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Retro Anime Discussion |OT|

What retro anime titles are long overdue for a blu-ray release in North America?


  • Total voters
    74
Although I haven't watched much Anime these last few months. I did get to see JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Season 1 and half of Season 2.

I know people are not fond of the Pre-Stand Jojos, but I actually enjoyed what I watched and look forward to see how the series evolved overtime on Netflix!
 
Although I haven't watched much Anime these last few months. I did get to see JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Season 1 and half of Season 2.

I know people are not fond of the Pre-Stand Jojos, but I actually enjoyed what I watched and look forward to see how the series evolved overtime on Netflix!
They were both somewhat written off in the past but the tv series definitely gave them renewed appreciation, especially series 2. It's a shame season 1 wasn't allotted the budget enjoyed by the following seasons but it was stuck having to prove the viability of these current adaptions. =P

I still hope they eventually find a way to release Phantom Blood movie, even if just streaming.


Edit: And while we're on the subject, I still really like the 93 OVAs. Yeah the first two with N'Doul are def too dragged out but the D'Arby OVA is truly great and I actually prefer the Dio fight in the 93 OVAs over the comic and current tv adaption.

I know people were unhappy they truncated the Vanilla Ice fight in OVA 4 (Or I guess it would be OVA 11 now) but it's still quite good and the animation is really great.

Shame the 2001 prequel OVAs weren't even remotely close in quality or execution as they tend to get grouped together with the 93 ones.
 
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Happosai

Hold onto your panties
That trailer makes me question if I even saw the same movie. Trailers tend to be better than the movie most the time especially these days where the put the best parts of the movie in them. After trying to find out if I saw the movie because of that trailer , come to find out it had a series. I had no idea. I had watched the movie.

edit: on trailers being better than the movies. I was thinking that maybe short films will be the new digital streaming path. You get a action packed movie , smaller budget , and you can make more movies as a result. plus folks are conditioned to watch short videos anyways thanks to youtube.

They were both somewhat written off in the past but the tv series definitely gave them renewed appreciation, especially series 2. It's a shame season 1 wasn't allotted the budget enjoyed by the following seasons but it was stuck having to prove the viability of these current adaptions. =P

I still hope they eventually find a way to release Phantom Blood movie, even if just streaming.


Edit: And while we're on the subject, I still really like the 93 OVAs. Yeah the first two with N'Doul are def too dragged out but the D'Arby OVA is truly great and I actually prefer the Dio fight in the 93 OVAs over the comic and current tv adaption.

I know people were unhappy they truncated the Vanilla Ice fight in OVA 4 (Or I guess it would be OVA 11 now) but it's still quite good and the animation is really great.

Shame the 2001 prequel OVAs weren't even remotely close in quality or execution as they tend to get grouped together with the 93 ones.
Honestly, the trailer is better than the movie. Not all anime trailers I've seen gave a good representation of the anime themselves. I'm a hog for checking the old anime reviews when watching an anime on DVD. I did watch some of the Media Blasters' trailers and noticed (watching trailers from anime I own that they released); they don't disclose much. Apocalypse Zero trailer shows none of the disgusting things from the OVA in the actual trailer. It's like some idea just took a bunch of random clips and threw them together without any congruency.

I can't say I agree on streaming as the way to go. Streaming companies to me are a quick way to watch something when you don't have it physically but they get to choose what you see (cutting, censoring, whatever) and they can remove items you paid for from your favorites anytime without notice. I always put it as streaming being the next generation video rental store. They let you borrow media but they can take it back and you don't own it.

I wouldn't mind watching the original OVA for JoJo. It's not a top priority but I'd like to see where they were going with it before it was cut off short. Space Runaway Space Runaway Starlight Lotice Starlight Lotice

=================================================

I told you all that I would let you know my thoughts on Berserk 97 once I finished watching. I'll make this short. Episodes 1-23 were brilliant and gave me appreciate for Berserk that I didn't expect to have as I'm not too big into that type of storyline for an anime. However, when I got to episode 24 -- I saw things starting to unhinge and I get some people like nihilism in anime but...Berserk (the anime anyway) really didn't deserve that. My understanding has always been that a manga is just a point of reference but doesn't substitute for an anime staff to rewrite stories to be better fit for a TV arc (even if that means ignoring certain character arcs in the manga). Killing off the Hawks, leaving Caska insane, and allowing Griffith to get this "godhead" power was just stupid. If you're creating likeable characters over a span of more than 15-episodes only to kill them all off...it doesn't make for great writing. I get that they wanted to continue the arc around Guts but it doesn't seem like they were considering an audience that didn't read the manga. Either way, great show until they let Griffith kill the Hawks for his stupid ambitions.

I liked the dynamic relationship between Guts and Casca. To keep a good memory on it - I put episode 23 as the ending in my mind and just thought up a better ending for the TV anime.
My ending starting from 23: Guts takes on leadership of the Hawks, keeps tight with Casca, the weirdo demons revive the weak skeletal Griffith, Griffith retaliates after regaining power, Guts decapitates him seeing no option to save the insane/possessed idiot...case closed.

