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Princess Mononoke DVD: No Japanese
Robotech_Master writes: "Nausicaa-L list-owner Michael Johnson spoke to Buena Vista and confirmed it...due to fears of reverse-importing and piracy, the August 29 Princess Mononoke DVD will have English and French audio, but no Japanese. I've written an article summarizing the situation and what concerned fans can do about it." Update by Emmett: The link is currently busted (again), but there are some informative posts in the comments regarding this. After seeing Corn Pone films like 'BAD,' I don't watch dubbed anime. Even though I've seen Princess Mononoke in the theater, I'd rather watch it in Japanese. Battle on, Otaku.
The sad fact is that while DVDs (having the ability to have multiple soundtracks) could be an excellent resource for people learning foreign languages, region encoding means that most languages will be unavailable to the user. For example, in North America, English, French, and Spanish are generally the only soundtracks (and even the only subtitles) available.
Hence their reluctance to release a DVD with a Japanese track abroad which would then instantly become a hot commodity in Japan and be re-imported by the black market.
Begs a couple of questions though:
1) The US version will be Region 1. I don't think too many Japanese have Region 1-capable players. Some, but the mass market will buy the regular-store Region 2 player.
2) Why the hell have they waited this long to release Ghibli's films on DVD anyway?
We have everything they've released on VHS up to now. (The Ghibli ga Ippai Collection) All Japanese and only Japanese. Any dub is NEVER going to do justice to the talents of the original voice actors.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
I don't get it. Why don't they just delay the American release until the same time they release it in Japan? I would think the ability to release a "quality" version (with Japanese track) would outweigh any loss due to the later release.
85p/litre? Thanks for giving me something else to celebrate today! Last time I was in the UK was a couple of years ago, so my price fix was out of date.
www.eFax.com are spammers
This is just plain stupid. This is almost as bad as when "Life is Beautiful" was re-released with English dubbing. As long as the subtitles are legible and well timed, what is the problem??? Are people in the US too lazy to do a bit of reading when they go to the movies?? For well subtitled movies, I often almost completely forget that I am reading the dialog.
I think that Disney and a few other groups automatically assume cartoon==for kids, and since younger kids can't read, the film should be dubbed. But "Princess Mononoke" and "Life is Beautiful" are not for children and definately not for children to young to read.
Rant over and out.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
Sorry if I'm in the dark on this, but why would you have to worry about bacteriological infetcion by handling a dubbed disc? I'm presuming this is a joke about the bad quality of dubbed anime, in which case, what the heck is "Macekbacter?"
Perhaps you don't. In socialism, the government owns or control certain industries, and not other. Our government does control much of the commerce in the nation to some extent. Healthcare, research, transportation, logging are all examples of industries that the government dictates some form of price control or standardization. Our government is partiallly socialist, our economy mostly capitalist. Your efforts to relate an economic system to a political one shows how little grasp you have on this concept.
====
Crudely Drawn Games
As a resident of one of the few cities that the dubbed Mononoke was released, and as one of the few residents of that city who owns a fansubbed version, I have to wonder the logic behind this move. While it is true that many less people will pirate versions of this DVD, I suspect that will be because nobody will want it in the first place. The English dubbing was awful (Billy Bob Thorton? Even Gillian Anderson sucked), and since I'm visiting France right now, and I, over the last few days, have experienced the horror of French dubbing, I can't see why anyone would buy this in the first place in order to pirate it.
And FWIW, I think Gaiman did an excellent job with the English version.
The whole region code thingy is braindead anyway. Why shouldn't I be able to buy a movie in the US and watch it here in the Netherlands? I mean, I could buy books, tapes, CD-ROMS, basically anything else in the US and use it here, so why not DVDs?
:)
The whole napster thingy is basically the same issue: it's all about companies who want to squeeze as much money out of the public at large as possible with no regard whatsoever for the artists, nor for the public. They're just a middle man, and they know that, so they're fighting as best they can to ensure they can remain the middle man for all eternity. The fact that they're starting to fight so extremely dirty means they're quite desperate, which you could ofcourse also see as a good sign
Things always get worse before they get better...
