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[Happosai]

The majority of Discotek's Blu-ray releases are in HD (this is putting aside, whether the on-disc material is technically an upscale). Using loose numbers, they have around 230 Blu-ray releases, of which around 50 feature standard-definition video (link to company's catalog).

Since Blu-ray players have all but replaced DVD-only units for home video, there are benefits to using the format over DVD. As previously mentioned, Blu-ray offers more storage capacity, meaning more data on less discs with less--or no--compromises to available audio & video quality. Less discs lead to cheaper production and, ideally, lower costs for consumers. The Blu-ray standard also uses better video codecs and allows for higher bitrates than DVD. While encode quality still matters, standard definition video on Blu-ray should technically look better than the same material on DVD.

Very well then, may have just been that I was looking at older titles being given another release in SD. I never check catalog on titles which were first produced post - 1999. The data capacity being higher is an added benefit and I get that. I've got SD blu-ray releases comprised of 24 episodes on only 2-discs. That's using the full memory available compared to the same DVD release which was like 5 -6 discs.

I see comments on UHD anime releases. I don't see that happening on a broad scale. As I've stated in previous posts; the idiot consumers who buy into streaming / digital downloading anime only are going to eventually put physical releases out within a short time. I don't anticipate companies like Discotek to continue releasing at the rate they are in 5-years and print numbers are already going way down on newer releases. I shoudn't have to reiterate my gripe with streaming. I don't really care if it's HD or it's cheaper. The point is, it's digital Blockbuster. Pay a rental fee to watch an OVA, movie, or series and it's "borrowed." Stop paying the rental fees (monthly/annual fees); we lock you from watching or return you videos back to digi Blockbuster (Crunchyroll, Netflix, etc). Never saw someone pop in and try to steal my physical collection for not paying rental fees and that's really what streaming subscriptions are. I get it if someone watches an oop anime on YouTube but there's a point of question I have toward those who claim to really be fans of anime and won't even bother to by more than a couple releases. Modern review sites often list the format they watched a series on and 98% lately say "digital" or streaming.

I guess my rant goes more toward -- if you really liked a retro anime movie, series, or OVA; you're likely going to rewatch...but in your own time. Therefore, if you decide not to pay streaming gatekeepers - you can always fall back on physical releases and pay once.

 

[Space Runaway]

Here's another art dump, this time of production artwork for Macross(TV):

Art of Super Dimension Fortress Macross

After a mysterious spaceship crashes into Earth, humanity realizes that they are not alone. Fearing a potential threat from space, the world pushes aside their nationalism, conflicting interests, and cultural differences, unifying under the banner of the United Nations. The newly formed UN forces de

characterdesignreferences.com

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Inuyasha holds up surprisingly well from an art and animation perspective. Rewatched the first episode last night and outside the format, it looks pretty good. I didn't think it getting blown up to 55inches would result in anything good but it looks nice.

 

[Happosai]

Inuyasha holds up surprisingly well from an art and animation perspective. Rewatched the first episode last night and outside the format, it looks pretty good. I didn't think it getting blown up to 55inches would result in anything good but it looks nice.

It held up until about the 25th episode for me. I watched about 100 and they digi-inked it after like the 49th episode. Backgrounds also appear airbrushed in later episodes. Too many reincarnations of naruko and episodes become too predictable/recycled. So, for the first 20 it holds but beyond it just goes downhill.

 

[Ladioss]

The transition to digital coloring was one of the major curse of the early 00's... not a fan of Inuyasha, but sengoku-jidai fantastical historical epics in anime have become so sparse that I may need to give it a try again - and I have some fond memories of the first two movies.

I don't post much here, but I love reading your discussions. There is some laid-back and comfy atmosphere here that reminds me of usenet and some old mailing lists.

 

[Happosai]

The transition to digital coloring was one of the major curse of the early 00's... not a fan of Inuyasha, but sengoku-jidai fantastical historical epics in anime have become so sparse that I may need to give it a try again - and I have some fond memories of the first two movies.

I don't post much here, but I love reading your discussions. There is some laid-back and comfy atmosphere here that reminds me of usenet and some old mailing lists.

American animators had already started making the digital ink shift in the late 90's whereas anime was still mostly hands drawn with painted cels. I always felt the quality to anime outdid later90's American animation for that reason. The switch to digital doesn't make much sense to me and either did the change in common popular anime art styles (adult female characters mostly look like young girls, noses are reduced to a dot or small line, mouths hanging on the chin, no cel shading, less definition toward facial skeletal structure/circle heads).

I agree and the fact that GAF keeps forum PHP it's base is definitely more captivating that trying to recap old memories on Twitter.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

It held up until about the 25th episode for me. I watched about 100 and they digi-inked it after like the 49th episode. Backgrounds also appear airbrushed in later episodes. Too many reincarnations of naruko and episodes become too predictable/recycled. So, for the first 20 it holds but beyond it just goes downhill.

Oh that's too bad. I'm not sure I'll rewatch the whole thing but I was pleasantly suprised by it. I really hate that early digital stuff. I mentioned Witch Hunter Robin earlier in the thread and that show conversely has aged terribly.

 

[Space Runaway]

Here's a really cool twitter account people in this thread might fancy:

https://twitter.com/Anime_VHS

He (she?) has been compiling tons of Japanese VHS jacket box art (Front, spine and back). It's been going on for awhile now and it's becoming something of a full blown resource.

It runs the gamut so you may run across various titles and obscurities you've been unaware of too.

 

[ValiantTraveler]

Here's a really cool twitter account people in this thread might fancy:

https://twitter.com/Anime_VHS

He (she?) has been compiling tons of Japanese VHS jacket box art (Front, spine and back). It's been going on for awhile now and it's becoming something of a full blown resource.

It runs the gamut so you may run across various titles and obscurities you've been unaware of too.

I checked it and found that I'm already following it. Love that kind of stuff, but for some reason the tweets don't show up on my feed, maybe I have to react to some of them for the algorithm to decide that account's tweets are worth showing.

