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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

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
I never saw this. This was right at the cusp of anime getting super big and my interest waning a bit.

Recommended ?
Absolutely recommended. I've heard it described as a beautiful puzzle box and I think it's apt. The animation and art style are top-notch. Your main characters are actually likeable and well thought out. Even side characters have little mini-arcs and depth. The story is layered and "deep" without being too abstract or pretentious. Great soundtrack too. If you watch it make sure you watch the series first before the movie. The movie is essentially a retelling but it changes some plot points around and I feel the series is the more true version if that makes sense. Kind of like Escaflowne that way.

I can whole heartily recommend the dub on this one. It's peak ADV. Not a bad performance in the lot.
 
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OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Hah thanks. Escaflowne was another that was right there when I started to lose interest.

I blame X.
Didn't care for X? I dug it.

I'd say Rahxephon was actually one of the animes that REALLY got me into anime. I started buying everything after this series. I think I was solely responsible for my local Suncoast expanding their selection lol.
 
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DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
Didn't care for X? I dug it.

I'd say Rahxephon was actually one of the animes that REALLY got me into anime. I started buying everything after this series. I think I was solely responsible for my local Suncoast expanding their selection lol.


Funny I honestly want to guess your age at 36 years old. But I could be way off.

X just embodied what i saw was the anime hype of the early to mid 2000s. You had a lot of flash but not a lot of substance.

Fuck I miss Suncoast though :D
 
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OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Funny I honestly want to guess your age at 36 years old. But I could be way off.

X just embodied what i saw was the anime hype of the early to mid 2000s. You had a lot of flash but not a lot of substance.

Fuck I miss Suncoast though :D
38. Suncoast was amazing. They had one shelf of VHS animes when I first started collecting. Your ninja scrolls and Ghost in the shells. I think I bought the first view volumes of Street Fighter 2 V on VHS. Then they went to a few shelves of dvds. Then they moved to a section. Then the whole back wall was anime lol. It was a great time to be a collector. I had to move on to Best Buy after they closed and It wasn't the same.
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
38. Suncoast was amazing. They had one shelf of VHS animes when I first started collecting. Your ninja scrolls and Ghost in the shells. I think I bought the first view volumes of Street Fighter 2 V on VHS. Then they went to a few shelves of dvds. Then they moved to a section. Then the whole back wall was anime lol. It was a great time to be a collector. I had to move on to Best Buy after they closed and It wasn't the same.

40 here.

Ya that was such a great time. I eventually sold/donated all my physical media except for a couple things.

But ya that was a magical time of discovery without the internet
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
40 here.

Ya that was such a great time. I eventually sold/donated all my physical media except for a couple things.

But ya that was a magical time of discovery without the internet
Yep. You had to rely on cover art and the description. Maybe the nerdy guy working would recommend a few things here and there. I can remember getting recommended Devil Lady by one of the workers there. Oh, Devil Lddy... I wonder how that one holds up?
I gave away a ton of my physical collection too. It just got to be too much. Plus so much of it is available digitally now to justify keeping it. I kept some of my favorites and I'll still buy some here and there but they need to be exceptional.
 
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DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
Thats why this is one of my favorite threads on GAF. Reminds me of back in the day. I wanted to have everythign on DVD. Like a huge library. A lot of it was word of mouth and what your friend told you was cool. And I lived near a big city that had a big Japanese area we called Japantown. There was a Japanese mall there with Japanese only DVD/VHS stores with stuff you didnt even know what it was. I bought my little sister a Japanese Sailor Moon VHS set she still has to this day. Also you assumed it was all super adult stuff with no censoring.

I ended up spending way too much on anime. I also had a lot on VHS too. Some of hte orignial Pokemon and Dragonball, and some other random stuff, Perfect Blue etc.

But ya from that time the only thing I still have is the Akira steelbook Pioneer DVD.
 
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OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Thats why this is one of my favorite threads on GAF. Reminds me of back in the day. I wanted to have everythign on DVD. Like a huge library. A lot of it was word of mouth and what your friend told you was cool. And I lived near a big city that had a big Japanese area we called Japantown. There was a mall there with Japanese only DVD/VHS stores with stuff you didnt even know what it was. I bought my little sister a Japanese Sailor Moon VHS set she still has to this day. Also you assumed it was all super adult stuff with no censoring.

I ended up spending way too much on anime. I also had a lot on VHS too. Some of hte orignial Pokemon and Dragonball, and some other random stuff, Perfect Blue etc.

But ya from that time the only thing I still have is the Akira steelbook Pioneer DVD.
I honestly don't even want to think about how much money I spent on anime back then. Thousands I'm sure. It was a good time though. I was young with disposable income and I just thought anime was the coolest thing since video games.

