you could swear you could see the individual cells. I've yet to upgrade my copy of Paprika to Bluray, but I may do as others have suggested and wait for a Satoshi Kon set. It's good knowing that all his works got really good transfers. Evangelion is flawless. It's like picking up a Pixar Bluray release. It's money well spent. Between this and Honnêamise I will gladly buy any remaster that the company put out because I know they'd treat their works with the respect they deserve. Even the Island episodes of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. quote:I can't speak much for complete series, but thanks to the 12 Days of Anime sale on RightStuf the Samurai Champloo blu box is incoming ($33, beats Amazon depending on shipping). Be wary of Samurai Champloo as it is upscaled. If you don't have the DVDs get it, but I wouldn't waste money on upgrading my current set.
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Dec 4, 2010 09:09
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They're just padding the releases out I believe. No point in dumping your entire back catalogue all at once. I do have good news though, release dates for the next 2 films! Just in time for Christmas! Laputa Castle in the Sky - 22/12/10 My Neighbours The Yamadas - 22/12/10 Considering picking up the Japanese releases, mainly because the cases for them would just look brilliant on a shelf.    Compared to the North American release:   God the marketing department just had a loving field day with it. I've got the complete collection of Madman's Studio Ghibli collection on DVD and they did an entire range of matching white DVD covers that look great sitting on your shelf. I'd take a picture, but I've loaned a lot of them to my niece who can't get enough of them  EDIT: And here's the Australian Bluray cover for comparison purposes. It's not bad and it certainly doesn't put up anything unnecessary, but it's certainly no minimalistic Japanese release. Infinitum fucked around with this message at 11:21 on Dec 4, 2010 |
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Dec 4, 2010 11:18
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AzraelNewtype posted:Yes, but they also cost several times more than the US releases, so how badly do you want nice box art? Badly. If there's one thing I hate about bluray is the loving bland blue cases they come in. Ok so for the most part we've established that most anime movies are going to come out looking amazing, but I've yet to see a good remaster of an OLD TV series. So I started hunting around and what did I find? A bluray remaster of Serial Experiments Lain Ready to have your mind blown? (Check out 6 & 12 in particular) 01.) DVD | Bluray 02.) DVD | Bluray 03.) DVD | Bluray 04.) DVD | Bluray 05.) DVD | Bluray 06.) DVD | Bluray 07.) DVD | Bluray 08.) DVD | Bluray 09.) DVD | Bluray 10.) DVD | Bluray 11.) DVD | Bluray 12.) DVD | Bluray 13.) DVD | Bluray 14.) DVD | Bluray THIS is exactly why you should be pissed off when a series doesn't get a good remaster. Jesus just look at how amazing it is. Are you seeing the same poo poo I'm seeing? Cause goddrat if it doesn't make me want to throw out my DVD collection and pick up a new set. Unfortunately the Japanese release is the only version available and even if you're prepared to shell out $300 for it, it doesn't come with English subs. Though it does include the dub for whatever reason. Still if it ever gets released for a reasonable price I'd pick it up in a heartbeat.