)O(
the Gods have a sense of humour,
Never underestimate the power of stupidity
To err is human, to moo bovine
core market? Anime? What the bllodyfckinghell are you talking about? Buena Vista is the R-Rated arm of Disney and one of the most powerful organizations in Hollywood. The core market is entire world. They've doubtlessly distributed most of your favorite films. Except the cosplay pr0n.
:)Fudboy
:)Fudboy
I guess I'm only a Fudboy, looking for that real Transmeta
Is a solid technological solution. I ran across a piece of software that's supposed to take mpeg-2 data streams (decrypted using DeCSS) and allow you to translate language tracks in real time. I'm too busy to look up the web site, but it was called the Content Library Internet Translator for Online and Realtime Interpolation of Sound. Do a google search for the acronym, it should be near the top.
--Shoeboy
The grammar nazi's opinion:
export
1 : to carry away : REMOVE
2 : to carry or send (as a commodity) to some other place (as another country)
import
2 : to bring from a foreign or external source; especially : to bring (as merchandise) into a place or country from another country
reverse (as adjective)
1 a : opposite or contrary to a previous or normal condition b : having the back presented to the observer or opponent
3 : acting, operating, or arranged in a manner contrary to the usual
4 : effecting reverse movement
Grammar nazi's conclusions:
The above 3 meanings for reverse, as applied to import are equivalent to at least one export meaning. To answer zztzed's question: yes, indubitably
Keeping
Since there has NOT been a Japanese-language, region-2 DVD of PM for the Japanese market, the release of a US (region 1) DVD which can be enjoyed in all three ways I just described is problematic to the people who will eventually distribute the PM R2 DVD in Japan.
Here in the US PM only did small art-house-type business - less that $30 million IIRC. So it comes down to pissing off a relatively small market of anime fans, or risking the revenue that will be provided when the most popular domestic film in Japanese history makes it to DVD in its home country.
Then there's the other issue - the fact that the powers-that-be in Japan (Buena Vista Japan to be specific) don't think they can trust the region encoding mechanism to enforce international market segmentation. This is doubly ironic, since the main reason for that nasty MPAA-DeCSS legal fight is (presumably) the DVD industry asserting its rights against people who want to do things like unraveling region encoding.
Hopefully, this is just going to be a Princess Mononoke thing. I think the main thing people are on about (go look at Ain't It Cool News for an example) is that this is going to affect all the other Miyazaki titles (Kiki's Delivery Service, My Neighbor Totoro, Laputa/Castle in the Sky), and NONE of them will get the "proper" DVD treatment (look at "Grave of the Firefiles" for an example of a well-done anime-on-DVD).
The dubbing was pretty good in them -- and it was excellent for the Disney release of Mononoke Hime, but the fact is still that dubbing just plain sucks. Alas.
Also, I believe there's a fan-subbed version of Mononoke Hime in RM format floating around the net somewhere.
The distribution deal says the no changes can be made to the films except for dubbing. Not even music, though a natural exception would be song lyrics. This didn't prevent Miramax from nagging continuously the Japanese for cuts on the violence and even on some sound effects deemed too fightning(!) They should have understand that this was not a film for young children.
how stupid some people can be. piracy and copying and crap like that isn't going to be stopped cause of removing a language. i don't get it. Whats that sapposed to do? or am i missing something here?
Upeo
Does Disney even own the DVD rights in Japan?
Ok, so this is what I have learned from my adventures with the DeCSS case. Disney is a big part of the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) which includes all the big movie companies (Ex: Time Warner, 20th Century Fox, Paramount... etc). One of the MPAA's jobs is to try and stop piracy of videos, dvd's, or what have you.
For this reason, the MPAA is in kahoots with the DVD-CCA (DVD-Copy-Contol-Association). They came up with the CSS (Contents Scrambling System) encryption scheme which allowed them to make DVD's only playable in certian regions at certian times.
That's part of the reason why they are trying to stop the spread of DeCSS (Which is futile), because it threatens their control of the global movie industry.
If you are interested you can download DeCSS here, or learn more about the case at 2600 and opendvd.org
...I hope that link doesn't get /. in too much trouble :)
So quick with fear you tiny fools!