EDIT: that reminds me. Anime was fucking expensive back in the day. Holy shit. Thirty bucks a pop for a dvd or vhs that might have 3 episodes. They eventually got better but damn it would have been cheaper to be addicted to drugs.
 
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Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Thats why this is one of my favorite threads on GAF. Reminds me of back in the day. I wanted to have everythign on DVD. Like a huge library. A lot of it was word of mouth and what your friend told you was cool. And I lived near a big city that had a big Japanese area we called Japantown. There was a Japanese mall there with Japanese only DVD/VHS stores with stuff you didnt even know what it was. I bought my little sister a Japanese Sailor Moon VHS set she still has to this day. Also you assumed it was all super adult stuff with no censoring.

I ended up spending way too much on anime. I also had a lot on VHS too. Some of hte orignial Pokemon and Dragonball, and some other random stuff, Perfect Blue etc.

But ya from that time the only thing I still have is the Akira steelbook Pioneer DVD.
I really appreciated reading that back-and-forth posting of memories with you and Omega. That's why I created this thread. There wasn't any new discussion going on about how anime was in yesteryears on most webpages I searched last year after I was laid off the first 5-months of the pandemic. After several web searches on NeoGAF I came across an old thread which Corpsepyre Corpsepyre had created like 8-years or more ago. When I started creating an account, I tried searching for an active thread on retro anime and couldn't find anything. I knew it would be imposing and out-of-context to bring the discussion into the Anime/Mange community thread; so I made this.

Likewise, I got into anime that was being sold at Suncoast and Sam Goody. Sam Goody was already expensive but they had diverse titles on VHS at the time that places like Best Buy and other video retailers in 1999-2001 didn't have. I did get stuck with a lot of dubbed anime as subs were erroneously priced $10 extra/per VHS tape than the dubs. Dubs were running around $20-25/tape anyway. The overall expensiveness of buying a series made me buy OVAs and anime movies moreso by default as they were more affordable and not impossible (by impossible...I mean the individual VHS releases for series like Urusei Yatsura...like 60-odd taps for the full series). There was still a big push to get a lot of 90's anime onto DVD in the mid-2000's and distributors like ADV, Media Blasters, and CPM were still pushing out those titles. Many ended up being sold in Best Buy at lower prices around 2003-2007 before the better older anime DVDs started to lower in print numbers and new anime started taking over top shelf.

Right now, buying physical anime seems pointless for most. However, I started back-building my retro anime collection in 2011 and recently stopped buying regularly. So, I have a great number of rare or oop titles of retro anime on VHS, DVD, and blu-ray now that I plan to hold onto. I have downloaded some titles which never made it off VHS or LaserDisc to my PS3 harddrive. The streaming services remind me too much of rental stores and I'm not about to "borrow" digital anime when many older titles can be watched freely on YouTube. Likewise, I'm not against those who do choose to go the all streaming route as there are digital titles of retro anime getting out there and possibly reaching younger audiences. But, the overall outlook is that "if it looks old...it must suck...unless it's NGE, Dragon Ball Z, or Akira." Therefore, we have a difference in many younger generations who won't watch the older handdrawn, cel painted, camera processed, traditional anime that started declining even in Japan by the year 2002.

We have some interesting posters here. So feel free to share as much media as you can from older titles as it may attract other 'guests' (like I was) to join GAF for similar reasons.
 

Porcile

Member
Anyone remember a website called The Anime Critic or something like that? It must of been online around at least 20 years ago, but then the domain changed?

Man pretty much "reviewed" every single OVA and series that was out there on VHS or DVD at the time. Dude was a proper fiend too and reviewed some hentai too LOL.
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
I really appreciated reading that back-and-forth posting of memories with you and Omega. That's why I created this thread. There wasn't any new discussion going on about how anime was in yesteryears on most webpages I searched last year after I was laid off the first 5-months of the pandemic. After several web searches on NeoGAF I came across an old thread which Corpsepyre Corpsepyre had created like 8-years or more ago. When I started creating an account, I tried searching for an active thread on retro anime and couldn't find anything. I knew it would be imposing and out-of-context to bring the discussion into the Anime/Mange community thread; so I made this.