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Dec 5, 2010 11:51
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Really? You don't look at the DVD Vs Bluray and realise what an oversaturated mess the DVD was? The clarity alone makes me want to run out and buy it. To each his own I suppose, but I think your honestly missing out if you think it looks bad. Try to think of it like a Director's Cut. "The way it was meant to be seen"
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Dec 5, 2010 14:25
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Ferretts posted:To me it's a vast improvement and might finally get me to watch through the whole series (I've owned it on DVD for... 5 years now? go figure). But I think I see where (s)he might be coming from. Consider what a BR remastering of Boogiepop Phantom might do to the shows atmosphere. I'm not sure if clarity and sharper images would do it any service. I think it's more a case of 'this is how it should have looked in the first place'. It's not a George Lucas Special Edition where meaningless crap is added in to pad scenes, but instead a proper do-over with each scene looking like it really should. Take this scene for example: DVD Bluray In the DVD release we have bold thick telegraph lines in the foreground and the purple void on the zone has a really obvious 'mist' among the blotches. In the Bluray version those same lines are now blurred out and give a really nice sense of depth that wasn't there before and the purple void is still there, but the mist is subtle and the blotches are clear as day. (Speaking of, see how the lampposts now have glass globes? Holy poo poo!) Some TV exec somewhere has probably gone "This isn't colourful enough!" and jacked the hue and saturation up to the levels we all refer to as the 'proper broadcast' release of Lain. It really killed a lot of the subtle colour you can see in some of the shots; look down the street and you can easily differentiate different greens in some of the gardens on the bluray shot. All I'm saying is that the bluray release is probably as close to how the original scenes were meant to look before TV broadcast and I honestly think you're a crazy person if you prefer the DVD. It really is like a Director's Cut. While I'm in a bluray mood because those Lain shots have got me feeling really really good about remastering a 90's show. If we exclude Evangelion from a selection, because we're already getting the gorgeous Rebuild releases, I would absolutely love to see the other 'Big 3' of the 90s get bluray releases if they can live up to the quality of Lain's remaster. For those of you playing at home: Cowboy Bebop Trigun The Vision of Escaflowne Can you imagine if they were as gorgeous as the Lain releases?  Hell The Vision of Escaflowne: The Movie already has a bluray release. While it probably doesn't hold up to the cream of the crop in terms of picture quality, it certainly ain't no slouch.
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Dec 5, 2010 16:15
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AzraelNewtype posted:Bebop has too much CG to be viable for this. Yes and no. If the studios retained seperate sources for both the CG and the Cell animation then a remaster is feasible and easy to do, but if they composited the 2 together it becomes a great deal more difficult and the best you could manage would be an upscale on any scene that featured CG; which unfortunately is pretty much all of Bebop. To give you an example of what you can do if you have both of the original sources you need only look at Disney's Beauty and the Beast remaster and the Ballroom scene, which is entirely CG save for the characters, because it looked absolutely fantastic. I have no idea how Anime studios archive their works, but just pray they had enough foresight to retain both because a bluray version of Bebop would make me fall in love with it all over again. The Lain remaster is probably going to keep me fairly optimistic for a lot of 90s era cell-based series because it was a much smaller production in the grand scheme of things. Thank christ there's at least one studio out there who stored their cell work correctly. The 90s get gorgeous cell remasters. The 00s get lovely digital upscales.  Kingtheninja posted:Any news on a mononoke blu ray release? No news thus far. Again they're probably just padding their releases out so I'd expect it within a year. My money is on My Neighbour Totoro or Kiki's Delivery Service paired with a 'lesser work' for their next release. Oh god Grave of the Fireflies on bluray is just going to be loving brutal..
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Dec 6, 2010 00:19
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I think Gurren Lagann was produced right on the cusp of studios realising they needed to start producing 720+ works. A bluray version is still possible and I'm sure Gainax kept the original source as it was right on the cusp of a lot of studios going "We need to start producing at 720 minimum!" As exciting as a 1080 version of GL would be, I wouldn't hold me breath. You know what else would look awesome on bluray? Rurouni Kenshin
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Dec 9, 2010 01:10
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AzraelNewtype posted:Don't worry, you can always vote with your dollars and not buy it, teaching the company that you didn't want the movies on BD in the first place. Exactly, the only thing a restrictive price point like this is going to do is promote piracy. The average joe can't afford a $400 box, but a supernerd can and I can guarantee that it'll get ripped and uploaded. Knock it down to around $150 - $200 and it's closer to a price point where someone can take a dive and buy something they really like. Like loving honestly, this is going right back to the days where Rightstuf was charging some horseshit price of $1200 for the Tenchi Muyo movies on DVD. EDIT: Found it, my memory was right. It was a Japanese import, but it was the only version of the Tenchi movies available as there was no NA release at the time. AzraelNewtype posted:It's higher resolution than you can do on NTSC DVD at least, and not MPEG-2, so it's definitely worth the BD over DVD. Also, the source they got is probably 1080p, so they may not have actually upscaled it themselves (this is probably a good thing). Huh I never knew it was produced at 540p. I've watched the first box and it looks really really good. I guess it goes to show what you can do with a proper digital upscale when you have the original source material because I would have sworn it was produced at 1080. There's hope for late 00's series yet 