 

[Ladioss]

American animators had already started making the digital ink shift in the late 90's whereas anime was still mostly hands drawn with painted cels. I always felt the quality to anime outdid later90's American animation for that reason. The switch to digital doesn't make much sense to me and either did the change in common popular anime art styles (adult female characters mostly look like young girls, noses are reduced to a dot or small line, mouths hanging on the chin, no cel shading, less definition toward facial skeletal structure/circle heads).

The switch to digital made sense at the time from an economic and process standpoint, I think ? You may remember that famous Sharon Apple concert by koji morimoto in Macross Plus, or the floating castle in Utena, or the asteroid in the first episode of Cowbpy Bebop ? As more and more scenes made from CGI were used, digitalizing the whole process made more and more sense - especially given how the available tools were getting more and more sophisticated.

Popular anime styles change every decades. Personnaly, I especially miss the realist style of Akira (and post-Akira : Hakkenden, Gosenzosama Banbanzai, Peter Pan no bouken, Tree of Palm...) and the Urusei Yatsura/Dirty Pair Tsukasa Dokite school of bishoujo action.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Popped on Wicked City for a bit last night. I forgot how quickly that one gets going. It really starts off with a bang. I really wish someone would give Kawajiri a ton of money to direct again. We might finally get that Ninja Scroll sequel that was rumored years ago. Fuck that awful series.

Edit: Does anyone own it on blu ray? Is it a noticeable improvement over the dvd?

 

[JunkerWoland]

Edit: Does anyone own it on blu ray? Is it a noticeable improvement over the dvd?

Prior to Discotek's Blu-ray, my most recent version of Wicked City was the DVD from Urban Vision. The difference between those two is immediately noticeable. Overall, the Blu-ray is a basic HD upgrade: cleaner video, with richer colors. I'm sure Discotek's remastered DVD is nice, but--putting aside a comparison I can't make with its Japanese counterpart--their Blu-ray is probably the best Wicked City is ever going to look in standard HD.

 

[Happosai]

Popped on Wicked City for a bit last night. I forgot how quickly that one gets going. He really starts off with a bang. I really wish someone would Kawajiri a ton of money to direct again. We might finally get that Ninja Scroll sequel that was rumored years ago. Fuck that awful series.

Edit: Does anyone own it on blu ray? Is it a noticeable improvement over the dvd?

Wicked City was one of the first anime movies I ever purchased on VHS. Like J JunkerWoland , I too still have the Urban Vision release ( I own every one of U.V.s releases except for Final fantasy: Legend of the Crystals). Wicked City really got me hooked on what anime could be. Prior to that, the only anime I'd seen in 1999 was Tenchi Muyo OVA 1 and Yu Yu Hakusho. U.V. released one of the most rushed OVAs I've ever seen too. It was an OVA called "Dragon Slayer: Legend of Heroes." I actually enjoyed it but the pacing was light lightning-espresso. I'm not sure if the rush was due to budget or what but you'll probably never find an OVA that tries to cram a story the way they did under 40-minutes.

Recommendations...Biohunter if you can find it. I liked it so much but it always felt too short.

 

[Space Runaway]

I know this isn't a manga thread but I figured Fist of the North Star fans might find this interesting.

An advert from the Jan 1982 issue of My Anime magazine for a new series "Golgodas":

Text:

SF Mecha World drawn as Computer Anime!!

The year is 2999. Earth is ruled by the Earth Federation Government. Young people undergo a method of receiving education suitable to their abilities.

Those who are considered particularly adaptive to this special education are assigned to special training under the federal government’s direct control agency “Elliot.” They are a special group of hitmen organized to protect Father Computer, which can be called the brain of the Earth.

The hero George and his friend Billy are members of “Elliot,” two “soldiers” who take it for granted that their only purpose is to risk their lives fighting. However, they are unaware. Their opponent, named “Eligild,” who raises the fires of rebellion, was once in the Earth Federation Government’s mechanism. His think tank was lost and he escaped into space…and the time of battle is approaching…

Expect this pitch to progress rapidly toward an ’83 TV Series!!

This predates Tetsuo Hara's two Shounen Jump 1983 HnK one-shots that were the prototype for Fist but you can already see the elements forming. Not sure why Golgodas was ultimately scrapped but it's an interesting snippet/peek at what could have been.

 

[OmegaSpirit32X]

so a few days ago i watched YuGiOh! Season Zero from 1998, animated by Toei, let me say it's not as insane as people make it seem, compared to stuff that happens in the manga, it was comparatively light, but it was still darker than Dual Monsters, Yu-Gi straights up fucks up people here after losing shadow games that vary from stuff like tamagotchis, Gatchapon Chess or the famous Trading Card Game to stuff like fixing a broken mirror blindfolded, blowing up ferrus wheels with people inside of it, or an ancient cursed mahjong game that causes natural disasters arround the world. it was pretty fun to see what they came up with and kept me up for the next episode despite being mostly episodic really.

the elephant on the room besides the darker tone, is also the character of Miho, who bassicly was only there so we had another female in the group, she went from a shy quiet librarian to being braindead... and also Tristan/Honda simps over her, besides that the characters are pretty charming, oh and the opening song slaps too.



this being said i didn't really get into DM for the same reason i didn't get into DBZ, it just grabs one aspect and exagerates it to the point it looses it's original escence, it just uninterests me, wich is a shame knowing that, like DBZ there's probably some good characters. it's just that im not willing to put off with endless boring fights or card game to get that.

oh and i also watched the Mario OVA and Otaku no Video after finishing it, but that's for another time.