Likewise, I got into anime that was being sold at Suncoast and Sam Goody. Sam Goody was already expensive but they had diverse titles on VHS at the time that places like Best Buy and other video retailers in 1999-2001 didn't have. I did get stuck with a lot of dubbed anime as subs were erroneously priced $10 extra/per VHS tape than the dubs. Dubs were running around $20-25/tape anyway. The overall expensiveness of buying a series made me buy OVAs and anime movies moreso by default as they were more affordable and not impossible (by impossible...I mean the individual VHS releases for series like Urusei Yatsura...like 60-odd taps for the full series). There was still a big push to get a lot of 90's anime onto DVD in the mid-2000's and distributors like ADV, Media Blasters, and CPM were still pushing out those titles. Many ended up being sold in Best Buy at lower prices around 2003-2007 before the better older anime DVDs started to lower in print numbers and new anime started taking over top shelf.

Right now, buying physical anime seems pointless for most. However, I started back-building my retro anime collection in 2011 and recently stopped buying regularly. So, I have a great number of rare or oop titles of retro anime on VHS, DVD, and blu-ray now that I plan to hold onto. I have downloaded some titles which never made it off VHS or LaserDisc to my PS3 harddrive. The streaming services remind me too much of rental stores and I'm not about to "borrow" digital anime when many older titles can be watched freely on YouTube. Likewise, I'm not against those who do choose to go the all streaming route as there are digital titles of retro anime getting out there and possibly reaching younger audiences. But, the overall outlook is that "if it looks old...it must suck...unless it's NGE, Dragon Ball Z, or Akira." Therefore, we have a difference in many younger generations who won't watch the older handdrawn, cel painted, camera processed, traditional anime that started declining even in Japan by the year 2002.

We have some interesting posters here. So feel free to share as much media as you can from older titles as it may attract other 'guests' (like I was) to join GAF for similar reasons.



What is funny is that the companies really milked us for sure. Like I didnt understand a lot about media and file size at the time. Sure with a VHS you had limiations on how many episodes you could fit on a tape. But with DVD they clearly could have fit much more more per disc when they were putting like 3 episodes on 1 disc when they could have fit 10 or more.

Bastards! :D
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Anyone remember a website called The Anime Critic or something like that? It must of been online around at least 20 years ago, but then the domain changed?

Man pretty much "reviewed" every single OVA and series that was out there on VHS or DVD at the time. Dude was a proper fiend too and reviewed some hentai too LOL.
It could have been Animetric. They had a ton of old school anime reviews, hentai reviews, etc. They stood for a long time but the site creator sold the site in like 2015. So, it's now a fashion products webpage which I believe is back under operation by the same woman who made the anime reviews page previously.
 

DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
My first experience with anime was I somehow acquired (or my mom bought me) a Star Blazers VHS.

2nd experience was probably City of Gold.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
What is funny is that the companies really milked us for sure. Like I didnt understand a lot about media and file size at the time. Sure with a VHS you had limiations on how many episodes you could fit on a tape. But with DVD they clearly could have fit much more more per disc when they were putting like 3 episodes on 1 disc when they could have fit 10 or more.

Bastards! :D
Some recent DVD or blu-ray anime have over 7 episodes per disc. However, there's still audio compression and unnecessary cropping on frames reminiscent of VHS full screen 4X3 format. Physical video is okay for a collector but still far from complete , especially with episodic releases.
 
Remember animeondvd.com? I believe the guy who ran it was named Chris beverage. One of the first review sites for anime I can remember frequenting.
AnimeOnDVD lives on in spirit over at FandomPost.com. Mr. Beveridge, sadly, sold the original business several years ago to an online content company, Demand Media, which morphed the site into Mania.com. Things at Mania.com fell apart, but around 2008 Beveridge created his new site, FandomPost. Nothing can replicate the online atmosphere of the mid-to-late 90s & early 2000s, but FandomPost maintains a somewhat similar focus and much of the forum community remains intact.

For another walk down Internet memory lane, there was always one of the largest anime & manga online directory sites:

xAiOYR1.jpg
 
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In less cheerful news, it was confirmed the creator of Berserk, Kentaro Miura, suffered an aortic dissection and passed away on May 6, 2021.

The news was confirmed by his publisher, Hakusensha. The announcement (in Japanese) can be found at the following: Link.
 

Erdrick

Member
AnimeOnDVD lives on in spirit over at FandomPost.com. Mr. Beveridge, sadly, sold the original business several years ago to an online content company, Demand Media, which morphed the site into Mania.com. Things at Mania.com fell apart, but around 2008 Beveridge created his new site, FandomPost. Nothing can replicate the online atmosphere of the mid-to-late 90s & early 2000s, but FandomPost maintains a somewhat similar focus and much of the forum community remains intact.

