Yami
Thousand Master
So, I have Future Boy Conan (Part 1) in hand and it's a beauty. When it was first revealed, I was a bit disappointed that it didn't use the art from the Japanese set but this has a nice, subtle embossing that actually looks quite classy and the silhouette style reminds me of the Japanese Ghibli Blu-Rays. Hopefully if/when Anime Limited licence other very early Miyazaki/Takahata like Anne of Green Gables, Marco, Panda Go Panda etc. then they can have a consistent art style like this one.
As for what's on the disc - I've only sampled the first couple of episodes as I'm saving it until Part 2 is out but what I've seen is very pleasing. It's not going to blow anyone's socks off as a 4K reference disc - it's a TV production from 1978 and in that sense it was a surprising choice as the first anime series to be released on the format. However, while there's some damage as you'd expect, it still looks pretty splendid at its best and certainly the definitive presentation of the series.
As a minor gripe, I can't find any way of watching with the original Japanese credits. The English credits are pretty well done and the font matching to the original Japanese is a nice touch but I would have obviously opted for the originals if I had a choice, and it always seems awkward to have English dub credits despite watching in Japanese
As for the series itself, I'll save further commentary for after Part 2 but - as I've said for many years- this is an essential Miyazaki work and practically every theme, if not every recurring element in his later feature film career, can be traced back to this, the Miyazaki urtext. I won't go as far as claiming that it's altogether his best work - his later films are understandably more polished and more refined but there's an appeal in and of itself in Conan's roughness, its freshness; it's the work of a filmmaker putting his ideas out there, who doesn't know if he's ever going to get to do so ever again. Its release here is long overdue. Thank you, Anime Ltd.
As for what's on the disc - I've only sampled the first couple of episodes as I'm saving it until Part 2 is out but what I've seen is very pleasing. It's not going to blow anyone's socks off as a 4K reference disc - it's a TV production from 1978 and in that sense it was a surprising choice as the first anime series to be released on the format. However, while there's some damage as you'd expect, it still looks pretty splendid at its best and certainly the definitive presentation of the series.
As a minor gripe, I can't find any way of watching with the original Japanese credits. The English credits are pretty well done and the font matching to the original Japanese is a nice touch but I would have obviously opted for the originals if I had a choice, and it always seems awkward to have English dub credits despite watching in Japanese
As for the series itself, I'll save further commentary for after Part 2 but - as I've said for many years- this is an essential Miyazaki work and practically every theme, if not every recurring element in his later feature film career, can be traced back to this, the Miyazaki urtext. I won't go as far as claiming that it's altogether his best work - his later films are understandably more polished and more refined but there's an appeal in and of itself in Conan's roughness, its freshness; it's the work of a filmmaker putting his ideas out there, who doesn't know if he's ever going to get to do so ever again. Its release here is long overdue. Thank you, Anime Ltd.
