The News Thread (for news that does not need a thread)

anime_andrew said:
See above - but I never said that it'd be UE only forever, I just said we had no firm plans at the time (which we didn't until I was checking our rights vs titles out when laying Q1 out). We revisited it as the Ultimate is now basically out of circulation and the Standard BD has been the predominantly available version for about 2 years by release date. We definitely don't want to firewall stuff like that and never have particularly but it was always more about supply & demand (think I covered this somewhere before too) and since demand has been pretty clearly even at events growing - we figure it's time to do it :).

AP
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To be fair, I did say if it was said it would be UE exclusive as I don't remember that actually being the case. As I've said somewhere I have no problem with it being made available on it's own in a standard, in fact I wish everything you (and anyone else for that matter) put out was available at a reasonable price, even though I'm likely to go for a collector's edition anyway.
 
anime_andrew said:
Again, where did I say it was exclusive content (genuinely asking in case I've written something else down that I need to apologise for)? Even as we announced the Gurren Lagann Standard Edition - I detailed how I would do the films if we did:



Source: Gurren Lagann – Standard Edition Blu-Ray – All the Anime

So we hit in between with an SRP of £24.99 (I get that value is a variable term but it was 2014 and we were overworked as a team of 3 so forgive me for being a bit vaguer sans Jeremy to loom over me + check what I said) and we released it exactly as I said we may. So I'm again really unsure how I have mislead anyone and I am pretty certain I never said it was going to be restricted to the UE forever (I always defer to the written notes though and we've definitely never said that on the blog...)

At the time though, it was exclusive and it remained that way for +2 years so if you wanted it then that was the best way. We're now correcting that for a chunk of titles and getting everything uniformed now :).

Best,

Andrew
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I'm all for everything being available as standard editions. I'd prefer everything have standards and CE/UEs on the same date, but AL don't do that for whatever reasons, Aniplex reasons obviously being unavoidable. But there needs to be more information about the standard releases that will be available later when the CE/UE releases. If the fate of content is uncertain and potentially exclusive to a CE/UE, there's no choice but to buy that CE/UE in case I end up wanting to watch that content. I got Gurren Lagann UE on release because there was a chance that I'd try the series, Enjoy it and want the movies. At that point, there were a limited number of the UE produced, and standard movies down the line were a maybe. If the movies were at that point a "yes, but in a few years", I'd probably have held off and just picked up the standard edition. I haven't actually gotten round to even trying Gurren Lagann yet, and we now have standard movie BDs confirmed.
 
Jaysgba said:
I'm all for everything being available as standard editions. I'd prefer everything have standards and CE/UEs on the same date, but AL don't do that for whatever reasons, Aniplex reasons obviously being unavoidable. But there needs to be more information about the standard releases that will be available later when the CE/UE releases. If the fate of content is uncertain and potentially exclusive to a CE/UE, there's no choice but to buy that CE/UE in case I end up wanting to watch that content. I got Gurren Lagann UE on release because there was a chance that I'd try the series, Enjoy it and want the movies. At that point, there were a limited number of the UE produced, and standard movies down the line were a maybe. If the movies were at that point a "yes, but in a few years", I'd probably have held off and just picked up the standard edition. I haven't actually gotten round to even trying Gurren Lagann yet, and we now have standard movie BDs confirmed.
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You're shifting the topic here - you accused me of misleading people when at least as far as I can see, I did anything but. I never once said it was exclusive to the CE/UE and even when I have for a show (FMP) we have listened to common sense and feedback from fans later when we know there's sufficient demand.

At the time we simply did not have sufficient demand for the films separately at the time so I couldn't commit. Let's say we did commit vacuously to later I am going to place bets that if not you then somebody else would just be complaining that we weren't releasing it and stomping feet. Or worse - we realised there was no demand later so never released it - then we get railed again for cancelling a title for commercial reasons instead of releasing it for double digits of people for example.

