Manga entertainment early 90's

I consider Cyber City one of only two anime titles that had their musical scores Westernized for the better: Street Fighter 2 is the other one.

As for Cyber City, while I love the profanity-laden English dialogue - delivered in exaggerated Noo Yawk accents - I feel the Japanese track delivers more subtext that was lost in translation. The Japanese version for instance fleshes out why Hasegawa in episode one is as eager as he is to have the perpatrator terminated, a point omitted in English.

Ideally I'd want the Japanese dialogue with the Rory McFarlane score.
 
Once again another random anime thread revival so apologies for that. Recently I decided to take a look at the older anime titles that were released back in the 90s/00s and somehow managed to find a YouTube video compiling the various Manga Entertainment trailers. Figured this would be an interesting one to show for various folks on here.


In fact if you've watched the recent Alita: Battle Angel film, around 8 minutes into this YouTube video you can see the original Battle Angel: Alita OVA dub trailer.

Here's a timestamp of the trailers shown:
00:00 - Manga Ent Trailer Reel
01:00 - Manga Ent Coming Soon Trailer:
01:05 - Zeguy: Labyrinth of the Sea Clouds (Unkai no Meikyuu Zeguy) [Rated PG]
02:08 - Roujin Z [Rated 15]
03:50 - Appleseed 1988 [Rated 15]
05:07 - Genocyber [Rated 18]
06:45 - Manga Ent Presents "Four of the Very Best" Trailer:
06:50 - Doomed Megalopolis (Teito Monogatari) [Rated 18]
08:14 - Battle Angel: Alita [Rated 15]
10:54 - Monster City (Demon City Shinjuku) [Rated 18]
12:01 - Golgo 13: The Professional [Rated 18]
14:21 - Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken) [Rated 18]
15:52 - New Dominion Tank Police [Rated 15]
18:16 - Manga Ent Coming Soon Trailer:
18:24 - The Legend of the Four Kings (Sohryuden: Legend of the Dragon Kings) [Rated 15]
19:18 - Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa) [Rated PG]
22:05 - Cyber City Oedo 808 [Rated 15]
24:28 - Perfect Blue [Rated 18]
26:08 - Project A-Ko 2: A Plot of the Daitokuji Financial Group (Project A-Ko 2: Daitokuji Zaibatsu no Inbou) [Rated PG]
27:12 - Project A-Ko 3: Cinderella Rhapsody [Rated 12]
27:54 - Project A-Ko 4: Final [Rated 12]
28:34 - Project A-Ko Versus [Rated PG]
30:07 - Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie [Rated 15]
31:51 - Manga Ent Coming Soon Trailer:
31:55 - Wind of Amnesia (A Wind Named Amnesia/Kaze no Na wa Amnesia) [Rated 15]
33:23 - Devilman (Devilman: The Birth/Devilman: Tanjou-hen) [Rated 18]
33:51 - Monster City (Demon City Shinjuku) [Rated 18]
35:07 - Rumiko Takahashi's Rumik World: Mermaid Forest [Rated 18] & Maris the Wondergal (Maris the Chojo) [Rated PG]
36:36 - The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armour (Kyoushoku Soukou Guyver (1989)) [Rated 15]
38:15 - Devilman: The Witch Bird (Devilman: The Demon Bird/Devilman: Yochou Sirene-hen) [Rated 18]
39:15 - Tokyo Babylon Part 1 [Rated 15]
40:24 - Cyber City Oedo 808 OVA 1 [Rated 15]
41:39 - Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro (Lupin III: Cagliostro no Shiro) [Rated PG], The Secret of Mamo (Lupin III: Lupin vs. Fukusei-ningen) [Rated 15] & Goodbye Lady Liberty (Bye Bye, Lady Liberty/Lupin III: Bye Bye Liberty - Kiki Ippatsu!) [Rated 12]
43:05 - The Legend of the Four Kings (Sohryuden: Legend of the Dragon Kings) [Rated 15]
43:41 - Patlabor: The Movie [Rated PG]
45:46 - Angel Cop [Rated 18]
46:37 - Megazone 23 Part III [Rated 12]
47:48 - Space Adventure Cobra the Movie [Rated 12]
49:43 - Manga Ent The Cyberpunk Collection Trailer:
50:03 - Cyber City Oedo 808 [Rated 15]
50:20 - AD Police [Rated 18]
50:38 - Genocyber [Rated 18]
51:20 - Black Jack the Movie [Rated 12]
51:58 - Mad Bull 34 [Rated 18]
52:38 - Giant Robo: The Night the Earth Stood Still (Giant Robo the Animation: Chikyuu ga Seishi Suru Hi) [Rated 12]
54:26 - La Blue Girl [Refused Classification]
55:11 - Patlabor 2: The Movie [Rated PG]
56:27 - Ghost in the Shell (Koukaku Kidoutai) [Rated 15]
58:09 - Vampire Princess Miyu (Kyuuketsuhime Miyu) [Rated 12]
59:57 - Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken) [Rated 18]
 
