Miyazaki Region 1 DVDs at Last?

PinkStainlessTail writes " Ain't It Cool has a "story" (or baseless rumor, it is AIC after all) claiming that Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY, CASTLE IN THE SKY (aka LAPUTA), and KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE will be released on 2 disc region 1 DVD sets from Disney in April of this year. The original story comes from comic artist Steve Bissette's message board. " Here's hopin'

Comments

Re:Teehee

[Microlith]

Yes, yours is a bootleg.

Which means that neither Miyazaki nor Studio Ghibli recieved any compensation for their efforts.

Thank you for being a hindrance.

About time!

[MtViewGuy]

If the rumor is based on reality I'm definitely preordering the DVD's. =)

Anyone who hasn't seen Castle in the Sky will be in for a treat--it has some of the most AMAZING hand-drawn backgrounds you've ever seen.

NAUSICAA!!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

DAMMIT! WHERE IS NAUSICAA!?

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Re:NAUSICAA!!!!

[OneInEveryCrowd]

Here. It's not hard to find as an import, the thing you have to watch for is that some of these companies provide English subtitles by people who obviously don't speak the language and never met anybody who did. Nausicaa is difficult to find as a downloadable fansub but you can get it if you're persistent.

Re:NAUSICAA!!!!

[Shadwhawk]

Actually, Nausicaa isn't out on DVD anywhere, including Japan. I'm sure it's coming, though. Ghibli's special when it comes to DVD releases: their Japanese releases usually include English subs, and sometimes even the dubs. http://www.jigsco.com/title/ghibli.html 4700 yen is about $40, plus shipping on top of that.

Re:NAUSICAA!!!!

[marcelmouse]

Naussica isn't available by itself, I think, but it's definately available as part of the Studio Ghibli DVD box-set. It's the first time I've ever seen Naussica without the fan-sub. The box set is Japan-only, I'm pretty sure, but Naussica is certainly part of it.

It's also the first time I saw the one about the raccoon-alikes; it rocked my world. Can anyone come up with a title for it?

Also, when they reach behind their legs and stretch their scrota out as parachutes, that's not a sight gag, is it? I kinda thought it may have been lost in a culture gap; it was a pretty emotionally moving scene, except for the, um, scrotachutes. I know that the, um, resilent and elastic nature of coon scrota has been covered before on /. but I'm looking for someone to verify my guess as to the emotional tenor of the scene...

(for the uninitiated - I'm not joking. Please, don't mod this as funny.)

Region 1?

[WildPony]

Why don't you just get a multi-zone DVD player and get a disc that works with any region?

Re:Region 1?

[dev_sda]

Japanese televisions use a higher color temperature (~9000) than American televisions (~5400). Theaters use a lower color temperature as well (~5000-5700), and so to keep colors looking the same when released domestically in Japan, Miyazaki has his animations color shifted to compensate.

When you take one of these DVDs and play it on an american TV, it looks pink. best to wait for our own domestic release.

Re:Region 1?

[cp5i6]

the pink isn't that bad... but it is noticeable... once you start watching the film tho you won't realize it's pink....

except when you blink... cuz you know... you've been glued to the tv for a while now....

then you start seeing these pink dots everywhere too..

Re:Region 1?

[W Parasyte]

Actually Japanese TVs use a lower black level (0 IRE as opposed to North America's 7.5 IRE, which isn't nearly so much of a problem), and the only color shifted Japanese R2 dvd was Spirited Away, which has a noticeably red tint on every set in Japan. There's actually a lawsuit regarding that very issue brought about by a few Japanese people (see this article at animenewsnetwork).

Re:Region 1?

[BJH]

Er... no. There was a pile of bitching in Japan because of the bad color balance on the Japanese-release DVD.

Re:Region 1?

[Peterus7]

I worry about Disney taking all these things to america. I mean, I think that it is good that the anime is coming to us, but I feel that if disney does it, they might do a terrible dub job and ruin a lot of the original feeling of the anime. Make it disneyesque, give it a happy go lucky feeling. I don't want to see that happen to any of Miziaki's works... Ever.

Re:Region 1?

[Susskins]

Disney and John Lassiter were behind the (quite good) dubs of both "Spirited Away" and "Princess Mononoke". Any other dubs will probably be fine.

Re:Teehee

[cp5i6]

I acutally happen to own both the pirated region 1 copy and the original region 5? copy. I had my cousin acutally sent me both and because I am a big collector with animes I have both a region 5 dvd player and a region 1 dvd player. However my region 1 dvd player is hooked up to a bigger sound system. So yes the studio did receive my 50$ US dollars for my legit japanese copy of it.

DVD Regions

[HealYourChurchWebSit]

Man do I feel stupid. I had some idea about DVD Regions when I got my player a year or so ago, but didn't give it much thought. This article forced me to go look-up a few sites that offered information on exactly what the mention of DVD Regions in the /. article means to joe and jane average:

• DVD Regions Explained
• DVD Region Codes
• DVD Region Hacks

Sometimes ... I feel so stupid ...

Re:DVD Regions

[BryanL]

You are not alone. I work with ten other people in a non-tech job. We got into a discussion about DVDs the other night. None of them had even heard of region encoding. I think those of us that are technically literate sometimes take what we know for granted.

Re:DVD Regions

[permaculture]

I heard an explanation for the necessity of DVD regions which actually made sense. Apparently, a Movie Studio will release a film in a country following a lot of promotion. The profits are then ploughed into promoting the film in another country, pre-release. If the film were released world-wide in one go, the promotion budget would have to be spread out so thinly as to be ineffective.

Now, releasing a new version of a DVD with more extras, only a short while after releasing the 'bare bones' edition - that does seem entirely unfair.

Re:DVD Regions

[NortWind]

I heard an explanation for the necessity of DVD regions which actually made sense...

Sorry, I don't think that makes any sense. If the movie studio believes that the DVD will not sell without promotion, what could possibly be the harm in releasing it world wide? Even after releasing world wide, there would be no barrier to them promoting it, (and getting step 5: PROFIT!,) one country at a time.

The reason that makes the most sense to me is that different regions have different buying power. The movie studios want to charge a higher price for the exact same product in coutries where they can. By denying individuals the right to sell goods they have legally purchased through technical means, they can keep a monopoly on their product even from resellers of their product.

Sweet

[GaspodeTheWonderDog]

I picked up Kiki on the old VHS... I had sort of figured that Disney had decided against releasing these on DVD... about time. Now hopefully they won't require you to watch with English voices... please put in sub titles with the original voice acting! :P

Re:Sweet

[sketerpot]

Don't worry. With DVD versions you can take your pick between subtitles or english voice actors, which is one of the nicer things about them.

Re:Sweet

[dead sun]

Actually, that's only if the publisher decides that they want to let you. This typically is a non-issue, as most Anime DVDs are bilingual, and a ton of DVDs have a second language track. However, I was perusing Best Buy the other day and found a My Neighbor Totoro DVD. The bad news was that it was English language only. I don't know why they couldn't have included the original Japanese, but it wasn't on there. Had it been, I probably would have replaced my region free import as the English subs aren't the greatest (not that they're that bad, but there's the occasional slip).