 

[Happosai]

so a few days ago i watched YuGiOh! Season Zero from 1998, animated by Toei, let me say it's not as insane as people make it seem, compared to stuff that happens in the manga, it was comparatively light, but it was still darker than Dual Monsters, Yu-Gi straights up fucks up people here after losing shadow games that vary from stuff like tamagotchis, Gatchapon Chess or the famous Trading Card Game to stuff like fixing a broken mirror blindfolded, blowing up ferrus wheels with people inside of it, or an ancient cursed mahjong game that causes natural disasters arround the world. it was pretty fun to see what they came up with and kept me up for the next episode despite being mostly episodic really.

the elephant on the room besides the darker tone, is also the character of Miho, who bassicly was only there so we had another female in the group, she went from a shy quiet librarian to being braindead... and also Tristan/Honda simps over her, besides that the characters are pretty charming, oh and the opening song slaps too.



this being said i didn't really get into DM for the same reason i didn't get into DBZ, it just grabs one aspect and exagerates it to the point it looses it's original escence, it just uninterests me, wich is a shame knowing that, like DBZ there's probably some good characters. it's just that im not willing to put off with endless boring fights or card game to get that.

oh and i also watched the Mario OVA and Otaku no Video after finishing it, but that's for another time.

I'm not sure I would have ever considered Yu-Gi-Oh for a watch. Thematically it's interesting to hear how it's darker but 80's anime that North America tried marketing toward children was much darker. Ringing Bell alone comes to mind as Sanrio simply threw it together to be a quick "for kids" release. I believe even the U.S. VHS release still was mostly uncut.

That side rant you gave on DBZ hits home as I'm about to finish Season 5 of the original Dragon Ball (no spoilers as I've never watched S5)! So, Dragon Ball started off great with adventure, comedy, and interesting villains. I feel the whole Piccolo arc fell short and the fight was more or less handed to Goku. The tournament I'm watching now in S5 with Piccolo Jr. seems nothings more than a rewrite of the fight tournament with Tien. Dragon Ball never needed a sequel and to go a step further; Dragon ball stops being fun toward the end of season 3. It should have just ended there. Everything I've heard and seen of DBZ sounds everything of a quick and thoughtless franchise sequel. Rushed stories, train, fight, new villain emerges, train, fight, repeat ad nauseam. If it were FOTNS at least the repetitive fights or villains stayed fun/funny to watch as there's little emotional investment needed for the audience.

Last thing, TH is the Mario OVA?

 

[OmegaSpirit32X]

I'm not sure I would have ever considered Yu-Gi-Oh for a watch. Thematically it's interesting to hear how it's darker but 80's anime that North America tried marketing toward children was much darker. Ringing Bell alone comes to mind as Sanrio simply threw it together to be a quick "for kids" release. I believe even the U.S. VHS release still was mostly uncut.

Last thing, TH is the Mario OVA?

just imbf, i was mostly reffering to the Toei series from 1998 wich was aimed at an older audience (Shonen), not the Gallop series from the year 2000 that everyone knows wich was aimed mostly at kids, as the series only started to become about card games when many kids asked Shonen Jump about being wanting to play the card game, thus making the creator focus the manga on the card game, thus creating YuGiOh! Dual Monsters wich is a very different show.

there was a obscure Super Mario OVA made in the mid-80's to promote the first Mario game, adapting it somewhat, unlike most American media that came out after such as the Super Show or the live action movie, the movie was very faithfull to the source material, with most of the cast being portrayed as they would on the newer games, here's a low quality preview:


the major differences being Luigi wearing Yellow and Blue overalls, and being more greedy like Wario, aswell as the bros being followed by a wiggler-like dog, Peach using a videogame to communicate to Mario, and the Bros. eating Mario branded pasta/rice that appear from nowhere to promote the mario foods that were actually being sold when the movie was made, after they get to the mushroom kingdom, the movie starts playing out like a roadtrip film, more akin to what the 1993 mario movie was originally intended to be. going to diverse landscapes and meeting a colorfull cast of characters and avoiding obstacles trought their way to obtain the "Mushroom of Knowledge", "The Flower of Love" and the "Star of invencibility" while undoing Bowser's spells trought the land.

the animation was a limited, i swear they ran out of budget near the end, with a scene before the final showdown against Bowser that's bassicly a bunch of still images, btw the final showdown with bowser has mario finishing him off like he did in Super Mario 64, neat. also like with last time, the theme song is also a banger

 

[kunonabi]

Decided to randomly check out the home video release schedule for the next couple months and much to my surprise El-Hazard is getting a new blu-ray release.

 

[Space Runaway]

That side rant you gave on DBZ hits home as I'm about to finish Season 5 of the original Dragon Ball (no spoilers as I've never watched S5)! So, Dragon Ball started off great with adventure, comedy, and interesting villains. I feel the whole Piccolo arc fell short and the fight was more or less handed to Goku. The tournament I'm watching now in S5 with Piccolo Jr. seems nothings more than a rewrite of the fight tournament with Tien. Dragon Ball never needed a sequel and to go a step further; Dragon ball stops being fun toward the end of season 3. It should have just ended there. Everything I've heard and seen of DBZ sounds everything of a quick and thoughtless franchise sequel. Rushed stories, train, fight, new villain emerges, train, fight, repeat ad nauseam. If it were FOTNS at least the repetitive fights or villains stayed fun/funny to watch as there's little emotional investment needed for the audience.

You're generally not wrong about DBZ in that it moved into the standard fighting shounen formula of constantly powering up to defeat the giant threat of whichever arc they're on. Though the Saiyan and Freeza portions have a lot of character and story stuff that's still reminiscent of classic Dragonball mixed in before the big battles begin. That stuff really starts being eliminated around the time the Ginyu Squadron arrives. Though as far as shounen shows go it's still one of the best of the era but it's hard to watch now due to what I'll mention below.

One thing I will disagree with you on is "rushed stories". If anything it's the opposite as Z drags things out to an absurd extent. It's that factor that really makes the show incredibly difficult to watch these days. The comic arcs were long and the tv series like, tripled the length. The whole Freeza saga alone goes on for like 70 episodes. You can already see that stuff happening in the Piccolo Jr tournament you're on. The Goku vs Piccolo fight coulda have been handled in like 2.5 episodes but they drug it out to 6 or 7. I know they had to avoid getting ahead of the comics but with Z it's pretty extreme, even for Toei (Though we are in an era where some shows have entire seasons of filler so maybe it's just normal pacing now). The Kai re-edit cut down nearly 300 episodes to 160-ish. Too bad that version ruined the music and censored content.