It's a shame you felt the need to buy it under those circumstances but I am also thankful you did as despite issues that arose for that release, it was the starting point for developing even better product as we go. Blind-buys like that on promise you may like the series is a big thing and we appreciate where you're coming from too but the issue above still holds. Based on people's reactions to stuff in the last week or so, I don't have much reason to think either of the scenarios I presented above wouldn't have occurred if I'd done it the way you suggested...

Either way - the positive to take away from this is that we are currently reformating patterns for release of standard editions after collectors to make it clearer as we grow and I'm certain that's a podcast talk for the near future. Folks here have the unusual perspective too of being able to see those changes and thought patterns first hand too :). How often can you say that?

AP
 
Buzzkillington said:
To be fair, I did say if it was said it would be UE exclusive as I don't remember that actually being the case. As I've said somewhere I have no problem with it being made available on it's own in a standard, in fact I wish everything you (and anyone else for that matter) put out was available at a reasonable price, even though I'm likely to go for a collector's edition anyway.
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You're absolutely right - just clarifying before people get carried away assuming I said stuff I didn't xD. We're working as well as we can towards that within the restrictions we have anyway too so stick with us :)!
 
anime_andrew said:
We had no firm plans then and in fact after over 2 years of no other way to purchase it and requests at events to do it growing over the last year, we thought it'd be nice to do something for it given it's been a long time. 2 + 1/4 years after a release of the Ultimate seems like enough time...

Best,

AP
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On a random note - It's also worth pointing out that your standard edition release of the Films/Parallel Works will also be the only remaining English release. Aniplex US put out a standard edition of the films (no PW) and it's now out of print, so there is a benefit to you folks putting out a re-release (I know there are non-UK folks who like to buy UK releases for various reasons, such as a US release being OOP when a UK release isn't a la Perfect Blue).
 
That Wolf's Rain license is a god-send. Think it's safe to assume Anime Ltd will be bringing that our way.

Next on the wishlist - Planetes!
 
SnowWolf said:
Despite being listed as a Funimation UK title, I hope Snow White gets the collector's edition treatment. The license was acquired before the Funimation deal.

In other news:
Funimation has licensed Wolf's Rain and The Mystic Archives of Dantalian for Blu ray/DVD releases in February.
Funimation Licenses Wolf's Rain, The Mystic Archives of Dantalian Anime
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As Funi themselves aren't doing a CE for it and now being listed under FuniUK it seems unlikely it'll get a CE over here.

Seems like any Funi licenses that AL don't deem worthy of a CE will just be a standard even if it was licensed before the deal. At least it means they should be able to get them out quicker this way (or at least you'd hope that).

Great news on Wolf's Rain, had the DVD on my shelf for a few years but never got round to watching it so i'll hold off and get the blu-ray once AL release as we know they will :D.
 
Wolf's Rain is such an incredible show. From the soundtrack to what's probably one of the most emotionally devastating final run of episodes ever. I'm interested to see what the upscale is like - personally I thought the Bacanno upscale didn't add too much difference, and of course Wolf's Rain is from the gory days of really early digipaint, so it might not handle too well. That said, I thought the Full Metal Panic upscale looked really good, so maybe there's hope.
 
Oh for the golden days where we got all of Madoka from Manga UK in one single reasonably priced set. Would never happen now.

re. Sailor Moon R - if I recall correctly - that film is 4:3 aspect ratio - have always wondered why certain old anime movies were like that when 'prestige' anime movies (something like Char's Counterattack for example) are proper widescreen - was the Sailor Moon movie a made-for-TV movie?
 
Lutga said:
Oh for the golden days where we got all of Madoka from Manga UK in one single reasonably priced set. Would never happen now.

re. Sailor Moon R - if I recall correctly - that film is 4:3 aspect ratio - have always wondered why certain old anime movies were like that when 'prestige' anime movies (something like Char's Counterattack for example) are proper widescreen - was the Sailor Moon movie a made-for-TV movie?
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Was the Sailor Moon R movie not just animated open-matte?
 