In short, there may yet be cause to worry if Disney doesn't feel that we need Japanese audio on these DVDs...

Re:Sweet

[MamasGun]

Kiki's Delivery Service was released in a subbed VHS version too...I know, I have a copy. Japanese language track, English subtitles.

Re:Sweet

[CorkieVII]

That dvd was released by fox recently becuase their rights to Tortoro expire soon, so they wanna make some more cash. It wasn't a disney dvd.

Re:Sweet

[Froobly]

It could be that Fox didn't have permission to use the Japanese language track. Either that, or they just didn't have it on hand.

Even if it were subtitled, you'd likely see the exact same subtitles as on the R2. That's because the R2 subs are based off the Fox script, and if Buena Vista Japan isn't going to change a script that they didn't even write, there's no way the people who did write it are going to change it.

I got Totoro for Christmas

[Sway]

My wife found it somewhere. Evidently it was just recently released. Although Totoro was Fox in the US, wasn't it? I also don't think there is an option to watch it in the original Japanese, which was a little disappointing. Thankfully, the voice-acting for Totoro was pretty good.

As for Kiki, I prefer the Japanese. I'm not a big fan of movie or television stars performing the voices for animated characters. Unless the actor is able to actually enhance a character with their voice, I don't usually like it. Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob is an example of an actor enhancing an animated character.

Spirited Away

[Bigbambo]

I picked up my copy of Spirited Away while in Tokyo. Pretty expensive by american standards at 4,700yen.(with an exchange of about 118yen to 1$ US) It has english subtitles, but it is a region 2 dvd. Thank god for the British and thier remote hacks! Now if only i could figure out how to navigate the second disk...

Re:Spirited Away

[Bigbambo]

Hah. Do they all come in those cool semi-transparent boxes?

I hope it is better that the Totoro release

[robosmurf]

I certainly hope that the DVD release is better that the terrible Fox DVD release of My Neighbor Totoro, which was a pan-and-scan version with no Japanese language track or extras.

If Disney are releasing it directly, then there is some chance they might do a good job, but I'm certainly not preordering anything until the details are clear...

Re:I hope it is better that the Totoro release

[Drathos]

that's because fox was losing the rights to it, so they put out a quick release just to make a few bucks off those who aren't patient enough for the disney releases now that they have the rights to it.

Re:I hope it is better that the Totoro release

[Murdock037]

IIRC, part of Disney's deal with Miyazaki is that they won't alter a single frame of the films for distribution. Pan-and-scanning is obviously changing the film-- so at the very least I'm sure Disney has to offer both options.

I read this around the time Princess Mononoke came out, but I'm sure the same applies. It's why Disney (through Miramax) was willing to release a 2:20 animated film, instead of their usual 1:25-- it was that or nothing. (And that's why nothing could be done about Mononoke's glacial pacing, but that's opinion, I suppose.)

As for the language tracks, there was some hubbub when it came to the Mononoke DVD-- Disney was originally going to release it with only the English language dub, but there was considerable fan outcry (spearheaded by the folks at AICN, I believe), and so the disc was delayed so they could get language clearances and have both versions.

Personally, I enjoyed Spirited Away much, much more than Mononoke, and would look forward to a comparably well-done release, with widescreen, both language options, etc. Hopefully Disney's learned their lesson-- that Miyazaki's fan base can be downright ornery in their devotion, and will demand quality.

Re:I hope it is better that the Totoro release

[frankie]

Mononoke DVD-- Disney was originally going to release it with only the English language dub, but there was considerable fan outcry, and so the disc was delayed so they could get language clearances and have both versions.

And boy am I glad they did. While the english version is quite good (except for the miscast Gillian Anderson), I still prefer original dialogue with subtitles.

I desperately want to get a dual-language version of Totoro (and everything else by Miyazaki) -- dubbed for my 2 year old, subtitled for me & my wife. I wonder whether the lack of such a release is due to laziness/bureaucracy at Disney, or re-export worries at Ghibli?

Re:I hope it is better that the Totoro release

[Robotech_Master]

A non-Disney company has done a good job with a Miyazaki film--that being Manga Video, and their subbed and dubbed DVD of Castle of Cagliostro. Sure they didn't do anything with the original mono sound, it wasn't anamorphic, and there were no extras to speak of...but the subtitles were good and the dub was decent.

(And I've tried to help make up for the extras it didn't have by recording my own DVDTracks mp3 commentary for it. :)

I really didn't expect much good out of the Totoro DVD. It was just a hasty pump-and-dump of the one Miyazaki movie they had onto DVD just as they had it in order to capitalize...just like all those generic animated fairy tale tapes that come out right at the same time as a Disney movie. Even Fox's laserdisc of it way back when was pan and scan...clearly, that's all they had to work with. On the bright side, at least the price is low...

Re:I hope it is better that the Totoro release

[BryanL]

The reason Fox released the pan-n-scan is because that is the only version they have the rights to sell.

Re:I hope it is better that the Totoro release

[Shadwhawk]

If you're truly desperate, go here. Ghibli's DVD release of Totoro in Japan includes English & Japanese subs and dubs.

Re:I hope it is better that the Totoro release

[RockyJSquirel]

I certainly hope that the DVD release is better that the terrible Fox DVD release of My Neighbor Totoro, which was a pan-and-scan version with no Japanese language track or extras.

I'm curious if the hong kong (?pirated?) version in the box set of all Myazaki films is better than the Fox release.

I don't know how good the subtitles are, but I do know that the audio is Japanese language only.

Rocky J. Squirrel

Re:I hope it is better that the Totoro release

[dinadan]

I have a hon kong version which is anamorphic widescreen with both japanese and english language tracks (and of course english subtitles). perfect.

well, lookie here...

[nochops]

Ain't It Cool has a "story" (or baseless rumor, it is AIC after all)

Now if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, I don't know what is.

You can

[helix400]

There's a region 2 DVD that's already available. Its French, but I believe it has an English language option.

I'm still waiting for the region 1 DVD though. I'm just afraid it will also have the infamous red tint that everyone got in Japan.

Re:You can

[rde]

This was probably mentioned in the original story, but I'll repeat it here...

When I ordered Spirited Away, I got an email from cdjapan telling me that some people reported a red tint. However, they assured me that the transfer was approved by Studio Ghibli, and it looked as intended.

I forgot about it until I watched the movie, and reread the mail. Then I checked the movie again, and saw no sign of any red tint. Maybe it was there, but to me the movie looked as I supposed was intended.

Re:You can

[Hanno]

Yes, but the English track is 2 channel stereo ("only"), while the French and Japanese tracks are 5.1.

Also, the French DVD comes with English Dubtitles of the English language track, not literal translated subtitles of the Japanese language track.

I, btw, own the French DVD and am very happy with it. The Dubtitles are fine with me.

