Defective or Disappointing UK Anime Discs

Going back to Gurren Lagann quickly and the video errors, I can't help, but wonder if this was deleberate on the part of Aniplex. SAO all over again as we know the US versions did not have these problems.

I think it's time to ask Aniplex about this. Are they trying to make oversea's release inferior so we'll buy theirs instead?

The licencing of Baccano from them has me a bit worried.
 
SnowWolf said:
Going back to Gurren Lagann quickly and the video errors, I can't help, but wonder if this was deleberate on the part of Aniplex. SAO all over again as we know the US versions did not have these problems.

I think it's time to ask Aniplex about this. Are they trying to make oversea's release inferior so we'll buy theirs instead?

The licencing of Baccano from them has me a bit worried.
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As far as I know, the US release of Baccano! was pretty much exactly the same as the Japanese release in terms of A/V content (except the English dub/subtitles were included in the US). I don't think that show would be a worry for Aniplex especially when they already released the show in Limited Edition and Standard Edition, both of which are now out of print.
 
SnowWolf said:
Going back to Gurren Lagann quickly and the video errors, I can't help, but wonder if this was deleberate on the part of Aniplex. SAO all over again as we know the US versions did not have these problems.

I think it's time to ask Aniplex about this. Are they trying to make oversea's release inferior so we'll buy theirs instead?

The licencing of Baccano from them has me a bit worried.
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I'm wondering what would of happening if AL had used a BD rip to patch things. Sure that might not be legal but when they take issue with it surely AL would turn around and say 'ah so you knew you were supplying us with a copy with missing footage?' I doubt it'd work out well for AL for it'd be interesting.
 
Rosencrantz said:
SnowWolf said:
Going back to Gurren Lagann quickly and the video errors, I can't help, but wonder if this was deleberate on the part of Aniplex. SAO all over again as we know the US versions did not have these problems.

I think it's time to ask Aniplex about this. Are they trying to make oversea's release inferior so we'll buy theirs instead?

The licencing of Baccano from them has me a bit worried.
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I'm wondering what would of happening if AL had used a BD rip to patch things. Sure that might not be legal but when they take issue with it surely AL would turn around and say 'ah so you knew you were supplying us with a copy with missing footage?' I doubt it'd work out well for AL for it'd be interesting.
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The fact it's not legal is the very reason they didn't do it. An act like that would jeopardise future contracts and license negotiations.
 
britguy said:
The fact it's not legal is the very reason they didn't do it. An act like that would jeopardise future contracts and license negotiations.
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Yeah I know :(

I do wonder why AL's position wasn't stronger on that point though. If they have licenced something and they are delivered damaged materials surely things fall back on the Japanese side to hold to the contract and supply the proper materials. Or if not possible to actually permit AL to patch in a BD rip that they themselves supply and authorise?

It seems like there's a little too much power on the Japanese side to get away with delivering sub par materials despite having a contract that presumably says otherwise. US/UK companies seem to be under a cloud of fear that if they object too much that they will be cut out of other deals in the future.
 
Rosencrantz said:
britguy said:
The fact it's not legal is the very reason they didn't do it. An act like that would jeopardise future contracts and license negotiations.
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Yeah I know :(

I do wonder why AL's position wasn't stronger on that point though. If they have licenced something and they are delivered damaged materials surely things fall back on the Japanese side to hold to the contract and supply the proper materials. Or if not possible to actually permit AL to patch in a BD rip that they themselves supply and authorise?

It seems like there's a little too much power on the Japanese side to get away with delivering sub par materials despite having a contract that presumably says otherwise. US/UK companies seem to be under a cloud of fear that if they object too much that they will be cut out of other deals in the future.
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AL definitely could have demanded amended materials, but whether they got them and then if they did, how long it takes (given how long it has taken the commitee to OK things for this release) you could be looking at another 6+months delay for the show which in turn would be detrimental to their sales especially as Aniplex of America re now launching standard editions.

It boils down to 22 seconds that have not affected my viewing enjoyment tbh
 
Mangaranga said:
Here's very short quick comparison for the KLK timing. If there's any issues with me posting these (Mods/Admins/Andrew) then let me know and I'll remove this.
The incorrect timing vs fixed timing. Same time codes so it starts and finishes at exactly the same point.
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That's definitely noticeable. Not sure it's any worse than From the New World ep13, mind, but then that's not a premium release.

Between that and the 30-day free trial Netflix sent me this morning, the decision about whether or not to buy KLK right now has been made for me.
 
britguy said:
AL definitely could have demanded amended materials, but whether they got them and then if they did, how long it takes (given how long it has taken the commitee to OK things for this release) you could be looking at another 6+months delay for the show which in turn would be detrimental to their sales especially as Aniplex of America re now launching standard editions.

It boils down to 22 seconds that have not affected my viewing enjoyment tbh
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This is part of why I feel very uncomfortable when people complain about delays. It's annoying when something is delayed, especially if you have other things lined up on the same order or a budget to manage, but when people complain if there are delays and also complain if there are glitches then it's putting small companies between a rock and a hard place.