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NormanicGrav said:
Once again another random anime thread revival so apologies for that. Recently I decided to take a look at the older anime titles that were released back in the 90s/00s and somehow managed to find a YouTube video compiling the various Manga Entertainment trailers. Figured this would be an interesting one to show for various folks on here.


In fact if you've watched the recent Alita: Battle Angel film, around 8 minutes into this YouTube video you can see the original Battle Angel: Alita OVA dub trailer.

Here's a timestamp of the trailers shown:
00:00 - Manga Ent Trailer Reel
01:00 - Manga Ent Coming Soon Trailer:
01:05 - Zeguy: Labyrinth of the Sea Clouds (Unkai no Meikyuu Zeguy) [Rated PG]
02:08 - Roujin Z [Rated 15]
03:50 - Appleseed 1988 [Rated 15]
05:07 - Genocyber [Rated 18]
06:45 - Manga Ent Presents "Four of the Very Best" Trailer:
06:50 - Doomed Megalopolis (Teito Monogatari) [Rated 18]
08:14 - Battle Angel: Alita [Rated 15]
10:54 - Monster City (Demon City Shinjuku) [Rated 18]
12:01 - Golgo 13: The Professional [Rated 18]
14:21 - Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken) [Rated 18]
15:52 - New Dominion Tank Police [Rated 15]
18:16 - Manga Ent Coming Soon Trailer:
18:24 - The Legend of the Four Kings (Sohryuden: Legend of the Dragon Kings) [Rated 15]
19:18 - Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise (Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa) [Rated PG]
22:05 - Cyber City Oedo 808 [Rated 15]
24:28 - Perfect Blue [Rated 18]
26:08 - Project A-Ko 2: A Plot of the Daitokuji Financial Group (Project A-Ko 2: Daitokuji Zaibatsu no Inbou) [Rated PG]
27:12 - Project A-Ko 3: Cinderella Rhapsody [Rated 12]
27:54 - Project A-Ko 4: Final [Rated 12]
28:34 - Project A-Ko Versus [Rated PG]
30:07 - Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie [Rated 15]
31:51 - Manga Ent Coming Soon Trailer:
31:55 - Wind of Amnesia (A Wind Named Amnesia/Kaze no Na wa Amnesia) [Rated 15]
33:23 - Devilman (Devilman: The Birth/Devilman: Tanjou-hen) [Rated 18]
33:51 - Monster City (Demon City Shinjuku) [Rated 18]
35:07 - Rumiko Takahashi's Rumik World: Mermaid Forest [Rated 18] & Maris the Wondergal (Maris the Chojo) [Rated PG]
36:36 - The Guyver: Bio-Booster Armour (Kyoushoku Soukou Guyver (1989)) [Rated 15]
38:15 - Devilman: The Witch Bird (Devilman: The Demon Bird/Devilman: Yochou Sirene-hen) [Rated 18]
39:15 - Tokyo Babylon Part 1 [Rated 15]
40:24 - Cyber City Oedo 808 OVA 1 [Rated 15]
41:39 - Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro (Lupin III: Cagliostro no Shiro) [Rated PG], The Secret of Mamo (Lupin III: Lupin vs. Fukusei-ningen) [Rated 15] & Goodbye Lady Liberty (Bye Bye, Lady Liberty/Lupin III: Bye Bye Liberty - Kiki Ippatsu!) [Rated 12]
43:05 - The Legend of the Four Kings (Sohryuden: Legend of the Dragon Kings) [Rated 15]
43:41 - Patlabor: The Movie [Rated PG]
45:46 - Angel Cop [Rated 18]
46:37 - Megazone 23 Part III [Rated 12]
47:48 - Space Adventure Cobra the Movie [Rated 12]
49:43 - Manga Ent The Cyberpunk Collection Trailer:
50:03 - Cyber City Oedo 808 [Rated 15]
50:20 - AD Police [Rated 18]
50:38 - Genocyber [Rated 18]
51:20 - Black Jack the Movie [Rated 12]
51:58 - Mad Bull 34 [Rated 18]
52:38 - Giant Robo: The Night the Earth Stood Still (Giant Robo the Animation: Chikyuu ga Seishi Suru Hi) [Rated 12]
54:26 - La Blue Girl [Refused Classification]
55:11 - Patlabor 2: The Movie [Rated PG]
56:27 - Ghost in the Shell (Koukaku Kidoutai) [Rated 15]
58:09 - Vampire Princess Miyu (Kyuuketsuhime Miyu) [Rated 12]
59:57 - Fist of the North Star (Hokuto no Ken) [Rated 18]
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Brings a nice perspective of how many top titles that are up for re-release are from the 90's (and some duds like La Blue Girl). I might be bias ( I own about a third of that list) but modern anime has been a slow decline. There are excellent titles today but not as many imo.
 
