Retro Anime Discussion |OT|

What retro anime titles are long overdue for a blu-ray release in North America?


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Robotech came on at like 6:30am on (I think FOX) and I used to watch it before 5th grade back in like 1985. TV was so weird back then. There was some local religious tabernacle talk show that aired just before it which was always so fucking goofy of a transition.
 
Robotech came on at like 6:30am on (I think FOX) and I used to watch it before 5th grade back in like 1985. TV was so weird back then. There was some local religious tabernacle talk show that aired just before it which was always so fucking goofy of a transition.
I don't know if it was Fox as it seems like they didn't start up for a couple years after. Probably CBS or something more local. Completely different time as there was no Western anime 'craze'. Most of us thought these were American cartoons as kids. Then again, if you were watching Thundercats, G.I. Joe or even Inspector Gadget...it was anime. American produced but mostly animated either by Topcraft, Toei or TMS.
 
My younger sister snitched on my VHS collection. I had Wicked City on VHS and I recall her reading the synopsis from the back of the tape to my mom. My dad didn't mind. I got a, "don't watch that Japanese smut" lecture and kept the tape. @Tesseract what tape was it that pissed off your parents?
My parents confiscated my copy of Wicked City as well.
 
I just started watching Space Adventure Cobra for the first time. Yet another great show that I somehow never got around to that is just great! Pretty fast paced show so far 7 episodes in. Whole lotta collateral damage! Something about the haphazard action reminds me a lot of Dragon's Lair \ Space Ace too.
 
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Ghost In The Shell Manga GIF by animatr
 
So many great retro animes that I wish got way more episodes and seasons. Always prefer their style over todays. The 90s Berserk, Bastard, Violence Jack, and a whole lot more deserved a lot more episodes and seasons.

Love the Lodoss OVA opening both English and Japanese versions



 
Did anyone else here saw Key the Metal Idol? I recently did, finished it two months ago and fell in love with it. It has It's problems near the end but It's still an underrated gem.
Very ahead of the curve from stuff like Eva or Lain.
 
Cool find for Fist of the North Star fans.

The uncensored scenes from the old and super rare Italian VHS release of the HnK movie are now available in great quality. A 35mm print of the Fist of the North Star movie was found which contained high quality versions of those uncensored scenes and they've been uploaded in 4k.

Background from the uploader:

This uncensored footage was discovered attached to a 35mm print on the main feature, originating from a film collector in Japan, who is assumed to have acquired them from a movie theater there. The feature itself is censored, yet exhibits very rough and poor tape splices precisely at the same points where these uncensored clips begin and end. This strongly suggests that the uncensored segments were physically spliced out from the feature and replaced with their censored counterparts, likely at the theater itself during the film's exhibition.

Accordingly, it is inferred that the film was initially distributed by Toei in an uncensored form, but the censored materials were subsequently issued and distributed to theaters—presumably in response to negative feedback about violence shown in the movie, though the exact causes remain unknown. There is practically no chance that it will ever be released in its original uncensored form again.

This 35mm print in its censored form and the attached uncensored footage were obtained and scanned by us in 4K. Some basic restoration and color correction have been applied. Aside from the infamous low-quality footage originating from an Italian VHS release, this is the first time any other legitimate source of this uncensored footage has appeared, and in proper high definition to boot. We present this legendary footage, unaltered and uncut, for the first time in decades. We share these select shots with permission from the print owner, but it is not possible for us to share any more than this out of our obligations, so thank you for understanding.

[NOTE: Even within this uncensored portion of the footage, there was still one shot that was visibly edited on videotape and then kinescoped back to 35mm film, but this may be a case of intentional experimentation, as the shot in question contains a very complex visual effect that may have been only possible to achieve on video at the time of production.]

NOTE: INTERNET ARCHIVE PRODUCES LOW-QUALITY PROXY FILES BY DEFAULT THAT HINDER THE VIEWING EXPERIENCE OF UPLOADS. PLEASE ONLY DOWNLOAD THE FULL 9+GB .MOV FILE OR .TORRENT FILE IN THIS UPLOAD TO EXPERIENCE THE FULL, HIGH-RESOLUTION VERSION OF THIS FOOTAGE.

Grab it from Internet Archive while you can


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Cool find for Fist of the North Star fans.

The uncensored scenes from the old and super rare Italian VHS release of the HnK movie are now available in great quality. A 35mm print of the Fist of the North Star movie was found which contained high quality versions of those uncensored scenes and they've been uploaded in 4k.

Background from the uploader:



Grab it from Internet Archive while you can


jZQ00ra.jpeg

6WuyD8K.jpeg

CkeDWtq.jpeg

9gRpObR.jpeg

YncnqtU.jpeg

MtuP0VV.jpeg
Wow, after all these years! Guess they were telling the truth about that relatively recent uncensored screening that happened.

Funny in retrospect how much controversy the scenes caused. No one would bat an eye in 2025.
 
Wow, after all these years! Guess they were telling the truth about that relatively recent uncensored screening that happened.

Funny in retrospect how much controversy the scenes caused. No one would bat an eye in 2025.

Ah, no not quite what you're thinking. The full movie is still mostly censored along with the crazier money shots.