Re:You can

[Froobly]

The red tint is subtle, but it's definitely there. It's not as severe as, say, disabling the blue gun on your monitor, but if you look at the whites, like on Sen's shirt, they're not quite white. More of a pink, really. You only notice it if you have a properly calibrated TV, or if you compare the preview side-by-side with the movie.

Since many of my friends are AV freaks, they generally make sure that their equipment is calibrated correctly, so things like this definitely show.

Re:An honest question

[dave_f1m]

Can you give *any* examples of encrypting increasing the size of data? Off the top of my head, I can't think of any. - dave f.

Not American?

[rde]

If, like me, you live in Region 2 (Europe and Japan; handy, that), you don't care. But then, you haven't cared for a long time, cos they're all available at cdjapan.co.jp. Two-disk sets of Totoro, Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service, Laputa, Spirited Away, Whispers and probably others are currently residing on the DVD case.

Note: even though they're region 2, they're also NTSC, so you'll need compatible equipment. That's not a problem for Americans with multi-region players, though.

The films are in Japanese with optional english sub and dub, and the second disk is all in Japanese.
In case you're interested, I'm a big fan of cdjapan, especially now that the exchange rates are going my way. They're extremely efficient at getting the stuff out, and my first stop for those hard-to-find films that aren't generally available elsewhere.

Re:Not American?

[PinkStainlessTail]

The import price point at cdjapan has been just a wee bit high for me. Bissette claims that the Disney fax gives an SRP of US $29.99. Not at all bad (but still no Nausicaa, as someone else noted).

(My first accepted story. Verily, w00t.)

Re:Not American?

[jxe]

There's no english dub on the R2 Spirited Away.

Re:Not American?

[BatFez]

There's an english dub on the new french dvd of spirited away which is actually called Le Voyage De Chihiro. Be carefull though some of the old french dvds are still around. I ordered it on a sunday from alapage.com and I had it the following Saturday. The english dub is the same one I heard in the theatres and its in Dolby 5.1 and there are also a french and japanese audio tracks. A fench DTS track is also available.

Re:Teehee

[TokyoBoy]

I have traveled to Japan a few times and lived there a couple times. The whole region thing is a real pain. I ended up getting a region-settable DVD player so that I can watch movies I pickup there. Its' a shame that one has to do so much just to watch movies made in another area that arn't and will probably _never_ be avaialble where they live.

It could be a good start

[MrAndrews]

Right now my daughter needs to watch her DVDs off my wife's iBook hooked up to the TV, all because we can't play Japanese DVDs on our North American player. And it's not like the movies are cheap, coming from Japan. But the amount of wiring that needs to be done isn't worth the effort.

Someone bought her the Fox copy of Totoro a few months ago on DVD, thinking it would be a good replacement for the older VHS she got when she turned 1. She put the DVD in the player, turned it on, and within 5 minutes she came up to me and said, "Daddy, this movie is wrong." (the English voices were godawful)

If this is true, and she can get these movies on DVD with Region 1, they had better have the original voice tracks on them.

Re:It could be a good start

[SquadBoy]

A large number of North American DVD players can be made regionless with not much effort. Check out http://www.vcdhelp.com. Also a great place to consult with before buying a player.

Nausicaa.net

[bludstone]

Is it posted on nausicaa.net yet? No? Probably BS then.

Miyazaki's stuff is pure genious. He is, without a doubt, one of the greatest directors that ever lived. This is good for everyone, not just anime fans.

Ive already imported all these movies, and I will probably wind up buying the r1s as well. I sure hope that they have all the extras that were on the japanese dvds. Tons of cool stuff on the dual disk sets.

Re:Nausicaa.net

[bludstone]

Look at that.

Well, it was posted after I made this comment here on slashdot :)

Hopefully theyll be able to pull their disney sources and get a confirmation. Good stuff.

These already exist

[pointym5]

I'm holding in my hand a boxed set called "Archives of Studio Ghibli", published by Anime Cartoon International. It's got 6 DVD's, each with two films. It doesn not include the newest film, or Castle Cagliostro (which is separately available). The DVDs have Japanese menus, and offer English or Chinese subtitles with the Japanese soundtracks.

Re:These already exist

[W Parasyte]

You're holding in your hand an illegal, unauthorized bootleg with substandard video quality.

I'd be very surprised if the menus were indeed in Japanese, as Anime Cartoon only puts out Chinese bootlegs in Hong Kong. They usually include English and Chinese subtitles, and either the Japanese audio or the English audio.

Re:These already exist

[frankie]

I'm holding in my hand a boxed set called "Archives of Studio Ghibli", published by Anime Cartoon International.

You'll be glad to know that neither Hayao Miyazaki nor anyone else at Studio Ghibli received a single yen from your purchase of that bootleg.

RTFM :

The vast majority of Studio Ghibli products released in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and other southeast Asian countries are not licensed. These locations are notorious for their lax (or non-existent) enforcement of copyright laws, so be very careful when purchasing any video product manufactured or sold in this area.
There have also been numerous reports of various Studio Ghibli DVDs manufactured in Hong Kong or Taiwan being sold at stores, online shops, or on Internet auctions. As far as we have been able to determine, these are pirated copies. To our knowledge, only IVL in Hong Kong and Buena Vista Home Entertainment in Taiwan sell authorized or licensed Studio Ghibli videos/DVDs. Visit the Pirate Anime FAQ for more information on spotting bootlegged items.
The DVD set from an outfit called "Anime Cartoon International" (now known as "Manga International", not to be confused with "Manga Entertainment") is a definite bootleg.

Re:These already exist

[Hadean]

As already been mentioned, it's a bootleg... Mind you, considering I personally don't have access to most of these movies other than the bootleg available at a local rental store (called "The Miyazaki Collection", but sounds similar to yours) or downloading them off the internet, I don't care - if Disney can give me a better copy, with better video and audio (and hopefully translation, as Kiki's, if I remember correctly, seemed off sometimes), I'd be more than happy to spend the money. Here's hoping!

Re:These already exist

[Chibi]

What you are holding in your hands are bootleg copies, sir.

Here is a link to the pirate anime FAQ:

http://www.digital.anime.org.uk/piratefaq.html

Re:These already exist

[pointym5]

Cool.

Re:These already exist

[LeoHat]

if Disney can give me a better copy, with better video and audio (and hopefully translation, as Kiki's, if I remember correctly, seemed off sometimes), I'd be more than happy to spend the money.

I have also purchased that bootleg set. When Disney gets off their dead ass and releases a good high quality releases. I'll be glad to buy it.

I have the VHS version of Kiki (Phil Hartman's last movie BTW) and it has a trailer for Castle in the Sky which is STILL not out years later.

Also I'm still rather irritated at Disney releasing Sprited away to a mere 151 screens, then had the balls to claim that they weren't try to kill it to prevent competition with that pile of crap Treasure Planet.

Re:These already exist

[buckthorn]

I've got the same set... I sort of wondered about the too-good-to-be-trueism of all this, especially since they're uncoded DVDs and therefore play on my home DVD player just fine. It also came with "Spirited Away" as a separate film. I feel bad if they're bootlegs, but I don't really know what to do now.