For another walk down Internet memory lane, there was always one of the largest anime & manga online directory sites:

xAiOYR1.jpg

This takes me back. Haven't thought about that site in decades.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
AnimeOnDVD lives on in spirit over at FandomPost.com. Mr. Beveridge, sadly, sold the original business several years ago to an online content company, Demand Media, which morphed the site into Mania.com. Things at Mania.com fell apart, but around 2008 Beveridge created his new site, FandomPost. Nothing can replicate the online atmosphere of the mid-to-late 90s & early 2000s, but FandomPost maintains a somewhat similar focus and much of the forum community remains intact.

For another walk down Internet memory lane, there was always one of the largest anime & manga online directory sites:

xAiOYR1.jpg
Without a doubt, Anime Web Turnpike was a better webpage than Animetric. It seemed to be focused on those who were newly being introduced into anime during the mid-90's. With larger cable providers at that time starting to set blocks aside for anime like SciFi's Saturday Anime made that small fanbase grow.

Not sure if anyone has a screenshot of Animetric. Rowena (the owner) was reviewing a ton of the more obscure anime movie and OVA titles on that page. Some of which scarcely make it to new anime databases and will likely never be reviewed again.

I recall by 1999 there being much more anime pages that would pop-up if you had clicked on one. Another much smaller site I used to check out for anime was one called AnimeNext. No clue what happened to them. I doubt they were still operational after after 2004.
 

NahaNago

Member
Has anyone ever watched Ruroni Kenshin? I always wanted to back in the day.
I know I watched some of the anime. Might have watched all of it but I don't remember the ending. It seems older than it does now that I remember it. It had your typical cool fights but also quite a bit of comedy/goofiness. The ovas are amazing. They are a sad and beautiful works of art. I just checked the wiki for the series and I had no idea that it had 4 live action movies with one just having released this year and the other I guess later this year.


Now that I think about it the series had the older cool bro type, the stupid strong friend, the younger sibling, and the sweet/feminine but strong love female love interest. You'd normally have female versions of all these characters in anime today.
 
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Has anyone ever watched Ruroni Kenshin? I always wanted to back in the day.
Nowadays, animated Kenshin can be somewhat difficult to recommend, without a person being interested in the overall franchise. For the TV show, production values are standard for a mid-90s anime, meaning generally good art but some episodes look overall much better than others. The main problem is the third TV season was purposefully produced as filler, to allow more manga chapters to be published. During the interim, the franchise's popularity waned just enough that it was decided to cancel any subsequent seasons. What exits as the show's finale is a rushed episode, only available on the home-video releases.

Kenshin has two OVA series, both of which are a tonal swerve from the TV show and manga. The first, known overseas as Trust & Betrayal, is a 4 episodes prequel, based on material from around the middle of the comic. This series can almost function as a standalone and is highly praised for its animation and story. The second series, outside Japan called Reflections, is 2 episodes and probably around 90% an original story that comes across more as the script writer's fanfiction for what happened after the manga ended. Reflections is incredibly slow and depression, and while this is all opinion, presents a story completely out of character for the series' protagonist. Since it does take place at the end of the series, Reflections also requires the viewer to be fairly well informed about the franchise. Additionally, there's the 1997 animated film, which is completely unexceptional.

The TV series is a standard shonen-battle show, with some memorable characters, a few key contrivances, and a disappointing ending. If you're in the market for a good samurai drama, Trust & Betrayal should work, even if some material goes over your head. Otherwise, I usually push people first towards the manga and then suggest sampling the various animated incarnations.
 
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DGrayson

Mod Team and Bat Team
Staff Member
Nowadays, animated Kenshin can be somewhat difficult to recommend, without a person being interested in the overall franchise. For the TV show, production values are standard for a mid-90s anime, meaning generally good art but some episodes look overall much better than others. The main problem is the third TV season was purposefully produced as filler, to allow more manga chapters to be published. During the interim, the franchise's popularity waned just enough that it was decided to cancel any subsequent seasons. What exits as the show's finale is a rushed episode, only available on the home-video releases.

Kenshin has two OVA series, both of which are a tonal swerve from the TV show and manga. The first, known overseas as Trust & Betrayal, is a 4 episodes prequel, based on material from around the middle of the comic. This series can almost function as a standalone and is highly praised for its animation and story. The second series, outside Japan called Reflections, is 2 episodes and probably around 90% an original story that comes across more as the script writer's fanfiction for what happened after the manga ended. Reflections is incredibly slow and depression, and while this is all opinion, presents a story completely out of character for the series' protagonist. Since it does take place at the end of the series, Reflections also requires the viewer to be fairly well informed about the franchise. Additionally, there's the 1997 animated film, which is completely unexceptional.