Infinitum fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Dec 14, 2010 |
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Dec 14, 2010 00:34
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 Serial Experiements Lain Bluray box for $220~ US! 30% off regular price May interest some people, but I'm still not interested because it doesn't include a English sub track. Excuse me for a minute while I nerd out..       Patlabor is easily one of my Top 5 series of all time. Fuccccccccccccck look at this poo poo. How spectacular does it look cleaned up, orignal animation quality aside, and this is coming from a late 80's - early 90s series!      No sub track unlike the movies  (Screenshots are from a ripped BD with subs added) God I hope it gets picked up for a release outside of Japan as I will gladly fork over money to upgrade my collection to this quality. Infinitum fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Dec 14, 2010 |
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Dec 14, 2010 01:12
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Back in the day there used to be this store* in Sydney who sold Anime DVDs right when they first started being produced. He imported from America and essentially had a seller's market going at that point so he was charging extortionist prices like $80 for a standard 4-ep DVD. These days Australia has it's own distributor, Madman, and everyone has wised up to the game as it's now a buyers market. How in 2010 a North American company can justify and still think they can charge $400 for a bluray boxset of only seven movies beggars belief. It's nearly $60 a movie for crying out loud, the picture and audio quality would have to be immaculate for that price. I've got 0 interest in the movies, but I feel so bad for the fans who are going to miss out because the price point is daylight robbery. *This arsehole is still in business and has the gall to constantly advertise that all his DVDs are 50% off when they're actually sitting at the RRP. I met him once and he's practically an anime version of Comic Book Nerd for being such a massive oval office for no reason to his customers. Infinitum fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Dec 14, 2010 |
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Dec 14, 2010 06:32
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Because they need some way to justify selling 2 episodes of a series on a DVD for $80.
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Dec 14, 2010 13:25
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Plorkyeran posted:It's generally safe to assume that anything PAL is pretty bad. I don't know about the European market, but Australian DVD releases are all around pretty drat good. I've yet to see Madman ever put out a bad release, but I've known smaller distributors like Siren to release some really horrid crap. Their Soultaker and Vandread releases in particular were just godawful and were one of the few times I've ever had to return a DVD. Never understood why Madman never picked up Vandread. I really liked it. I'll try and dig up some FLCL shots, but yeah.. apprently it's pretty average. How the gently caress that can happen with an OVA and a Gainax release I have no idea.
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Dec 17, 2010 00:50
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Well Laputa and The Yamada's got released all of a week ago, I'd say it's more than likely the next round of Ghibli BRD's will contain The Borrower Arrietty as one of the releases.
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Jan 2, 2011 08:19
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Laputa: Castle in the Sky BRD Vs DVD comparisons My Neighbours the Yamadas BRD Vs DVD comparisons All I can say is WOW. All the glow is removed from Laputa and Yamadas went from a really good release to something even more special. Fuuuuuucccccckkkk I'm going to have to pick up the Japanese releases of every Ghibli movie now. Those cases are just gorgeous. Soon I'll have Nausicca DVD R1, R4, BRD R0, R2
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Jan 3, 2011 12:22
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Want to see something pretty? Spirited Away in HD (It's from a HD TV broadcast) Can only imagine how spectactular the BRD is going to be.
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Jan 15, 2011 22:34
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Hope you didn't like Baccano EDIT: DVD for comparison Again it is an improvement over the DVD if you don't already own it, but a lovely blurred upscale is a lovely blurred upscale. Infinitum fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Jan 29, 2011 |
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Jan 29, 2011 15:03
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My fault.. I think.. was sure I linked the correct versions.. DVD BRD What pisses me off about 90% of the upscales I've seen is that they don't even do a good job of cleaning the video up at it's original resolution. Like fair enough it got produced at 480, 720 or whatever, but at least do a decent job of remastering it before you upscale the bloody thing. For the record Baccano is a relatively good cleanup, the picture quality still isn't as sharp as it should be, but it's still an upscale regardless which puts it in the disappointing category.
