The Blu-ray Blog » Anime

Macross 30th Anniversary Blu-ray boxed set coming to Japan

Brenden — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:14:57 +0000

Continuing on with Blu-ray news that’s totally blowing my mind, the Japanese arm of Bandai Visual has revealed that they’re planning to unleash a massive Blu-ray boxed set of the original Macross series in honour of its 30th Anniversary (the first episode aired back in October of 1982.) This show, in the guise of the first third of the Robotech saga, as we saw it here in North America back in the ’80s, was instrumental in shaping my love for anime, the giant robot genre and for serial storytelling in general. I don’t think it’s too far fetched to say that some aspect of the story, the design or the legacy of the series is present in my life on an everyday basis (aside from the fact that I’m perpetually gazing at the three large character models I have sitting above my television.) The news that all 36 of the series’ original episodes will be available on Blu-ray this May is throwing me into something of a fit. As I’m sure the obsessive amongst you will understand, I need to own these discs. The problem, however, is twofold – the boxed set is prohibitively expensive and there’s no hint of English on it, either by way of dub or subtitle. What’s a fanboy to do?

Two Macross Blu-ray boxed sets will ship in Japan on May 25th – the regular set priced around $500 USD and the deluxe ‘COMPLETE’ boxed set that includes an additional disc of extras and a bunch of extra printed material, priced at around $600 USD. I’ve detailed the ‘COMPLETE’ set below (via: animenewsnetwork)

SUPER DIMENSION FORTRESS MACROSS: 30TH ANNIVERSARY COMPLETE EDITION BLU-RAY BOX
(May 25, 2012 – MSRP ¥47,250)
Video: 4:3 1080p
Audio: Japanese Linear PCM Monaural (no subtitles)

Special Features:

All 36 episodes
a booklet (with staff interviews, pre-production designs from when the creators were working on early series concepts called “Genocidas” and “Megaload/Megaroad”)
a box illustrated by character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto
inner jacket covers illustrated by mechanical artist Hidetaka Tenjin
a music video collection (edited from pachinko and pachi-slo machine footage)
the 30th anniversary special that ran on the Family Gekijō channel
promotional videos from the Macross PlayStation 2 game
the “Macross Special” version of the first two episodes that aired in the original premiere
the original broadcast version of episode 11
the credit-less opening and ending animation sequences
the opening and ending sequences from “Macross Special”
the super-deformed version of the opening sequence
commercials of the time
additional materials
Replicas of the 1983 tome Macross Perfect Memory, the scenario script for the first episode, storyboards (for the opening sequence, episode 1, and episode 27), and a collection of illustrations (from DVDs, LDs, plastic models packages, and elsewhere)

Top New Blu-ray releases for the Week of January 17

Brenden — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:05:55 +0000

Another late entry. Sorry, dudes. I ended up out of town for the week on another project and have been playing catch-up since returning to town on Friday. Let’s not waste any more time chatting about things and get to the reviews of this week’s releases. There’s some amazing stuff out this week. Check it out!

As always, clicking the Blu-ray package art will zip you over to Amazon where every purchase you make through our links helps the site stay on its feet. We appreciate every single click and thank you again for continuing to read The Blu-ray Blog.

Blu-ray disc of the week: THE IDES OF MARCH

Ambition seduces and power corrupts in this nerve-wracking thriller from Academy Award nominated director George Clooney. Idealistic campaign worker Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling) has sworn to give all for Governor Mike Morris (Clooney), a wild card presidential candidate. However, during a brutal Ohio primary Stephen gets trapped in the down-and-dirty battle and finds himself caught up in a scandal where the only path to survival is to play both sides.

I think 2011 might have been the year that Ryan Gosling became the coolest man on Earth. The one-two punch of Drive and George Clooney’s The Ides of March, making its Blu-ray debut this week, have cemented the steeley, chiseled Canadian as one to watch through 2012. Can he remain cool for a further 365 days or were these two films a fluke? It remains to be seen. But let me tell you, if you feel his performance was too simple, direct or one-note in Drive, Gosling proves he’s got the chops to deliver in Ides of March. As dutiful Stephen Meyers working for Clooney’s Governor Mike Morris (yes, the multi-talented Clooney not only directs, produces and shares writing credit here but stars in the film as well) Gosling might play it cool but political and personal games that threaten his character’s hard-won career see the actor run the gamut of emotions. I think he’s the real thing. And, more importantly here, The Ides of March is really good. Actually, it’s really great. Fans of political thrillers like All The President’s Men will want to check this one out post haste!

In addition to being one of the better films of late 2011, The Ides of March is one of the best looking Blu-ray discs I’ve had the pleasure of screening in recent memory. This is great work from Sony (via Alliance on the Canadian disc I watched) with a natural, rich grain structure, a ton of detail and colour that’s spot on. A perfect transfer with a perfect encode. Beautiful! The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is, likewise, right on the money but features less of a ‘wow’ factor, as much of the soundtrack is center-channel-focused dialogue. Bonus goodies on the disc include an excellent, if not slightly dry commentary from Clooney and writer/producer Grant Heslov and almost half an hour of featurettes.