These stupid people don't realize that there will be NO security standard of any sort. Sooner or later these losers will realize that DVD encryption will fail. Its either that or how Hollywood realizes that in the future everyone won't go to the movies to watch movies, they'd rather download them on their personal T3's....
Most of the Region I anime on DVD I buy is dual-language (even including titles with popular american dubs like Sailor Moon).
I belive Princess Mononoke is odd in this respect. This is probably enough to make me and others not want to buy the disc (the english voice acting is above average on it, though).
My favorite search engine didn't turn up any results for "clitfoarios". Which engine do you use, Shoeboy?
Will I retire or break 10K?
What's the big deal? The article seems to be out of commission right this second, so I'm admittedly operating out of cluelessness here, but I don't see what the issue is. The only problematic scenario that I can envision is that the movie was released here with English-subtitled Japanese audio. Is that the case? If not, what's so bad about not being able to listen to the movie in Japanese? It seems like there might be better causes to direct our energies toward. But if someone could fill me in, I'd be appreciative.
I'm just wondering why your so mad about not having it in the japanse language? Are you fluent in japanese? Just curious.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
I saw both, and it looked to me as though Disney didn't cut so much as a single frame.
This is probably why they didn't have a big advertising campaign for PM, now that I think about it. The movie would have been too controversial for their taste. But the controversy would have been even worse if they'd cut material, so, cowards that they are, they had no choice but to forego advertising.
Honest question: what have you seen? There is crappy anime out there. A lot of crappy anime. But, as with any medium, there are also some true gems.
The reason many of us like anime, I believe, is that these gems are more numerous than in other mediums. Furthermore, the people who create anime have more artisticf freedom than filmmakers in the US, both because they seem remarkably free of the corporatist pop culture we find here and the fact that they don't have a religious right to smack them upside the head if they don't do something which fits in said group's narrow definition of morality, which they would want to enforce on others.
Several times in the past I've spoken about how the US is the only nation in the world which guarantees free speech. I hold to that statement. But the more I look at the situation, there are few nations who need that guarantee more than the US. Think about it: freedom of speech (criticism on established groups), freedom of religion (need I say more), freedom of the press (or, to put it in a more modern light, the media), and freedom of assembly (almost any non-religious, non-corporate group nowadays). We have extremely powerful groups here in the US who would take that all away, groups who are, if not absent, at least much weaker elsewhere. So powerful, in fact, that really the only thing that stops these groups from having their way with our rights is a 220-year-old document (they don't have the majority required to fairly influence politics, but they do have the influence to do it anyway). While we may have the freest speech of any nation that purports to have it, that right is also in more danger in the US than in any other nation which currently claims to have it.
I have seen posters of the English version of Mononoke Hime in Japan, and think it either was played here or will be here on tapes. (someone else please provide better info).
Is it possible that the dubbed version could be available here in Japan on DVD without the Japanese version being available?
If a major film is released on DVD must the security be able to handle any forseeable development of deCss style systems in the medium term?
You might not want to use US gas in a UK car. Not only could it cause you to swerve unavoidably right when going through the roundabouts, but UK petrol is 91 octane, whereas "regular" US gas is 85-87 octane. Since US engine tend to be larger displacement, we use a lower compression to get the same horsepower than the smaller engines used in the UK. You put US gas in a high-compression UK engine and it'll knock like a door-to-door saleman. You'd have to buy Premium gas, which is more expensive (but at ~US$1.799/USgal here in Kansas, still a damn sight better than UK60p/litre.)
www.eFax.com are spammers
They did not cut the video at all. Indeed this (no cuts) was one of the stipulations of the sale of Miyazaki's (worldwide, including Japan!) rights to your friend and mine, DisneyCo.
I have seen not a fan-sub, but the japanese Laserdisc release (my flatmate happened to be in Japan on the date of it's release. He tells me that the Japanese Otaku don't seem to camp out before the stores open to make sure they get their copies, so he wound up with one of the first Mononoke Hime LD's sold in the world.) I don't know Japanese, but I didn't notice any scenes go away (I would have been more likely to notice better if I had watched them in the other order, though).
The reason the Disney version isn't total ass is that they got Neil Gaiman (of Sandman fame) to head up the dubbing process. (Initially he refused, until he realized that that just meant someone else would do it, possible someone who didn't care as much.) The biggest problem with the translation is Disney's fallacious belief that Big-Name-Actors = good voice actors.