The TV series is a standard shonen-battle show, with some memorable characters, a few key contrivances, and a disappointing ending. If you're in the market for a good samurai drama, Trust & Betrayal should work, even if some material goes over your head. Otherwise, I usually push people first towards the manga and then suggest sampling the various animated incarnations.


Thanks for the breakdown and to N NahaNago as well.

The bolded part above is so standard 90s anime. So many botched endings.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
I found the website I used to read from nearly 20 years ago. Honestly it's a pretty good resource for any like pre-Naruto anime.

Here is the site as I remember it: http://www.animecritic.com/index.html

and here it is in its new and updated form with all the old reviews and new ones too: http://www.themanime.org/index.php
I think the last update from the old webpage gives a good idea of why I never used T.H.E.M. anime. I can understand if the reason to stop reviewing was the modern anime was too bland but it seems like they had a gripe about genres. Which is very reflective on how older anime was reviewed on T.H.E.M.

They always give 4-5 stars for the overrated anime of the 80's and 90's without being more critical toward failures in top rated anime. Then with lower budget anime or repetitive genres, they tend to write snide remarks and uncouth complaints - thus, typically giving those anime titles nothing greater than a 1-3 star rating. When I used them prior to buying classic titles some 16-odd years or more ago; I would sometimes s buy a title they tossed a 2-star rating onto and discover it was closer to a 4-star (even if certain things were cheesy).

Then again, I suppose we shouldn't set standards too high for review sites in general.
 

Porcile

Member
I think the last update from the old webpage gives a good idea of why I never used T.H.E.M. anime. I can understand if the reason to stop reviewing was the modern anime was too bland but it seems like they had a gripe about genres. Which is very reflective on how older anime was reviewed on T.H.E.M.

They always give 4-5 stars for the overrated anime of the 80's and 90's without being more critical toward failures in top rated anime. Then with lower budget anime or repetitive genres, they tend to write snide remarks and uncouth complaints - thus, typically giving those anime titles nothing greater than a 1-3 star rating. When I used them prior to buying classic titles some 16-odd years or more ago; I would sometimes s buy a title they tossed a 2-star rating onto and discover it was closer to a 4-star (even if certain things were cheesy).

Then again, I suppose we shouldn't set standards too high for review sites in general.

Well honestly it was a pretty garbage website for quality writing and reviews. Even back then. It's very hobbyist and amateur, but I just thought it would be a interesting window into a different era for people. The original site especially.
 
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Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Well honestly it was a pretty garbage website for quality writing and reviews. Even back then. It's very hobbyist and amateur, but I just thought it would be a interesting window into a different era for people. The original site especially.
I thought it's interesting they left the old domain up. I remembered seeing that back when but probably poor memory; it seems like they had that 'I no longer watch anime' message on the first T.H.E.M. anime page. Again, you can't expect too much from a reviews site without knowing who the people are reviewing it (whether they studied film or something relative). I think what caused me to second guess their reviews too was the fact that some were made on anime that had span of 26 episodes and the reviewer had only watched 8 episodes.

It is nice sharing the old pages. I wish I could share some or a screenshot at least, but they're all gone. If someone does happen to have a screenshot of Animetric saved, would be nice to see their homepage again or their review formatting. Funniest thing about Animetric is that the site creator watched, purchased, and reviewed nearly all the content (including the adult content). Rowena Lim Lei was her name if I recall and she would watch anything and review it anime related. Ton of OVAs were posted up there which helped push me into buying some of those rare titles on VHS. She would often post links as to where you could purchase the titles too (only the ones with a North American release though).
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
AnimeOnDVD lives on in spirit over at FandomPost.com. Mr. Beveridge, sadly, sold the original business several years ago to an online content company, Demand Media, which morphed the site into Mania.com. Things at Mania.com fell apart, but around 2008 Beveridge created his new site, FandomPost. Nothing can replicate the online atmosphere of the mid-to-late 90s & early 2000s, but FandomPost maintains a somewhat similar focus and much of the forum community remains intact.

For another walk down Internet memory lane, there was always one of the largest anime & manga online directory sites:

xAiOYR1.jpg
Thanks. I didn't know about Fandom Post. Looks pretty good from browsing it. Anime News Network lost me a long time ago so I've been looking for a good review site.
 
Thanks. I didn't know about Fandom Post. Looks pretty good from browsing it. Anime News Network lost me a long time ago so I've been looking for a good review site.
Not a prob. I'm not much of a review person and can't speak to content quality, but Beveridge runs the new site in a similar fashion to AnimeOnDVD, so the material shouldn't be as overly one-sided as modern ANN.
 
