Topic: Ghibli Blu's

[dfmorgan]

  I've got a bit behind here.

Arietty and The Whisper of the Heart both got UK Blu-ray releases on the 9th January 2012.

Tales from Earthsea and Howl's Moving Castle received their UK Blu-ray releases this past Monday the 25th June 2012. Copies owned and reviews to come.

The latest Studio Ghibli film in Japan, From Up on Poppy Hill (Kokurikozaka kara) a Goro Miyazaki film, received its Japanese Blu-ray release on the 20th June 2012 and a copy is on its way to me.

The next titles to get the Blu-ray treatment in Japan are Grave of the Fireflies and My Neighbour Totoro with their release on 18th July 2012 and I have an order placed for My Neighbour Totoro. I did toy with the idea of buying Grave of the Fireflies as well as there is a limited edition box containing both these titles but decided to save my pennies.

Again these latest Japanese releases are reported to be region free and contain English subtitles.

[dfmorgan]

Howl's Moving Castle (2004/Japan) Studio Canal (United Kingdom) Director: Hayao Miyazaki Writing: Diana Wynne Jones (Original Material By) Length: 119 min. Video: Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.1, Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.1 Subtitles: English

Stars:
Chieko Baisho as Sophie
Takya Kimura as Howl
Akihiro Miwa as Witch of the Waste
Tatsuya Gashuin as Calcifer
Ryunosuke Kamiki as Markl

Plot:
From the creators of SPIRITED AWAY and PONYO and available for the first time on Blu-ray in stunning high-definition comes the masterpiece HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE.

Directed by the Oscar®-winning Hayao Miyazaki, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE is set in the magical world of wizardy and spells. Follow the adventures of Sophie and her incredible odyssey to lift a witch's curse, whilst being swept off her feet by the handsome and mysterious wizard Howl who offers Sophie refuge in his magical moving castle.

Based on the popular book by British author Diana Wynne Jones. The English language version features the voices of Jean Simmons, Christian Bale, Lauren Bacall, Blythe Danner, Emily Mortimer, Josh Hutcherson and Billy Crystal.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Bonus Trailers
• Featurettes
• Interviews
• Storyboard Comparisons

My Thoughts:

My original review of the R1 DVD is here.

Even more wonderful and gorgeous now in high definition. The whole film popped for me with colour depth and brilliance and with the sound seeming to have an extra dimension even though it was only down mixed DTS from my PS3.

Rating: Still a 5 from me


I must look into upgrading my audio setup sooner rather than later



edited for a typo

[dfmorgan]

Tales From Earthsea (2006/Japan) Studio Canal (United Kingdom) Director: Goro Miyazaki Writing: Ursula K. Le Guin (Original Material By), Hayao Miyazaki (Screenwriter), Goro Miyazaki (Screenwriter), Keiko Niwa (Screenwriter) Length: 115 min. Video: Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.1, Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio: 6.1 (Discrete) Subtitles: English

Stars:
Junichi Okada as Arren
Aoi Teshima as Therru
Yuko Tanaka as Cob
Teruyuki Kagawa as Hare
Jun Fubuki as Tenar

Plot:
Goro Miyazaki's debut feature as director, TALES FROM EARTHSEA is an epic adventure, adapted from the much-loved series of novels by Ursula K. Le Guin.

It tells the story of Ged (voiced in English by Timothy Dalton), the most powerful wizard in Earthsea, and his attempts to protect Prince Arren (Matt Levin) from the evil machinations of rival wizard Cob (Willem Dafoe). Together with Therru, a young girl he rescued from slave takers,Arren must unite with Ged to defeat Cob and return balance to their world.

Beautifully animated, TALES FROM EARTHSEA will enchant viewers of all ages and once again shows Studio Ghibli at the height of its powers.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Bonus Trailers
• Featurettes
• Interviews
• Storyboard Comparisons

My Thoughts:

My original review of the R2 DVD is here

Another worthy transfer but a little less of a pop with this but the upgrade to Blu-ray doesn't warrent a change to my rating.