It's so nice to watch Spirited Away, though, so soon after having seen it in the theatre. I will buy as many of them as I legally can when they're released, I'll say that much. But the packaging on these is very well-done... You definately wouldn't know they were bootleg by the packaging or the quality of the movies themselves (I've only watch Totoro thusfar, though, but the quality seemed very good).

I don't have the set here so I don't know the maker.. but the menus for Spirited Away are in Chinese and Japanese, subbing in English. Well, the first DVD, anyway. The second is all Chinese and Japanese, unhappily for me. Not sure about the options on the others since we only watch subbed anime. ;)

Re:Screw Japanese Cartoons

[PhoenixFlare]

Wow, another anime basher who obviously hasn't watched a single cell of anime in his life!

You just go right on thinking that, the rest of us can enjoy some decent entertainment :)

Totoro?

[ddtstudio]

That's the one I've really wanted to see released on DVD. It's hard enough to find it on video; however, if I'm going to collect it, I can only do so in the more compact medium.

Been entranced by that title ever since I saw a still from it at the Cartoon Art Museum.

Re:Totoro?

[90XDoubleSide]

Totoro is out on DVD from Fox, but Fox only owns the pan and scan version. If you want it in widescreen, you'll can either wait until Fox's contract expires and Disney can release the film on DVD in North America, or get the region 2 set they've already released.

Re:Totoro?

[ddtstudio]

Really? thanks -- I've looked online and in local stores but have had no luck. Where would you suggest to look (though pan and scan does suck)? I'll check to see if I can play Region 2 DVDs.

Re:Totoro?

[90XDoubleSide]

It's a Fox release, so a lot of the big stores like Wal Mart and Target carry it, although they usually only have one or two copies, if any. You can always get it from Amazon right here, or just wait for a better version :) The lack of widescreen certainly isn't the only dealbreaker: There's no original language track (although the Fox dub is quite good), and there are no special features at all. But it's only $11.24, so if you need a version of the film to tide you over, it'll do.

I would also reiterate that the lack of all these things isn't Fox's fault: it's just that they bought the rights to the dubbed, full-frame version of the movie through 2003, and nothing else. So it'll be at least a year before the Disney version, with all those extras, is available.

Re:FUCK YOU DISNEY!!!

[BJH]

Sorry, you lose... 'haka' means grave, not tombstone. Tombstone would be 'boseki' or 'hakaishi' (both use the same kanji; they're alternative readings).

Got it already..

[unorthod0x]

One day I decided to look around ebay to see if I could find Laputa (Castle in the Sky) on DVD. I ended up getting a shrink-wrapped copy for $7.50; region-less, both Japanese/English audio/subtitles. It doesn't look dodgy: Proper covert art, packaging, silkscreening and so on, though the quality of the transfer leaves something to be desired it was worth the price. I didn't think much of it until this /. post, so I googled around for the companies credited on the DVD (Japan Another DVD Inc., Manga Animated Cartoon DVD) - to no avail, save for the obvious Studio Ghibli. Did I end up getting some kind of dodgy copy, or has this movie already been released with regionless encoding?

Re:Got it already..

[Microlith]

Both companies you listed are well known bootleggers.

Your copy is a bootlegm obviously so at that price.

Re:Got it already..

[ameoba]

50 karma IS a license to troll ...as is evidenced by the countless bootleg posts you've been making on this story.

Operation currently prohibited by disc!

[shagmerotten]

I live in North America and buy all my movies here. So region codes are the least of my concern. What I am looking for is a DVD player that doesn't give a damn about what the disc wants or where it came from. It's my copy of the movie, my DVD player, my TV and home theater system. So, why can't I pull up the DVD menu any time I damn well feel like it? Does anyone know if there is such a device?

Re:Operation currently prohibited by disc!

[Kichigai Mentat]

Meh. I know the feeling. I watch a lot of foreign films (Like Spriggan, Seven Samurai, Das Boot). My sister can't stand them, however. Hates the subtitles. So, when I can, I try to lure her in by putting it in English. However, Spriggan doesn't allow this to be done outside of the menu. Why the hell not?! The whole point of putting in the AUDIO menu on DVD players is for the convinience of being able to switch audio tracks without having to go to the main menu! This just defeats the purpose!

I think you'd have to get a special DVD Set-Top DVD player, or get some special DVD software for your computer. But, in theory, it's possible.

Are you a geek or not?

[56ksucks]

Don't most geeks and nerds gave DVD players that aren't bound by the limits of region codes?

THIS JUST IN: Possible Release Dates!

[May Kasahara]

Here's the article from Anime News Network, just posted about half an hour ago, with more concrete news on the Kiki and Castle in the Sky DVDs. As you can see, there's nothing said about a Spirited Away DVD release, though :/

time for a little flamebait :-P

[zloppy303]

Region 1 DVD's at last??

Ahh... I understand, in America, the land of the free, there are no region-free DVD-players available? You have the corporations dictating you instead of politicians.

Re:time for a little flamebait :-P

[Qrlx]

Technically, what we have is the corporations dictating to the politicians. :) Politicians are the "middle management" of America.

Studio Ghibli Bundle Available in US

[chachi5000]

I bought this bundle in the US last month - http://www.discountanimedvd.com/dvd_detail.asp?dvd no=1696

They are listed as 'All code, Region Free' on the website. The only problem I've had is that the "Spirited Away" discs do not play on my PC's DVD drive (a pioneer drive). 'Spirited Away" does play in my Playstation 2. So take that for what it's worth.

I've enjoyed every movie so far and I'm half way throught the set.

Re:Studio Ghibli Bundle Available in US

[BatFez]

Actually the bundle is really a bootleg, but since its ripped from the existing laser discs and other dvds it stii gives a good quality. It's not official though.

Re:Studio Ghibli Bundle Available in US

[Varkias]

Unfortunately I think that the bundle you have linked is a pirated copy of Studio Ghibli's movies. I think I see the Anime Cartoon Logo on the bottom left of the box. Here is some information on pirating from:
http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/video/answers.htm l#pirated
------

The vast majority of Studio Ghibli products released in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and other southeast Asian countries are not licensed. These locations are notorious for their lax (or non-existent) enforcement of copyright laws, so be very careful when purchasing any video product manufactured or sold in this area.

There have also been numerous reports of various Studio Ghibli DVDs manufactured in Hong Kong or Taiwan being sold at stores, online shops, or on Internet auctions. As far as we have been able to determine, these are pirated copies. To our knowledge, only IVL in Hong Kong and Buena Vista Home Entertainment in Taiwan sell authorized or licensed Studio Ghibli videos/DVDs. Visit the Pirate Anime FAQ for more information on spotting bootlegged items.

The DVD set from an outfit called "Anime Cartoon International" (now known as "Manga International", not to be confused with "Manga Entertainment") is a definite bootleg. The following is from Steven Alpert, the Managing Director at Studio Ghibli International Distribution:

We have NOT licensed to anyone called Anime Cartoon in Hong Kong, and these sets must be pirated. We have a reputable licensee in Hong Kong who would certainly not be involved in this.