Highly recommended!

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Commentary with George Clooney and Grant Heslov
Developing the Campaign: The Origin of The Ides of March
Believe: George Clooney
On The Campaign: The Cast of The Ides Of March
What Does a Political Consultant Do?

AMAZON: CDN $27.99

Also available: THE IDES OF MARCH (US Edition)

AMAZON: $17.99

REDLINE

“Redline” is about the biggest and most deadly racing tournament in the universe. Only held once every five years, everyone wants to stake their claim to fame, including JP, a reckless dare-devil driver oblivious to speed limits with his ultra-customized car – all the while, organized crime and militaristic governments want to leverage the race to their own ends. Amongst the other elite rival drivers in the tournament, JP falls for the alluring Sonoshee – but will she prove his undoing, or can a high speed romance survive a mass destruction race.

Redline is, without question, one of the most hotly anticipated Blu-ray releases of the last year. Hell, it’s so good I damn near proclaimed it “Disc of the Week”. There’s only a couple of things that keep this exceptional Blu-ray release from that distinction, here on The Blu-ray Blog – the first is the fact that anime is still a niche genre of product that I can’t really recommend to everybody (there’s no way my sister would ever sit through this film) and the second is that, while this is a remarkable film on so many levels, the story and plot are pretty inane and somewhat incomprehensible. But honestly, for this sort of animated film, I don’t mind some weakness in narrative if there’s an overwhelming inventiveness elsewhere. And Redline is hella inventive! From the outlandish characterizations, automotive design and all-’round nutso animation, every aspect of this film simply screams originality. I challenge you to watch Redline and not enjoy the hell out of it. If you like anime, that is.

Anchor Bay‘s high-bandwidth encode rocks the Redline transfer, handling the grand swaths of black and fast action with aplomb. This is a fantastic, vivid, colourful Blu-ray presnetation from start to finish! Great looking stuff here. The Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack is also all kinds of awesome! I only sampled a touch of the English mix but it seemed to replicate the original in clarity, immersiveness and all around crazy-ass bombast.

Special features include a thorough, hour-long “Perfect Guide to Redline” with interviews, designs, storyboards and more. There’s also a documentary piece that’s half as long and half as interesting. This excellent Blu-ray release is topped off with the “2006″ trailer.

AMAZON: $19.99

FIRST SQUAD

Set during the opening days of World War II on the Eastern Front. Its main cast is a group of Soviet teenagers with extraordinary abilities; the teenagers have been drafted to form a special unit to fight the invading German army. They are opposed by a Schutzstaffel (SS) officer who is attempting to raise from the dead a supernatural army of crusaders from the 12th-century Order of the Sacred Cross and enlist them in the Nazi cause.

Sigh. I had such high hopes for First Squad: The Moment of Truth. On the surface, it’s a super-cool Russian/Japanese co-production, slickly designed and animated by the geniuses at Studio 4°C (Tekkon Kinkreet, Genius Party.) But, at its core, it’s a collection of genre cliches that hues too close to Zack Snider‘s Suckerpunch for comfort. The story is supposed to take place during the second world war but the filmmakers have made certain that the First Squad all sport clothing and makeup that ratchets up their “cool factor” without consideration for the period. Is there a reason that the protagonist has a katana with a mini beanie baby dangling from the hilt like a modern day cell phone charm other than someone in the production team thought it would be “cool”? That’s what most of the film feels like – a hodgepodge of stereotypical anime elements mashed-up with a touch of Russian history. I like girls with katanas slicing through zombie soldiers as much as the next nerd but for me, First Squad just doesn’t come together.

I will say, however, that Anchor Bay’s Blu-ray presentation of the film is gorgeous. Though colours are purposely desaturated, the image is radiant and clean, with tons of detail to spare. When animation is well handled on Blu-ray, it really makes the format shine. First Squad is very fine, well rendered high-def eye candy, to be sure. The Russian Dolby TrueHD 5.1 I selected for viewing was also quite strong, though I found the soundtrack/subtitle combinations to be dodgy until I settled on Russian audio with English subs (the default seems to offer mostly English language dialogue but neglects to sub the audio that remains in other languages. D’oh!) Aside from a shorter, hour-long cut of the film, which normally runs 73-minutes, there isn’t a special feature of which to speak of on the disc. It’s a shame, as I’d be keen to know how this co-production came together.