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Jan 30, 2011 11:58
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OrangeGuy posted:Laputa is really beautiful, but does it really equate to 60 USD plus shipping to import it? The Ghibli BRDs are region free. Japan is Region A and so is America. You're fine.
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Feb 2, 2011 00:06
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Yes and yes. They also come with the English audio track if you're into that. Nausicaa Laputa Yamadas Ponyo (Not part of the colour scheme, but it's the only other Ghibli release on BRD atm) They're also $80 each, so I only recommend them if you're a collector as you'll eventually see a stateside release in a few months. I'm planning on picking them up shortly as they'll look absolutely gorgeous on a shelf. CDJapan is an invaluable site for finding out what will be included on the BRD and what Region it's locked to, if any.
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Feb 2, 2011 00:23
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Miyazaki directed Nausicaa and Laputa. Isao Takahata directed My Neighbours the Yamadas. Both Nausicaa and Laputa are some of Miyazaki's best works. Nausicaa is close to Princess Mononoke in having a more serious underlying tone. Laputa is close to Spirited Away in that it's just a really good fantasy adventure. My Neighbours the Yamadas is a comedy/slice of life movie. I recommend trying to get a hold of it elsewhere before you get it on BRD. It's a good film, but you should only be blowing $80 on it if you're a completionist.
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Feb 2, 2011 04:16
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That's bloody god-awful. For $400 it would have to be crystal loving clear. The epilogue is how the rest of the movies should have looked. I honestly feel bad for the fans of the series because that's a joke.
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Feb 2, 2011 10:51
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Mazinkaiser fans rejoice If you're a mech fan you should be very, very, very happy with that release.
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Feb 2, 2011 11:03
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DVDBeaver review of Summer Wars Picture quality is pretty good, but not as amazing as it could be.
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Feb 13, 2011 16:49
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Let it be known that I am ultra-picky about my BRD releases. Even the best upscale I'll rag on about. I think the Ghibli, Pixar and Disney BRDs have spoiled the hell out of me and I expect everything to be razor sharp. There's absolutely nothing wrong with Summer Wars in terms of picture quality, it's just that to me it's very blurry and I can't tell if that was an artistic decision or a problem with the transfer.
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Feb 14, 2011 15:13
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FLCL screenshots. http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showpost.php?p=1906418 Swing and a miss. Incredibly clear, but the smudge lines just kill it for me. If you don't own the DVD it's worth it, but gently caress if it doesn't annoy me this got such a bad release.
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Feb 25, 2011 07:05
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It's the conversion process they use called Q-Tec Basically it upscales and 'cleans' and leaves blurry, smudged lines and none of the sharpness you'd expect from a traditional BRD.
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Feb 25, 2011 07:40
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AzraelNewtype posted:
540p upscaled using the original digital master, so it scales very well.  Lines are thicker than normal, but the quality is top notch.
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Feb 25, 2011 07:59
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Bleh apparently the Australian release of FLCL is using the Japanese masters. So no good BRD release exists unless the UK magically remaster it themselves.
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Feb 27, 2011 16:51
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From December 10thInfinitum posted:You know what else would look awesome on bluray? Rurouni Kenshin Rurouni Kenshin is seeing a BRD release! Using the original negatives! With English subtitles! Including both OVAs! There is not a big enough  for this.
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Apr 29, 2011 16:57
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Samurai X was just the name of the Kenshin OVAs for the English markets so they could appeal to a more XTREME anime audience. The 1st OVA tells the backstory of Kenshin The 2nd OVA is a re-imagining of a manga arc that never got animated when it was on TV.
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Apr 29, 2011 17:41
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