I went to see 'Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... And Spring' today. It's a breathtakingly shot movie, and a moving experience. Highly recommended.

--Leif

A bit of disappointing news, according to the Digital Bits:

One other note today - Buena Vista has delayed the second wave of Miyazaki DVDs, which had been slated for release on 8/31 (My Neighbor Totoro, Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind and Porco Rosso). We'll give you the new date as soon as it becomes available.

Too bad, but hopefully this just means they're going to do a better job at them than the previous releases (At least referring to Kiki).

--Leif

The last few days has brought several news releases from 4Kids and FUNimation (Which publishes 4Kids properties on DVD for them).
For many fans these brought both joy, and now concern.

AnimeonDVD:

...Funimation also then announced an uncut Shaman King release, which they got through 4Kids. Oct 19. There will be a dub and sub, though the dub will still have the Saturday morning names.

Next up, Funimation then even announced an uncut Yu-gi-oh release. It's still the first season that 4Kids came out, and it also comes out on Oct 19. Two volumes will be coming out for both Shaman King and Yu-gi-oh, and pricing may be estimated at around 3 episodes at $19.98. The release schedule is dependant on sales.

Quite shocking as FUNimation had previously said they had attempted to get 4Kids to let them release uncut DVDs of their shows, but 4Kids refused; Presumably it would pollute the market, and turn off parents with the word 'Uncut'. This news isn't just surprising, it's earth-shaking! If they're willing to do this for two of their most popular licenses, there's a very good chance they will do it for Tokyo Mew Mew (Which two days ago was referred to in a press release as 'Tokyo Mew Mew' and not the previously planned 'Hollywood Mew Mew'.)

The news today is the very property I myself have been theorizing about for months. Who would get 'One Piece'? 4Kids and FUNimation own Shonen Jump licenses equally. Until A-Kon's announcement I had dreaded the advent of a 4Kids purchase, because it would mean there would be no proper release of this phenomenal long-running show.

4Kids has been named the agent for ONE PIECE, representing merchandise licensing rights and television distribution rights in the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.

This is a series I, and I know a lot of other people, have been looking forward to as a North American DVD release. Hopefully 4Kids awards fans with an uncut bilingual release of this as well.

--Leif

Yes, almost as a whim the site is now live! If anyone cares, it's been in development for faaaar too long, and is still lacking in content for certain sections... but what matters is that it's finally live! If it seems bare now, just wait a couple weeks.

Finally all those search engine spider hits can count now.

--Leif

I really don't want to dump on ADV Films, but sometimes it's just stupid:

About Peacemaker

This action-packed film is beautifully animated by the talented team at Gonzo Digimation (Final Fantasy: Unlimited and Full Metal Panic!). Fans of Samurai X are sure to enjoy Peacemaker when they notice the heroic similarities between the two main characters.

How condescending is that to fans? Very I think. And they still insist on calling Rurouni Kenshin that terribly conceived and inaccurate title 'Samurai X'.

--Leif

Nausicaa.net reporting.

It feel sort of odd, these titles finally being released; Coming from near obscurity with Nausicaa and Porco Rosso, after so long a wait. I'm looking forward to finally seeing some of them (Nausicaa was I lucky enough to get fansubbed), but now I sort of wish I had purchased the Japanese DVDs earlier. I guess that's a snobbish notion *wink wink*.

As for the covers, they aren't as bad as the previous releases (Majo no Takkyuubin-Kiki's Delivery Service, Tenkuu no Shiro Rapyuta-Laputa: Castle in the Sky) simply because they aren't collages, but I still dislike the font-type they're using for the titles, and the logo of Porco Rosso could definately be better. That's not a big deal simply because the original releases didn't give them much to translate from as far as type style, but mainly I wish they had used the Japanese cover art for Nausicaa, as it's a beautiful peice of art.
Kudos go for using the primary peice of art for Tonari no Totoro though. Vastly improved from the dismal Fox artwork.

That's what dvdcoverart.com is for though.

--Leif

Much, much longer than I anticipated. But it is soon to end, or at least this phase of it. Yes, the site's getting ready to launch. Could be a week, less maybe, longer likely. Soon nonetheless, barring any bizzare happenings.

I thought it was close in March, but now it's really close! Like, so close I can squeeze the code, and it hollers: "Ouch! I'm ripe already!" A bit weird, I know. The only pitfall I may encounter is if I decide to switch from CuteNews (A flat file based news system) to something like Movable Type, or rather some open source database driven system. But as they say, if it ain't broke, why fix it?

--Leif

Yes, after many many many months, Twilight is available for purchase! But only through their website. $40 USD, signed. Not much cheaper than both Japanese volumes (Race of a Thousand Camels, Tall Snake EP), but this includes one song that neither of them have. Although if you want everything you'd buy Tall Snake EP since it includes two that Twilight doesn't. I just wish I had purchased it back in 2001-2002 when it was still easily available, for $24 less, but this one is signed.

Nevertheless, it's a great album, it's less than eBay or Amazon, and their new album is soon to be released.

--Leif

AnimeOnDVD:

HOUSTON, April 20, 2004- ADV Films, the #1 producer-distributor of anime in the U.S., has set a July 27, 2004 release date for the first volume of Neon Genesis Evangelion - Platinum Edition. Each episode of the enormously influential Evangelion television series has been officially revised and digitally remastered for this new release by original creators GAINAX to create beautiful, vibrant video and crisp, sparkling new English and Japanese 5.1 surround sound audio, creating the ultimate Evangelion DVD experience.

I was expecting ADV to wait longer before releasing this, and before now it was unclear if they even had the rights to the remaster.

It was about a year ago that Gainax began releasing it in Japan, a totally remastered version, cleaning up and eliminating grain, fixing almost all of the jitter found in the original, and upgrading the sound to a 5.1 mix, a fan's dream, but with so many releases here already, and with the 'Director's Cuts' just barely having been released here, they probably should of waited until next year.

The upside is apparently these releases will include the Director's version of the last episodes (Remade shortly after the show ended), and it will all be on only 7 volumes, instead of the 8 it was released on previously. The movies were also included in the Japanese release, but Manga Entertainment owns the U.S. rights.

The bad? "The first pressing will include limited edition collector's slipcover packaging and profile booklets filled with screen shoots, Japanese commentaries and character profiles." Meaning an immediate purchase requirement.
Also:"Extras include: clean opening and closing animation; Episode: 01 commentary by director Matt Greenfield; Episode: 02 commentary by Matt Greenfield and Spike Spencer ("Shinji"); and ADV previews."
Try Original Japanese openings for a special feature, ADV; 'Director' Matt Greenfield? Last I checked he works for ADV, not Gainax; ADV Previews are never a special feature.

--Leif

I'm not sure how I missed this, but FUNimation isn't all that great with getting press releases out. To the point: Kodomo no Omocha is licensed! Yeah, they got it! Finally!

Normally I might wish Tokyopop would of gotten it, because they have the manga, but FUNimation has proved they can not only release a good DVD, but they do it with the original ops/eds, titles, everything in an alternate angle! I just hope they don't run into another "Copyright Issue" and change the name.

--Leif