AMAZON: $19.99

BELLE DE JOUR

The porcelain perfection of Catherine Deneuve (Repulsion) hides a cracked interior in the actress’s most iconic role: Séverine, a chilly Paris housewife by night, a bordello prostitute by day. This surreal and erotic late-sixties daydream from provocateur for the ages Luis Buñuel (Viridiana) is an examination of desire and fetishistic pleasure (its characters’ and its viewers’), as well as a gently absurdist take on contemporary social mores and class divisions. Fantasy and reality commingle in this burst of cinematic transgression, which was one of Buñuel’s biggest hits.

This week’s premiere Criterion release, if you ask me, is the long awaited Blu-ray edition of Buñuel’s Belle de Jour, arguably the surrealist filmmaker’s most accessible and most commercially successful work. I generally prefer his style when he’s working the more eye-slicing, ants-emerging-from-wounds end of the spectrum but here, in this examination of a woman’s psychological struggle, he uses his skills juxtaposing disparate images to imply narrative in a more direct yet subtle fashion. The film follows Séverine down a path of experimentation with Buñuel cutting occasionally to images from her subconscious – moments from her past and her quite vivid imagination – to allow the viewer some insight into the motivating factors at play inside her. It’s not quite as jarring nor as uncanny as previous work but the more evocative and direct choices give the film a less playful and more earnest feel in line with the themes of the narrative and Deneuve’s stoic beauty.

The Blu-ray disc marks another fine, very film-like presentation from Criterion. There appear to be similarities in this and the print used for the Studio Canal Region B disc but colour timing is unique to both (warm scenes in one are often cold in the other and vice versa.) Both discs are very fine and quite detailed, leaving your selection of which to purchase down to personal preference or Region lock. The lossless mono audio track is also excellent, proving quite robust and dynamic, despite its limitation of age and channels. Music sounds full and expressive and the French language dialogue is clean and clear.

Supplements, as per Crierion’s usual, are plentiful and very well done. The commentary track by Princeton professor Michael Wood, author of the BFI Film Classic book Belle de Jour, is jam-packed with information about the film itself and its cast and crew but is often quite dryly delivered. Mister Wood sounds like a typical academic and would clearly benefit from having a lively companion in the sound booth. The highlight of the disc is a nearly 20-minute long doc newly produced by the studio. That Obscure Source of Desire features commentary on the themes of Belle de Jour by writer and sexual-politics activist Susie Bright and film scholar Linda Williams and is well worth watching. The 11-minute interview with screenwriter Jean-Claude Carriere is also worth a look (and, surprisingly, it’s in English!) There’s also an 8-minute long segment from a 1966 program called Cinema which features on-set interviews with Carriere and Deneuve. The disc is rounded out by several trailers and a booklet featuring an essay by critic Melissa Anderson and a 1970s interview with Buñuel.

Recommended!

AMAZON: $27.99

TRAFFIC

Traffic examines the question of drugs as politics, business, and lifestyle. With an innovative color-coded cinematic treatment to distinguish his interwoven stories, Steven Soderbergh embroils viewers in the lives of a newly appointed drug czar and his family, a West Coast kingpin’s wife, a key informant, and police officers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. The film, which delivers a complex and nuanced take on an issue of international importance without sacrificing any energy or suspense, is a contemporary classic, and the winner of four Oscars, for best director, best screenplay, best editing, and best supporting actor for Benicio del Toro.

I didn’t receive a review copy of Criterion’s Traffic upgrade (their DVD version of the film was released back in 2002) but this Steven Soderbergh film is certainly worth a look for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet. The Blu-ray disc carries over the fantastic collection of special features from its SD counterpart, including multiple commentary tracks, tons of deleted scenes and several process demonstrations.

AMAZON: $27.99

DEAD POETS SOCIETY

Academy Award winner Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor, “Good Will Hunting”, 1997) delivers one of his most memorable performances in “Dead Poets Society” – digitally restored and presented for the first time ever in breathtaking Blu-ray High Definition. For generations, Welton Academy students have been groomed to live lives of conformity and tradition – until new professor John Keating inspires them to think for themselves, live life to the fullest and “Carpe Diem.” This unconventional approach awakens the spirits of the students, but draws the wrath of a disapproving faculty when an unexpected tragedy strikes the school. With unforgettable characters and beautiful cinematography, “Dead Poets Society” will captivate and inspire you time and time again.

It had been years since I’d seen Peter Weir‘s Dead Poets Society and my recollections of it had faded, entering into a screening of the new Blu-ray disc edition of the film. Much of the film remains timeless and quite powerful – the stunning, pitch perfect photography of John Seale (The English Patient, Witness), the performances of the boys, their parents and the teachers (Kurtwood Smith will always be criminal Clarence Boddicker to me but here, playing an overbearing dad, I almost forget how he nearly killed Robocop) and the stuck-up-private-school-versus-free-thinking story itself. The two elements that occasionally pulled me out of the film, however, are also occasionally the things that give it its flavour.