A handful of censored scenes were mysteriously untouched in an old Italian VHS release and we now have those same uncensored scenes in super high quality (And notably the head squish which was originally removed with a discretionary cutaway rather than the visual blur). We may never get a truly uncensored version of the movie but this is a step closer.
 
Ah, no not quite what you're thinking. The full movie is still mostly censored along with the crazier money shots.

A handful of censored scenes were mysteriously untouched in an old Italian VHS release and we now have those same uncensored scenes in super high quality (And notably the head squish which was originally removed with a discretionary cutaway rather than the visual blur). We may never get a truly uncensored version of the movie but this is a step closer.
Ah, yeah still an improvement.
 
Cool find for Fist of the North Star fans.

The uncensored scenes from the old and super rare Italian VHS release of the HnK movie are now available in great quality. A 35mm print of the Fist of the North Star movie was found which contained high quality versions of those uncensored scenes and they've been uploaded in 4k.

Background from the uploader:



Grab it from Internet Archive while you can


jZQ00ra.jpeg

6WuyD8K.jpeg

CkeDWtq.jpeg

9gRpObR.jpeg

YncnqtU.jpeg

MtuP0VV.jpeg

Cool find for Fist of the North Star fans.

The uncensored scenes from the old and super rare Italian VHS release of the HnK movie are now available in great quality. A 35mm print of the Fist of the North Star movie was found which contained high quality versions of those uncensored scenes and they've been uploaded in 4k.

Background from the uploader:



Grab it from Internet Archive while you can


jZQ00ra.jpeg

6WuyD8K.jpeg

CkeDWtq.jpeg

9gRpObR.jpeg

YncnqtU.jpeg

MtuP0VV.jpeg
You know...had Toei picked these up (if it wasn't them), we know Discotek would have licensed in a heartbeat to get this in circulation.

On that note, it makes you wonder how many more popular IPs never left Japan thar were under the Toei umbrella (e.g. -- The Kinnikuman Legacy TV).
 
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You know...had Toei picked these up (if it wasn't them), we know Discotek would have licensed in a heartbeat to get this in circulation.

On that note, it makes you wonder how many more popular IPs never left Japan thar were under the Toei umbrella (e.g. -- The Kinnikuman Legacy TV).

Toei may likely still have this material somewhere but they've never shown any interest in reverting the censored content and considering how difficult it was to get the JP VHS ending included even as a mere bonus in Western releases, they'd probably deny Discotek usage of the material.

The only reason we now how this footage was due to a copy being diverted from a Hokkaido theater to a private collector. Production materials like this usually aren't found in theater copies, so it appears the distributor sent out this version and the footage in question was sent sometime after, to be spliced in at the theater (The splicing being clearly visible on the prints).

So now that leaves us with the mystery of if this less-censored version was ever shown in theaters before Toei supplied the censored scenes. It also seems to support evidence that a 100% fully uncut version was never released; with the kinescope effects being part of the theatrical release and the color grade edits being a later addition. At the very least we now know why that one Italian VHS release had these scenes uncensored.

If you're interested, you'll have to use a page translator but this is the most comprehensive info on this 35mm and what been learned from it:

 
Toei may likely still have this material somewhere but they've never shown any interest in reverting the censored content and considering how difficult it was to get the JP VHS ending included even as a mere bonus in Western releases, they'd probably deny Discotek usage of the material.

The only reason we now how this footage was due to a copy being diverted from a Hokkaido theater to a private collector. Production materials like this usually aren't found in theater copies, so it appears the distributor sent out this version and the footage in question was sent sometime after, to be spliced in at the theater (The splicing being clearly visible on the prints).

So now that leaves us with the mystery of if this less-censored version was ever shown in theaters before Toei supplied the censored scenes. It also seems to support evidence that a 100% fully uncut version was never released; with the kinescope effects being part of the theatrical release and the color grade edits being a later addition. At the very least we now know why that one Italian VHS release had these scenes uncensored.

If you're interested, you'll have to use a page translator but this is the most comprehensive info on this 35mm and what been learned from it:

I would wager that the uncut never saw a theatrical. Nor, were there any plans by Toei to see an uncut VHS released after it's initial theatrical run. It's a mystery. Sorta like an OVA that was never meant for theaters, had to be censored down for theaters and then tucked away.

It makes me wonder too how France, Italy or even countries in South America would sometimes get these releases on VHS back in the day.

Not on topic with this post but I noticed this thread was moved from Communities back to Off-Topic. I can't complain too much. This is probably the first time posting here since 2023 and I let the thread fall into the back pages.
 
While it may not be the most well known anime one I really enjoyed is YAT Anshin! Uchū Ryokō. The show ran 2 seasons back in the late 90's and the creator behind the anime is Shinji Nishikawa who is know for work on Godzilla. Definitely worth checking out, I know they recently released digital versions of the manga for the series anniversary. Sadly it never got a western release just a Japanese and Spanish release. There are some fan subs around online but an official dub would be nice it's a fun anime but it doesn't sound like it's ever going to happen.

 
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I started watching tokimeki tonight recently. I love how completely unhinged most of the cast is especially the protagonist.
 
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