The companies suffer far more than we do from any delays (paying a large sum up front for a license advance then not being able to monetise it for months hurts!). They know more than we do how important it is to turn things around swiftly, but a glitch is an expensive - and usually permanent - problem to introduce as a result*.

I'd be interested in knowing more about the audio problems if it's hardware-specific. It's refreshing that Andrew is talking to us and explaining exactly where the problems are creeping in as it feels as though we can help give feedback on how we want them to be handled in future. It's definitely much more productive than "Oh yeah, it was a problem on the US version too and even though it was known in advance we just copied/pasted their BD master without looking into it".

(* I reserve the right to complain about simulcasts being delayed, however, as I can already understand them without subtitles and the speed is the entire point of paying for them.)

R
 
I'd like to proceed to consume my own words - our authoring house came back to us and are certain it's a mistake on their part during encoding. They're incredibly sorry and are preparing a fixed disc now free of charge for us and we're going to pay (out of our own pockets) to print replacement discs for anyone impacted.

Sony owe me still as well so I'm using the remaining credit to get them to fulfil for anyone concerned by it (if you watch the dub, I totally understand if you feel it's an issue). This would normally be a much longer process but given the Gurren thing and we can get it done, I want to make it right.

NB - this is only on the BD, it's not an issue on the DVD edition for those wondering.

Sorted in the space of 30 mins waiting to board my flight back to Glasgow, can't do much better than that!

Hope this helps,

Andrew
 
Rui said:
britguy said:
AL definitely could have demanded amended materials, but whether they got them and then if they did, how long it takes (given how long it has taken the commitee to OK things for this release) you could be looking at another 6+months delay for the show which in turn would be detrimental to their sales especially as Aniplex of America re now launching standard editions.

It boils down to 22 seconds that have not affected my viewing enjoyment tbh
Click to expand...

This is part of why I feel very uncomfortable when people complain about delays. It's annoying when something is delayed, especially if you have other things lined up on the same order or a budget to manage, but when people complain if there are delays and also complain if there are glitches then it's putting small companies between a rock and a hard place.

The companies suffer far more than we do from any delays (paying a large sum up front for a license advance then not being able to monetise it for months hurts!). They know more than we do how important it is to turn things around swiftly, but a glitch is an expensive - and usually permanent - problem to introduce as a result*.

I'd be interested in knowing more about the audio problems if it's hardware-specific. It's refreshing that Andrew is talking to us and explaining exactly where the problems are creeping in as it feels as though we can help give feedback on how we want them to be handled in future. It's definitely much more productive than "Oh yeah, it was a problem on the US version too and even though it was known in advance we just copied/pasted their BD master without looking into it".

(* I reserve the right to complain about simulcasts being delayed, however, as I can already understand them without subtitles and the speed is the entire point of paying for them.)

R
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We're always in a damned if we do and damned if we don't situation - I couldn't afford to delay to 2015 anyway simply put if people want DRR fixed and out before Q2 2015, so I moved with what we did have. Given the standard AoA edition costs (not inc shipping and tax) more than our Ultimate Edition too - I think you really have to ask how much 22 seconds difference is going to make for you - especially when you get the Movies & Parallel Works in our set.

Either is cool - if it is an issue then money still goes back to Japan by buying the AoA one too so I'm not upset over that :).

Andrew
 
Edit too on previous post (deleted it now to save on being a tool, can re-post for those curious) - I'll have a blog post up in due course on it obviously but I'd expect the discs to go out to anyone needing it starting in November :).

Best,

AP
 
anime_andrew said:
anime_andrew said:
fabricatedlunatic said:
That's definitely noticeable. Not sure it's any worse than From the New World ep13, mind, but then that's not a premium release.

Between that and the 30-day free trial Netflix sent me this morning, the decision about whether or not to buy KLK right now has been made for me.
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It is noticeable for sure but borderline on a pass at QC if I've not seen the rest of the ep for testing, with still no reference material to hand, i.e. the full episode to watch myself, I can't comment much still (in London today, just back from lunch with Watanabe-san).

What's interesting is really this is an isolated episode - it's not every episode which implies one of two things:

1. It's an issue that the dub didn't synch to the video Japan provided us and AoA didn't send patch notes for matching it up. This is common with DCPs for cinema but unsure about homevideo to be honest! I've asked my authoring house in case it's their side where they tried to fix a problem.

2. More likely AoA manually edited the audio on their side after dubbing was done and forgot to tell us how to do it on our end. Not a conspiracy but hard for our authoring house to do anything on without guidance and like I say, without the episode in hand it's hard to tell the extent but if it'd been me it may have borderline passed QC too (by a hairs breadth).

Worth noting is that this /is/ isolated again and it's not endemic on the disc. Worst of worst cases I will arrange for a digital episode of it with dub to be made available on Vimeo to anyone hacked off re-synched properly if that helps for now? Either way my apologies dub-lovers for this and I'll bring more info when I have it!

Annoying either way so I'm on it. I am very sure the first issue mentioned on Ep 1 of the Japanese is hardware-related though as I don't see anyway it could be anything else as that one I know didn't show up for us on QC as I was there for that ep...