Cm3KIU6.jpg
 

NahaNago

Member
I can't say I agree on streaming as the way to go. Streaming companies to me are a quick way to watch something when you don't have it physically but they get to choose what you see (cutting, censoring, whatever) and they can remove items you paid for from your favorites anytime without notice. I always put it as streaming being the next generation video rental store. They let you borrow media but they can take it back and you don't own it.
Here's the thing though folks would still pay for a subscription even if it is a smaller length anime but they won't do the same when it comes buying it on dvd or blu-ray. It's part of the reason the Mandalorian can have different lengths for each episode. You can just tell the story you want for either the episode or the movie and not pad it just to hit a specific number. For a physical release you can just make it a collection of shorts similar to how Disney does it unless it's a series of course.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
redd foxx fred sanford GIF

"You Big Dummy!" -- Fred Sanford after watching Griffith kill everyone for a stupid wet dream.

I have to post that in relation to the screenwriters who chose to keep a manga-ish/incomplete ending for Berserk 97.
 
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NahaNago

Member
redd foxx fred sanford GIF

"You Big Dummy!" -- Fred Sanford after watching Griffith kill everyone for a stupid wet dream.

I have to post that in relation to the screenwriters who chose to keep a manga-ish/incomplete ending for Berserk 97.
At least you have some type of closure in Berserk. That Neon Genesis Evangelion ending left me bewildered and then cussing once I realized that was it.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
At least you have some type of closure in Berserk. That Neon Genesis Evangelion ending left me bewildered and then cussing once I realized that was it.
I do that just for fun for movie endings or anime endings I feel were incomplete or screwed up. I can't jump in and fix it but I usually write my own endings in. For some series, I've written small books detailing incompleted arcs by screenwriters. I share them with my wife but otherwise they're left unpublished. I guess to stay safe on my end -- I was never fully able to get into NGE back when I bought it on VHS years ago and never finished watching it. I had a chance to complete it when the Platinum boxset was released in the 2000's on DVD and did buy it. However, I let it collect dust and when it went oop in 2013-ish; I sold it for like $80. I regret nothing. Some popular titles in anime never have been and never will be to my interest. But I'm willing to give them a try before dismissing completely. I do like some anime where all characters die off or the theme is overall nihilistic from start till end; but Berserk wasn't a movie or an OVA that deserved that kind of ending. However, movies like GoShogun: The Time Etranger let everyone all die peacefully, M.D. Giest gave you no one to attach to (so anyone or everyone dying didn't matter), and I'd say the same for many of Kawajiri's works. With Berserk it just seemed like such a waste that they were given a budget a few yen higher than the average late-90's anime and they weren't willing to fire the screenwriter who was trying to push for a manga close on the last episodes. It's always been my understanding that when anime is adapted for TV, changes from the manga are necessary to add closure and also not interfere with the manga publisher's direction of the original product. You see the same when books are adapted into movie form. If you read the book First Blood and watch the movie; there's a stark difference in how things turn out (I'm pretty sure Rambo dies or offs himself in the book). They did film an ending similar to the book's ending but scrapped it as I believe Stallone anticipated it wouldn't go well with the audience. Same should apply to anime adaptations. I see it like this: be inspired by the manga but screw the manga when completing an arc (because manga writers tend to go in a different direction than screen writers anyway and vice versa).
 

NahaNago

Member
I do that just for fun for movie endings or anime endings I feel were incomplete or screwed up. I can't jump in and fix it but I usually write my own endings in. For some series, I've written small books detailing incompleted arcs by screenwriters. I share them with my wife but otherwise they're left unpublished. I guess to stay safe on my end -- I was never fully able to get into NGE back when I bought it on VHS years ago and never finished watching it. I had a chance to complete it when the Platinum boxset was released in the 2000's on DVD and did buy it. However, I let it collect dust and when it went oop in 2013-ish; I sold it for like $80. I regret nothing. Some popular titles in anime never have been and never will be to my interest. But I'm willing to give them a try before dismissing completely. I do like some anime where all characters die off or the theme is overall nihilistic from start till end; but Berserk wasn't a movie or an OVA that deserved that kind of ending. However, movies like GoShogun: The Time Etranger let everyone all die peacefully, M.D. Giest gave you no one to attach to (so anyone or everyone dying didn't matter), and I'd say the same for many of Kawajiri's works. With Berserk it just seemed like such a waste that they were given a budget a few yen higher than the average late-90's anime and they weren't willing to fire the screenwriter who was trying to push for a manga close on the last episodes. It's always been my understanding that when anime is adapted for TV, changes from the manga are necessary to add closure and also not interfere with the manga publisher's direction of the original product. You see the same when books are adapted into movie form. If you read the book First Blood and watch the movie; there's a stark difference in how things turn out (I'm pretty sure Rambo dies or offs himself in the book). They did film an ending similar to the book's ending but scrapped it as I believe Stallone anticipated it wouldn't go well with the audience. Same should apply to anime adaptations. I see it like this: be inspired by the manga but screw the manga when completing an arc (because manga writers tend to go in a different direction than screen writers anyway and vice versa).
That is hardcore writing that much for incomplete ending. It gives me some ideas for some stories. Concerning the two anime mentioned I've never seen GoShogun and it has been too long since I'd seen M.D. Giest for me to remember. I wouldn't go so far as to say screw the manga when completing an arc but end it at a point that makes sense that gives some closure and adjust the story to that ending. Guts the mercenary who decides to ride off after his growth in Griffith's band would have been a nice send off. Then again I was alright with that ending, just ticked off at Griffith.
 
Worth considering with Berserk (1997), the intention may have been to continue the series. At time of broadcast, the anime had essentially caught-up with the manga's content, but during the DVD release of the series in the U.S. (circa 2002--2003), Media Blasters was floating rumors of a second season. Whether Media Blasters' claims were true or merely self-promotion is any layman's guess. The modern anime industry has always been used to drive viewers to other products, which in context made the ending of Berserk (1997) perfectly acceptable for Japanese audiences. The anime ended during a period, when the manga's creator was still prolific on the series. Years later, the problem with the 1997 anime's ending relates to the whole of the series; there is now roughly a decade and a half of wanderlust storytelling from a creator who seems to have lost interest in his creation and may no longer have the physical aptitude to complete the comic.