Miyazaki announced during the recent NHK special on the CGI short that he has been working on for the past two years that he is to return to directing one final time as the short, Kemushi no Boro (Boro the Caterpillar), was indeed too short for him and he desires to flesh out and expand the project to a full feature film. Originally planned as short for the Ghibli Museum, the full feature film is not officially green-lit, however he plans to complete the film by 2019, just before the 2020 Olympics and has already started working on storyboards.
 
As I take it, Ghibli is pretty much Miyazaki and Takahata's personal incubator. As such, there never was a true desire to keep Ghibli "alive" beyond Miyazaki and Takahata, although the late Yoshifumi Kondo was primed to be the next heir to the throne, who's premature death was a catalyst for Miyazaki's previous retirement in 98, and as such some would say that without Miyazaki working, Ghibli is reduced to an IP holder and nothing more. Maybe it was less Miyazaki not being interested in continuing the Ghibli legacy after his inevitable death but rather never quite finding the right person to fill his shoes, but nevertheless it's clear that Miyazaki is to do this until the day he dies as his colleagues often joke about, and more to the point, Miyazaki is Ghibli.
 
You speaking of museum shorts, Buzz?

While I don't think it was his very best work, The Wind Rises was the perfect close to his career, encapsulating themes he'd been tackling since Future Boy Conan and really questioning the relationship between creator and creation. It felt like a full stop unlike all of the previous 'final films' he'd made. But I'm hardly going to say no to another film by one of the world's greatest living directors, even if it sounds like it's only going to be all the worst parts of his worst film (Ponyo).

Re: Wolf's Rain. Very...nervous about this upscale. I don't have high expectations. I kind of wonder if there's much point in attempting upscales to be honest - why not just encode the SD file well and give it uncompressed audio?
 
From the sounds of it that's decidedly the problem. There have been several comments recently about how somebody (unnamed, but speculated to be Miyazaki) is far too overbearing and is seemingly dragging the place down and preventing it from moving on. There have also been comments suggesting that the person was making it an unpleasant place to work, so that only people tricked by the allure of the "Ghibli" name wanted to work there anymore.

Yami said:
You speaking of museum shorts, Buzz?

While I don't think it was his very best work, The Wind Rises was the perfect close to his career, encapsulating themes he'd been tackling since Future Boy Conan and really questioning the relationship between creator and creation. It felt like a full stop unlike all of the previous 'final films' he'd made. But I'm hardly going to say no to another film by one of the world's greatest living directors, even if it sounds like it's only going to be all the worst parts of his worst film (Ponyo).

Re: Wolf's Rain. Very...nervous about this upscale. I don't have high expectations. I kind of wonder if there's much point in attempting upscales to be honest - why not just encode the SD file well and give it uncompressed audio?
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No, recently some people have been crawling out of the woodwork to suggest that somebody is dragging Ghibli down. Though conveniently, now I've mentioned it, I can't find any of these. I'd take them with a mountain of salt. I suspect I'm also overegging them, as I personally wasn't a fan of the two Miyazaki films I've seen (The Wind Rises and Howl's Moving Castle).
 
Quite a lot of great directors seem to have a reputation of being harsh with actors. It does seem that Miyazaki might substitute his animation staff for this, but rather than drag Ghibli down the work may speak for itself.
 
Yami said:
Quite a lot of great directors seem to have a reputation of being harsh with actors. It does seem that Miyazaki might substitute his animation staff for this, but rather than drag Ghibli down the work may speak for itself.
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The rumour was that his behaviour was hindering other directors and his constant overbearing presence was starting to affect other people's films and the rest of the studio's work. Now he's "gone" and the studio doesn't believe it can continue without him, I think dragging down was a fair choice of phrasing.

As I said before, I wasn't a fan of the two Miyazaki films I've seen, and I'm not clamouring to go back to his work. I don't think there would be much loss (in fact I think his work might gain) from being told to behave himself.
 
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