Anyways enough rambling.
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
oh, and let me just finally add - that Princess Mononoke was not officially distributed by Disney, but by another company in the big corporate congolmerate, Mirimax. If they put the Disney name on it, nothing they could say or do would stop people from thinking it's a movie for small children, which it is not.
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
It's very weird with media. I can buy british import CD's cheaper than Brits can. I think the big reason is that either there are a lot of import tarrifs in britain (american products also cost a lot!), or the importers are few and get greedy ("I can get £17 for this CD?! Allright!")
But the fact of the matter is that almost everywhere on the planet (with the notable exception of countries with weak or unenforced copyright laws) entertainment costs 150-200% of what they do in the United States and Canada.
Trees can't go dancing
So do them a big favor
Pretend dancing stinks!
Well, Disney is releasing it through their Miramax and Buena Vista labels, which have somewhat less to do with Disney, and aren't immediately recognizeable (to most people) as Disney brands.
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I think it should be noted that the person who submitted the story is getting paid per-hit for that article he wrote. What better way to make some quick cash than by getting his story slashdotted?
i nd0006d&L=nausicaa&P=11579
:)
A better URL would've been nausicaa.net's story at http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=
If only this article had been posted in time to submit the mini 'petition' to BVHV, 1000 is nice, but just think how many Slashdot could've provided.
They all bought the Apex AD-600A region selectable player. That or a hacked software version for the computer.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Before you go drafting your protest e-mails, note that his deadline for submission was yesterday.
That was Chinese actually ! ciaox
Studio Ghibli only let Disney distribute their films on the condition that it be un-edited. Any cuts are imagined.
I remember reading that Disney wanted to cut the movie to get it down to PG, but Miyazaki didn't let them touch a frame.
I saw the Disney version in the theatre, and didn't notice any glaring inconsistancies or jumps in the plot. On a side note, seeing a Miyazaki flick on the big screen is absolutely amazing. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the opportunity.
Which converts to about £16 (ish, I dont have the latest exchange rates to hand). Compare that with internet prices (on most places I go looking for DVD's on the net I useually find them for around $15 a pop) and its easy to see that in the high street, people in the UK are paying way over the odds.
Theres actually a name for it btw (for all you merkins who are interested), its called 'rip-off britain'.
Nick
Nick
Always subbed.
So why, if foreign films are always shown in their native language would BV Japan not want their own product shown in its native language?
The above is rhetorical. Beuna Vista Japan asked for it, the REAL reasons known only to them.
Wonder if my ex-girlfriend's sister still works at BV Japan?
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
Amen
I think we all know that region-free, macrovision-free DVD players are a dime a dozen. I have three of them, an Apex, a modified Pioneer and a modified Philips. As for not being able to purchase things that aren't sold in your country, please explain why there is a Playstation 2 in my Pennsylvanian abode, or why so many of my DVDs have region numbers other than 1.
----------------------------
... or maybe they kept their recalled PS2s. =)
Buena Vista handles distribution of Ghibli's films in Japan and North America. It was BV Japan that requested BVHV to not include the Japanese track. While the logical answer is to release a DVD in Japan as well, they'd still be worried because DVDs are so expensive in Japan that it would be cheaper to import it. (I hear the PS2 is the cheapest DVD player in Japan!)
In Japan, you'd pay anywhere from $US40 (your standard reissue of an old movie) to $US90 (The Matrix box edition).
This is the direct result of the CSS/region coding bullshit.
....
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--Hey Doctor Jones! No time for love!
First, take one dub-only Mononoke DVD and DeCSS it. Be sure to handle the disc with latex gloves, to avoid a Macekbacter infection. (It gives you the worst kind of strep throat, and you sound. like. you're. reading. everything. from. a. book.)
.VOB files. Upload to your favorite high-bandwidth 0day m0v13z site. Presto, a release with Japanese audio!
Then get an import copy of the Mononoke LD. Rip its AC-3 SPDIF data stream using an AC-3 RF demodulator and a PCI AC-3 input card (no, I don't know where to get such a beast).