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OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Did you guys buy any soundtracks in the day? I've got a few.
Petite Cossette
Rahxephon(Terrific)
X
Berserk(trying to find it)
Ghost in the Shell SAC
Wolf's Rain.

Might be a few more that I can't think of.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Did you guys buy any soundtracks in the day? I've got a few.
Petite Cossette
Rahxephon(Terrific)
X
Berserk(trying to find it)
Ghost in the Shell SAC
Wolf's Rain.

Might be a few more that I can't think of.
I tried to but they were so bloody expensive. The 4 soundtracks I do own were extras packed with the anime releases like M.D. Giest, Project A-ko, and a couple others. I always wanted the soundtrack for GoShogun Time Etranger. But no clue where one finds an old soundtrack like that.
 
Did you guys buy any soundtracks in the day? I've got a few.
I continue to buy CDs, but more to the question, I purchased a good amount of anime, video game, and J-music discs, during the 90s and earlier 2000s. Many were bootlegs from SonMay, which for whatever reason was particularly ubiquitous in my area, as opposed to other brands like Ever Anime and Smile/Smiley Face. Nowadays, with legit Japanese CDs remaining pinned to around $30, even with the industry's large shift to digital, I'll still gladly grab a boot of some disc I want, if I happen to see it in the wild.
 
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Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Iron Virgin Jun

I tend to watch or introduce my wife to various OVAs that you'd never find out here. I had a few Nagai -based OVAs in mind but settled on this obscurity. It genuinely is comedic but falls a bit incomplete. The release I have is that of media blasters and they did something awful to the processing. Seems like lighter colors were processed from the source tapes with strange misting on the frame. I'm sure the original Columbia Japan release on VHS looked better.

Either way, it's funny, short, and simple. The anime art style in parts looks like.it was story boarded with Nagai in mind ("turtle guy" for example). For better background or info...I'd like to hear what you know about this one Space Runaway Space Runaway

 
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Labolas

Member
God, I remember Suncoast. That and Sam Goody. I think FYE was the last one to last a good while.

Gatdamn you guys took me back with anime turnpike. I remember I used to go there to find Tenchi Muyo and NGE galleries. I think that's how I found about ironmouse shrine image site.

What was the hosting site everyone used? Angelfire?

Also speaking of THEM anime reviews, I'll say this much about them, they're better than ANN nowadays.

Does anyone know if Key Metal Idol holds up? I remember getting the trailer for it on most of the VHS's I owned.
 
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NahaNago

Member
God, I remember Suncoast. That and Sam Goody. I think FYE was the last one to last a good while.

Gatdamn you guys took me back with anime turnpike. I remember I used to go there to find Tenchi Muyo and NGE galleries. I think that's how I found about ironmouse shrine image site.

What was the hosting site everyone used? Angelfire?

Also speaking of THEM anime reviews, I'll say this much about them, they're better than ANN nowadays.

Does anyone know if Key Metal Idol holds up? I remember getting the trailer for it on most of the VHS's I owned.

I use to buy anime from FYE all the time back in the day. So many stores now dead and gone

On key metal idol, I have no idea. I do remember the trailers for it as well.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
God, I remember Suncoast. That and Sam Goody. I think FYE was the last one to last a good while.

Gatdamn you guys took me back with anime turnpike. I remember I used to go there to find Tenchi Muyo and NGE galleries. I think that's how I found about ironmouse shrine image site.

What was the hosting site everyone used? Angelfire?

Also speaking of THEM anime reviews, I'll say this much about them, they're better than ANN nowadays.

Does anyone know if Key Metal Idol holds up? I remember getting the trailer for it on most of the VHS's I owned.

On the note of FYE, did they stop selling anime? I've been n out of the U.S. 5-years now. In 2008, I bought the Pioneer release of the first Tenchi Muyo OVAs marked down from $119 to $20. Shrink wrap was almost dried off but it was new. I also bought Iria and Amon there as well too.
 

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
I could have sworn FYE was still around? The last time I was up in Minnesota two years ago they had a store in the mall.
 

NahaNago

Member
I could have sworn FYE was still around? The last time I was up in Minnesota two years ago they had a store in the mall.
From the store locator there is still one store in Minnesota in Duluth
On the note of FYE, did they stop selling anime? I've been n out of the U.S. 5-years now. In 2008, I bought the Pioneer release of the first Tenchi Muyo OVAs marked down from $119 to $20. Shrink wrap was almost dried off but it was new. I also bought Iria and Amon there as well too.
They still do. The thing is for me there was I believe 3 fye stores just 10 minutes away from where I live and now they are all gone. This fye discussion did get me wondering if there was still one in my state and come to find out there is still one 20 minutes away in a rich area.
 
