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Blu-Ray & Anime suggestion time!

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Diatribe1974

Diatribe1974

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Okay, I'm in the market to get some anime on Blu-Ray, but there's some limitations here:

1) The Anime must be BEFORE 2002
2) The Anime must "show off" what Blu-Ray can do (when compared to it's DVD counterpart)
3) The Anime must be an OAV or Movie in nature (series of movies or oavs is perfectly fine)

Why before 2002? Simple: The bulk of what has been coming out now for roughly the last decade hasn't interested me at all.

Why must the Video/Audio quality need to be of the showcase quality? Simple: If I want "DVD on Blu-Ray" then I'll just buy the darn DVD version.

Why must it be an OAV or Movie? Simple: Nothing worse than watching part of a series in which you have virtually no idea WTF is going on because there's episodes before it & after it.
 
You're going to have a hard time finding stuff prior to 2002 that can be and has been remastered to take advantage of HD.
 
51RUm-XUR6L.jpg
 
DiatribeEQ said:
I've got time.
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No offence but you are deluded if you really think there isn't any anime on blu-ray released past 2002 that interests you - i mean tekkon kinreet, sword of the stranger, paprika? :lol and there's also the girl who leapt through time that's stated to be released soon i think. Add in the fact, that most of the best-looking stuff is going be uh released past 2002. With the only old-school releases i'm aware of being akira and royal space force?

Why must it be an OAV or Movie? Simple: Nothing worse than watching part of a series in which you have virtually no idea WTF is going on because there's episodes before it & after it.
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They aren't many television show releases on blu-ray. But pretty much everyone so far is released as a complete series.:lol (unless you live in japan).


Nausicaa.
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Is that stated to be released in the US? it seems to be coming here in australia.
 
Mudkips said:
You're going to have a hard time finding stuff prior to 2002 that can be and has been remastered to take advantage of HD.
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You have no idea what you're talking about. Hand-drawn anime shot on film has a resolution that's higher than 1080p.

Royal Space Force Honneamise and Akira are both fantastic examples.
 
distantmantra said:
You have no idea what you're talking about.

Royal Space Force Honneamise and Akira are both fantastic examples.
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I think he might have been referring to television series. Which could be partly true in that case. Still he did ask for no television series - only OVAS / Films.:lol
 
As far as I know there aren't a lot of anime out there that is considered reference material. If you're willing to drop the 2002 qualifier I highly recommended 'Evangelion: 1.11' and 'Sword of the Stranger' both look great and sound amazing. 'Tekkonkinkreet' reviewed very well when it comes to video quality too.
 
Lafiel said:
No offence but you are deluded if you really think there isn't any anime on blu-ray released past 2002 that interests you - i mean tekkon kinreet, sword of the stranger, paprika? :lol and there's also the girl who leapt through time that's stated to be released soon i think. Add in the fact, that most of the best-looking stuff is going be uh released past 2002. With the only old-school releases i'm aware of being akira and royal space force?


They aren't many television show releases on blu-ray. But pretty much everyone so far is released as a complete series.:lol (unless you live in japan).



Is that stated to be released in the US? it seems to be coming here in australia.
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Actually, while I might not stay "Up to the Minute" in regards to my knowledge of what's out in the "Right Here, Right Now" state of all things Anime, but I go through enough phases in which I effectively keep myself current, regardless of how long I might go between sessions. For example: Tomorrow, I might hit up a couple friends, borrow some DVDs of various stuff and watch them at home. 8 months later, I might do the same thing again. Each time, I'm looking for shows that interest me. Mind you, these are friends of mine who are die-hards for anything anime, so their selection can range from "Hey, not bad..." styled collections to "Holy shit, you might actually have it all....." (Seriously, Chuck if you're on these forums & reading this, you know who I am & you're freakin' nuts).

As to the television shows not being released outside of complete sets, then great! That just leaves the movies & oavs, now don't it?
 
Lafiel said:
I think he might have been referring to television series. Which could be partly true in that case. Still he did ask for no television series - only OVAS / Films.:lol
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Only TV series that were digitally drawn are sub-HD. The older cel-animation shows have the potential to be viewed in HD.

NightBlade88 said:
You want anime released over 10 years ago on Blu-Ray? :lol
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Why is that so funny? If it was done on cel or film stock, it's HD.
 
Decado said:
Akira

Otherwise you'll have to wait for more Ghibli titles.
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Yeah, when the fuck are they going to dig into their catalog and get that out. I want my totoro in high def man. I only have the two Eva movies though...waiting for FLCL/Cowboy Bebop and probably the sub-par Samurai Champloo one when it's cheap enough.
 
NightBlade88 said:
You want anime released over 10 years ago on Blu-Ray? :lol
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You're saying that there's no worthy anime released 10+ years ago? Seriously. Did you intentionally mean to troll a thread in which I'm simply asking for recommendations of material I'd like to watch & get interested in, or did you accidently troll it?
 
distantmantra said:
You have no idea what you're talking about. Hand-drawn anime shot on film has a resolution that's higher than 1080p.

Royal Space Force Honneamise and Akira are both fantastic examples.
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They're not exactly showpieces for BluRay, dude.

Hand-drawn anime shot on film has a resolution that's higher than 1080p
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No, it doesn't. It doesn't have a fucking set "resolution".

Hand drawn animation can be filmed on a variety of formats, and that film can be digitally mastered in a variety of ways. (Or you can skip the film and go straight to digital, of course.) It is the process, and not the medium, that determine the "resolution" of the final output.

As for the content itself, discounting framerate, and assuming that the original cels/prints of the animes you listed were indeed kept and rescanned (or that the original master is of high enough quality), the fact remains that the work was created for SD, not HD.