Then, using a DVD authoring suite (available from the usual 0day wAr3z sites), merge in the new AC-3 audio track. Don't forget to strip region coding and clear the Macrovision flag. (You're not licenced to set the Macrovision flag, are you? Of course not!) Mix liberally, then bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. No, wait, that was the cake recipe.
Then simply re-write a DVD-R with the new
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
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--Hey Doctor Jones! No time for love!
I think the things Neale Stephenson says about Disney and Culture in In the Beginning Was the Command Line are absolutely dead on.
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
When I say "rights" I mean the rights to include the original Cantonese audio track on their DVD. (Manga Video's Devilman had a similar problem.)
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
C'mon Disney, DVD consortium... I'm going to import the region 2 Mononoke DVD when it's released into Region one and watch it on my hacked region free player. I SPIT on the region coding scheme. I'm LAUGHING at your powerlessness. I will incite others to do the same. What are you going to do? The answer is nothing because you are all a bunch of cowards.
Well, actually it's a little more involved than that. It's largely a matter of personal preference, and goes back to the old "dub vs. sub" debate that was spawned when the first anime fansubber discovered what you could do with a genlock and the first anime importers started releasing dubs. You can't really get much of a rational answer when you ask someone about that--at least, not the kind of answer that could convince someone who believed the other way.
But in another sense, it comes down to just plain having the choice. Some people didn't like the English dub, but even those people who liked the English dub as well as or better than the Japanese version might still like the option to compare the voice acting and changes to story from one version to the other.
Hope that clears things up.
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Thanks, everyone who's read it, and everyone who's going to. This is harnessing the Slashdot Effect for good. :)
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
US Octane ratings are the average of the Research Octane Number (RON) and the Manufacturers Octane Number (MON). I don't fully understand the difference, but in general the RON is 2-3 points higher than the average number you see at the pump. In Europe, they only use the RON, so their 91 octane is the equivalent our mid-grade 89 octane. (I've never seen anything lower than 87 at the pump here, but I'm in CA)
You have violated Robot's Rules of Order and will be asked to leave the future immediately.
Actually, Buena Vista is the G-rated arm of the Mouse. Miramax was purchased from the Weinstein Brothers to be the R-rated arm of Disney.
If using Linux is about choice, how come people complain when I choose to use Windows?
Well, you are pissed off because of this one movie. But remember that outside U.S.A. this is actually reversed and we can enjoy non-local movies (i.e. 95% of released movies) only if someone translates them well! Which is not always the case (look here). How pissed off you would be if you couldn't get the jokes in Aliens or Star Wars?
--- Frantisek Fuka (Yes, that's my real name and you have no idea how it's pronounced)
No..you cant make me. Its funny that i made you waste 30 seconds of your time responding though.
I am probably one of the many who would like to voice our concern to Buena Vista over not including the Japanese language track (with subtitles I imagine) on the DVD. Unfortunately, it's too late to provide a response to michj@nausicaa.net to have it relayed to Mr. David Jessen at Buena Vista. Does anyone know of a way to contact Mr. Jessen (or someone who'll listen and can do something) directly to voice our concern? I've asked michj@nausicaa.net if he knows.
This is absolutely amazing.
Princess Mononoke is the most popular Japanese movie of all time, bested only by Titanic in terms of tickets sold in Japan.
Now, I want everybody here to consider this:
The United States, which overall had a surprisingly lackluster response to Mononoke's release in theatres, is going to be getting the DVD version first.
Europe, too, will be allowed a viewable copy.
But not Japan. Those people aren't not good enough for their own movie, whose voice actors(consistently better than anyone the rest of the world puts forth for Power Rangers duty) will find themselves stripped out like so much Soviet Revisionism, replaced with the smooth veneer of Hollywood Stardom.
My respect for the Japanese will actually diminish if only me, a twenty one year old white guy sitting in Silicon Valley, sees this as more of a cultural and sociopolitical slap in the face to the millions of Japanese people worldwide than anything George Lucas could have ever done to incur Geek Wrath delaying the Star Wars Episode 1 DVD "a bit longer".
If there's one nice thing we'll get about this, it's that attempting to regionalize markets--particularly through technical means--just became known as an excuse for depriving a culture of its own heritage, and has been exposed as a dramatically anti-consumer tactic.