Dead Poets Society is some of Robin Williams’ best work but every now and then he lets go and does his schtick. I think that might have worked back in the ’80s but it really feels out of place now. Likewise, composer Maurice Jarre delivers some truly inspired music throughout but his occasional overuse of dated synthesizers really drags the flavour of the film down. It’s too bad, because the compositions are excellent, it’s just the voices he’s using to play them that bring the cheese. But don’t allow these minor missteps to keep you from the film. It’s still a winner after all these years and definitely a mid-century prep-school drama worth a look.

Dead Poets Society has always been a fairly soft film and remains so in its Blu-ray debut. This 1080p, high-def presentation however, is in every way a faithful representation of how the film is meant to look and does it justice in just about every way. Colour is rich, blacks are deep and the whole affair maintains a nice film-like quality about it. You’re not going to convert anyone to Blu-ray with this disc but it’s got it where it counts. The largely front-heavy DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 also seems to be source-accurate, only lacking in areas where age and source material keep it from reaching the top of the class.

Special features have been carried over from the previously released DVD edition of the film and include and excellent commentary track from Weir, Seale and writer Tom Schulman, a nearly half-hour long retrospective doc (that, sadly, is all the worse for the lack of comment from Weir and Williams) and 8-minutes of ‘Raw Takes‘. There’s also a brief look and the life and career of late sound designer Alan Splet and a 15-minute long ‘Cinematography Master Class‘ with Seale. The disc is rounded out with a trailer.

AMAZON: $13.99

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM

For the first time in stunning Blu-ray High Definition, Academy Award winner Robin Williams (Best Supporting Actor, “Good Will Hunting”, 1997) delivers a tour-de-force performance in the 25th Anniversary Edition of the hit comedy “Good Morning, Vietnam“! Enjoy the unsurpassed digital sound quality of Blu-ray High Definition as Army deejay Adrian Cronauer (Williams) spins a red-hot soundtrack of ’60s hits. His sidesplitting comedy and rapid fire wit make him a hero to the troops, but quickly get him in hot water with his by-the-book superiors. Featuring a behind-the-scenes look at Williams’ hilarious radio monologues, “Good Morning, Vietnam” remains the quintessential Robin Williams comedy.

It must be Robin Williams week over at Disney, because the studio decided that simply releasing a single Blu-ray disc starring the famous funny man just wouldn’t do. I have to say, after screening both films, that Barry Levinson‘s Good Morning Vietnam holds up a lot better after all these years than Dead Poets does. Williams’ humour is on point here and, in fact, the focus of the narrative. It’s as if the story was crafted to take advantage of his particular skills. The supporting cast is all around brilliant, the photography often beautiful to behold and the music selections absolutely classic. It’s hard to find fault with Good Morning Vietnam. I guess if you happen to find Williams grating you won’t like the movie but in that case, I’d question why you even started watching it at all, given it’s clearly his showcase.

Good Morning Vietnam looks suspiciously clean in its Blu-ray debut. Closer inspection reveals some haloing and edge enhancement – telltale signs that the studio has been hard at work using their DNR and sharpening tools to “spruce” things up here. Don’t get me wrong, this is still far and away the best I’ve seen the film look since my initial viewing in the theatre but those in search of a perfect, pure transfer won’t find it here. At least the music in the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 sounds like a million bucks! The track itself is far from perfect but the music in the mix doesn’t seem to suffer.

Like the Dead Poets Society Blu-ray release, special features have been carried over from the previously available DVD and include a pretty decent, 35-minute long ‘Production Diary‘ and 13-minutes of raw footage of Williams behind the radio station microphone, riffing and improvising on the material in the script. Great stuff!

AMAZON: $13.99

GANTZ II: PERFECT ANSWER

Determined to resurrect friends who have died in battle, Kei and other members trapped in the “in-between” world of Gantz are aiming to score the 100 points needed to break through. An emergence of a mysterious investigator, however, complicates the situation further. The battle continues on as the two dimensions start to merge together. Some fight for love, and others fight for justice. At the end, who will sacrifice the most.

What just happened there? Huh? Granted, it’s been a few months since Warner sent over the first part of the Gantz film series but I’ve got to admit, I’m still kind of lost. Gantz II: Perfect Answer opens with a recap of the previous film that had me nodding and saying “Uh huh” and “Oh yeah, that guy!” quite a bit but once things got rolling with the story I found myself stupefied. I did get up to speed in most aspects of the plot before things drew to a close but let me tell you, this film provides everything but the “Perfect Answer.”

SPOILER ALERT

Unless I missed something critical, there’s no perfect answer about where the black ball comes from and/or why it wants the aliens killed. It’s clear that the aliens have got a beef but man, after sitting through two-and-half hours of this business, you’d think we, the audience, deserve some kind of explanation.