I'd also argue Berserk is a story, where the author roughly knew exactly how events would unfold up to the eclipse. Since then, he's been groping for the proper way to finish the story and may well have broke under the pressure of devising an ending to rival what currently exists as the climax.

For Evangelion, while a perfectly understandable criticism of the TV series' last two episodes are they're a bunch of spiritual, metaphysical bullshit, the show is explicit about what's occurred and that you're only seeing the result of the characters' internal worlds, specifically Shinji's. This isn't to say the show's ending was the right choice, even if it may have been the only option from a production standpoint.
 
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NahaNago

Member
Worth considering with Berserk (1997), the intention may have been to continue the series. At time of broadcast, the anime had essentially caught-up with the manga's content, but during the DVD release of the series in the U.S. (circa 2002--2003), Media Blasters was floating rumors of a second season. Whether Media Blasters' claims were true or merely self-promotion is any layman's guess. The modern anime industry has always been used to drive viewers to other products, which in context made the ending of Berserk (1997) perfectly acceptable for Japanese audiences. The anime ended during a period, when the manga's creator was still prolific on the series. Years later, the problem with the 1997 anime's ending relates to the whole of the series; there is now roughly a decade and a half of wanderlust storytelling from a creator who seems to have lost interest in his creation and may no longer have the physical aptitude to complete the comic.

I'd also argue Berserk is a story, where the author roughly knew exactly how events would play-out up to the eclipse. Since then, he's been groping for the proper way to finish the story and may well have broke under the pressure of devising an ending to rival what currently exists as the climax.

For Evangelion, while a perfectly understandable criticism of the TV series' last two episodes are they're a bunch of spiritual, metaphysical bullshit, the show is explicit about what's occurred and that you're only seeing the result of the character's internal worlds, specifically Shinji's. This isn't to say the show's ending was the right choice, even if it may have been the only option from a production standpoint.
I kind of got the idea that he has no idea how the story was going to end. The enemies in the story are simply too powerful. I'm kind of shocked humanity even exists considering how powerful all of the bad guys are. Guts as of right now still can't do :messenger_poop: to them.

For Evangelion that ending was just bullcrap. I get it but it's still bullcrap.
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Lot there to cover. X the movie had some great animation and but the trailer was actually better than the movie itself. Seems like it was a bit disorganized and maybe I just wasn't a good audience to analyse the movie. I remember it was weird that when U.S. Manga was promoting it - they threw a clipping for it into American Hit Parader magazines. It was also given an MPAA R-rating. Seems like the U.S. promotion was to try to introduce those who had never seen anime into it as if it were a U.S. product. That promo was a dub only VHS.

Here was the trailer. It's a dub but a good lure into a sub-par movie overall. I think I tried rewatching it and falling asleep half way through.


I love the series. Movie was pretty but I don't remember liking it much.
 
I kind of got the idea that he has no idea how the story was going to end. The enemies in the story are simply too powerful. I'm kind of shocked humanity even exists considering how powerful all of the bad guys are. Guts as of right now still can't do :messenger_poop: to them.

For Evangelion that ending was just bullcrap. I get it but it's still bullcrap.
The storytelling in Berserk up to the eclipse is very tight; and if it wasn't for the creator's elaborate art, the manga probably would have gotten to the same point in fewer volumes. Given the serialized nature of manga and that the title remains incrementally ongoing, the impression is the creator was hoping to find his way past the eclipse, during the production of those chapters. Had an actual ending been conceived, one would think we'd have gotten there by this point, even if the intervening material was lackluster.

As for Eva, to each their own. While not completely satisfying, I enjoyed the last two TV episodes in their day and, from a standpoint of its conclusion, prefer the TV's take over where we're left in End of Eva.
 
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OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Why am I not compelled to finish out death note? I made it to when light gave up the death note and started working witht he cops on the investigation not knowing what he did and it lost me.
 
Why am I not compelled to finish out death note? I made it to when light gave up the death note and started working witht he cops on the investigation not knowing what he did and it lost me.
Let me preface by saying while I'm aware of Death Note's overall story, I've only ever thumbed through the manga and watched a few full episodes of the anime. My take is Death Note is a high-concept story that more wants the audience to care about the motivations and subsequent actions of Light, L, or both, rather than focus on the easier to follow possibilities of the titular plot device. End result: neither of the two main characters appealed enough for me to devote the needed time to either the manga or anime.
 
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Discotek Media will release a Collector's Edition of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's Arion (1986). The release will be available for purchase on May 25.

Synopsis: In a far-flung time when Gods and Men walk the earth together, the child Arion plays in the rolling hills of Thrace. His mother Demeter is troubled by both a curse - blindness - and by the secret of Arion's birth. A mysterious stranger spirits Arion away, and seeks to shape the growing young man into an assassin, a secret weapon to tilt the balance of the war between Zeus and Poseidon. But Arion won't be manipulated easily, nor will he submit quietly to the hands of adversaries like the tenacious Ares, the intelligent and fierce Athena, or the elegant and scheming Apollo. Only his tremendous strength, a forgotten weapon forged by Prometheus, and the love and loyalty of his allies can carry Arion forward. To discover the secret of his destiny, Arion will have to storm Mount Olympus- and face down Zeus himself! Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • The Making of Arion - Featurette
  • Promo Video
  • Teaser and Trailer
  • Art Galleries
  • REGION-A "LOCKED"


 

NahaNago

Member
Cool I'm pretty sure I use to have a bootleg version of Arion. I accidentally cracked the disc so I'm glad I can buy a new version.

edit: early anime buying days and ebay. Granted that did get me back into anime with bootleg naruto dvd's. Reminds me that I need to work on buying the appleseed official version and I've already replaced all of the bootleg ghibli films from that cheap ghible collectio.
 