Rating: Still a

[dfmorgan]

Kokurikozaka kara: Yokohama Version: Limited Edition (2011/Japan) Studio Ghibli (Japan) Director: Goro Miyazaki Writing: Hayao Miyazaki (Planning & Screenplay), Chizuru Takahashi (Original Material By), Tetsuro Sayama (Original Material By), Keiko Niwa (Screenplay) Length: 91 min. Video: Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: Japanese: PCM: 2-Channel Stereo, Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.0, French: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.0, Korean: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.0, Cantonese: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.0, Mandarin: DTS-HD Master Audio: 5.0 Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Other

Stars:
Masami Nagasawa (Voice)
Junichi Okada (Voice)
Keiko Takeshita (Voice)
Rumi Hiiragi (Voice)
Yuriko Ishida (Voice)

Plot:
In 1963 in Yokohama, Umi is a 16 year old high school girl and lives in a house located on a hill overlooking the harbour. Every morning she raises a signal flag which is "a pray for everybody to get a safe trip" as her father died on his ship during the Korean war. Meanwhile the entire nation is going through a transformation to ready itself for the approaching Tokyo Olympic Games, and old buildings are being destroyed for new ones. The old crumbling Culture Club "Quartier Latin" building inside Umi's high school is also about to be swept over by the transformation. Shun is one of student leaders trying to protect the beloved building and they garner enthusiastic support from students. Then as Umi suggests, they begin their opposition by cleaning up the place. But this "clean up" will go further than they think...


Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Bonus Trailers
• Featurettes
• Gallery
• Music Videos
• Interviews
• Storyboard Comparisons
• Picture-in-picture
• Bonus Disc. Map.

My Thoughts:

A gentle romance film. Set in 1963 Umi lives in Yokohama but everywhere is getting ready for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Part of this preparation is the replacement of old and decrepit buildings with new up-to-date facilities. One of the buildings marked for demolition is the the Student Room at Umi's high school. A group of student leaders are trying to get the building saved and Umi gets involved with the activities after Shun, one of the student leaders, gets photographed with her. They progress trying to save the building and also start a budding romance. However the romance is halted with a twist in the relationship.

Rating:  I enjoyed this romance and give it a

[dfmorgan]

Tonari no Totoro (1988/Japan) (Japan) Director: Hayao Miyazaki Writing: Hayao Miyazaki (Original Material By), Hayao Miyazaki (Screenwriter) Length: 86 min. Video: Widescreen 1.85:1 Audio: Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio: 2-Channel Stereo, English: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, Cantonese: Dolby Digital: 2-Channel Stereo, French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, German: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Italian: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Korean: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Mandarin: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround Subtitles: Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean

Stars:
Noriko Hidaka as Satsuki Kusakabe (Voice)
Chika Sakamoto as Mei Kusakabe (Voice)
Hitoshi Takagi as Totoro (Voice)
Shigesato Itoi as Tatsuo (Satsuki & Mei's Father) (Voice)
Sumi Shimamoto as Yasuko (Satsuki & Mei's Mother) (Voice)

Plot:
Critically acclaimed as one of the most delightful and charming family films ever, My Neighbor Totoro is a stunning animated treat full of magical adventure from Hayao Miyazaki.

Follow the adventures of Satsuki and her four-year-old sister Mei when they move into a new home in the countryside. To their delight, they discover that their new neighbor is a mysterious forest spirit called Totoro-who can be seen only through the eyes of a child. Totoro introduces them to extraordinary characters-including a cat that doubles as a bus!-and takes them on an incredible journey.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Bonus Trailers
• Featurettes
• Storyboard Comparisons
• Picture-in-picture

My Thoughts:

My original review of the R1 DVD is here.

Still a truly marvellous film and this Blu-ray edition enhances it with some added depth and colourings from the added resolution.

Rating: Still a double

[dfmorgan]

The UK Blu-ray of My Neighbour Totoro now has a release date of 12th. November 2012. I was sure that Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray had the same date but that is no longer shown.