Yours Truly,
Dan Kaminsky
DoxPara Research
http://www.doxpara.com
Everything they say is right.
Everything. Especially #83.
- A.P.
--
"One World, one Web, one Program" - Microsoft promotional ad
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Well, you might as well ask, "So why do you like movies?" or "Why do you like reading books?" There is animé for every personal taste out there; if you don't like one genre, you might still prefer some other. There's romance, action-adventure-shoot-em-up, science fiction, fantasy, comedy, drama, whatever you want. I don't think anybody likes animé just because it's animé.
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Yep, that's the exact reason, keep the studios from having to do a worldwide marketing blitz on every movie that they show. Although, one could counter that they could get around that by waiting until after the movie is done running worldwide before releasing the film to the home market, but we're talking about the same industry that released a movie to the home market while it was still in the US theaters (Batman).
Of course this still doesn't explain why one needs region coding on movies such as Plan Nine From Outer Space that have been out forever, and I don't think would be theatrically viable anymore, except for those rare theaters that specialize in those niche markets.
Now as far as gasoline, maybe we can do an exchange, a Range Rover for a few tankers of gasoline perchance?
Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses
This is importing, but in the reverse direction of the way it is usually imported (animé is usually imported from Japan, to the United States, not the other way around). Hence, reverse importing.
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
It is extremely common for Anime enthusiasts to watch things in original Japanese, perhaps with english subtitles, rather than to see them dubbed. It's very common..
so it is obvious that those selling the dvd have no concept of this culture.
Well, I can assure you that the three times I saw it in the theater many heads and arms were lost, much to the AMUSEMENT of the audience. :P
This is gotta be the stupidest "marketing" manuver... They know that 60% of the buyers want it in japanese... this is sooo lame.
-= Briareos =-
Hahaha, hardly. Otherwise how would I play my Japanese LEON DVD? I'm sure defeating territorial lockout is even easier in Asia where demand for cheaper foreign movies is greater. On another note, maybe this is all a response to Central Park Media _NOT_ region coding Grave of the Fireflies DVD.
My apologies then.
Reverse-importing... wouldn't that be exporting?
--
you know that CSS (the main DVD encryption, actually i think the only DVD encryption) was broken by some enterprising hackers? if you don't, then have you had your head up your ass for the last few months?
Upeo
Apparently I am not the only one to have seen this. Of course, Bad 2 really takes the cake. Perhaps you remember lines like "Trust me, this song is in English. No REally, it is in English". Or maybe the line like "If I were a Real Girl, Kenny and I would be more than just friends. Yes, and we all know what rabbits are famous for". Of course, if you think that is bad, you should see NegaVISON's spoof of Sailor Moon: Cruise Blues. The line, "In the name of the moon, I am in a Kinky outfit" kills me every time. Of course, not ALL dubbed Anime is bad. Pokemon is Extreamely good (of course, the Japanese is still better), Tekken the movie is better than the original, and Sailor Moon S is better than the Dic Dubs, of course, it still leaves a lot to be desired. At least they replaced the VA for Sailor Moon and kept the original Japanese music and sound effects.
I only caught the end of a fan-subbed copy of Mononoke Hime, and haven't seen Disney's version, but I heard from some people who ought to know that Disney cut a small amount of material from the original Japanese version because it was a little too bloody for their taste.
I'm curious as to how this would affect audio tracks on the US release of the DVD, since I'm assuming it will be Disney's slightly editted version of the movie. I'm sure Disney could make a bit of money by releasing a "Special Edition" DVD with all the footage, the original Japanese audio, and their audio (cleverly editted around the additional material, of course).
Personally, if I have the choice I'll go for a subtitled version, as I'm sure most anime fans would. However, I've heard good things about the Disney version, so I'd love to have a DVD with both.
If only it were just 60p a litre. In fact it's currently at 85p/litre and most forecourts are upgrading their pumps so they can display prices over 99p/litre in expectation of further price rises.
Interesting to learn that you can't use standard American petrol(gas) in the UK, but somehow I doubt the increased quality is worth the massive increase in price...
Blaming GW Bush for the Iraq war is like blaming Ronald McDonald for the poor quality of food.