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Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Discotek Media will release a Collector's Edition of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's Arion (1986). The release will be available for purchase on May 25.

Synopsis: In a far-flung time when Gods and Men walk the earth together, the child Arion plays in the rolling hills of Thrace. His mother Demeter is troubled by both a curse - blindness - and by the secret of Arion's birth. A mysterious stranger spirits Arion away, and seeks to shape the growing young man into an assassin, a secret weapon to tilt the balance of the war between Zeus and Poseidon. But Arion won't be manipulated easily, nor will he submit quietly to the hands of adversaries like the tenacious Ares, the intelligent and fierce Athena, or the elegant and scheming Apollo. Only his tremendous strength, a forgotten weapon forged by Prometheus, and the love and loyalty of his allies can carry Arion forward. To discover the secret of his destiny, Arion will have to storm Mount Olympus- and face down Zeus himself! Special Features and Technical Specs:

  • The Making of Arion - Featurette
  • Promo Video
  • Teaser and Trailer
  • Art Galleries
  • REGION-A "LOCKED"


It's been awhile. I vaguely recall owning a fansub of this years ago. The quality was awful and I figured it would never see a proper release. Long live the home video market for distributors still taking the time to do this.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
For those that have the Escaflowne blu ray set. Is the original dub included or is it just the Funimation dub?
I recall someone having answered this already earlier in the thread. If Funimation is releasing, it's the Funimation dub. If it's some one like Diskotek; it could be the older have both.
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
I recall someone having answered this already earlier in the thread. If Funimation is releasing, it's the Funimation dub. If it's some one like Diskotek; it could be the older have both.
I may have asked it before lol. I was just browsing my wishlist on Amazon and saw it. I love that old dub.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
I may have asked it before lol. I was just browsing my wishlist on Amazon and saw it. I love that old dub.
I'm not ashamed to say there are dubs out there I like. Seems to be something taboo today but that's just how anime was introduced in my time. Subs were expensive unless they were fanzine and the dubs came out at a wider affordability on the VHS market.
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
I'm not ashamed to say there are dubs out there I like. Seems to be something taboo today but that's just how anime was introduced in my time. Subs were expensive unless they were fanzine and the dubs came out at a wider affordability on the VHS market.
Oh, I love a lot of dubs. I love a lot of subs too. It usually just depends on how I was introduced to it. For the older stuff, it's almost always the dub because that's how I fell in love with it. I can't imagine watching Hellsing or Bebop subbed for example. Those dubs are iconic imo.
 
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Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Oh, I love a lot of dubs. I love a lot of subs too. It usually just depends on how I was introduced to it. For the older stuff, it's almost always the dub because that's how I feel in love with it. I can't imagine watching Hellsing or Bebop subbed for example. Those dubs are iconic imo.
The stigma today is that all dubs were terrible and it was defacing the anime itself. Maybe they suck now...I really don't know. I have a fine balance on subs and dubs. Most 90's anime to me suits better to a dub than 80's anime. The older anime doesn't really seem to fit well without subs. Then again, that's just me. I'm glad more enjoy subs today as they are at a higher availability. What I couldn't stand with dubbed anime was when Western pop cultural references would pop up. To that point it always seemed like the distributors wanted to market a Japanese product as English or North American.
 
For those that have the Escaflowne blu ray set. Is the original dub included or is it just the Funimation dub?
I don't own the set, but FUNi's Blu-rays do not contain the older dub from Bandai. FUNi's reasoning, during the (unnecessary) Kickstarter for the series, was their release would be based on the Japanese director's cut, which contains some added scenes. FUNi presumably wasn't interested in working around this issue for the HD version, but somewhat compromised by adding DVDs with the older dub to the Kickstarter set. FUNi's two retail sets for Escaflowne only contain the Blu-rays.
 

NahaNago

Member
Welp finished season 3 ova of Tenchi. I definitely had seen that before. Unfortunately Funimations app or site is terrible and anytime I would ff or move it just a little bit further a long it would reset the anime. Did that when I was watching that shield girl anime on the ps4 and on my laptop when I watch tenchi on my laptop. Most likely due to me not being a subscriber. I'll be watching that dota anime on netflix today and start on season 4 of tenchi tomorrow.

Oh yeah, review of the tenchi 3 ova. That went a little too crazy on the power levels. It was pleasant to watch. I kind of feel like they have too many girls in the harem now. Ayeka and Mihoshi for most of the anime was nearly forgotten. I know Mihoshi's relative are a big plot point in the movie just barely any Mihoshi or even Sasami now that I think about it. Sasami liked stay in the kitchen for most of the anime. I'm guessing it is because they explored these characters already and were simply adding Noike to the harem. Was shocked they didn't separate the ghost girl. I'd give this ova a rating of C+. Don't get me wrong I totally enjoyed it but it seemed all over the place and I felt like a lot of the goddess stuff could have been made into a separate ova. A bit more focus on the tenchi household would have been nice and maybe slowed the pace down a little more to be more relaxing and nostalgic with the forest and scenery.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Welp finished season 3 ova of Tenchi. I definitely had seen that before. Unfortunately Funimations app or site is terrible and anytime I would ff or move it just a little bit further a long it would reset the anime. Did that when I was watching that shield girl anime on the ps4 and on my laptop when I watch tenchi on my laptop. Most likely due to me not being a subscriber. I'll be watching that dota anime on netflix today and start on season 4 of tenchi tomorrow.