I will be in touch with our attorneys to see what we can do to get the sales of these on eBay stopped, and I would imagine Disney will want to do the same.

Thanks and best regards,
Steve

To report the sale/auction/distribution of pirated material, contact:

Joe Woodall
Corporate Legal Department
The Walt Disney Company
Burbank, CA 91521-0662
joe.woodall@disney.com

Re:Screw Japanese Cartoons

[Anonymous Coward]

How is Anime different from American Cartoons?

1. More mature. Yes their is porn, but you also have stories that are not meant for children. Meaning that people can die, grow old, kill, blood, really good love stories... etc.

2. Character Development. If you have ever watched a really good anime you find yourself loving or hating certain characters. In one anime I watched the main character died at the endo of it(2 OVAs and 94 episodes later... any guesses).

3. Unbelievable Soundtracks. Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne, Kenshin, Macross Plus, Lain, Spirited Away, Totoro, Initial D. A lot goes into making the music fit the anime. I can't tell you how much I can recollect on a series just by hearing music from it. Think... the Star Wars use the force music... how that can send shivers down your spine(John Williams is a genious).

4. Funny and Serious. Anime is not restricted to a specific genre at all. They can be funny and then be serious one minute. That makes for some great entertainment.

5. Facial Expressions and Emotions. I already mentioned the character development, but a huge trait of anime is the facial and body expressions. Especially when they have a close up of view of the face.

I am sure that their are others. Blind Ignorance is scary. If you are going to say that something sucks... watch it and make sure.

Er...

[squiggleslash]

Could someone explain to me why releasing region locked DVDs is a good thing?

Because the article's submitter and the editor clearly appear to believe it is.

Re:Er...

[tigheig]

No, the article's submitter made no mention of whether region locked DVD's are good, bad, or indifferent. The article states that something that was previously available only in Region 2 is rumored to soon be available in Region 1. How did you draw the conclusion that "article's submitter and the editor clearly appear to believe" region encoding is a good thing? Because they didn't include a rant about how it's bad?

Re:Er...

[PinkStainlessTail]

Because the article's submitter and the editor clearly appear to believe it is.
Nope (well, I can't speak for the editor...). But the codes aren't going away, because only a tiny subset of all DVD buyers care about them. There's bigger digital rights issues to fry at this point, since going around these restrictions is trivial for those who are interested in doing so. However in this case a region free player is also an imperfect solution because of import prices, imperfect subbing, and unsubbed/dubbed extras. A release aimed at the English speaking fan is the solution, but that carries region coding baggage.

Re:Er...

[squiggleslash]

Well, the headline "Mijazaki Region 1 DVDs at Last?" is a bit of a dead giveway, though perhaps I'm wrong in assuming that the submitter set that as the headline.

The editor definitely thinks it's a good thing:

PinkStainlessTail writes " Ain't It Cool has a "story" (or baseless rumor, it is AIC after all) claiming that Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY, CASTLE IN THE SKY (aka LAPUTA), and KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE will be released on 2 disc region 1 DVD sets from Disney in April of this year. The original story comes from comic artist Steve Bissette's message board. " Here's hopin'

Note the bit in bold? That's CmdrTaco's comment.

I mean, call me suspicious, but when someone posts a headline along the lines of "Blah blah blah, at last", I tend to assume that they're welcoming whatever it was before the "at last" bit. In this case, it's a region locked DVD.

Whether there was a region two DVD before this one is neither here nor there. You're just substituting one lock for another, and both are nasty, and have everything to do with price fixing and restricting the availability of content. Fuck 'em. This isn't welcome, it's taking the piss.

Re:Er...

[tigheig]

Note the bit in bold? That's CmdrTaco's comment.

Yep... it says "Here's hopin" following quoted material. The quote in question has the following assertions:

1) There's a story on AICN

2) It's about some of Miyazaki's movies

3) They're going to be released in the US by Disney

4) They're going to be released in sets of 2 disks per movie

5) They're coming in April

6) The original story was on Steve Bissette's message board.

So, the editor said "Here's hopin" as a response to the announcement. Depending on your level of paranoia, personal biases, axes to grind, or mental state, you could conclude what you concluded or what I concluded. Or you could think that he's "hopin" that any of these is other assertions is true. Maybe he has a personal love for the month of April? He likes movies released in 2 disk sets? That it really was on Steve Bissette's message board? That the movies were really by Miyazaki? That they're going to be released by Disney instead of Warner Brothers?

Considering how much the majority of Slashdotters dislike region encoding I doubt that the fact that it's going to be a Region 1 release is what he's "hopin" for. I see no evidence to support the notion that he's actively rooting for region encoding as opposed to the release of some darn good movies. But then again, we all believe what supports our world view.

Re:Er...

[squiggleslash]

Are you blind?

PinkStainlessTail writes " Ain't It Cool has a "story" (or baseless rumor, it is AIC after all) claiming that Miyazaki's SPIRITED AWAY, CASTLE IN THE SKY (aka LAPUTA), and KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE will be released on 2 disc region 1 DVD sets from Disney in April of this year. The original story comes from comic artist Steve Bissette's message board. " Here's hopin'

Where the hell do you get it from that he's not refering to the release of a Region 1 DVD? The comment doesn't even talk about a US release, although presumably one can infer that from the fact that Region 1 isn't going to be released anywhere else.

The above is an unambiguous statement in favour of a region locked disk. It may have been unintentional, but it's there, that's what it says, and there's no way of reading it otherwise. Pretending the words "region 1" are not in the write up that's being lauded, when they're not only in the write up but in the damned topic line too makes any attempt to portray the case as otherwise moronic.

Re:Er...

[squiggleslash]

Here's hoping the damned DVDs will not be locked to region one, so that everyone can get a chance to watch them and nobody will have to buy the fucking disks twice.

Geez you people are wierd. Why the fuck do you want the disks locked?

Amazon.com has them on preorder

[Stavr0]

AnimeNewsNetwork: Neither DVD release is listed on the any of the major retailers websites yet (Amazon.com does have a page for the DVDs (and has for a long time), that lists them as "The studio is currently not producing this title on DVD."

Actually...
Spirited Away
Kiki's Delivery Service
Castle in the Sky

Re:Amazon.com has them on preorder

[FurryFeet]

Did you check the links you provided?

In all three of them, after the title of the disc, there is a paragraph that starts with: "Availability: NOT YET RELEASED: The studio is currently not producing this title on DVD...".

So, you just proved their point...

Sorry, sir, it's Tuesday.

[Wakko Warner]

We're not boycotting DVDs today.

- A.P.

Availability

[90XDoubleSide]

Since everyone seems to think the bootleg versions are official releases, here are the lists of (legal) available versions of Spirited Away, Castle in the Sky, and Kiki. If you have anything else, you got scammed.

Re:Availability

[jesdynf]

No, they got the media they were searching for.

Someone else got "scammed".

You poor sods!

[jonr]

Being in Europe, I don't give a rat ass about what region DVDs are! Ha-hah!
J.