Iie, "Gambatte kudasai!!"
--Hikari
--Hikari
"Long distance information/ Disconnect me if you can/ On Detonation Boulevard..."
Aren't US DVDs supposedly impossible to play on Japanese players?
Mmmm.. Donuts
I suppose I was mistaken. Any cuts that I had heard about would not have affected the story, just lowered the violence level a bit, such as some of the scenes with people getting various body parts shot off with arrows (which I regrettably only saw in the Japanese trailers). But like I said, I haven't seen the Disney version.
Don't believe me? Click h ere for the Nausicaa.net listserv message in which I first announced the donation (and challenged others to match it or do likewise...sadly, nobody has come forward to do that yet), or here for the AnimeOnDVD article. Of course, you still have to believe I will actually send the money once I get it--but if I don't, I'll completely screw up my good reputation online, and that is a thing I value and cherish, as I've been around since 1992, help moderate a newsgroup, and so on.
I'm proud to be able to do this to give back to a site I so respect and cherish. Would you care to match the funds I donate, palo0019? Or perhaps write a similar article and donate the proceeds similarly? Anyone else?
When the article is available, I hope you'll click on it and help out Nausicaa.net by a dime. It might also be nice if you'd look at some of the other articles I wrote, including one on Jon Katz, that I will be keeping the money for, but that's entirely up to you. :)
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
David Jessen
c/o Buena Vista Home Entertainment
350 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-4691
--
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Well, actually CD, laserdisc, and media prices have been at least two to three times what you'd pay in America ever since I can remember. I believe it's because of the higher cost of living they have over there.
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Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I think it's funny that being offended by the racist joke gets modded as a 0, while a racist joke is modded as a 1. Wait a sec, that's not even remotely funny... My mistake.
Yesterday I went to a music store, and found the eposodes of 'lain' that where missing from my collection. So, posthaste I made it to the checkout and paid.
:)
That didn't last long. I was looking one of them over as I left, and noticed that it was *DUBED*. Hmm, that's no good. This caused me to walk right back up to the counter, and demand my money back. I don't belive in dubs, it's just not right.
This was a major blow, after waiting, and wanting a very long time to find them, and to find them perverted in such a way.
hehe, I guess I'm crazy
Watashi wa hentai desu!
http://www.xpurple.com
were they already slashdotted? I can't read the article... sigh
Slashdot, while many of its readers are into anime, probably isn't the best place to get news about anime DVDs. I find the following two sites most helpful in documenting daily developments in Anime, Animation and DVD. They also have reviews of almost all the anime that's been published on DVD as well...
AnimeOnDVD.Com
DVD Animania
You should never take life too seriously - You'll never get out of it alive.
Maybe I'm a bit confused, but why is the company concerned about reverse-importing (a.k.a. exporting). Japan got Mononokehime a looong time ago (after all, anime comes from JAPAN!). As a starting fan of Anime, I was really looking forward to getting Princess Mononoke with Japanese voices (lots of people tend to like hearing the original voices), as Mononokehime is considered a great anime.
Now, the only thing that I can think of is that Japan has not yet released a DVD version of Mononokehime. Well, this would be easy enough to fix! Just call whoever distributes Ghlibi's films, and tell them that you are worried about exportation (and they should be worried too), yada yada yada, and so why not release a DVD version at the same date? PRESTO! No more problem!
I am a bad speler. Please ignore speling meestakes in me poast.
"I didn't know the Forest God made the flowers grow"
That BUGGED me when I heard that after watching the fansub. Lip synch or not, that particular character was turned from a normal human into one of Disney's make-the-kids-laugh male stooges. If I remember the dub properly, he had a bunch of other really really dumb lines, too.
I'm not an authority on the subject by any means, but looking at some of the other anime feature films recently released on Japanese DVD, there seems to be an increasing trend towards the Japanese studios including an English language subtitle track on the domestic Japanese DVDs.
Given Ghibli's god-like reputation for quality and attention-to-detail, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Japanese region 2 DVD of Mononoke does include an English subtitle track to go with the Japanese dialogue.