Oh yeah, review of the tenchi 3 ova. That went a little too crazy on the power levels. It was pleasant to watch. I kind of feel like they have too many girls in the harem now. Ayeka and Mihoshi for most of the anime was nearly forgotten. I know Mihoshi's relative are a big plot point in the movie just barely any Mihoshi or even Sasami now that I think about it. Sasami liked stay in the kitchen for most of the anime. I'm guessing it is because they explored these characters already and were simply adding Noike to the harem. Was shocked they didn't separate the ghost girl. I'd give this ova a rating of C+. Don't get me wrong I totally enjoyed it but it seemed all over the place and I felt like a lot of the goddess stuff could have been made into a separate ova. A bit more focus on the tenchi household would have been nice and maybe slowed the pace down a little more to be more relaxing and nostalgic with the forest and scenery.
There really wasn't much left to do with Tenchi after the first OVA. The second one was a nice treat. The first movie was okay. Everything just seemed like a muddy mess of franchising the same story without adding much. Besides that, Tenchi wasn't an epic story to begin with but it had a huge fanbase.
 
Another random obscurity

y2Ilzsv.jpg

The Hard: Bounty Hunter

A 1996 OVA directed by Amon Saga director Shunji Oga and based on a manga by the creator of Riki-Oh. Our lead character is Hard, a bounty hunter who we don't learn much about except he has a young daughter he deeply cares about but rarely sees, as he's divorced and of course, behind on his alimony and child support. Starts with Hard handling a bail jumper and balloons into him uncovering some some organ harvesting operation. It all plays out very typically, with Hard moving from location to location (Far too much featuring him driving in his jeep), obtaining info from people and the occasional action scene to break things up. There's really nothing special or gripping about the plot, it's very rote. Though by the end it moves into the expected action ending but any sense of realism goes out the window when one of the villains is crushed by an elevator and shrugs it off. =P

Animation is never too standout though we have Masami Suda as animation director and character design. He did the character designs for the Fist of the North Star anime, so characters still have a Fist-ish look. Also with the OVA taking place in New York, you get a lot of nicely painted city backgrounds and rendering of notable NY locations. High point would be a vehicle chase close to halfway in. It's not amazing in terms of animation or direction but it's well executed and sadly, in light of modern times, one must appreciate vehicles being hand animated.

There's a French DVD release but it seems to be limited to VHS in all other territories, including Japan. I'm curious about the quality of the DVD.

Ultimately watchable but not exactly remarkable. Check it out if you're interested in the subject matter or you've seen too much and are just looking for random stuff to check out.

 
For anyone interested in the Project A-Ko bluray, a few days ago Justin Sevakis posted some neat stuff on his twitter related to the 35mm footage they recovered:

Bolded quotes are his:


"Since it was shot open-matte, this means we're seeing ALL SORTS of stuff we weren't supposed to. The tape and shadows at the edge of the platen glass. Edges of cels and backgrounds."

BqLBHL0.jpeg


Small gags that were not viewable prior:

OqdeCsE.jpeg

vfslbxN.png



"This slow panning shot across B-ko's eyes (as she's checking out C-ko) reveals the quilt used as padding behind the cels to press them firmly against the platen glass."

wynLmff.jpeg


A better look at C-Ko's wild lunch

9KvfvfO.jpeg


There's a couple other items related to an exposure error in the twitter thread too.
Sauce:


Pretty cool stuff. I wouldn't mind having all the open matte footage released in some way. =P
 
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Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Another random obscurity

y2Ilzsv.jpg

The Hard: Bounty Hunter

A 1996 OVA directed by Amon Saga director Shunji Oga and based on a manga by the creator of Riki-Oh. Our lead character is Hard, a bounty hunter who we don't learn much about except he has a young daughter he deeply cares about but rarely sees, as he's divorced and of course, behind on his alimony and child support. Starts with Hard handling a bail jumper and balloons into him uncovering some some organ harvesting operation. It all plays out very typically, with Hard moving from location to location (Far too much featuring him driving in his jeep), obtaining info from people and the occasional action scene to break things up. There's really nothing special or gripping about the plot, it's very rote. Though by the end it moves into the expected action ending but any sense of realism goes out the window when one of the villains is crushed by an elevator and shrugs it off. =P

Animation is never too standout though we have Masami Suda as animation director and character design. He did the character designs for the Fist of the North Star anime, so characters still have a Fist-ish look. Also with the OVA taking place in New York, you get a lot of nicely painted city backgrounds and rendering of notable NY locations. High point would be a vehicle chase close to halfway in. It's not amazing in terms of animation or direction but it's well executed and sadly, in light of modern times, one must appreciate vehicles being hand animated.

There's a French DVD release but it seems to be limited to VHS in all other territories, including Japan. I'm curious about the quality of the DVD.