All hats off to @NormanicGrav for working out timestamps on all the different trailers. I've seen a lot of these before, but there were plenty I hadn't and I don't know that I fancied going through a whole hour of them just to check! Given how much Manga famously pursued the 'beer and curry' crowd in their early days, it's always interesting to see how they marketed their titles, especially the ones that didn't necessarily fit that mould.
 
NormanicGrav said:
I revive the thread for god knows how many times now, but I decided to make a twitter thread about the amount of anime that had been released in the UK on the VHS format. There's a few surprises as well.
Click to expand...

Some from my collection that you might not know about;

DSCN4192.jpg
DSCN4195.jpg
DSCN4196.jpg
So the first lot all pretty much all of Western Connection's output from 1993 to 1995 which wasn't subsequently released in the US on VHS or DVD, the second lot are oddball titles from Kiseki and the third one is dubbed anime aimed at the children's market. I forgot to include Thundersub (Space Carrier Blue Noah) and Crushers (utterly obscure edited dub of the 1983 "Crusher Joe" movie) in that photo.
 
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Nice! I had no idea that Digital Devil Story: Megami Tensei was released on VHS in the UK. That's pretty neat.

Pretty cool to see Slow Step and random ones like Gigolo: Dochinpira and Teki wa Kaizoku: Neko-tachi no Kyouen (Galactic Pirates).
 
Oh, that’s interesting- I have the Anime UK release for KO Beast, but I thought that was the only title they put out. I’d heard that The Enemy’s the Pirates (or Galactic Pirates, as it is here) had a UK dub, but I didn’t know it was on the Anime UK label.
 
NormanicGrav said:
Pretty cool to see Slow Step and random ones like Gigolo: Dochinpira and Teki wa Kaizoku: Neko-tachi no Kyouen (Galactic Pirates).
Click to expand...
Western Connection just seemed to be blindly licening titles, mostly Toho stuff. Seriously, the weirdest anime video company of the lot during that period. Dancougar was the God Bless Dancougar OVA, which still hasn't got an English release anywhere else in the world. It got released about a year or more before CPM/US Manga Corps released the TV series on VHS. The Japnese release was faux widescreen, but the Western Connection release was really odd; it was open matte (4:3) but obviously when they filmed it, they were going to mask off the top and bottom later so it looked like a widescreen film (why, I don't know).

openmatte1.jpg

openmatte3.jpg

So the UK tape shows where the edges of the cels end. Occasionaly people's legs and heads are missing. It looks toatlly odd and like an unfinished film. Why Toho gave them this version to release is beyond me.
 