Course they did try to take the series back to classic Dragonball style with GT but that was a boring disaster and their desperate attempt to pivot the series back to shounen fighting stuff failed just as much. Trash. =P

edit:

Decided to randomly check out the home video release schedule for the next couple months and much to my surprise El-Hazard is getting new blu-ray release.

It also includes the considerably less popular El-Hazard 2 sequel OVAs. Those never got a bluray release in Japan so I'm curious about how the video quality of those episodes will turn out.

 

[kunonabi]

Yeah, I watched the sequel oavs once and that was enough. Ido like the TV show though. It's not as good as the original but it does do some things I really like.

 

[Space Runaway]

Yeah, I watched the sequel oavs once and that was enough. Ido like the TV show though. It's not as good as the original but it does do some things I really like.

Yeah I recall The Wanderers being a pretty decent reimagining. I should probably rewatch it and see what it's like now.

There was also The Alternative World tv series which was a sequel to the OVAs but it was received about as well as El-Hazard 2. It did have one of those most lewd bathhouse episodes I'd seen in a show at that point. =P

 

[Happosai]

You're generally not wrong about DBZ in that it moved into the standard fighting shounen formula of constantly powering up to defeat the giant threat of whichever arc they're on. Though the Saiyan and Freeza portions have a lot of character and story stuff that's still reminiscent of classic Dragonball mixed in before the big battles begin. That stuff really starts being eliminated around the time the Ginyu Squadron arrives. Though as far as shounen shows go it's still one of the best of the era but it's hard to watch now due to what I'll mention below.

One thing I will disagree with you on is "rushed stories". If anything it's the opposite as Z drags things out to an absurd extent. It's that factor that really makes the show incredibly difficult to watch these days. The comic arcs were long and the tv series like, tripled the length. The whole Freeza saga alone goes on for like 70 episodes. You can already see that stuff happening in the Piccolo Jr tournament you're on. The Goku vs Piccolo fight coulda have been handled in like 2.5 episodes but they drug it out to 6 or 7. I know they had to avoid getting ahead of the comics but with Z it's pretty extreme, even for Toei (Though we are in an era where some shows have entire seasons of filler so maybe it's just normal pacing now). The Kai re-edit cut down nearly 300 episodes to 160-ish. Too bad that version ruined the music and censored content.

Course they did try to take the series back to classic Dragonball style with GT but that was a boring disaster and their desperate attempt to pivot the series back to shounen fighting stuff failed just as much. Trash. =P

edit:


It also includes the considerably less popular El-Hazard 2 sequel OVAs. Those never got a bluray release in Japan so I'm curious about how the video quality of those episodes will turn out.

I appreciate that you did go more in depth on DBZ arcs and durations. That seals it for me -- I feel any given fight sequence can easily be communicated one to three episodes. The fact that you mention a saga lasting 70 episodes...how do people like a show like that so much? In Mexico there's such an obsession with DBZ in even non-anime circles that most treat the original DB as if it never existed.

I would also say regarding the original that the Piccolo saga needed more back bone and it would have been nice to see Goku knocked down 3 times and then have to train with Kami-sama to defeat Piccolo. Both would die but the series would have ended with the ultimate fight and a Mich stronger last villain. The Tien fight seemed too long likewise. I'd have to go back and count how many episodes and confrontations that took. But I liked the character the same. I feel everything I'm watching right now is like a weaker version of Goku's fight with Tien. Many questions too. If Piccolo Jr. is really just Piccolo reincarnated; why not just burn the whole world down along with Goku from the start? That was sorta Piccolo's goal...destroy the world and remove Goku. The character Jr. holds back and moralizes his surroundings making him seem more like Tien prior to defeating Goku in the 2nd tournament.

About El Hazard, I started with the Wanderers and recall stopping around the 9th episode as it just felt too slow. This was like 13 years ago and maybe I should have just started from the beginning. I believe I tried to find the first series too but backed down as the oop DVD price was pretty high up. Pretty neat that Discotek's releasing it. In a way, it seemed like 90's anime fans seldom even mention it anymore.

 

[Space Runaway]

I appreciate that you did go more in depth on DBZ arcs and durations. That seals it for me -- I feel any given fight sequence can easily be communicated one to three episodes. The fact that you mention a saga lasting 70 episodes...how do people like a show like that so much? In Mexico there's such an obsession with DBZ in even non-anime circles that most treat the original DB as if it never existed.

I would also say regarding the original that the Piccolo saga needed more back bone and it would have been nice to see Goku knocked down 3 times and then have to train with Kami-sama to defeat Piccolo. Both would die but the series would have ended with the ultimate fight and a Mich stronger last villain. The Tien fight seemed too long likewise. I'd have to go back and count how many episodes and confrontations that took. But I liked the character the same. I feel everything I'm watching right now is like a weaker version of Goku's fight with Tien. Many questions too. If Piccolo Jr. is really just Piccolo reincarnated; why not just burn the whole world down along with Goku from the start? That was sorta Piccolo's goal...destroy the world and remove Goku. The character Jr. holds back and moralizes his surroundings making him seem more like Tien prior to defeating Goku in the 2nd tournament.

About El Hazard, I started with the Wanderers and recall stopping around the 9th episode as it just felt too slow. This was like 13 years ago and maybe I should have just started from the beginning. I believe I tried to find the first series too but backed down as the oop DVD price was pretty high up. Pretty neat that Discotek's releasing it. In a way, it seemed like 90's anime fans seldom even mention it anymore.