I already own the Japanese LaserDisc of Mononoke (a fantastic pressing, for those that are interested...), but if the Jap DVD has an "official" Ghibli subtitle track, then it will certainly be joining my collection rather than any inferior dubbed-only US one.
I also would not be surprised to learn that the Japanese edition of Mononoke contains a significantly expanded set of extra features over and above those available on the US one - it would be completely in keeping with Ghibli's track record, and would also account for the extra time they are taking in production.
There are rumblings that Ghibli are preparing a large DVD boxed-set of their back catalog containing the majority of their films, both Miyazaki-sensei related and otherwise. Hopefully they'll decide to put English subtitles on all those too, if they decide to go ahead with it.
Well, Disney IS responsible for Phantasia and and Phantasia 2000, and their version of Sorcerer's Apprentice supposedly is an exact interpretation of the original story. However, they're also responsible for Brittney Spears.
Discs cost $50 there so you can see why they are concerned about gray marketing the US discs back to Japan. Also the article says there aren't many players in Japan, so disc sellers need to keep the prices high to recoup production costs.
Here's the article: DVD Players a Hard Sell in Japan
Work for Change & GET PAID!
So I suggest you wait this one out. Mononoke has just the right market for a deluxe version. Remember that Kiki's Delivery Service was released in two versions (dubbed pan-and-scan and subbed widescreen). Even if a special edition isn't released, there's still the opportunity to get the Japanese disc when it comes out (hopefully with English subtitles?) And we've waited, what, five years now anyway? If you can, I recommend you wait it out and see what happens as the Japanese DVD release comes around.
Whatever you do, don't say it's a surprise if you hear about a North American special edition DVD of Mononoke later on!
Discs cost $50 there so you can see why they are concerned about gray marketing the US discs back to Japan. Also the article says there aren't many players in Japan, so disc sellers need to keep the prices high to recoup production costs.
Either the market is large enough to support selling the discs legitimately, or it's so small that they won't lose much money from the few people who actually watch DVD's in Japan.
It's one of the two. Neither justifies this ridiculous position that Japan is in right now.
--Dan
Hmm. Oh. Friend of mine just reminds me that they are one of the big gay friendly companies out there and they DID manage to piss off, like, all the southern baptists, so they can't be all bad. Maybe all they need is a good solid dose of Evil...
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
To all you companies who have contributed to the DVD standard and all you media companies who have raised absolute hell over DeCSS , please stop using big words you do not understand. Words such as "Global Convergence". Global convergence means I can take a plane flight to japan, legally buy an anime DVD, and return back home and legally play it on my legally bought DVD player. Global convergence is me legally buying over the internet an independent film from Europe that US distributors view as too insignificant to release on DVD. This is what "Global Convergence" is. No amount of flashy adds on TV with former star trek actors and hypothetical IT scenarios with catchy slogans will convince me or anyone else who truly has an interest in new technologies that you are no less stuck in your own corner of the world and are hell bent on relegating everyone else on the planet to the same position. The only thing global you have proven you understand is playing the part of Global Village Idiot.
I don't know about the US version, but in the italian version they also altered dialogue in the movie to give it sort-of-an-happy ending, with Lady Eboshi pledging to be more respectful of Nature in the future.
In only 2 phrases they managed to completely subvert the movie's message.
I've heard from a smaller studio that it wasn't practical to advertise heavily in other countries until they had an idea of how the film had fared in the US, and whilst that might be true for cinema I see no reason for enforcing it on videos and dvds
In the UK I get the very strong feeling that it's just so that, like everything else they can charge us more. Here we pay in the region of $25 for a DVD! I do hope that the internet can bring some conformity to world prices... it's just crazy that it's cheaper for us to have a british film shipped to us on dvd from the usa!? Think of the environment! </treehugging>
Now what I really want to see is petrol/gasoline being available over the internet (ready for download into your car) so I can get some lovely cheap american gas :)
Just out of curiosty has anyone else come across the UK dvd version of the film 'Human-Traffic'. We thought they'd come up with some wickedly clever way of stopping DeCSS from working, only to discover that they hadn't even bothered to CSS it in the first place!?? It certainly made me wonder just how dedicated the film companies are to stamping out piracy - is this commonplace?
It gives me yet another reason to hate MPAA and Disney in particular.