[Overseas] Anime News & Announcements

I'm not sure if it's unexpectedly better or worse than I was expecting - because I'm now even more desperate for an English subtitled release! Dynit are releasing the series from new 2020 4K scans, as yet unreleased in Japan. In two aspect ratios - 4:3 and 16:9 (for some bizarre reason as the OAR is quite obviously 4:3, so I don't see any point in using up space for an alternative})

conan-blu-ray-dynit-02.jpg


Their ultimate edition will also include a vinyl soundtrack and art book.
 
I'm hoping that the Lupin GIF is actually a hint for Future Boy Conan due to the Miyazaki connection. But I have been banging this particular drum for about a decade now so
 
I'm watching the Discotek panel, I'll recap the announcements as it goes along in this post!

Should note beforehand that this panel will have less announcements than the previous ones.
  1. Dear Brother - Blu-ray
    All 39 episodes remastered in High Definition, Osamu Dezaki's 1991 Tezuka Production series, Japanese with English subtitles. The license window is much shorter than the other Discotek licenses, about 1-2 years this time.
  2. Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ - Blu-ray
    All 12 episodes & OVA upscaled to High Definition, Nobuaki Nakanishi's 2006 Studio Hibari series, English & Japanese with English subtitles. Rescued from Media Blasters with all bonus features included. Newly-revised subtitles and "much more careful about gender and pronouns". Coming 25th May 2021.
  3. Nyanbo! - Blu-ray
    All 26 episodes, Akira Iwamoto's 2016 Shirogumi series, Japanese with English subtitles. Other details TBA.
  4. Magical Girl Ore - Blu-ray
    All 12 episodes, Itsuro Kawasaki's 2018 Pierrot+ series, Japanese with English subtitles. Other details TBA, but Episode 5's sign subtitles blew up the authoring software (more than Bobobo did). Coming 25th May 2021.
  5. Kekkaishi - Streaming First, Home Video Later
    All 52 episodes, Kenji Kodama's 2006 Sunrise series, English & Japanese with English subtitles. Streaming on Crunchyroll first. Rescued from Viz Media.
  6. Mitchiri Neko - Blu-ray
    All 39 episodes, Kyou Yatate's 2016 helo.inc series, Japanese with English subtitles. Crunchyroll co-produced series. Other details TBA.
  7. Sgt. Frog - SD Blu-ray
    All 358 episodes, Yusuke Yamamoto & Nobuhiro Kondo's 2004 Sunrise series, Japanese with English subtitles with Funimation English dub for the episodes that Funimation have done. Rescued from Funimation.
Also arriving on 25th May 2021 are Arion, Grimm's Fairy Tales Collection 1, and Medabots Season 3.

Other notes:
  1. Mon Colle Knights
    They have found a potential lead to secure useful masters for the English dubbed version.
  2. Ninja Robots
    They are still looking for the remaining English dubbed episodes.
  3. Memories
    Coming June 2021 on Blu-ray, will come packed with bonus features, 5.1 and stereo audio.
  4. Grimm's Fairy Tales
    They were able to use the old U-matic tapes which had bad video quality and recover the audio and restore them. Plus, they found uncut dubbed episodes and alternate versions for different episodes.
  5. Project A-Ko
    AstroRes restoration has been cancelled, because they were able to find the original 35mm film elements thanks to AnimEigo's Robert Woodhead (a clerical error previously prevented them from getting it in the first place). The film will still come to Blu-ray and previous extras will carry over. New cover art on the slipcover will be designed by Mariel "Kinuko" Cartwright who worked on Skullgirls and Indivisible games.
  6. Lady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles
    The slipcover is going to be tweaked to try and help consumers who had damages with their slipcovers on previous releases. The design will be similar to Ghost in the Shell 4K's slipcover with the curves on the top and bottom.
  7. Lupin the Third: Return of Pycal
    They tweaked the aspect ratio so that the upscale looks better, and 5% of the film will be slightly messy due to how complex the film's production was for it which couldn't covert well during the process.
 