Ultimately watchable but not exactly remarkable. Check it out if you're interested in the subject matter or you've seen too much and are just looking for random stuff to check out.
Visuals alone are enough for a sell and I've purchased many just for that (like Vampire Wars...). This background bothers me a bit that as an OVA there wasn't much of a push to broaden it's release to more formats when it was still newer. France got the DVD release but why? Kind of reminds of how the F.O.T.N.S. movie release you had mentioned had only uncut scenes leaked in Italy but barely seen even in the Japanese release. This seems like the kind of title that Manga Entertainment, Media Blasters, or Urban Vision should have been eyeballing given their catalogue. What left this release almost exclusively to VHS format and did it ever see a LaserDisc release Space Runaway Space Runaway ?
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
Oh, I love a lot of dubs. I love a lot of subs too. It usually just depends on how I was introduced to it. For the older stuff, it's almost always the dub because that's how I feel in love with it. I can't imagine watching Hellsing or Bebop subbed for example. Those dubs are iconic imo.

Ya I think its just how you first saw it.
 
So...Media Blasters did the annual poke-of-the-head from their den, this time by way of an interview with Otaku USA magazine (link). There's nothing amazing in the piece, but the company says it has Doomed Megalopolis and plans to release it on Blu-ray (no time frame provided). Worth keeping in mind, the OVA doesn't appear to have been released in HD in any region, and Media Blasters is a business that more recently wow-ed consumers by letting them know it would no longer release titles on DVD-R and instead would return to offering professionally-pressed discs. Best to keep expectations low for whatever they do with Doomed Megalopolis.

Also for clarification, the interview says Media Blasters would offer Mazinkaiser on Blu-ray, but they later clarified (link) it's Mazinkaiser SKL, making this merely a reissue.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
So...Media Blasters did the annual poke-of-the-head from their den, this time by way of an interview with Otaku USA magazine (link). There's nothing amazing in the piece, but the company says it has Doomed Megalopolis and plans to release it on Blu-ray (no time frame provided). Worth keeping in mind, the OVA doesn't appear to have been released in HD in any region, and Media Blasters is a business that more recently wow-ed consumers by letting them know it would no longer release titles on DVD-R and instead would return to offering professionally-pressed discs. Best to keep expectations low for whatever they do with Doomed Megalopolis.

Also for clarification, the interview says Media Blasters would offer Mazinkaiser on Blu-ray, but they later clarified (link) it's Mazinkaiser SKL, making this merely a reissue.
Probably only a handful of releases by media blasters had effort put into their releasing. Doomed Megalopolis was never anything special from what I remember. I saw it a long time ago and here's my vague memory of it: a girl being tormented by some sadistic Nazi from the future and everthing goes to hell. The end. Maybe it's my poor memory but I recall anime DVDs were cheaper at the time I bought it and I don't believe it was even sold. I think I simply tossed it. Why would they release that on blu-ray when they had some titles which were much better? What's next for a blu-ray release from MB...The Judge?
 
Probably only a handful of releases by media blasters had effort put into their releasing. Doomed Megalopolis was never anything special from what I remember. I saw it a long time ago and here's my vague memory of it: a girl being tormented by some sadistic Nazi from the future and everthing goes to hell. The end. Maybe it's my poor memory but I recall anime DVDs were cheaper at the time I bought it and I don't believe it was even sold. I think I simply tossed it. Why would they release that on blu-ray when they had some titles which were much better? What's next for a blu-ray release from MB...The Judge?
Doomed Megalopolis is another production from the prime of Madhouse studio and was directed by Rintaro. This creative combination gives the works a certain amount of significance, while its scattershot release history in the U.S. has made it a more difficult title to obtain. From a Japanese perspective, it's also an animated adaptation of what was a popular novel series that spawned two live action films. The OVA might not be to your taste, but there is a contingent who view it as a missing Madhouse classic. Additionally, Media Blasters would have had to get a new license for Doomed Megalopolis, as it was previously released by ADV. This isn't a situation of them overlooking other titles in their catalogue, which at this point probably isn't much more than what was mentioned in the Otaku USA article.
 
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And in other retro news, Big West and Harmony Gold just announced they squashed their beef over Macross and Robotech. Various articles: Big West's PR (link); Harmony Gold's PR (link); FUNimation article (link); and ANN piece (link).

According to the PR, this agreement between the two companies will allow "most" Macross anime to be released uncontested worldwide. (I read most as being everything but Macross 7, although Big West's new English Twitter (@MACROSS_BIGWEST) contains the logo for 7 and not the original TV series & DYRL.) They also mention Big West not interfering with the attempt to make a live-action Robotech film. Considering Sony was most recently attached to the Robotech film, Harmony Gold going into a partnership a few years ago with FUNimation, and with FUNimation now being almost entirely owned by Sony, I have to wonder if the pressure and potential capital was there to finally get Harmony Gold to drop their international blockade on Macross.

One possible downside to all this is the potential of FUNimation becoming the U.S. distributor for all things Macross, which would likely mean the usual mainstream style of anime releases. I'd rather see Macross products skew more towards the collectors' end of the market in terms of quality.

::: edit :::
The social media reaction to this news is beautiful. I can't wait to watch it all turn to shit. Such is the way of Macross in the West...
 
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Visuals alone are enough for a sell and I've purchased many just for that (like Vampire Wars...). This background bothers me a bit that as an OVA there wasn't much of a push to broaden it's release to more formats when it was still newer. France got the DVD release but why? Kind of reminds of how the F.O.T.N.S. movie release you had mentioned had only uncut scenes leaked in Italy but barely seen even in the Japanese release. This seems like the kind of title that Manga Entertainment, Media Blasters, or Urban Vision should have been eyeballing given their catalogue. What left this release almost exclusively to VHS format and did it ever see a LaserDisc release Space Runaway Space Runaway ?
Couldn't really as release info is scare but it may have been due to the rental scene and it being something of a b-tier release. The 2001 French dvd release is weird though ironically it may have been a similar situation to Manga's dvd release of Amon Saga, albeit with a slightly better handled transfer.