Well with DBZ, if you wanted a fighting anime there really wasn't anything quite like it and it remained that way for a good many years and now it's in classic status. And it does have a lot fun/memorable characters and moments with a style you can only get from Toriyama. Plus when you're a kid or teen it's considerably easier to watch and enjoy these mega-length action series, as we can see in recent times with Naruto, Bleach and similar offspring. I can speak from experience that when I was a kid I had pretty much zero problem watching (and rewatching) these lengthy sagas whereas now I find it basically impossible to do so without fast forwarding constantly. =P

I don't know if there's a direct explanation. For whatever reason he didn't seem to be the same level of evil as King Piccolo. Though he did still talk about taking over the world and I can see him wanting personal revenge on Goku before going about his ways, though he also did stuff King Piccolo woudn't so I don't know. =/ Even in the early parts of Z he's clearly still much softer so maybe reincarnation changed him somewhat?

Yeah with El-Hazard none of the follow-ups were as good as the original series and it wasn't crazy popular or "must watch" material. It's just a good watch and one of those things that's fondly remembered by those who saw in back in the day. A product of it's time that unfortunately got left there.

Edit:

And on a completely unrelated note, I expressed my interest in picking up Discotek's upcoming release of Braiger, though the people creating the blurays had this to say about the masters:

Fair warning, this is one of the roughest looking masters we’ve ever had to work with. Sadly it looks like the original broadcast 2” quad tapes from the 70s are all that exist. Better that than nothing!"

I believe he meant 80s but that's not sounding too hot. I already railed on the quality of the Sasuraiger blurays looking like cheap dvds

Could Braiger end up looking worse than that?

 

[Space Runaway]

Update on the El-Hazard bluray. Haven't watched them in full yet but I skimmed the bluray see check out the quality.

El-Hazard itself appears to look pretty good:

El-Hazard 2's transfer looks fucking shit though.

I expected it to just be an upscale but they added some nasty filtering, reminiscent of the kind of thing you would see from bad 2d emulation filters. It's rendered most of the hard lines in this soft, sometimes grey, marker-ish(?) look. Thin lines close together end up blended and eyes and eyebrows (Nanami's look mega trash) in particular look really awful in medium or further shots. I don't know what the source material they were working with was like but this is pretty putrid.

EH2 I also ran into some macroblocking in darker areas. On my TV it wasn't too noticeable but on my PC monitor it's in your face bad. I Know EH2 was a lackluster sequel but they didn't have to treat it like this. =/

 

[Happosai]

Update on the El-Hazard bluray. Haven't watched them in full yet but I skimmed the bluray see check out the quality.

El-Hazard itself appears to look pretty good:



El-Hazard 2's transfer looks fucking shit though.

I expected it to just be an upscale but they added some nasty filtering, reminiscent of the kind of thing you would see from bad 2d emulation filters. It's rendered most of the hard lines in this soft, sometimes grey, marker-ish(?) look. Thin lines close together end up blended and eyes and eyebrows (Nanami's look mega trash) in particular look really awful in medium or further shots. I don't know what the source material they were working with was like but this is pretty putrid.



EH2 I also ran into some macroblocking in darker areas. On my TV it wasn't too noticeable but on my PC monitor it's in your face bad. I Know EH2 was a lackluster sequel but they didn't have to treat it like this. =/

Great to see EH1 came out nice. Question on that awful quality of the EH2 or in general...was the framing cropped? It's got vertical black barring to making me this this was never properly formatted.

 

[JunkerWoland]

That's an unfortunate end result on The Magnificent World 2. For Blu-ray, NOZOMI tends to work from already produced HD materials and, assuming things were done in-house, likely doesn't have the most extensive experience in preparing SD video for HD. There's also the question of their source material for the second OVA. It's possible they found themselves stuck with the choice of producing video full of nasty artifacts or too much filtering. The best outcome may have been to just slap the SD show onto a Blu-ray and call it a day.

 

[Space Runaway]

Great to see EH1 came out nice. Question on that awful quality of the EH2 or in general...was the framing cropped? It's got vertical black barring to making me this this was never properly formatted.

The dvd has those minor black bars surrounding the image too so they may be using the same source. You usually saw that on older transfers since an sdtv would hide that with the overscan. Not sure how it is on the LD though.

That's an unfortunate end result on The Magnificent World 2. For Blu-ray, NOZOMI tends to work from already produced HD materials and, assuming things were done in-house, likely doesn't have the most extensive experience in preparing SD video for HD. There's also the question of their source material for the second OVA. It's possible they found themselves stuck with the choice of producing video full of nasty artifacts or too much filtering. The best outcome may have been to just slap the SD show onto a Blu-ray and call it a day.

Yeah curious about the source material myself. I wonder what they were supplied with.

 

[sol_bad]

Wife and I just watched Golden Boy, all 6 episodes, shit had me laughing and I was in stitches.
Has anyone read the manga and is it any good? I've heard it's much more pervy than the anime.

 

[JunkerWoland]

Has anyone read the manga and is it any good? I've heard it's much more pervy than the anime.

Interesting but divisive is how I'd describe the Golden Boy manga. The OVA is a straightforward adaptation of the first manga volume. From around volume three, a stronger focus is placed on erotic content in a manner that could be considered fetishistic, with some later volumes depicting sexual situations similar to what could be seen in 1990s--or in certain cases even current--adult manga. After the first two volumes, multi-chapter story lines become dominant, with a potentially difficult to follow overarching narrative forming. Everything comes to a close on a vague ending, very much open to interpretation.

There's also a two volume sequel manga, Golden Boy II - Sasurai no Obenkyou Yarou Geinoukai Ooabarehen, which ran from 2010 to 2011. I've never seen its contents and have read conflicting reports about whether it provides any clarity on the conclusion to the first series.

While volumes three to ten of Golden Boy do not provide the same experience as the anime, they do offer an unique take on 21st century love, sex, and trying to find one's purpose in life. If any of this sounds enticing, the material is certainly available for the sampling.