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Thanks very much, @NormanicGrav! I'm psyched for Dear Brother (I do actually own the complete Anime Sols DVD release but would be great to upgrade) :) Also considering Kashimashi, Mitchiri Neko and Sgt. Frog :) Since they have licenced some cute short series like Mitchiri Neko and Bananya I wonder if they would consider picking up Dogtato-kun/Jagainu-kun? That's a really funny surreal kids' shorts anime that I used to love watching :) Would also love to see a release for the adorable Taiko no Tatsujin Claymation series :)
 
NormanicGrav said:
  1. Dear Brother - Blu-ray
    All 39 episodes remastered in High Definition, Osamu Dezaki's 1991 Tezuka Production series, Japanese with English subtitles. The license window is much shorter than the other Discotek licenses, about 1-2 years this time.
  2. Kashimashi ~Girl Meets Girl~ - Blu-ray
    All 12 episodes & OVA upscaled to High Definition, Nobuaki Nakanishi's 2006 Studio Hibari series, English & Japanese with English subtitles. Rescued from Media Blasters with all bonus features included. Newly-revised subtitles and "much more careful about gender and pronouns". Coming 25th May 2021
  3. Project A-Ko
    AstroRes restoration has been cancelled, because they were able to find the original 35mm film elements thanks to AnimEigo's Robert Woodhead (a clerical error previously prevented them from getting it in the first place). The film will still come to Blu-ray and previous extras will carry over. New cover art on the slipcover will be designed by Mariel "Kinuko" Cartwright who worked on Skullgirls and Indivisible games.
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Thanks for that detailed summary. I was considering tracking down the OOP DVDs of Kashimashi, so that licence rescue is great news. Dear Brother looks great too.

Also interesting to hear the details of the Project A-ko print turning up. I was going to buy the BD anyway, but it should be a bigger upgrade over the DVD now. Their choice of cover artist is a bit odd though, but I'll reserve judgement.
 
Is the Dear Brother/Oniisama e blu-BD region free? Dear Brother/Oniisama is my favourite anime of all time and I would love to own it. Do these releases play on region 2 players?
 
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Suzu said:
Is the Dear Brother/Oniisama e blu-BD region free? Dear Brother/Oniisama is my favourite anime of all time and I would love to own it? Do these releases play on region 2 players?
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Sadly Discotek have locked most of their Blu-rays to Region A (so they won't play on standard UK players, which are Region B), and considering they got quite a time-limited licence for this title, it is unlikely that it will be an exception :( I have a multi-region player so not an issue for me but I really do hope the Blu-ray is not region locked so you can enjoy it.
 
Thank you for your quick and kind answer! I guess I have to buy a multi-region player from somewhere.

//EDIT: Does anyone know where I can buy a multi-region player? Also, do you think there's any chance or hope for Anime Limited to license Rose of Versailles or Dear Brother for UK release?
 
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Suzu said:
Thank you for your quick and kind answer! I guess I have to buy a multi-region player from somewhere.

//EDIT: Does anyone know where I can buy a multi-region player? Also, do you think there's any chance or hope for Anime Limited to license Rose of Versailles or Dear Brother for UK release?
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I purchased mine from Amazon if that helps at all?
 
Suzu said:
Is the Dear Brother/Oniisama e blu-BD region free? Dear Brother/Oniisama is my favourite anime of all time and I would love to own it? Do these releases play on region 2 players?
Click to expand...
Suzu said:
Thank you for your quick and kind answer! I guess I have to buy a multi-region player from somewhere.

//EDIT: Does anyone know where I can buy a multi-region player? Also, do you think there's any chance or hope for Anime Limited to license Rose of Versailles or Dear Brother for UK release?
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Due to licensing, 98% of Discotek Media Blu-ray releases are Region A only sadly.

Regarding the Osamu Dezaki directed shows, I know Anime Limited's French branch released Lady Oscar a few years back and while both would fit well into their UK catalogue, the issue would come down to the episode length as 40 episodes for a subtitled only niche (but well regarded) series can be a cost issue thanks to the BBFC once again.

I would say never say never though, but if nothing happens for the next while then go for the Discotek release, but only if you can secure a region free Blu-ray player.
 