The next Japanese Blu-rays will be Kiki's Delivery Service (Majo no Takkyubin) and Only Yesterday (Omohide Poro poro) on 5th. December 2012, again these are listed as region free with English subtitles.

[Achim]

I started collecting those Disney releases of Ghibli in the US. But while there is currently three more available I am hesitating to get them due to the high pricing (I only see them above $20). On the other hand Disney's quality is usually rather high.

How is the quality and pricing of those UK releases?

[dfmorgan]

How is the quality and pricing of those UK releases?

The quality seems to me to be very good. The newer releases are generally available as a BD/DVD combo and upon release generally priced around £16.00. Maybe for you though one sticking point might be that the UK distributors, who were Optimum Releasing but have now become StudioCanal, have locked the Blu-rays to Region B unlike the Japanese or US releases, of course also the DVD will be Region 2 but that is less problematic.

Another odditiy is that the UK releases tend not to have English HoH subtitles unlike their Disney counterparts, this means that if you watch/listen to the dubbed version then the UK subtitles are still for the Japanese language track rather than subtitles for the English language track.

Hope this helps.

[Achim]

Thanks Dave, that helped a lot. Now I think that maybe I did look into this before and the a region B stopped me from going any further...

I would watch the films in their original Japnese version. So the subtitles should be for that! Normally reviewers complain about "dubtitles", when the subtitles are only for the English dub track and not for the original audio...

[dfmorgan]

I would watch the films in their original Japnese version. So the subtitles should be for that! Normally reviewers complain about "dubtitles", when the subtitles are only for the English dub track and not for the original audio...

I remember you saying that you did watch in original language but I'd thought I'd point out that the dubtitles were not on the UK releases anyway.

Another thought I had was that Only Yesterday, which is in the next set of Blu-ray releases in Japan, has yet to appear in America on DVD so I wouldn't be surprised if that doesn't get a US release in Blu. Reasons behind Disney's reticence to release Only Yesterday are in my review of the UK DVD here.

[Achim]

I remember you saying that you did watch in original language but I'd thought I'd point out that the dubtitles were not on the UK releases anyway.

So you also seem to recall that teh Disney releases have dubtitles...?

Well, I always thought that not knowing the original language dubtitles are less of an issue than if I would know it.

[dfmorgan]

I remember you saying that you did watch in original language but I'd thought I'd point out that the dubtitles were not on the UK releases anyway.

So you also seem to recall that teh Disney releases have dubtitles...?

Well, I always thought that not knowing the original language dubtitles are less of an issue than if I would know it.

Sorry I probably didn't explain it properly. The Disney DVD releases usually had 2 English subtitle tracks. One was the subtitles for the Japanese language track and the other, usually listed as HoH subtitles, was for the English language tracks. It was this second HoH subtitles I was referring to as dubtitles.

[Achim]

Sorry I probably didn't explain it properly. The Disney DVD releases usually had 2 English subtitle tracks. One was the subtitles for the Japanese language track and the other, usually listed as HoH subtitles, was for the English language tracks. It was this second HoH subtitles I was referring to as dubtitles.

You are quite knowledgable here Thanks for explaining again!

As I said, I find dubtitles less troublesome than some others, but onbviously a direct translation from the original source is preferred.

[dfmorgan]

I stated above that

The UK Blu-ray of My Neighbour Totoro now has a release date of 12th. November 2012. I was sure that Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray had the same date but that is no longer shown.

The next Japanese Blu-rays will be Kiki's Delivery Service (Majo no Takkyubin) and Only Yesterday (Omohide Poro poro) on 5th. December 2012, again these are listed as region free with English subtitles.

It now appears that StudioCanal have pulled the release of Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray and substututed it a Blu-ray release of Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, still set for 12th. November. Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro is a 1979 film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki based on a very popular TV series in Japan.

[Eommen]

'Grave of the Fireflies' is still on www.hmv.co.uk for 12 Nov. Someone at a Dutch site suggested it could have become a HMV 'only' release for the time being. Of course the other option is that HMV is just slow to remove the pulled title. No clue what is truth. No sign in the online shops yet for the 5 Dec. releases you mentioned.