SPOILER OVER

In any case, no matter my disappointment with the plot, I found this Gantz film to be nearly as much fun as the first, with a ton of amazing action and more stylish production design than you can shake a stick at. If you like super-fast martial arts, swordfights and gun battles without a clear plot than you’ll enjoy the hell out of these films.

Much like the Blu-ray disc of the first film, Gantz II: Perfect Answer looks great in 1080p. There’s plenty of detail, colours, though desaturated, appear spot on and the blacks are deep and rich. Video is encoded at a nice, high bandwidth allowing for an encode that can handle all the fast movement through the films multitude of dark environments. The Japanese language DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 is even more impressive, providing a clear rendering of all environments, with clean dialogue from the center channel, a dynamic, full representation of the score and impressive low-end response that nearly took out one of our walls in the house. Most impressive! Note: Avoid the English dub track and just watch in the original Japanese with English subs. You won’t like the English dub. Trust me.

Bonus features on housed on a seperate DVD and feature a 22-minute interview with director Shinsuke Sato, trailers and cast profiles. There’s also a DVD copy of the film included in the package.

AMAZON: $19.99

LICENSE TO DRIVE

For teenager Les Anderson (Corey Haim), the two most important things in life are getting his driver’s license and getting together with the hottest girl in high school (Heather Graham in one of her first film roles). But when Les fails the exam, he “borrows” the family’s prized ’73 Cadillac for his big date. An innocent girl. A harmless drive. What could possibly go wrong? Try a fearless best friend (Corey Feldman) with an insane plan, a high school hottie with too much to drink, angry drag racers, crazed militants, a police roadblock, a crash course in car theft, a very angry father (Richard Masur), a very, very pregnant mother (Carol Kane) and much more! Nina Siemaszko and Grant Goodeve co-star in the awesome ’80s comedy hit.

Here’s another one I haven’t seen since I was about fifteen years old. I can’t believe I’m saying this but my sister and I used to love License to Drive. It wasn’t a “Two Coreys” thing (although I’m sure she was probably keen on one of them to some degree back in the day) or a Heather Graham thing (she’s actually not very cute in this film) but rather just a love of fast, fun kid-hijinks movies. Watching this one again now kind of reminds me of the programs my niece and nephew watch on the Disney channel – there are teenage crushes, gross-outs aplenty, the foiling of nasty jocks, parents who “just don’t understand” and incorrigible siblings. All the ingredients are there for this to be an episode of the Hannah Montana or iCarly or the like. That’s not a bad thing, just good reason for why I feel totally out of touch with the film now, as a thirty-something old man. Folks my age will get a kick out of re-visiting License to Drive once but will want to pass this disc down to their kids as soon as they’re done with it.

Anchor Bay affords this little throwback with a surprisingly decent transfer. There’s nothing remarkable here – detail, colour and contrast are all fine but not breathtaking – but this presentation is far better than you’d expect an aging catalogue film like this warrant. Kudos to the folks at Anchor Bay for caring! The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track is nothing to write home about but is clear and clean and allows sufficient dynamic headroom for the awesome ’80s music to sound pretty good. Sadly, the only special features on the disc are a 7-miinute long vintage promotional featurette and the theatrical trailer. I guess that’s better than nothing, right?

AMAZON: $12.99

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:

Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:16:40 +0000

EVANGELION 2.22: YOU CAN (NOT) ADVANCE (2009, Blu-ray released March 29, 2011 – MSRP $34.98)

MOVIE:	★★★★☆
VIDEO:	★★★★½
AUDIO:	★★★★½
EXTRAS:	★★★☆☆
BLU-RAY:	★★★★☆

It’s been a whole year since I was “wowed” by FUNimation‘s startlingly great Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone Blu-ray disc. I had little doubt that the sequel film would live up to the heights achieved by the first volume of the four-film series and I’m happy to report that it does more than that. It’s an even more engaging film that shares its predecessors killer technical merits. Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance is a must-have anime Blu-ray, if ever I’ve seen one.

The landmark anime Evangelion evolves, reaching new heights of intensity in the feature film: Evangelion 2.22. In this explosive new story, brutal action and primal emotion clash as a group of young pilots maneuver their towering cyborg Eva Units into combat against a deadly and disturbing enemy. In the battle to prevent the apocalyptic Third Impact, Shinji and Rei were forced to carry humanity’s hopes on their shoulders. Now, as the onslaught of the bizarre, monstrous Angels escalates, they find their burden shared by two new Eva pilots, the fiery Asuka and the mysterious Mari. In this thrilling experience for fans of giant robot destruction, the young pilots fight desperately to save mankind – and struggle to save themselves.

Picking up somewhere in the vicinity of the ending of the first part of the series, this sequel film follows the young Eva (read: cool-looking giant robot) pilots, our hero Shinji, the shy blue-haried girl, Rei and new additions Asuka and Mari, as they battle the seemingly never-ending onslaught of destructive, polymorphic “Angels”. Once again, fans of the series will recognize characters but this time around will find a lot of new story to wrap their heads around. As much as I enjoy all the robot action in the series – and holy crap, is it ever well designed, directed and animated here – I can’t help but feel like it cuts into the scenes that really matter.