@Suzu, important tip: make sure the player is multi-region for Blu-rays and not just DVDs as sometimes there are Blu-ray players sold that are multi-region for DVD but not Blu-ray, also keep in mind that if you do get a multi-region Blu-ray player you will likely not be able to connect it to the BD network as these mods to make the players multi-region are done unofficially. Would appreciate if someone else in the know about such things could elaborate a bit or link to a full explanation? :)
 
NormanicGrav said:
Due to licensing, 98% of Discotek Media Blu-ray releases are Region A only sadly.

Regarding the Osamu Dezaki directed shows, I know Anime Limited's French branch released Lady Oscar a few years back and while both would fit well into their UK catalogue, the issue would come down to the episode length as 40 episodes for a subtitled only niche (but well regarded) series can be a cost issue thanks to the BBFC once again.

I would say never say never though, but if nothing happens for the next while then go for the Discotek release, but only if you can secure a region free Blu-ray player.
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Oh, damn, I had hope that since AllTheAnime licensed Utena and have released so many Gundam anime with 50 episodes they would nowadays be more willing to license older anime with 30 - 50 episodes. Oh well, I guess I just have to accept that I will never be able to own Oniisama e and Rose of Versailles 😭
 
Suzu said:
Oh, damn, I had hope that since AllTheAnime licensed Utena and have released so many Gundam anime with 50 episodes they would nowadays be more willing to license older anime with 30 - 50 episodes. Oh well, I guess I just have to accept that I will never be able to own Oniisama e and Rose of Versailles 😭
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Yeah, but again never say never, because we have witnessed some unexpected outcomes in recent years, for instance all 70 episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura and the first season of InuYasha (which the show overall is 167 episodes long, though most of Season 1 was already BBFC'd beforehand) are coming soon so they do take risks for some long shows.

I am optimistic in Lady Oscar and Space Adventure Cobra both eventually making it to the UK in the future if TMS Entertainment wants to partner with Anime Limited for more of their titles.
 
Forgot to mention this but it was so late last night that I didn't bring it up.

Discotek responded to someone's question about out of print releases, and they did say they will renew the titles as much as they can, but recommended that if a release is from 2016 or earlier that you should consider buying them sooner to play it safe.

The titles that came out on Blu-ray during that time period are as follows:
2012:
  • Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland
2014:
  • Blue Submarine No. 6
  • Cardcaptor Sakura the Movie [very likely will be acquired by Anime Limited]
  • Unico (Fantastic Adventures / Island of Magic)
2015:
  • Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade [Anime Limited released this on Blu-ray]
  • Lupin the Third: The Castle of Cagliostro [Studio Canal released this on Blu-ray (but is Inferior), Released in 4K UHD years later by Discotek]
  • Shin Getter Robo vs Neo Getter Robo
  • Space Adventure Cobra the Movie [Released in 4K UHD years later by Discotek]
  • Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust [Anime Limited released this on Blu-ray]
  • Venus Wars [License expired, but Sentai re-released it on Blu-ray with a new English dub]
2016:
  • Arpeggio of Blue Steel
  • Black Jack: The Movie
  • Getter Robo Armageddon
  • Golgo 13: The Professional
  • Jungle Emperor Leo
  • Lupin the Third: Jigen's Gravestone [very likely will be acquired by Anime Limited after Woman Called Fujiko Mine is released]
  • Lupin the Third: Voyage to Danger
  • Night on the Galactic Railroad
  • Samurai Pizza Cats [Dub Version, SD-BD]
  • Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
  • Strike the Blood
  • Tekkaman Blade II
2017:
  • 5 Centimeters Per Second [Anime Limited released this on Blu-ray]
  • Actually I Am...
  • Barefoot Gen 1 & 2
  • Captain Harlock: Arcadia Of My Youth
  • Fatal Fury: The Movie
  • Fist of the North Star [SD-BD]
  • FREEDOM [Manga Ent. released this on Blu-ray (but is Inferior)]
  • GoShogun: The Time Etranger
  • Hi-SCool! Seha Girls
  • Horus: Prince of the Sun
  • Kaiba
  • Kyousougiga
  • Lupin the Third: Island of Assassins
  • Magic Knight Rayearth [Anime Limited released this on Blu-ray]
  • Panda Go Panda
  • School Days
  • Sea Prince and the Fire Child
  • True Tears
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz [Dub Version, SD-BD]
  • Yowamushi Pedal: The Movie
 
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