Those uncut Fist scenes were some kind of anomaly and I don't think they've ever been featured anywhere but that particular Italian VHS (And were not present in the follow-up releases). It's still something of a mystery how that came about and whatever happened to the print it came from. =/

And in other retro news, Big West and Harmony Gold just announced they squashed their beef over Macross and Robotech. Various articles: Big West's PR (link); Harmony Gold's PR (link); FUNimation article (link); and ANN piece (link).

According to the PR, this agreement between the two companies will allow "most" Macross anime to be released uncontested worldwide. (I read most as being everything but Macross 7, although Big West's new English Twitter (@MACROSS_BIGWEST) contains the logo for 7 and not the original TV series & DYRL.) They also mention Big West not interfering with the attempt to make a live-action Robotech film. Considering Sony was most recently attached to the Robotech film, Harmony Gold going into a partnership a few years ago with FUNimation, and with FUNimation now being almost entirely owned by Sony, I have to wonder if the pressure and potential capital was there to finally get Harmony Gold to drop their international blockade on Macross.

One possible downside to all this is the potential of FUNimation becoming the U.S. distributor for all things Macross, which would likely mean the usual mainstream style of anime releases. I'd rather see Macross products skew more towards the collectors' end of the market in terms of quality.

::: edit :::
The social media reaction to this news is beautiful. I can't wait to watch it all turn to shit. Such is the way of Macross in the West...
Cool. I may have to buy DYRL on bluray for a 3rd time. =P Having Funimation handle the release would be...bleh. Hope they don't fuck shit up. I've wanted physical copies of the original series and Plus on bd for awhile (I fucked up not importing the Plus bd's when they were fairly priced).
 
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Cool. I may have to buy DYRL on bluray for a 3rd time. =P Having Funimation handle the release would be...bleh. Hope they don't fuck shit up. I've wanted physical copies of the original series and Plus on bd for awhile (I fucked up not importing the Plus bd's when they were fairly priced).
I've avoided the Japanese BD releases of Macross, due to a mixture of pricing for some and inconsistencies over whether the occasional English-language option was an actual attempt to target Western consumers. Unfortunately, prior to Delta, any English setting seems to have just been the usual schizophrenia sometimes found with Japanese releases.

For FUNimation, best case scenario would be them functioning purely as a domestic distributor, with Big West (or their designated agent) handling production and ideally creating a product more inline with Japanese releases. If things go a somewhat more conventional licensing & production route with FUNi, we pretty much know what will get produced; should this occur, my hope would simply be that the creation of overseas product will spur a new round of reprints (or maybe priced-down sets) for the Japanese market, at which point I'll bite (for some), regardless of English subs.

Of course, this is putting the cart before the horse, since the wording of the announcement is all PR speak. Until someone provides specific plans for the Macross franchise, I'm not going to get excited over physical product that may not materialize.
 
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Erdrick

Member
Macross was the first anime I saw that really clicked with me. It ignited my love for transforming mechs. I've wanted for official releases of the series to come to the west for decades so I'm cautiously optimistic for this news. Hell might be freezing over after all...
 
I've avoided the Japanese BD releases of Macross, due to a mixture of pricing for some and inconsistencies over whether the occasional English-language option was an actual attempt to target Western consumers. Unfortunately, prior to Delta, any English setting seems to have just been the usual schizophrenia sometimes found with Japanese releases.

For FUNimation, best case scenario would be them functioning purely as a domestic distributor, with Big West (or their designated agent) handling production and ideally creating a product more inline with Japanese releases. If things go a somewhat more conventional licensing & production route with FUNi, we pretty much know what will get produced; should this occur, my hope would simply be that the creation of overseas product will spur a new round of reprints (or maybe priced-down sets) for the Japanese market, at which point I'll bite (for some), regardless of English subs.

Of course, this is putting the cart before the horse, since the wording of the announcement is all PR speak. Until someone provides specific plans for the Macross franchise, I'm not going to get excited over physical product that may not materialize.
Yeah I recall for Plus the JP bds had some weirdness with the OVAs including the English dub yet no subs while the movie had subs which were newly created but contained some errors. I know TV and DYRL were only Japanese though they infamously censored the first bd release of DYRL... No idea how other releases were handled.

As for Funimation, let's hope. Lord help us if they handle the translation. =P
 
Yeah I recall for Plus the JP bds had some weirdness with the OVAs including the English dub yet no subs while the movie had subs which were newly created but contained some errors. I know TV and DYRL were only Japanese though they infamously censored the first bd release of DYRL... No idea how other releases were handled.

As for Funimation, let's hope. Lord help us if they handle the translation. =P
Yeah, exactly with Plus: English dub on the OVAs and sub for the movies; I'd have jumped on the release, had the situation been reversed. As for TV, there was the whole issue of Flashback 2012 only being a pre-order bonus for the set and as you mentioned the less than stellar first version of DYRL (also kinda sucks for the original TV, since full subs and a lackluster dub do exist). The movies for Frontier had English subs, as well; apparently they were produced for some international screening, and a foreigner working at Bandai Visual got them on the BDs. Delta, sadly, was the only release where they legitimately tried to engage the foreign market.