News from AIC? Right...

[Drawshot]

I just don't believe it. Until the information comes from a more reliable source, it is probably just someone's wishful thinking. I find it very difficult to believe anything that they tout as 'news'. Didn't AIC report that there would be a sequel to Cowboy Bebop too?

So what?

[Pig Hogger]

Aren't geeks supposed to have region-free DVD players????

Region Code Bypass for Software DVD Players

[Wolfier]

Here:

http://www.inmatrix.com/genie/

Re:These are bootlegs

[fahrvergnugen]

Just FYI, these are bootlegs made from the laserdisc editions and the existing Japanese DVD's. None of the money went back to the creators of the films, and in addition, the video is rife with edge enhancement, block crawl, and other artifacts.

I'm impatient for a legit release, but until then, these bootleg copies of Laputa and Totoro will have to do.

Further evidence...

[Robotech_Master]

According to what I've heard on the Miyazaki mailing list, the "Spider Man: Return of the Green Goblin" animated VHS tape includes a trailer for Laputa that says it's coming soon, and the insert on the "Country Bears" R1 DVD claims Kiki's is coming soon, "for the first time on DVD."

Disney and Miyazaki

[Daetrin]

Is it posted on nausicaa.net yet? No? Probably BS then.

You're totally right! Given the total consideration that Disney has shown to Miyazaki during every step of this project and the timely manner in which they have conducted themselves, i would _never_ imagine Disney failing to keep everyone fully updated as to what their plans are.

Miyazaki

[BatFez]

I Don't understand why people are waiting for those DVDs, I purchased a long time ago a multi system, multi region DVD player, and I have had most of these DVDs a long time ago, and these aren't bootlegs they're official releases. If people are waiting for them so bad why not just pay the extra money for a universal DVD player. I have even had the Spirited Away DVD for a while now, which I ordered from france. The movie has a french DTS track, but it also has a Dolby Digital English and Japanese tracks. Just Import it, in this day and age I can order anything from around the world and have it in a week.

Re:Miyazaki

[Mentally_Overclocked]

Is the English track the Disney dub or is it done by some other group? Thanks

Re:Miyazaki

[BatFez]

It's the same english dub I saw in the theatre. There's even a version with a imited edittion cover and a cell from the movie but its twice the price.

Re:Already available legitimately and cheaply!

[BatFez]

Actually I found out that france has a new region 2 DVD with the American English dialouge in Dolby 5.1, check fnac or alapage. It costed me $36 for the dvd and shipping and I had it in my hand in 6 days.

Re:Already available legitimately and cheaply!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, Miyazaki is super popular in La France and his DVD's are available there. Apparently the best (ie non red-tinted) version of Spirited Away is the French R2 DVD.

I think the R3 Hong Kong releases are superb, though, all really lovewly anamorphic transfers and I'm not bothered about the lack of an English dub - I prefer to watch it with the original soundtrack!

regions

[sckeener]

DVD regions just make me wish the MPAA was required to release Region 0 DVDs 2 years after the release of a movie anywhere.

I hate their arguement that regions are needed to allow movies to be released in theaters before you can buy them. What I hate about the arguement is what about old movies?

Why is Gone With The Wind: DVD Deluxe Collector Box Set (1939) a region 1 dvd? They've had 64 years to play it in every country.

Of course their other arguement is regions protect prices. Region 1 dvds cost more. Well, if they are only going to release the DVD in one region anyway, why not put it in Region 0? If there's not enough of a market in other regions, then release it in region 0 and pool everyone together.

sorry, I'm just annoyed by all the region stuff....

Re:regions

[sulli]

DVD regions just make me wish the MPAA was required to release Region 0 DVDs 2 years after the release of a movie anywhere.

DVD regions make me wish the MPAA member executives were all thrown in jail for price fixing.

Re:regions

[Kichigai Mentat]

What's the point anyway? How does importing DVDs hurt the MPAA? It's baseless! I could go and get a european VHS cassette, grab a PAL-NTSC player, and watch the film. That's the only advantage to VHS: None of this region coding crap.

It gets worse: ERC. Enhanced Region Coding (or is it RCE). It detects Region 0 or Multi-Region players, and doesn't play on them. I read about it on Amazon when I was looking at the Special Edition of Memento. It's ERC too. But I'm serious, what's the point behind it? I want a reson. We all oughta go on a riot. I know I can get loads of people from Australia and New Zealand behind me. (Acutally, it's legal to MOD a game system in Australia, for the purposes of playing imported games. MODding is legal in UK, as long as it isn't used to play pirated games) They're furious about this. Anyone from the UK want to join me? I might not grab the common man from the street here in the USA, or possibly in parts of Asia, but I will grab those who think logically, and are smart. Come on! RIOT! RIOT! RIOT!

The MPAA and RIAA: Worst things ever done in the United States of America.

Remove region encoding

[Snover]

It's a fairly simple thing to remove region encoding on modern DVD-ROM "RPC2" drives. This site has firmware for practically every DVD-ROM drive available, patched to RPC1, which does not check for region encoding on the DVD. Couple this with a software DVD player such as InterVideo WinDVD and it's a simple matter to go into the registry and delete the key that tells the player how many times you can change the region encoding. You can even use this tool to do it automatically. I'm not positive about the legality of this, for IANAL, but I don't believe after recent rulings on DeCSS (which this does not bypass) that there is much of a risk of any kind of legal problem.

Re:Teehee

[clarkcox3]

Um, region 5? I hate to break it to you, but Japan is region 2.

Re:Screw Japanese Cartoons

[Varkias]

I wouldn't worry too much about this idiot. Looking at his previous posts this is his basic reply to everything. Either he is a bot or braindead. Here are his previous post topics:

Screw Japanese Cartoons

Screw DVDs

Screw CNN...

Screw Region Free DVDs...

Wow what a bunch of intelligent posts.

Re:Teehee

[FurryFeet]

Thank you for being a hindrance.

Be careful not to hurt yourself on the way down from your high horse.
It would be a hindrance to buy bootlegs if someone was offering a legit product. Since Disney/Ghibli are not giving me a legal way to get them, I don't think I'm hurting them in getting bootlegs. If anything, I'm proveng them there's demand fot the movies and prompting them to release them.
I bet you are also against abandonware and MAME.

Hack your DVD

[Lt Razak]

What's the big deal? Just check out your DVD brand name & model number at vcdhelp.com and find out how to hack your DVD player to be region free.

I use the word 'hack' very liberally. Many times, it's just a few buttons on the remote.

While you're at it, desable Macrovision, and if you're in the market to buy a DVD player, use that site so that you buy a DVD player that plays SVCD's... thus allowing you to skip the whole buying DVD's-to-replace your VHS collection.

I agree

[Qrlx]

I agree with parent comment. Yeah, sure the letter of the law might be violated when you do the bootleg thing. But what about the "rights" of consumers to, well, consume? If the IP holder is unwilling to share the IP, then as consumers I think we have every right to get it from alternative channels.