Either way, it's funny, short, and simple. The anime art style in parts looks like.it was story boarded with Nagai in mind ("turtle guy" for example). For better background or info...I'd like to hear what you know about this one Space Runaway Space Runaway
Honestly...nothing. =P I've never seen it and it never really looked to be something I'd go out of my way to watch unless by happenstance or it gets randomly selected from my giant folder of unwatched anime. Sorry :lollipop_grinning_sweat:




Also Discotek had a bunch of release news. Here's some of the more interesting oldschool stuff:

Fatal Fury OVAs coming to bluray . New HD scan from the film negative.

Super Dimensional Century Orguss coming to bluray. Says to be remastered.

Galaxy Cyclone Braiger coming to sd-bd.

Urusei Yatsura movie 1 and Lupin part V on bd.

Also some 4kids 90s era stuff for those interested in that.



I'll definitely get most these. I was never big on the first FF OVA but I liked the 2nd enough to grab it.

Orguss I've always had mixed feelings about, the ending is a mega "Wut??" and I'm not sure I see myself ever rewatching the series in full ever again. Yet I'll def be picking it up, regardless.

Braiger had a 1080p bluray release in Japan but maybe it was trash quality like Sasuraiger's bluray, hence the sd-bd? Hopefully the other two J9 series see a release after this.

Also they revealed the new cover art for the A-Ko bluray:


Looks to have been designed similar to Discotek's Kimagure Orange Road bd boxart.
 
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Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Honestly...nothing. =P I've never seen it and it never really looked to be something I'd go out of my way to watch unless by happenstance or it gets randomly selected from my giant folder of unwatched anime. Sorry :lollipop_grinning_sweat:




Also Discotek had a bunch of release news. Here's some of the more interesting oldschool stuff:

Fatal Fury OVAs coming to bluray . New HD scan from the film negative.

Super Dimensional Century Orguss coming to bluray. Says to be remastered.

Galaxy Cyclone Braiger coming to sd-bd.

Urusei Yatsura movie 1 and Lupin part V on bd.

Also some 4kids 90s era stuff for those interested in that.



I'll definitely get most these. I was never big on the first FF OVA but I liked the 2nd enough to grab it.

Orguss I've always had mixed feelings about, the ending is a mega "Wut??" and I'm not sure I see myself ever rewatching the series in full ever again. Yet I'll def be picking it up, regardless.

Braiger had a 1080p bluray release in Japan but maybe it was trash quality like Sasuraiger's bluray, hence the sd-bd? Hopefully the other two J9 series see a release after this.

Also they revealed the new cover art for the A-Ko bluray:



Looks to have been designed similar to Discotek's Kimagure Orange Road bd boxart.
Well, as an anime OVA rewrite of a Go Nagai comic (which was Mich more explicit), it's good for a few laughs to anyone who's never seen it. Just odd crap they did with some of the characters. It was odd watching the trailer years ago on VHS and having no clue whether it had any story whatsoever. Then again, I guess if you had not come across the anime...it's not great loss either. The manga is Nagai the OVA is something else altogether.

I'm sorta giving Discotek attention regarding Lupin releases strictly. Most of what I've seen come out are re-releases of anime I already own. Most still in the same format as the CPM or ADV equivalent. Kimagure Orange Road was my last big purchase from them.

Yes, the new A-ko cover is pretty much the same style as the KOR OVA and TV cover. That's not bad unless they throw out a couple more diverse series with similar art. I imagine that's going to look like a 1990's Doritos bag after some time.

Dorito-gure Orange Road
vjmfU4W.jpg
 
Well, as an anime OVA rewrite of a Go Nagai comic (which was Mich more explicit), it's good for a few laughs to anyone who's never seen it. Just odd crap they did with some of the characters. It was odd watching the trailer years ago on VHS and having no clue whether it had any story whatsoever. Then again, I guess if you had not come across the anime...it's not great loss either. The manga is Nagai the OVA is something else altogether.

Ah, I usually don't gravitate toward Nagai's more pervy stuff even though I'm guilty of watching Kekko Kamen and a few others of that nature. :lollipop_grinning_sweat: And it seems like outside of a few examples, most of the anime adaptions for Go Nagai's stuff differ quite a lot from the manga.

I'm sorta giving Discotek attention regarding Lupin releases strictly. Most of what I've seen come out are re-releases of anime I already own. Most still in the same format as the CPM or ADV equivalent. Kimagure Orange Road was my last big purchase from them.