Otherwise, the thought of modern FUNi handling translation for Macross is a nightmare.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Yeah I recall for Plus the JP bds had some weirdness with the OVAs including the English dub yet no subs while the movie had subs which were newly created but contained some errors. I know TV and DYRL were only Japanese though they infamously censored the first bd release of DYRL... No idea how other releases were handled.

As for Funimation, let's hope. Lord help us if they handle the translation. =P
Hold up! I was reading thoroughly enough. Is DYRL going to be rereleased? That was the only title I sought after but missed my chance to buy it in print at a less-than insane oop price.
 
Hold up! I was reading thoroughly enough. Is DYRL going to be rereleased? That was the only title I sought after but missed my chance to buy it in print at a less-than insane oop price.
There is no new, forthcoming release of DYRL. Bandai Visual put out a standalone Blu-ray of the movie in 2016, which remains readily available for purchase (Amazon.jp link).

Besides not being packaged with a video game like the 2013 disc, the 2016 version of DYRL has different video mastering and undoes the two-or-three instances of censorship added to the previous Blu-ray.
 
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Happosai

Hold onto your panties
There is no new, forthcoming release of DYRL. Bandai Visual put out a standalone Blu-ray of the movie in 2016, which remains readily available for purchase (Amazon.jp link).

Besides not being packaged with a video game like the 2013 disc, the 2016 version of DYRL has different video mastering and undoes the two-or-three instances of censorship added to the previous Blu-ray.
This sounds like a much better release. I'd be willing to sacrifice not having an added game as an extra. This brings up a general question about recent blu-ray anime releases for classics. Have they been getting lazier with packaging? I mean a big in general for most distributors. The Kimagure TV release on blu-ray seems to be pretty bland on packaging and has super light recycle plastic for the casing. Artwork is nothing too grand either. I'm seeing this a lot.
 
This brings up a general question about recent blu-ray anime releases for classics. Have they been getting lazier with packaging? I mean a big in general for most distributors. The Kimagure TV release on blu-ray seems to be pretty bland on packaging and has super light recycle plastic for the casing. Artwork is nothing too grand either. I'm seeing this a lot.
There are two issues at play: 1) the requirements of the Japanese right holders, and 2) the state of the U.S. anime market.

Most aspects of international releases are stipulated by the Japanese rights holders in their license agreement, covering everything from the overall packaging format to cover artwork. Licensees aren't able to simply decide on how to package a series. They need permission, and there are absolutely situations where popular titles were only allowed to be released in a standard BD case. More specifically for the U.S. release of KOR on Blu-ray, Discotek was almost certainly provided their packaging artwork, with the only question being were they provided a selection of images to choose from or just the single piece used for the final product. (Licensees are, of course, usually able to modify the provided artwork as they please; for example, look at all the horrible Photoshop work on Sentai's covers.)

::: edit :::
In something of an answer to my own question, according to their Tweet (link), Discotek technically created the cover for KOR TV. One assumes, however, they were limited to a set of approved art assets, since the individual characters pieces are all existing images.
::: edit:::

The other issue is the current U.S. market for physical anime is based around selling as many product units for as little money as possible. Take the KOR TV series as an example: AnimEigo's original DVD release from 2002 was a 12-disc set for $240; they'd eventually drop the set price to around $200, while selling single volumes for about $21.00 each. The Japanese DVD set from 2007 was eight discs and retailed around $280. With the usual online discounts, Discotek's BD for the KOR TV series sells for about $79.

Even assuming a U.S. company gets permission for a premium release, the next question is do they think enough units can move at retail, in order to produce the set at a reasonable price. During the DVD era, almost any notable release came in some manner of box-set option, with units being available both online and in a variety of retail stores. There were enough retail orders to justify the cost of chipboard boxes and other goodies. Now almost everything in the U.S. is sold through only a handful of online stores to a consumer base that regularly complains, when products break the $60 barrier. This is the primary reason most mass-market U.S. collector's editions for anime aren't really that special; they're usually a mixture of standardized, mass-market packaging (like metal cases), paper goods (like postcards), and irrelevant branded swag items from Chinese factories. The fickleness of consumers, and less so the lack of retailers, is the reason more significant collector's editions are either solicited as limited in numbers or handled through crowdfunding. Bringing everything back to KOR TV, would there have been enough U.S. consumers to justify a hypothetical release with a price tag around $200?

As for Blu-ray cases, nowadays, standard cases are all thin, regardless of region or distributor. Color and the occasional clear case are usually thicker, but probably cost more than most companies are willing to pay. The rather flimsy feel of BD cases may be the reason so many Japanese collector's editions & first-run releases, particularly for anime, often come as digipacks. They're trading plastic for paper, but when you gloss or coat the card stock and stick the pack in some manner of sleeve, it feels more substantial.
 
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This sounds like a much better release. I'd be willing to sacrifice not having an added game as an extra.
The current release supplanted the prior bluray which is now out of print. Also jettisoning the PS3 game was necessary as it was the Cero rating for the included game that caused the movie to be censored (Though just gore. The full frontal nudity was left intact =p). Also doesn't help the game was some generic VFX-ish Macross game.

Though at least with the first bluray release, if you ponied up the money for the super expensive limited edition 30th anniversary box, it did some with a ton of extras. Each also came with a film strip that was supposedly from the original movie negative, though I've heard conflicting info on whether those were reproduction strips or not. It also came with the only bluray release of Macross Flashback 2012 though if I recall, it ended up being in sd quality or some issue that had people calling foul/scam. =P
 
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