The whole "region coding" thing is the biggest farce. It made sense that once upon a time there were different formats for the different regions -- because different standards were adopted for TV broadcasts. Region Coding is a (possibly illegal) added layer of technological obscurity designed to HINDER our rights.

But, back to bootlegging. Once upon a time, my roommates found this audio tape. We have no idea where it came from. We loved it, and listened to it over and over again. Eventually we were able to find out who the band was and miraculously one roommate had a friend who collected vinyl, and he just happened to have the album. So we bought it, secondhand (or maybe third or fourth who knows).

Then we burned CDs of the vinyl because the tape was getting worn out, and now we all live in different parts of the country anyway. In fact I just burned another copy over the holidays (a copy of the copy) because my old roommate stole my last one...

I have looked for this album in used CD shops, on Ebay, wherever. It is simply not available. While I might technically be commiting a crime by copying the original, I really don't see what else a consumer is supposed to do. Go without a great record because nobody will sell it to me?

All you people who point accusing fingers at people who are bootlegging need to consider where your blind allegiance is taking us. So far it's given us artificial and abritrary Region Coding, the DMCA, and it's upgraded copyright violation from a civil crime in which harm had to be demonstrated to a federal felony where no harm needs to be shown and prosecution cost is paid with your tax dollars. Next stop is TCPA and Palladium. Care to take your heads out of your asses now?

Re:I agree

[Jeff DeMaagd]

Your examples really aren't totally comparable. I don't have as much of a problem with people privately "sharing" files as I do with companies selling other's products it as if it was their own and to make it worse, more or less decieving people into thinking that they own a licenced product.

LAPUTA mean "the hore" in Spanish

[jmordoj]

The EXACT translation from "LAPUTA" to spanish is...

The hore

I swear, The funny thing is, I have read about a car that's named like that, the "mazda laputa"

I dont know how they plan to market that kind of name here in chile, but I hope they do a little research first....

Re:LAPUTA mean "the hore" in Spanish

[zgwortz962]

This is one of those complaints that's bothered me ever since I first heard about it -- maybe you can clarify it. Does the word "Laputa" mean The Whore, or is that "La Puta"? There is a world of difference that space makes. For example, in english, "Therapist", and "The Rapist" are completely different things. Nobody in their right minds is going to confuse the two. I even think it's pronounced differently. "Laputa" is usually pronounced with the "a" as in "pat" and the "pu" as "pyoo". "La Puta", is pronounced with the "a" as in in "father" (ie. the old "la la la"), and the "Pu" as in "poo", I believe. So personally, I don't see why all the fuss has been made over the name...

Re:LAPUTA mean "the hore" in Spanish

[Beowulf Smith]

You are correct, the Spanish expletive is "Puta", which can translate to bitch or whore. The "la" of course is just the feminine form of "the" that precedes words, like in most romance languages (though of course they are different in different languages, el and la in Spanish, le and la in French etc). It is however ironic of this children's story can also mean bitch, since it does have a female lead character (or she is one of the two lead characters).

Yes, I totally believe this

[jridley]

...because 2 weeks ago, I finally gave up and made my purchased Kiki VHS into a DVD. Heavy tweaked filtering, it looks pretty good, 40 hour encode... Yeah, after that I'd expect the whole effort to be made moot.

missing (and weakest) link - region 1

[riqnevala]

So, they dumbed down 'em for region 1 viewers at last! A European perspective on the stereotype "americans". Sorry. ;)

Re:Order from Japan

[BatFez]

I found something interesting, it seems that France gets better DVDs than Japan. I ordered the Spirited Away DVD from France, and it had the English theatre language track and a Japanese track. It also got all the way from Paris to Missouri in 6 days. Also the french copy seems to be the only one without the pink problem.

Feedback loop...

[xixax]

And presumably Disney will use the profits to further Walt's totalitarian ambitions by vigourously pursuing commie mutant traitors who use DeCSS or p2p file trading.

Having this story on the same page as the latest MPAA and RIAA efforts is illustrative. The outrage only lasts until the next fasionable release.

Xix.

Yet more confirmation

[bryanp]

Over at animeondvd.com they have the following post up on the main news page -

Right Stuf confirms Miyazaki DVDs (04:45 PM EST): While no features have yet been delivered to retailers (a standard practice for Disney; announce title, then a few weeks later provide details), Shawne Kleckner over at Right Stuf has confirmed that both VHS and DVD versions of Spirited Away, Kiki's Delivery Service and Castle in the Sky are due out in region one on 04/17/2003.

If you can't wait...

[vpreHoose]

...then Amazon UK will have an English release on 20 February. Should be the same cut as the French version, called "Le Voyage de Chihiro", but with an English box.
I'll guess no red-tint either.

Spitired Away

Re:News from AIC? Right...

[Drawshot]

I was not refering to the Cowboy Bebop movie. I was talking about this:

"Big O2 as commissioned by Cartoon Network, enabling it to be made despite a lack of demand for the series in Japan. Likewise, although the series creators expressed their desire last year to not make any new Cowboy Bebop animation, the Cartoon Network is apparently pressuring Sunrise Animation to create new Cowboy Bebop episodes specifically for American release."

Sorry I couldn't find the link when I posted before.

Re:News from AIC? Right...

[Drawshot]

ah... yes... You repeat yourself well.
And, you call me the moron?

I need to know!

[RockyJSquirel]

Have you compared the translation (subtitles) on the pirate version to the official one?

I'm always interested in finding good translations...

I'm especially interested in the Myazaki box set (that has ALL of the movies except "Sprited Away").

As far as I know, that's only available from the Hong Kong pirates and probably has some movies that are not available anywhere else.

Rocky J. Squirrel

Bastages!

[RockyJSquirel]

Yes I'm willing to risk my precious karma to spit at the raging moralists waging their fingers at you for buying the pirated boxed set.

How dare you enjoy these masterworks when:
1. this is probably the only way you can get some of these films, at least the only way you'll find them in japanese with english subtitles
2. you may not be able to afford to buy all of the official copies

the /. community basically supports mp3s, divx, tivo and hates the riaa... but how dare you buy a hong kong version of say, shoulin soccer instead of waiting for Disney to censor, mutilate and redub it and use regions to force it down your throat!

It's much easier to mod me down than to post an intelligent reply

Rocky J Squirrel

Mod parent up - AND SECAM?

[RockyJSquirel]

Oohhh, no pink problem.

Don't the french have these wierd ancient high definition TV's?

Does that effect the resolution/frame rate of the DVD's made for them?

Rocky J. Squirrel

The dub is good for once

[RockyJSquirel]

Except for the last but one scene being completely mistranslated and the sense of it ruined (and one minor mistranslation early on) the Disney dub is amazingly good.

It's the best dub done yet and certainly good enough that you can proudly show the movie to people who don't like subtitles.

Rocky J. Squirrel

Re:An honest question

[Yottabyte84]

.....

CSS is a totaly diffrent type of encryption from PGP. AES, for example does not affect file size. You're on crack.

If you wait for DVD's for your region

[Rogerborg]

Then the terror-, sorry, the MPAA - have already won.