Yeah I just buy the releases that get actual hd transfers or if I don't own them yet. Though I am willing to grab bd upscales if my dvd ver has poor quality (Sadly, many do) or got it a 2nd edition dvd I passed on for whatever reason. =P

Yes, the new A-ko cover is pretty much the same style as the KOR OVA and TV cover. That's not bad unless they throw out a couple more diverse series with similar art. I imagine that's going to look like a 1990's Doritos bag after some time.

Yeah not bad or anything but if they have the original cover art on the other side then it's getting flipped.
 

Happosai

Hold onto your panties
Ah, I usually don't gravitate toward Nagai's more pervy stuff even though I'm guilty of watching Kekko Kamen and a few others of that nature. :lollipop_grinning_sweat: And it seems like outside of a few examples, most of the anime adaptions for Go Nagai's stuff differ quite a lot from the manga.



Yeah I just buy the releases that get actual hd transfers or if I don't own them yet. Though I am willing to grab bd upscales if my dvd ver has poor quality (Sadly, many do) or got it a 2nd edition dvd I passed on for whatever reason. =P



Yeah not bad or anything but if they have the original cover art on the other side then it's getting flipped.
The fact that most of the anime adaptations differ so much from the manga are part of the reason why they're so interesting to me. Part of my creative process in writing script for my own short animations was taking existing animated characters and writing them into stories the original creators never bothered to do. I know with anime, sometimes there's no choice but to do so if the manga artist hasn't completed the story or is on hiatus during the production of the anime. I grew away from manga after my 20's as I've really always just been an animation fan and had the privilege to work in an animation studio when I was only 17-years old for a short time.

The majority blu-ray releases from Discotek haven't been HD or remaster. I mean, at least they're honest in labeling them "standard-definition blu-ray." It just makes me wonder...blu-ray format was meant to push the boundaries of resolution to a much higher quality than DVD; wouldn't it have just made more since to release something on DVD if it's not going to be remastered? The only time I buy the SD Blu-ray releases is when the DVD equivilant either isn't there or went oop.
 

Erdrick

Member
The fact that most of the anime adaptations differ so much from the manga are part of the reason why they're so interesting to me. Part of my creative process in writing script for my own short animations was taking existing animated characters and writing them into stories the original creators never bothered to do. I know with anime, sometimes there's no choice but to do so if the manga artist hasn't completed the story or is on hiatus during the production of the anime. I grew away from manga after my 20's as I've really always just been an animation fan and had the privilege to work in an animation studio when I was only 17-years old for a short time.

The majority blu-ray releases from Discotek haven't been HD or remaster. I mean, at least they're honest in labeling them "standard-definition blu-ray." It just makes me wonder...blu-ray format was meant to push the boundaries of resolution to a much higher quality than DVD; wouldn't it have just made more since to release something on DVD if it's not going to be remastered? The only time I buy the SD Blu-ray releases is when the DVD equivilant either isn't there or went oop.

I think in the case of their Fist Of The North Star Blu Ray release, while its not touched I believe, they do cram all 152 episodes or so onto like 3 Blu Ray discs. So that's a benefit from the larger format file capacity, I imagine. It also helps that there is only dual audio for the first 36 episodes with the rest being Japanese only in mono sound as it tends to be from that era.
 
The majority of Discotek's Blu-ray releases are in HD (this is putting aside, whether the on-disc material is technically an upscale). Using loose numbers, they have around 230 Blu-ray releases, of which around 50 feature standard-definition video (link to company's catalog).

Since Blu-ray players have all but replaced DVD-only units for home video, there are benefits to using the format over DVD. As previously mentioned, Blu-ray offers more storage capacity, meaning more data on less discs with less--or no--compromises to available audio & video quality. Less discs lead to cheaper production and, ideally, lower costs for consumers. The Blu-ray standard also uses better video codecs and allows for higher bitrates than DVD. While encode quality still matters, standard definition video on Blu-ray should technically look better than the same material on DVD.
 
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So any expert weeb into anime on UHD’s
Is it a minefield like dvd and bluray?
I haven't made the jump to UHD, mostly because I still haven't decided on a TV (and to a lesser extent was planning to (maybe only initially) use a PS5 and/or XBSX...neither of which I yet own).

Right now, because there's so little UHD anime on the market, both in the US & Japan, we haven't seen the range of issues that occurred over the long, messy transition from DVD to BD. That said, the two most notable US releases, Akira (from FUNimation) and Ghost in the Shell (from Lionsgate), both had problems, though they were publisher related and not due to the source material.

Personally, unless--or until--there are more significant improvements and standardization to machine upscaling, I expect we'll mostly see certain movies & OVAs and 4K-shows in UHD, while older material will remain in SD or HD and left to be handled by the scaling capabilities of players and TVs.
 
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