Princess Mononoke Released On DVD

Christopher Cashell writes: "The critically acclaimed Anime film by Hayao Miyazaki and Ghibli studios, Princess Mononoke, has been released on DVD. The DVD release was initially delayed due to the public outcry when it was discovered that the original Japanese dialogue wouldn't be included. In this case, the effort from people writing Miramax paid off, as this release does include Japanese language tracks. This movie was reviewed on Slashdot when released in theaters. More information on Princess Mononoke can also be found here." and on AnimeFu (fwiw, that is Kurt The Pope & I's anime review site, check it out if you're curious). My copy hasn't arrived yet (Express.com fails me once again. When they stopped being DVDExpress, their UI went to poop, and now I have to wait weeks for titles.) but I hear they really did this disc up right; they've even got Gaimen's subtitles or Miyazaki's original script subtitles. I'm excited to see this disc. And hear Gillian Anderson again. I got to see the movie in an old local artsy theater. What a great movie.

Comments

So now DVD is OK all of a sudden?

[lightspawn]

So DVD is evil and nobody should ever use it as long as CSS and region encoding are employed, but the moment a movie's out which you like, you just rush and get it?

I will never buy a DVD with CSS. If that means I'll never be able to watch another movie for the rest of my life, so be it.

Re:So now DVD is OK all of a sudden?

[swordgeek]

Agreed, although I'm not so sure about never buying a DVD with CSS. Whether or not I do, I'll make sure that anyone who asks can get access to deCSS, LiVID, and any other 'illegal' decryption programs. In fact, ANY illegal programs, including PGP and "Catcher in the Rye." Oops, that last one wasn't a computer program--can't imagine how it popped to mind.

Honestly, I think the "kill CSS" fight is already lost.

Buy this and you are giving $$$ to Disney and MPAA

[isaac]

Just wanted to remind everyone considering this purchase that the dollars you spend on this Disney-marketed DVD will be used to lobby congress for longer copyright terms and legislation restricting what you can do with hardware/software you have legally purchased. As a bonsu, your dollars will also prop up the ongoing lawsuits against programmers and journalists accused of the heinous crime of spreading knowledge.

Don't buy it, don't go see their crap in theaters, don't watch their TV networks, don't give them your own money and time only to let it be used against you!

-Isaac

How To Buy DVDs if you hate the MPAA

[raygundan]

There's a lot of talk in this article about how buying a DVD is supporting the MPAA/DVD-CCA mess, and that as such you should boycott DVDs. I agree entirely with this sentiment, but not with the action taken. Don't let their stupidity take something you enjoy out of your life-- you can buy DVDs and still feel all warm and fuzzy by doing the following:

1. Make sure you've got the tools to do whatever you want (legally) with your DVDs. DeCSS, speed ripper, a region-free drive, etc...

2. Buy used DVDs whenever possible. Most movies I want to buy have been available for long enough that there are 10,000 copies of them on ebay for next-to-nothing. Used DVDs pay no additional "a$$hole tax" to the MPAA.

3. If you really want to get a new DVD (in my case, I ordered Mononoke in advance), make a matching donation to the EFF. Do this everytime. If the movie costs $25, send $25 to the EFF. This way, while the movie studio is making a bit of profit from the movie, the EFF is getting the full amount to use in their fight. (Thanks to the slashdot poster who suggested this many months ago-- I think it's an outstanding idea!!)

Let me see if I can follow your logic...

[tswinzig]

You're going to stop watching movies, possibly for the rest of your life, to spite CSS. Not to spite the DVD format, but CSS.

In other words, you are letting CSS control your viewing habits. You are letting the DVD industry take away something from you that you love: watching movies.

The irony here is so thick, I'm practically choking on it. CSS is supposed to control viewing habits, and you are letting it work! If you really want to protest CSS, you will encourage your friends to crack it. You will lobby Congress and the Senate to overturn CSS-friendly legislation. You will make copies of DVD's, encode them as 3ivx, and write them to CDROM's.

But quit watching DVD movies? Let them control my viewing habits? Why? Why take away something I love to do? Why cut my nose to spite my face?

On the other hand....

[zeromusmog]

You're perfectly free to not buy the DVD, but think about it. Never in my life have I seen a big corporation listen to its fans like this before... sure, they might have thought they were gonna lose money if they didn't listen, but they went against their business instincts to not give the customer what they want. I believe that deserves some merit.

Second, it looks like they actually did a good job on this. Companies tend to like to crap out on Anime DVD jobs; pretty much the only decent Anime you can get is from companies that specialize in Anime. Also, Mononoke Hime is a dang good movie. The fact that they even brought it to America in the first place is worth of credit.

So, while you have some good reasons to buy the move, I have some good reasons to buy the movie. As a longtime Final Fantasy and RPG fan, I appreciate it when a company finally listens to their customers (HOW many times were we promised FFV?! >_<)

Evil? Maybe. Monopolistic? Possibly. But my "purchacing vote" goes for listening to us when we complained, even if that isn't "the Slashdot way".

Re:Japanese-language tracks are a good thing

[Mononoke]

I'm not against the Japanese dub being included, don't get me wrong I just don't understand why its so important. So please tell me why.

Mainly because Japanese voice actors can actually act. The Japanese version of Mononoke was performed by some of the best voice actors in the industry. The title character in the English version was performed by someone who had never voice-acted before. I could hear the difference, and I can't even understand the Japanese tracks.

--

Princess Mononke

[nurikochan]

I generally like anything by Miyazaki, but I need to point out several things about this disc. (First one to buy it on release day at the local Borders)

Just because the Mouse did this release does not mean that they slaughtered this movie. I couldn't be happier with the video quality, which is one of the best transfers I've seen for an anime. All the colors stay at their right levels, including all of Miyazaki's breath taking forest scenery.

Both audio tracks came off well, even though I'll personally only be watching this in Japanese w/ English subtitles, hey, it has both captions and good literal translation subtitles!

Go out and buy it today. You won't regret it, even if you aren't an anime fan.

If you don't care...

[evanbd]

stop whining and go turn it off in your settings page! I turned off a couple topics, but mostly I like to just skim the ones I don't find interesting, because most topics eventually produce something interesting. So turn the Anime topic off if you don't care, and if you sort of care then accept that you won't want to read the whole thing. no need to read past the headline.

*sigh* I know, I know, don't feed the trolls...