Andrew
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I'd like to proceed to consume my own words - our authoring house came back to us and are certain it's a mistake on their part during encoding. They're incredibly sorry and are preparing a fixed disc now free of charge for us and we're going to pay (out of our own pockets) to print replacement discs for anyone impacted.

Sony owe me still as well so I'm using the remaining credit to get them to fulfil for anyone concerned by it (if you watch the dub, I totally understand if you feel it's an issue). This would normally be a much longer process but given the Gurren thing and we can get it done, I want to make it right.

NB - this is only on the BD, it's not an issue on the DVD edition for those wondering.

Sorted in the space of 30 mins waiting to board my flight back to Glasgow, can't do much better than that!

Hope this helps,

Andrew
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Hurrah! and Huzzah! Does this mean that when it comes to retail time, the discs will all be fixed?
 
Just Passing Through said:
I'd like to proceed to consume my own words - our authoring house came back to us and are certain it's a mistake on their part during encoding. They're incredibly sorry and are preparing a fixed disc now free of charge for us and we're going to pay (out of our own pockets) to print replacement discs for anyone impacted.

Sony owe me still as well so I'm using the remaining credit to get them to fulfil for anyone concerned by it (if you watch the dub, I totally understand if you feel it's an issue). This would normally be a much longer process but given the Gurren thing and we can get it done, I want to make it right.

NB - this is only on the BD, it's not an issue on the DVD edition for those wondering.

Sorted in the space of 30 mins waiting to board my flight back to Glasgow, can't do much better than that!

Hope this helps,

Andrew
Click to expand...

Hurrah! and Huzzah! Does this mean that when it comes to retail time, the discs will all be fixed?[/quote]

Looking into it now if we're in time for that - may well be a case of a replacement program there but am unsure. Will update folks when I speak to our distributor tomorrow :). Either way - will make this right for folks.

AP
 
I think the Gurren Lagann situation is understandable. Whilst I'd obviously prefer it not to be how it is, ultimately, it's what? 22 seconds out of 913 minutes of footage? Yeah, I can live with that without worrying too much! Didn't bother me when they had to use upscaled footage on the Star Trek TNG blu rays, won't bother me here either.

KLK - great to hear that you're on top of things. Can't wait to get this set

Whilst these defects are frustrating, AL's attitude towards fixing them where possible, and engaging the fan community in general, other distributors should take note. It's easier to accept these things happening when people hold their hands up and try to do something about it. Bravo!
 
Slightly off topic - but re. Attack on Titan part 2 from Manga - has anyone noticed that the chapter locations are in weird locations. I started watching an episode and skipped through the title sequence, and the chapter marker was five minutes into the episode, not at the end of the title sequence. So weird!
 
I've had that happen a few times, and not just on anime blu rays. Frustrating when all's you want to do is zip through the credits!
 
Lutga said:
Slightly off topic - but re. Attack on Titan part 2 from Manga - has anyone noticed that the chapter locations are in weird locations. I started watching an episode and skipped through the title sequence, and the chapter marker was five minutes into the episode, not at the end of the title sequence. So weird!
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It happens on all of Manga's self-authored discs; including AOT Part 1, Gargantia, Psycho Pass....
 
anime_andrew said:
I'd like to proceed to consume my own words - our authoring house came back to us and are certain it's a mistake on their part during encoding. They're incredibly sorry and are preparing a fixed disc now free of charge for us and we're going to pay (out of our own pockets) to print replacement discs for anyone impacted.
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An unusually neat and tidy resolution! If I liked what I see on Netflix, purchase back on the table. Huzzah indeed.
 
Meanwhile over at Manga UK's latest release - The Devil is a Part-Timer! (DVD, Blu-ray TBC)
While the show itself is great overall though, it is badly let down by the release it is saddled with. It gives a good first impression with some nice, clean menus but what is contained behind those menus is, frankly, sloppy. The subtitles are poorly timed, at times obscure the action through daft placement, and whenever more than one conversation is on-going (which is quite frequently) it becomes impossible to untangle the threads as the subtitles are all the same colour, change placement on the screen and swiftly blip in and out of existence. In one case the show displays subtitles for an important text message on-screen for a matter of frames, making you pause through the show to read it. It really sucks both drama and comedy out of a scene when you have to watch it twice to piece together what people are saying! This is especially true of episode twelve, where the subtitles are a good few seconds ahead of the action in this climactic episode. Perhaps the Blu-ray is better in this regard (we didn't receive Blu-ray review discs in time for this review), which is something we may try to revisit in the near future.

Even more damning is the dub track. The English voice performances themselves are fine, but the audio mixing is utterly terrible. In order to accommodate the dub, the background music and sound effects have been noticeably turned down across the board, making the audio sound tinny and cheap. It is, quite honestly, unlistenable and when I discovered this I had to try the DVD in two other players to make sure my PlayStation 4 wasn't mangling the audio output somehow, and was dismayed to find the same issue all three devices. As a final note, the chapter markers make no sense and are sprinkled around at roughly equidistant points, rather than taking into account the structure of the episode. I couldn’t fathom a rhyme or reason behind this seemingly random placement.
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Source - UK Anime Network
 
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