King of the Hill, The Simpsons, American Dad, and, eventually, Family Guy all went to HD processes. They are by no means showing off the potential of a 1920x1080 resolution, though they do show an obvious benefit from it.

While your titles of choice may look nice, and may have been mastered at a high resolution, to say they show the inherent value of bluray over dvd is just wrong. If you want to "wow" someone with BluRay, you show them Kung Fu Panda or How to Train Your Dragon. There is a world of difference between looking good and being a showcase for the technical merits of BluRay.
 
Kagari said:
Most of the older anime is a lot better than the trash that gets pumped out these days.
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I agree with you 100%. Yes, I'll admit that there's an occasional head turner that's come out in the last 10 years or so, so it's not that I'm discounting it all. But I've found more of the art styles, stories/content & overall "feel" of anime from the early/mid 90's till roughly the time frame I mentioned (i.e. 2002) to be my ideal sweet spot of everything I loved.

On another note, I could easily rely on my old standbys for my Blu-Ray watching (which I probably will go anyways in the end), but wanted others opinions of various shows that might make me go "Wow, how did I miss this? This is great!"
 
At the moment you're not gonna find what you're looking for based on that criteria.

Somewhat related, I've been curious to see how that import Riding Bean bluray looked but not $80 curious. Especially when the Bubblegum Crisis blurays only got a so-so release.
 
Akira is gorgeous. I also really love Ghost in the Shell 2.0, the updates they made to it are a little off-putting but the stuff they mostly left unchanged is IMO a high watermark for animation.
 
Mudkips said:
They're not exactly showpieces for BluRay, dude.
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I beg to differ. Wings of Honneamise looks breathtaking on BD IMO. Akira not only looks rgeat but also has an amazing sounding 192khz audio track (most movies' audio tracks are 48khz)
 
Akira and Ghost in the Shell are the only ones that meets your criteria that are easy to find at a good price. If you want to import from japan and take out a loan in the process then you have more options.
 
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust.

It's not on blu-ray, but if you watch it you'll want to start a murderous rampage until it is.
 
this is like the 40th time someone has recommended Royal Space Force - my anime tolerance is fairly low (love miyazaki and a few other classics, though) but i just might have to watch this soon
 
i guess this sort of counts, but grab the Evangelion 1.11 blu-ray. i found it to be really really detailed and colorful, and as a bonus, it was actually mastered in HD, as opposed to the majority of anime BRDs being SD upscales.
 
DiatribeEQ said:
Okay, I'm in the market to get some anime on Blu-Ray, but there's some limitations here:
Click to expand...

Here is a complete list of US anime releases on Blu-ray. From that list, here is every single title that fits your pre-2002 requirement:

Akira
Evangelion 1.11
Ghost in the Shell 2.0
Gunbuster: The Movie
Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade
Urotsukidoji: Legend of the Overfiend
Wings of Honneamise

That's it. Of those, we can knock out the following:

Evangelion 1.11 - This is a re-edit with lots of new footage and so forth, so if you're a purist it may not work for you.
GitS 2.0 - Has a drastically altered look and the enclosed copy of the original version of the film was taken from a LD master and looks like complete ass.
Gunbuster: The Movie - Fully half of the original series was thrown out to make this movie version.
Jin-Roh - I'm sure this is a very nice Blu-ray, but it is way out of print. I see a copy going for $150 on eBay as we speak, with several days to go, however.
Urotsukidoji - I know nothing about this release and won't be looking into it at work. While it may be just what you're looking for, I have the feeling it's not what you had in mind.

So, when all is said and done, you're left with Akira and Honneamise, and perhaps Evangelion 1.11. That's it. The good news is that they all look fantastic on Blu-ray. The bad news is that Akira and Honneamise (alas out of print) are both a bit pricey, with Amazon selling new copies for $32 and $45 (plus shipping) respectively.

If you want to start looking at imports, there's all sorts of shows and movies that have been released, so long as you don't insist on subtitles. However, here's a thread that lists Japanese Blu-ray releases with English subs and/or dubs. From there you've got the first two Patlabor movies, Tenchi Muyo OVAs and movies, Nausicaa (with more Ghibli to come), and a copy of Jin-Roh you can actually find.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings. On the bright side, if you're willing to give some post-2002 movies a chance, there are some fine flicks like Paprika, Tekkon Kinkreet, and Sword of the Stranger waiting for you now, with Summer Wars and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time coming soon.

FnordChan
 
Bob Coffee said:
i guess this sort of counts, but grab the Evangelion 1.11 blu-ray. i found it to be really really detailed and colorful, and as a bonus, it was actually mastered in HD, as opposed to the majority of anime BRDs being SD upscales.
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THIS.
It's very close to the original TV series, and very much nostalgic for that reason.
 
2.22 is even better to show off the power of the Blu-Ray since it's more action packed, though I'm not sure if it's out on the US yet. Both look really gorgeous though.
 
Peff said:
2.22 is even better to show off the power of the Blu-Ray since it's more action packed, though I'm not sure if it's out on the US yet. Both look really gorgeous though.
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US release is next year.
 
Peff said:
2.22 is even better to show off the power of the Blu-Ray since it's more action packed, though I'm not sure if it's out on the US yet. Both look really gorgeous though.
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This. I just watched my BRD today, and it was awesome.
 
Gunbster and Akira.

Ghost in the Shell 2.0 is pretty terrible.

Also just look into Sword of the Stranger. Who cares if its a new anime.
 
What else is there to be mentioned other than the DBZ movies? Those DBZ movies actually got pretty solid releases from Funimation, and is actually the first time those films have been shown as they were meant to be seen (tm) from the theatrical screenings. Sadly, I don't like most of the DBZ movies. But if you do, all 13 movies, and the 2 TV specials can be had in 7 releases.
 
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