The Evangelion series is at its best when it focuses on character. It comes alive when the kids are in school, coping with relationships and homework. Shinji’s struggle with his father, his need for acceptance, is what drives his story forward – the old man playing on that need to manipulate Shinji into reluctantly piloting his giant world-saving robot. But it’s the juvenile moments of the series that really make it sing – Shinji’s field commander and slovenly, older roommate, Misato’s drunken ravings, the kids on a field trip that involves several levels of humiliating delousing and decontaminating, Asuka’s shower-time run-in with Pen Pen, her new penguin roommate. Great stuff all around. The series only loses me when it ventures away from grounded, realistic conversation and into vague, we’re-being-coy-about-plot-details background stuff. Honestly, it rarely makes much sense and I barely care. I understand that it’s information that builds the series toward it’s climactic plot revelations but I’ve about had my fill of stories that rely too heavily on detailed expository gunk to build narrative. That’s what you have your characters for, dudes!

Nevertheless, Evangelion is the good stuff. Focus on the awesome character work and enjoy the giant robot action and you’ll have a hell of a time with this series!

Much like the first volume of the series on Blu-ray, Neon Genesis Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance looks just about as good as anime can in 1080p. Both the CGI and cel-animation kill in high-def, looking pristine and detailed in every frame. I prefer the original Japanese language audio track but those who need their good ol’ English language dubs won’t be disappointed here. Both tracks are offered in robust, dynamic Dolby TrueHD 6.1. English subs are, of course, included.

FUNimation has packaged up a nice selection of bonus features for their second Evangelion Blu-ray outing, echoing the extras from the first disc and adding a U.S. cast commentary track for good measure. I’d much rather hear what the writers and directors of the feature have to say about it but I’ll hand it to FUNimation, they held my interest with the cast commentary. A good number of cast members have voiced these characters for a nearly a couple of decades now and their take on the history of their characters and the franchise is often quite compelling.

The disc also includes another “Rebuild of Evangelion” featurette, which consists of a collection of animation and art progress demonstrations. A little in-feature narration would go a long way to making sense of what we’re looking at in the 22-odd-minute reel but thankfully, FUNimation have provided notes in their excellent and quite informative 20-page booklet. The disc is rounded out with a crap-ton of trailers and TV spots, omitted scenes, a remix of the film’s song and trailers for other FUNi titles.

Highly recommended!

[VIDEO] The Girl Who Leapt Through Time Blu-ray Trailer

Brenden — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:39:17 +0000

As I understand it, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is one of the greatest animated films ever made. If I had a nickel for every time my anime loving pals (I’m looking at you, Tamu!) have made attempts to lure me/pressure me/force me to watch it, well, I’d probably have a few nickels. You have to understand though, it’s not that I’m actively trying to avoid the film. It’s that every opportunity to see it has been via shaky looking download or aged, frighteningly standard-def DVD (yeah, sue me, I’m an HD snob). And if the film is really that good, I’m content to wait to experience it on the big screen at a festival or on Blu-ray. Well, on April 26th, Bandai will release The Girl Who Leapt Through Time on Blu-ray and I’ll no longer have any excuse to avoid it. Bring it on, Bandai! Bring it on!

THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME
(April 26, 2011 – MSRP $39.98)
Video: 1.85:1 1080p
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1

Special Features:

Main Feature with Storyboards
Audio Commentary with Mamoru Hosoda (Director), Riisa Naka (Makoto), Takuya Ishida (Chiaki) and Mitsutaka Itakura (Kousuke)
Audio Commentary with Mamoru Hosoda (Director), Toshihiko Ito (Assistant Director) and Hiroyuki Aoyama (Animation Director)
Direction File (A Talk with the Director, Mamoru Hosoda)
Premiere Event In Tokyo
Behind the Scenes at Premiere Event
Hanako Oku “Garnet” Music Video
Theatrical Trailer
Promo Clip

[VIDEO] Multiple teasers for Evangelion 2.22 March Blu-ray release

Brenden — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:54:35 +0000

FUNimation has posted four teaser trailers for their upcoming Blu-ray edition of Evangelion 2.22, which will be released on March 29th. If the presentation of the first part of the series is any indication, this one should be a stunner! Special features are slated to include the following:

Rebuild of Evangelion 2.02 – I Give You Anything
Train channel SPOT
TV SPOT’s (Type A, Type B)
Promotion reel
Teaser
Trailers

Blu-ray Holiday Gift Guide 2010: Animation on Blu

Brenden — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 03:01:42 +0000

All right, time is running out to get these Blu-ray gift guide recommendations posted so let’s get back to it! I’ll keep the commentary to a minimum here, in order to hasten the process.