It's nice to see somebody owns all 3 vols of Galactic pirates, a fun series, (I only managed to get vol 1 and 2.)
Slow step was the worst selling anime on VHS, until Kimagure orange road OVAs were released (I love KOR)
Western Connection were a very odd company but they did get some good pick ups,
We had an array of VHS labels back then, East 2 west, Anime projects (which released You're under arrest and Urusei yatsura, they also went bust and sold their licenses to MVM, hence how Tony started the label)
Pioneer LDC were also here, Moldiver, El Hazard magnificent world, pretty Sammy and the original Tenchi OVA series were released by them, even The Record of Lodass war OVA series got released on VHS
We had a very lively anime scene in the early 90s, it didn't last but it certainly was fun.
 
The UK anime industry were the first English speaking anime industry bubble to burst. It was a bit hard knowing what was going on from another country at the time (with limited access to internet and only Anime UK/Anime FX magazine as a news source). I know that Manga Entertainment was haemorrhaging money circa 1996 - 1997. I think Anime FX went bust in 1996 and most of the companies mentioned pulled out of the market. But It didn't seem to be like the massive implosion that happened to the US industry circa 2008, but I guess GFC added to their woes and made it far more devastating.
 
Greboruri said:
The UK anime industry were the first English speaking anime industry bubble to burst. It was a bit hard knowing what was going on from another country at the time (with limited access to internet and only Anime UK/Anime FX magazine as a news source). I know that Manga Entertainment was haemorrhaging money circa 1996 - 1997. I think Anime FX went bust in 1996 and most of the companies mentioned pulled out of the market. But It didn't seem to be like the massive implosion that happened to the US industry circa 2008, but I guess GFC added to their woes and made it far more devastating.
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It was an odd time, most of the anime companies were based in North Wales, that includes the main warehouse for ADV (when they entered the UK industry, I remember buying so much when they shut the ware house down)
As opposed to now, where the 3 main UK companies, are spread about, Manga London, MVM Chepstow (south Wales) and AL Glasgow,.
We still had the other labels who were here for varying lengths, Kiseki/Revelations were releasing quite a bit on VHS (mostly due to Urotsukidoji III return of the overfiend selling well even with all the cuts) it kept them around until the Funi distro deal finished them off.
Crusader video and there infamous Cat girl nuku nuku dub,
Then you go into the dead phase when not much happened, ADV, MVM and Manga were still here but not much was licensed or released, then we had the rise in interest again, with animazing releasing odds and ends from ages before Project A-ko, LA blue girl returns (why, just why) ADV went not long after, Beez arrived....the rest is well documented, we're nearly up to where we are now.
It certainly hasn't been boring being an anime fan in the UK over the years, we've had lows, where we feared it would die and not come back and we've had highs, I would say now seems to be the best time( pandemics excluded) to be an anime fan.
 
Psycho Pass
Ergo Proxy
Blue Gender ^_^
Berserk (of course)
Crying Freeman
Project Harmony
Appleseed series (few films & couple of series - cgi)
Ghost in the Shell (still continuing in series & films)
Genocidal Organ
Paranoia Agent
Gungrave
Shigurui
Shiki
Puella Madoka Magika (dark parody of that anime you hate so much, beware spoilers)
91 Days
Area 88
From the new world
Jin-Roh
Sword of the stranger
Ga-Rei Zero
Death note
Broken Blade
Cowboy Bebop
Black Lagoon
Serial Experiments Lain

Of course most adult anime do tend to have elements of nudity & /or sex in but then some of your examples do so I am guessing that's not too big an issue.



Edit: HOLY FOOZBALLS I JUST SAW HOW NECROED THIS THREAD IS. DAMN YOU FOR WASTING MY VALUABLE TOILET TIME!
 
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