 

[Omega Supreme Holopsicon]

I appreciate that you did go more in depth on DBZ arcs and durations. That seals it for me -- I feel any given fight sequence can easily be communicated one to three episodes. The fact that you mention a saga lasting 70 episodes...how do people like a show like that so much? In Mexico there's such an obsession with DBZ in even non-anime circles that most treat the original DB as if it never existed.

Super saiyan Goku, Frieza(such a great villain, for some reason in fiction I like such in girls too totally spoiled brats, lol so so great. If I have a daughter I'll make sure to spoil her rotten(nothing beats a spoiled princess).).

Also it has classics like gohan's masked arc, and the androids. Later on it becomes silly with fusions, etc. But DBZ is well worth it too.

You might not initially have a taste for such formulaic stories, but even if at first you don't enjoy it, you can develop a taste for it.

I have found that overtime I can develop a taste for almost anything, I see stories as chains of logic. And stories tend to reflect each other.

While not an ancient anime, the animation Fantastic Planet is a more encompassing story, like a story of stories. Logic of logic.

On the topic of ancient retro anime, there is martian successor nadesico, an excellent gag take on the mecha genre.

It has the excellent character of the celestial navigator of the ship to mars, ruri hoshino.(with catchphrase "baka")

 

[DGrayson]

Wife and I just watched Golden Boy, all 6 episodes, shit had me laughing and I was in stitches.
Has anyone read the manga and is it any good? I've heard it's much more pervy than the anime.

Never read the manga but I fucking love Golden Boy.

 

[Shouta]

Interesting but divisive is how I'd describe the Golden Boy manga. The OVA is a straightforward adaptation of the first manga volume. From around volume three, a stronger focus is placed on erotic content in a manner that could be considered fetishistic, with some later volumes depicting sexual situations similar to what could be seen in 1990s--or in certain cases even current--adult manga. After the first two volumes, multi-chapter story lines become dominant, with a potentially difficult to follow overarching narrative forming. Everything comes to a close on a vague ending, very much open to interpretation.

There's also a two volume sequel manga, Golden Boy II - Sasurai no Obenkyou Yarou Geinoukai Ooabarehen, which ran from 2010 to 2011. I've never seen its contents and have read conflicting reports about whether it provides any clarity on the conclusion to the first series.

While volumes three to ten of Golden Boy do not provide the same experience as the anime, they do offer an unique take on 21st century love, sex, and trying to find one's purpose in life. If any of this sounds enticing, the material is certainly available for the sampling.

Golden Boy II, as I recall, starts out a lot like the original for the first few chapters with Kintaro doing a lot of odd jobs,. though more in the Entertainment industry. It really slides downhill into Egawa's social and political commentary with Kongoji showing up again though.

Going from what wikipedia says in the JP article, the first manga was originally meant to end earlier than it did since the story was going weird directions with the fetish content. However, the incredible popularity of the OVAs caused the publisher of the manga to force the continued serialization of it by allowing Egawa to write whatever he wanted which caused the readership to just leave/lose interest. That caused the end of the manga but on the way out, he pissed the publishers off by writing his complaints into the manga itself. I think things went in the same direction for Golden Boy II because I picked up those two volumes when I was living in Japan and it was quickly done, lol

 

[Happosai]

Golden Boy II, as I recall, starts out a lot like the original for the first few chapters with Kintaro doing a lot of odd jobs,. though more in the Entertainment industry. It really slides downhill into Egawa's social and political commentary with Kongoji showing up again though.

Going from what wikipedia says in the JP article, the first manga was originally meant to end earlier than it did since the story was going weird directions with the fetish content. However, the incredible popularity of the OVAs caused the publisher of the manga to force the continued serialization of it by allowing Egawa to write whatever he wanted which caused the readership to just leave/lose interest. That caused the end of the manga but on the way out, he pissed the publishers off by writing his complaints into the manga itself. I think things went in the same direction for Golden Boy II because I picked up those two volumes when I was living in Japan and it was quickly done, lol

That's a reason to check the manga out. Sometimes artists get more creative under pressure. Makes me think of music and how half the 1987 Neil Young album "Life" took shots at David Geffen for the lawsuit and mistreatment he got from them. Same deal with Mike Oldfield with his last two Virgin records albums "Heaven's Open" and "Amarok" with their hidden/direct shots at Richard Branson.

The drama makes it fun.

I originally had bootlegs of Golden Boy and was happy when they announced the re-release by Discotek. I think I bought it during it's release week which I don't often do for titles.

 

[Happosai]

Super saiyan Goku, Frieza(such a great villain, for some reason in fiction I like such in girls too totally spoiled brats, lol so so great. If I have a daughter I'll make sure to spoil her rotten(nothing beats a spoiled princess).).

Also it has classics like gohan's masked arc, and the androids. Later on it becomes silly with fusions, etc. But DBZ is well worth it too.

You might not initially have a taste for such formulaic stories, but even if at first you don't enjoy it, you can develop a taste for it.

I have found that overtime I can develop a taste for almost anything, I see stories as chains of logic. And stories tend to reflect each other.

While not an ancient anime, the animation Fantastic Planet is a more encompassing story, like a story of stories. Logic of logic.

On the topic of ancient retro anime, there is martian successor nadesico, an excellent gag take on the mecha genre.

It has the excellent character of the celestial navigator of the ship to mars, ruri hoshino.(with catchphrase "baka")

I think my biggest gripe isn't so much DBZ alone but the fact that I've always debated 'fight anime' where the fight/tournament/battle arcs span more than 3-episodes. It seems to me like a villian should be easy to blow apart in less-than 3 episodes. The minor villians in Ninja Scroll the movie took Junbei like one or two swings to take down. I think Mujuro being the fastest death (like 2-minutes and oops...I'm dead). Genma they made more challenging and it took melted gold to ultimately seal his fate. But it's a movie and that's sometimes where I feel they should have followed up Dragon Ball with. Just give a movie on Z and not a series; 2-hours...adventure and a big fight, then done. 291 episodes isn't telling anything to me. I feel that animation is a story and it doesn't take 3-hours to tell a short story.