Next up: Classics on Blu-ray

MORE GIFT IDEAS:

* GIFT & BOXED SETS
* TV ON BLU
* CLASSICS
* THE BEST OF THE YEAR

Animation just doesn’t get any better than the work of Hayao Miyazaki. His latest film, Ponyo is also his first on Blu-ray. This is not only a perfect gift for kids and animation fans but also for film fans of all ages.

Highest possible recommendation!!

Top 5 New Blu-ray releases for the Week of August 24

Brenden — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:47:57 +0000

This weeks best Blu-ray releases deliver us a healthy dose of TV shows, classic films and animation. But nothing can compete with the juggernaut of a series that is Lost! It’s an easy call for the number one slot this week.

1. LOST: THE COMPLETE SIXTH AND FINAL SEASON

Well, this is a no-brainer. If the final Blu-ray season collection of the Lost tv series isn’t on your radar this week you’re missing out. This is one of the strongest releases of the year, featuring one of the best shows ever to air on network television in a damn-near perfect video and audio presentation. Not to mention the incredible and robust set of special features included in the set. I’ll save my musings about this final season of the series for a full review of the season set where I can go on at length about the controversial decisions the production team made to bring the series to a close along with my thoughts on the story in general.

But!

If, by chance, you happen to be one of those rare people who hasn’t had a chance to watch any of the series yet, you’re in luck…

Amazon: $47.99

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY TODAY -

LOST: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION

…because the entire series, all six-seasons are now available in one amazing and convenient boxed set! Owners of individual seasons may even want to trade up to this big, bad-boy as it offers an extra secret disc of bonus content as well as tons of collectibles and goo-gahs.

Amazon: $194.99

2. THE SIMPSONS: THE 13TH SEASON

Hardcore fans might look at this thirteenth season of the long-running animated show as something of a mixed bag as it marks the beginning of Al Jean‘s first season as Show Runner and the subtle (to some, drastic to others) shift in tone from The Simpsons of previous seasons to the style of stories we still see from Jean’s team today. Either way, collectors will be happy to add another season to their shelves and fans will praise the return of creator commentary tracks. Here’s hoping Fox gets us more Simpsons on Blu-ray soon!

Amazon: $39.99

3. SHOGUN ASSASSIN (30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION)

I used to collect the Lone Wolf and Cub comic books back in the 80s, when they were first issued in English with those great Frank Miller and Bill Sienkewicz covers (yeah, I’ve still got ‘em!) Shogun Assassin is an American edit of the first two Japanese film adaptations of the series, smushed together into one slick package with a brand new rock soundtrack. It might not be as pure as the original versions but it’s still all kinds of fun. Read all about it in our previous post, here: Shogun Assassin coming to Blu-ray.

Amazon: $14.99

4. MACHINE GUN MCCAIN

Okay, this is a gangster film you’ve probably never seen. Why should you care about Machine Gun McCain? I’m going to throw some names at you here to see if I can can convince you – the film stars John Cassavetes, Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands and the always stunning Britt Ekland, with music by…get ready… the master, Ennio Morricone!!! The disc is produced by the Criterion of b-movies, Blue Underground so you’re guaranteed something nice to look at. I mean, aside from the lovely miss Ekland.

Amazon: $17.49

5. HANDMADE FILMS COLLECTION – TIME BANDITS, MONA LISA, WITHNAIL AND I, THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY

Oh man, I was so so so excited for these four classic British movies produced by Handmade Films to make their way onto Blu-ray. But not like this. All four of these should be Criterion releases. Hell, they’ve all been Criterion titles at some point and I wish they would goddamn well get their asses back there, to a studio that will treat them with some respect. Image has just chucked them all unceremoniously onto single-layer discs, compressed to hell with very few extras. And the worst offense? Time Bandits is only presented in 1080i. That’s right. Interlacing on a disc of a movie shot on film, in this day and age. Despite my reservations about the quality of the discs, all of these films are wonderful and most have never looked as good as they do on these cheapo discs.

Amazon: $12.99 each

ANIME OF THE WEEK: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 2

If you picked up Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 1 back in May (it was one of our recommended Blu-ray discs for the week of May 25th!) you’ve no doubt been counting the days until you could get your hands on the follow-up thirteen episodes. Well, anime fans, the day has come and let me tell you, if you’re into this sort of thing, this second boxed set featuring the adventures of the Elric brothers is going to blow your mind!

While the first thirteen episodes were all about set-up, covering familiar ground and essentially condensing the first 30-or-so episodes of the original series into a small, more palatable chunk, the episodes found on the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 2 Blu-ray discs find their way into new, unexpected and exciting territory. Al and Ed Elric are Alchemists – young magicians of a sort – who lost some significant body parts to their forbidden experiments. Their quest to find the mysterious Philosopher’s Stone which can make them whole again now takes a dark turn, leading them to lose dear friends and face painful secrets that could lead the boys to ruin. To speak more specifically about the story would spoil a host of surprises but rest assured, if anime is your thing, you won’t feel cheated by Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Part 2.