Not such a big issue here (languages and all) but something to bear in mind. I live in Region 2 (as decreed by the DVD powers), but I buy almost all of my disks as Region 1 (or when possible, region 0 or unregioned) and have them posted from Hong Kong, as soon as possible. The message: market segmentation isn't going to work any more. Stick to global release schedules, you chiselling bastards.

He ain't the only one

[Kichigai Mentat]

I think Katsushiro Otomo is about the same level as Miyazaki. I mean, he did make the graphic novels Domu, and Akira, which was later made into the anime staple that is Akira.

I don't import, so I hope this is true. I like Mononoke(And own it on VHS), and I liked what I saw from the Sprited Away trailer (Available in QuickTime 5 from Apple). But I mean, it's hard to pick a single greatest director of all time. Akira Kurosawa is considered the greatest director of all time. And Katsushiro Otomo is considered to be the greatest anime genius to ever walk the face of the earth. I'm inclined to agree with all three views. (Kurosawa, Otomo and Miyazaki are some of the greatest)

As far as all the Japanese specials go, BRING IT ON. The japanese often include everything from the film's trailer, to Coca Cola commercials featuring thier characters (Sorta like Square did about Final Fantasy IX soundtrack: They included the Coke ad music) I'm one of those guys who sits there are trolls through all the specials. Even on my little brother and sister's Monsters Inc. disc. However, they just murdered it. But then again, there's some films where I don't want to see the specials (I.E. Spider-Man) and some where I wish I had bought the two disc set instead (I.E. Akira). If you ask me, the proper way for taking DVDs from another country and moving it to another country is to make an exact duplicate of the disc. Then, translate everything, but offer the original version. I'm always paranoid about improper conversions/translations. My fears came true when I got the Roshomon DVD, and I had proof that it had happened with Akira. I'd seen it once before on VHS. When I looked at the DVD features for Roshomon, it said it had an original Japanes track, Original English Dub track, and a new Subtitle track with an improved translation. Also, Pioneer re-dubbed Akira and redid the translation from scratch. I'm always leary about translations. That, and I'm always interested in seeing the originals, just to compare.

Re:Teehee

[darkwhite]

Your comparison is flawed. Abandonware and MAME are not tools that allow distributors to profit from distributing media without paying its creators. Bootlegs are.

You are indeed a hindrance, in that you support paying money to people who don't deserve it, while at the same time not paying at all the people who created the media for you. This discourages creativity and greatly encourages stealing. Regardless of any other issue, it is also much more morally wrong than downloading media for free (which at least does not encourage bootleggers).

Re:Teehee

[FurryFeet]

I have a little kid, who I know would love Totoro. I have no way to buy Totoro legally, because Disney, in their infinite wisdom, has seen fit not to release a DVD of it. So, I buy a bootleg of it.
Have I hurted Disney or Miyazaki? No. I can't give them my money, even tough I want to, but they won't offer their merchandise. When (and if) Disney releases a Totoro DVD, I will certainly buy it (if nothing else, for the better quality). End result to Disney: The same. End result to me: Access to a masterpiece. Everyone wins (particularly my son, who otherwise would have had no access to one of cinema's great movies until Disney had seen it fit, probably well past the age when it is most magical).
Oh, and just so you can have a full hissy fit, I intend to furter break Disney's copyright by "altering their work without written permission". Explicitally, I intend to sub it to Spanish, so my wife can enjoy it too. Why? Because I have searched high and low for a Spanish sub and nobody sells it, not in America, not in Europe and not in Japan. So, I'm doing it myself. I guess that is also "morally wrong".

This discourages creativity and greatly encourages stealing.

Please, refrain from FUD. It's not called stealing, it's called copyright infringemente, both legally and morally; using loaded words you are only doing the MPAA's dirty work.
And, yeah, it's not piracy either. Go check a dictionary.

Re:Teehee

[darkwhite]

Wnen you don't pay for watching/listening to media that the creator wants money for, you infringe on their copyright.

When you profit from the said creator's work without paying anything to them, you steal. Both legally and morally.

Note that I would not have any problem with you if you downloaded your Totoro copy for free via a filesharing service or whatever (I do that myself). I do have a problem with people trying to profit illegitimately from others' work.

Nor would I have that much of a problem if you had no access to the said free copy via P2P, but I highly suspect that you do. Yes, it's lower quality, and yes, it's probably not available in many different subs or dubs, but this inconvenience pales in comparison with paying quite a lot of money to people who don't deserve it. At least in my eyes.

Oh, and switching to ad hominem mode, I never did use the word "pirate", I never defended Disney (in fact, I hate that company), and I never voiced an opinion on freely distributing modified work such as subs and dubs (I have a 50-CD stack of burned subbed anime, including all of Miyazaki, that I have paid nothing for). Also, I'd like to know what exactly "moral copyright infringement" is supposed to mean.

Dude, I know Miyazaki's work is beautiful, and I know that once you have seen it you will want to share its grace and genius with others. But what you're doing - paying all the wrong people for it - is not cool.

Re:Teehee

[darkwhite]

Just to prevent further confusion, I don't claim that you personally steal. The people you buy stuff from steal via selling it to you, therefore you encourage stealing. There. Finished.

Re:Teehee

[darkwhite]

Oh, and remembering what Miyazaki taught me... I take some of my words back.

I don't hate Disney. At least I hope I don't.

They do some objectionable stuff though.

Re:Teehee

[FurryFeet]

I'm glad to see that we are not in such a large disagreement, but only on fine points. Two, in fact, for which I can explain my position quite rapidly.
One, I strongly object to the use of the word "stealing" to refer to illegal copying. It's a loaded word, and its use helps to spread propaganda from the studios. Stealing is taking something and depriving the rightful owner of its use. In fact, I am legally right; if you get arrested for selling illegal copies of movies, you are not charged with robbery, you are charged with copyright infringment.
On the second point, yes, I have access to P2P... on a 56K modem. Ever tried to download a movie that way? Fun it is not. Plus, I don't pay quite a lot of money; 10 bucks will get you a Miyazaki VCD. I kinda agree that "pirates" are leeches, but not a lot more than movie studios execs. Plus, remember, I can give 10 bucks to a so-called "pirate", of which nothing will go to Miyazaki, or I can give 40 to Disney, of which 1-2 will go to Miyazaki (my guess, I can't really tell) and 38-39 to Disney execs. Guess which one I consider the lesser of two evils.
Still, I intend to buy the original as soon as it becomes available. But I absolutely refuse to subject my kid to the whims of a corporation regarding when he can see Totoro. For a movie that has been around for over 10 years not to be available in DVD (particularly such a masterpiece) is a crime.
Again, thanks for your articulate response, and rest assured I meant no ad hominen arguments; I was trying to equate my behavior to others that I consider similar and acceptable. Admitedly, in a somewhat inflamatory manner (this is Slashdot, right?) ;)

DAMN DISNEY

[HAZMAThat]

Those bastards, it's getting harder and harder to get anime without financing the domestic terrorists (AKA the MPAA).