To close on that, I would have given a 3-episode OVA a chance or a movie for DBZ but 9 "seasons" as it was marketed in the U.S...no way.

 

[Omega Supreme Holopsicon]

I think my biggest gripe isn't so much DBZ alone but the fact that I've always debated 'fight anime' where the fight/tournament/battle arcs span more than 3-episodes. It seems to me like a villian should be easy to blow apart in less-than 3 episodes. The minor villians in Ninja Scroll the movie took Junbei like one or two swings to take down. I think Mujuro being the fastest death (like 2-minutes and oops...I'm dead). Genma they made more challenging and it took melted gold to ultimately seal his fate. But it's a movie and that's sometimes where I feel they should have followed up Dragon Ball with. Just give a movie on Z and not a series; 2-hours...adventure and a big fight, then done. 291 episodes isn't telling anything to me. I feel that animation is a story and it doesn't take 3-hours to tell a short story.


To close on that, I would have given a 3-episode OVA a chance or a movie for DBZ but 9 "seasons" as it was marketed in the U.S...no way.

one of my favorite series was re:creators, they spend the entire 26 episodes fighting Altair.

But the power of holopsicon explains why that is,

Spoiler: recreators spoiler

The power of holopsicon is the power of a living god

But I also like quick enemy wipes like in one punch man or kenshin samurai x or usually kenshiro from Fist of the North Star.

 

[Happosai]

one of my favorite series was re:creators, they spend the entire 26 episodes fighting Altair.

But the power of holopsicon explains why that is,

Spoiler: recreators spoiler

The power of holopsicon is the power of a living god

But I also like quick enemy wipes like in one punch man or kenshin samurai x or usually kenshiro from Fist of the North Star.

I'll get flack for this but I enjoyed the non-stop fighting in the Street Fighter ll V anime series. It's not super long...like 31 episodes or some odd number like that. But I hung onto despite production being evidently low-budget especially midway toward the end of the series.

The most boring fight I remember in anything was the showdown between Kamui and his brother in X:The movie. I think I fell asleep during the movie for about 30-minutes the second time I watched it...that was a good 20-years ago too when I was younger and more energetic.

 

[Shouta]

That's a reason to check the manga out. Sometimes artists get more creative under pressure. Makes me think of music and how half the 1987 Neil Young album "Life" took shots at David Geffen for the lawsuit and mistreatment he got from them. Same deal with Mike Oldfield with his last two Virgin records albums "Heaven's Open" and "Amarok" with their hidden/direct shots at Richard Branson.

The drama makes it fun.

I originally had bootlegs of Golden Boy and was happy when they announced the re-release by Discotek. I think I bought it during it's release week which I don't often do for titles.

Nah, the publishers were right to be pissed considering he squandered the chance he got with the audience he garnered from the OVA. He didn't get more creative, he just got more more mastubatory with the work overall. That's kind of Egawa as a person too though as far as I can tell. There's a few things interesting but overall, it's not a great work despite the amazing start. I don't think it's really worth the time but if you got lots of it, then go for it, lol.

 

[Celcius]

I'm finally watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime (on Crunchyroll). It's older than I am but still enjoying it for what it is so far. It's cool to see the hand-drawn animation and images as well.

 

[Happosai]

Nah, the publishers were right to be pissed considering he squandered the chance he got with the audience he garnered from the OVA. He didn't get more creative, he just got more more mastubatory with the work overall. That's kind of Egawa as a person too though as far as I can tell. There's a few things interesting but overall, it's not a great work despite the amazing start. I don't think it's really worth the time but if you got lots of it, then go for it, lol.

Seems that it would be safe to say 'just watch the anime' as the manga isn't going to draw the same fan. There was some fetish stuff in the anime. I haven't watched it since the remaster came out like 7-years ago but I recall there being a weird toilet scene and then the last episode with the motorcycle...

 

[Shouta]

Seems that it would be safe to say 'just watch the anime' as the manga isn't going to draw the same fan. There was some fetish stuff in the anime. I haven't watched it since the remaster came out like 7-years ago but I recall there being a weird toilet scene and then the last episode with the motorcycle...

The anime definitely has a bit of fetish stuff but it's pretty tame overall. It gets really wild in the manga including involving scat, as I recall? So yeah....

 

[JunkerWoland]

Regarding the whole Golden Boy & fetish discussion, the manga never quite gets to scat levels, but the second half of the story does showcase a specific predilection for golden showers. There's also a later volume (I believe #8) that's essentially a single sex scene and may as well be an eromanga, replete with appropriate levels of mosaic censorship.

 

[Labolas]

Yeah, manga isn't good as the OVA which is surprising considering it's usually the opposite. But stick to the OVA, the manga goes into some fetish nonsense that is kinda a turn off honestly.

Also, I don't know if I said in this thread regarding El Hazard but it has aged better than Tenchi. Tenchi has harem nonsense that I can't stand. Tenchi as a character has the charisma of a plank of wood. Can't believe that Tenchi is still getting a new series.

Btw, anyone has seen the new series of Sword of Orphen? Saw a few mins of it, it didn't look too hot. Went back and watch the old tv series. Man, I was surprised at how good it looked.

 

[JunkerWoland]

Btw, anyone has seen the new series of Sword of Orphen? Saw a few mins of it, it didn't look too hot. Went back and watch the old tv series. Man, I was surprised at how good it looked.

I was never much into the Orphen franchise, but I got through about two episodes of the recent remake, before bouncing on it. The overall production quality and modernized character designs did not work for me.

As for Tenchi vs. El-Hazard, I like both for what they are and--to be honest--am more of a Tenchi fan. The existing shows haven't changed, of course. If you're taken by the plot-driven nature of El-Hazard and its lessened harem elements, then I'd imagine you'd still enjoy the show. The first El-Hazard remains one of the best OVA series of the decade, especially amongst the period's other completely original productions.