The Blu-ray discs look pretty good, for upconverted content and sound great in both Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and English Dolby TrueHD 5.1. I only wish there were more substantial bonus materials in the Blu-ray set, beyond the two commentary tracks from the English language voice cast.

Amazon: $33.99

ALSO AVAILABLE ON BLU-RAY THIS WEEK
Clicking an image will take you to Amazon.com where you can learn more about and purchase the Blu-ray disc:

[VIDEO] Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance

Brenden — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 14:55:03 +0000

After the amazing job that Gainax and FUNimation did with the Blu-ray release of Evangelion 1.11, you better believe I’m sitting up and paying close attention to any and all follow up material. And while the trailer above doesn’t advertise the North American release of Evangelion 2.22: You Can (Not) Advance on Blu-ray, it does provide a stunning glimpse of what we can expect in the near future. The film, now running 112 minutes with all the animation upgrades and additions, will be released on Blu in Japan on May 26th, in Germany on July 16th and who-knows-when in the US and Canada.

Top 10 Anime movies that surpass Disney by lightyears

Brenden — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 04:07:03 +0000

Top 10 Anime movies that surpass Disney by lightyears – http://bit.ly/11WUVz ” (via @debaoki @aicnanime)

Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone Blu-ray Disc Review

Brenden — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:18:07 +0000

NEON GENESIS EVANGELION 1.11: YOU ARE (NOT) ALONE (2007, Blu-ray released March 9, 2010 – MSRP $34.98)

I wasn’t expecting this. The clear, clean lines and bold colours. The seamless melding of smooth hand-drawn and computer animation. The thunderous, crisp sonic electricity emanating from my speakers. There’s no way this is a TV show from the early 90s! There’s no way Neon Genesis Evangelion can possibly look and sound this good! And yet, it’s stunning in just about every way. I really wasn’t expecting this kind of quality from such an old show, even on Blu-ray!

This is reference quality work. This “Rebuild” of the series, as it’s referred to, has taken an old, animated giant-robot adventure and buffed, polished and magically re-assembled that grainy, square-shaped footage into this sparkling, new widescreen extravaganza! I was honestly taken aback when the film began. It’s really that stunning. And, though I hadn’t watched an episode of Evangelion in over a decade, I could tell that it was radically different!

This 100-minute film combines the content of six of the original half-hour episodes, smashing the slowly unraveling plot points and character moments into a more feature-friendly structure, along the way jettisoning some of the details that made the show so popular to begin with. A lot of scenes have been replaced with newly created ones, featuring all new hand-drawn and cgi animation. And for the most part it’s seamless. If you’re a long time fan, you’ll most likely be amazed at how new it all feels, while remaining the same old Evangelion you loved fifteen years ago. If you’re new to the story, you won’t know the difference. But that won’t make the details of this ambitious combination of giant-robot-battle epic and religious parable any less confusing. It’s always been confusing. If you didn’t like it before, this “Rebuild” won’t change your mind. But it sure will look fantastic while trying!

Even if you don’t find Evangelion‘s convoluted tale appealing, you won’t be able to avoid being sucked in by the Blu-ray discs sumptuous visuals. This is a reference quality presentation on all levels! The good folks at Funimation have really outdone themselves, giving us a Blu-ray that can stand up to, if not best every high-def effort from Disney – not an easy thing to do when you’re talking about the transfer and encode of 2D animation, something that Disney have, to date, done better than any other studio. I can’t find a flaw here. And I feel like this disc will be one I put on again and again, for the sheer pleasure of its visuals. Oh yeah, and the two Dolby TrueHD 6.1 audio tracks, both original Japanese and dubbed English, match those visuals in their perfection. What a great looking and sounding disc!

Sadly, I have to report that the Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone Blu-ray Disc fumbles in the special features department. I was really hoping for even a short featurette that would explain the reasoning for and the process of creating this “Rebuild” but the best the disc does is provide a couple of montage videos, with examples of progress on new effects and animation. There are numerous music video remixes, some “News Flashes” and an unending stream of trailers but nothing that amounts to the kind of informational or entertaining experience you hope for.

The best thing about the Blu-ray, outside of the flawless presentation of the film itself, is the beautiful packaging. It’s wonderfully designed, with a reflective-foil side-sliding sleeve that blankets the interior digipack, containing the disc and a nice little 20-page booklet that offers some explanation as to why we’re getting a new Evangelion after all these years.

True anime fans should not be without the Neon Genesis Evangelion 1.11: You Are (Not) Alone Blu-ray Disc in their collection. Yes. It’s that good.

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