 

[Happosai]

Yeah, manga isn't good as the OVA which is surprising considering it's usually the opposite. But stick to the OVA, the manga goes into some fetish nonsense that is kinda a turn off honestly.

Also, I don't know if I said in this thread regarding El Hazard but it has aged better than Tenchi. Tenchi has harem nonsense that I can't stand. Tenchi as a character has the charisma of a plank of wood. Can't believe that Tenchi is still getting a new series.

Btw, anyone has seen the new series of Sword of Orphen? Saw a few mins of it, it didn't look too hot. Went back and watch the old tv series. Man, I was surprised at how good it looked.

I couldn't really compare Tenchi with El Hazard as I only saw part of the Wanderers. I did re-watch the OVA (1st and 2nd) alone with the first TV show last summer. It's not as fun as it was seeing it 21-years ago. There are things I like about it but the harem stuff gets annoying fast. I did watch two of the movie and the Shin Tenchi Muyo series. The Shin series ( Tenchi in Tokyo as it was sold in the U.S. ) was unwatchable. I too am astounded the that it's still going. Lupin also seems to be running dry but I'll admit that it's had some good sequels in it's 40+ year span.

 

[Labolas]

I was never much into the Orphen franchise, but I got through about two episodes of the recent remake, before bouncing on it. The overall production quality and modernized character designs did not work for me.

As for Tenchi vs. El-Hazard, I like both for what they are and--to be honest--am more of a Tenchi fan. The existing shows haven't changed, of course. If you're taken by the plot-driven nature of El-Hazard and its lessened harem elements, then I'd imagine you'd still enjoy the show. The first El-Hazard remains one of the best OVA series of the decade, especially amongst the period's other completely original productions.

I have a friend who is a big Tenchi so I understand the sentiment. Hell I was a fan of it when I first watched. The OVA of El Hazard is fantastic.

I couldn't really compare Tenchi with El Hazard as I only saw part of the Wanderers. I did re-watch the OVA (1st and 2nd) alone with the first TV show last summer. It's not as fun as it was seeing it 21-years ago. There are things I like about it but the harem stuff gets annoying fast. I did watch two of the movie and the Shin Tenchi Muyo series. The Shin series ( Tenchi in Tokyo as it was sold in the U.S. ) was unwatchable. I too am astounded the that it's still going. Lupin also seems to be running dry but I'll admit that it's had some good sequels in it's 40+ year span.

Yeah from my perspective, Tenchi has been stale since the end of Tenchi in Tokyo

 

[JunkerWoland]

Staying on the El-Hazard train, my BD was delivered, today. Spot-checking the first OVA, it looks pretty good. This probably isn't surprising, since presumably the US release is based on the well-received Japanese BDs.

Alternatively, depending on one's tolerance for poor video, the second OVA is arguably unwatchable. Screenshots are one thing, but the show looks horrible in motion. While the visuals likely did receive some filtering, possibly to soften the image a bit, I'm not certain tampering is the main culprit. The second OVA's video is an undulating mess and not from either natural or artificial grain; it's just a very busy picture (and yeah, sometimes there's noticeable macroblocking). Lines, both for characters and background elements, are full of jittering, rainbows, and ghosting effects. At the same time, even when characters turn into blobs of color, the overall picture doesn't usually become an unidentifiable smear. I'm left thinking the second OVA was possibly upscaled from a totally crap video source, with filtering added in an attempt to provide some softness and stability. Regardless, it looks really bad.

With the second OVA almost feeling like a free extra thrown into this set, people will probably forgive its poor video. NOZOMI should also have the license to the 1998 TV series, El-Hazard: The Alternative World, another property that has not seen a Japanese BD. For something that will be solicited as its own release, the company will need to do a much better job on the TV show.

 

[Shouta]

Picked up the Ultra Box for G Gundam and this set is really nice. The box is really nice looking as well as sturdy and I like the myriad extras with it.

I had been sitting on getting it because of the price but it was on sale at Right Stuf for basically 50% off so I had to jump on that.

 

[Labolas]

Picked up the Ultra Box for G Gundam and this set is really nice. The box is really nice looking as well as sturdy and I like the myriad extras with it.

I had been sitting on getting it because of the price but it was on sale at Right Stuf for basically 50% off so I had to jump on that.

Oh sweet didn't know it was on sale. Grabbing one right now.

 

[JunkerWoland]

For those not following the HD restoration of Madox-01, part of the crowdfunding campaign was getting new packaging artwork created by Japanese mecha artist Mercy Rabbit (check Twitter for some of the artist's work). The campaign recently updated with an unfinished version of the new art (link) and a time-lapse video of Mercy Rabbit working on the piece. I figured some might enjoy the short vid, which can be seen below.




Related, the HD restorations of both Madox-01 and Project A-ko will be shown next weekend at the Otakon convention in Washington, D.C. Hopefully they'll be some impressions on the overall quality of these projects.

 

[OmegaSpirit32X]

i just finished the Ushio to Tora OVA's from the early 90's, while it isn't really the best thing out there, i really enjoyed it, i won't go as in-depth as i did with Yugi or Mario, but it was entertaining for a formulaic monster of the week show, i especially love Tora, not only his design is cool but im a sucker for that kind of archetype if you know what i mean, a ferous beast with the capacity of cohesive human tought and speech with the personality of a wild animal being tamed into some kids pet even if he doesn't want to admit it, or atleast that's how i interpeted it, i also loved the art-style with the bright neon colors with harsh shading, and the power/hair metal soundtrack, in a way, this show was the fundation for what would eventually be Yu Yu Haksuho, InuYasha, and Bleach, so i respect it, i may also watch the new one later, but for now, i think the 10 episodes were enough, may watch it alongside the not-so-new but still kinda recent HxH from 2011, but i want to finish Ninku, Rewatch and Finish InuYasha and watch Yu Yu Haksuho first.