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Ask LadyCat
So, you’re back
for more, eh? Well, then, on to the column!
From JamsODnl:
LadyCat,
I have a couple of questions. First, I've heard that a fair number of
region 2 DVDs now have English dubs or subs on them. Do such discs exist, and
if so, which titles are on them? Someone told me that Card Captor Sakura was
one such title, but I'm not so sure about that. I had heard there were more
than were listed in the region 2 section of AnimeOnDVD. Also, someone told me
that earlier volumes of Eva in Japan weren't region encoded at all. Is this
true?
Speaking of region encoding, why doesn't Japanese anime publishers put
English subs and dubs on all their DVDs and export direct to the US with
multi-region encoding? I bet lots of fans would be willing to pay the
sometimes-exorbitant Japanese DVD prices in order to see hot shows a year or
two early. (Let's see...KareKano started in fall 98...we'll see it late this
year...) I can see how this might rub some distributors in the US the wrong
way, but if there are already Japanese discs with subs...
And finally, what's the deal with the region 0 discs I hear about from Hong
Kong? Are these legitimate, and where can they be purchased? Thanks –
Well, as far as we all know, the list that’s up is it. Although, if anyone
knows any different, please let me know.
In regards to Eva, the information that I’m finding shows that they were
all released region 2 encoded. Even if there were region 0 discs floating
around out there somewhere, I’m sure they’d be really hard to find, and really
expensive to boot. And, since it’s coming out soon anyway, it’s kind of a moot
point. Just chant to yourself: Just a few more weeks, just a few more weeks .
. . .
Before I get into the reasons why I think that importing subbed discs won’t
work, I am assuming that you’re referring to English subs and dubs. Which, of
course, would be completely unfair to all the fans who don’t speak English, as
their first or second language. I think that that alone would rule this idea
out. Now, into the reasons . . . . I can see several reasons why they don’t do
this. The first would be licensing. (That’s usually the answer, by the way . .
.). There’s no way a Japanese company would, or could, produce a disc that the
US counterpart already had the rights for. The licensing would prohibit that.
Plus, and this leads me to my second point, the amount of money that can be
made off licensing is something that can’t be overlooked, from the companies’
perspective. And these guys, while also liking anime, I would assume, are in
this business to make money. Please don’t have any illusions that they’re in
it out of the goodness of their hearts. It’s an industry just like the movie
industry here (well, probably not the best example, but they are kind of
comparable), and it’s about money, not convenience to the fans, particularly
the ones half a world away. If they could make more money off of subbing and
exporting discs, I’m sure they would. Obviously, it works better for them to
license the show out to their US counterpart (or whoever). Also, as with the
movie industry here, the movie is allowed to mostly play itself out before
it’s sent off to another country so that the company can make some more money
off of it. It’s all about timing and making the title available when the
demand has built up for it. Third, why would they want to make a subbed
version? Pretty much no one in Japan would need the subs, so why bother? And
last, if they were making the sub solely for export, then they would also have
to (I would assume, if they wanted to make some money) master a region 1
version of the disc. I seriously doubt that they would create a region 0 disc
of anything. It’s the same reason that no one over here would do it: they
don’t want people pirating the title left and right. So, basically, they would
be making an entirely separate disc for export. And that would be what our
companies here are for.
And, as almost a sidenote to the whole thing, I have to say that I only
wish that I had enough money to be able to afford import titles. And I think
that there’s quit e a few fans that, like me, are selective about what they
buy because they simply can’t afford to buy everything. So, yes, I’m sure
there are some people out there that are more than willing to spend the money
on an import title. But don’t those of us who aren’t able to afford imports
deserve a chance to own the title, too?
From Ergot:
Hiya, Ladycat. You asked for more information on the Transformers movie and
this is one thing I've come across. It's from the Rumor Mill page of
http://www.thedigitalbits.com.
They have another update later that gives Rhino's release plans for the next
couple months and Transformers isn't in there, so it's probably still a little
ways off.
In other news, Rhino has got some cool DVD plans for 2000 as well. They're
releasing a bunch of TV stuff, as well as a really interesting mix of
theatrical films and musical titles. The TV stuff is expected to include
episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000, H.R. Pufnstuf, VR-5 and My Favorite
Martian. Among the music titles in the works are live discs include Galaxina,
Liar's Moon, The Rutles, The Transformers Movie and Quadrophenia. Talk about a
weird and wonderful mix!
And I hope you don't mind if I take the opportunity to ask you some release
questions- Do you know if there's any chance of the Gatchaman OVA's being put
out a la Iria, or Memories, or Robot Carnival, or more Lupin III movies?
Better yet, do you know if Disney has ANY intention of putting any Miyazaki
films on DVD?
Sorry for the barrage of questions. I've been waiting for a lot of stuff to
come out. Thanks for humoring me...
YES!!!!!!! MST3K!!!!!!!!! MY LIFE WILL SOON BE COMPLETE!!!!!!!
Ahem. I am perfectly fine. J
So, back to the questions. And I don’t mind answering a bunch at a time. If
you want to save up a bunch and send them all in at once, feel free.
J By the way, you’re just gonna love me for
these answers. I batted a thousand with ‘em.
Let me answer the "easy" part first. As far as I know, Disney has no plans
to release the Miyazaki films on DVD. In fact, I don’t know that they even
have the DVD rights.
I know there’s speculation flying around all over the place about a
Mononoke DVD release, but . . . as of this very minute (5:36 pm PST 2/15/00),
there’s no listing for a DVD release at
www.reel.com,
www.miramax.com,
www.princess-mononoke.com
(the official site), or
www.amazon.com.
www.dvdexpress.com
does still have a listing for the DVD release on 5/9/00. But since none of the
other sites have it listed, I’d wonder about that. Also, there’s no listing
anywhere for a day and date release on VHS, or of a VHS release of any kind.
Which also makes me wonder, because, like pretty much everything Disney does,
if they can make money off of it, they’ll do it. I really doubt that it’s
coming out at this point, especially when there’s no evidence of a VHS
release. I really don’t think that they would have a DVD-only release. That
would be like having a sub-only release, and they definitely wouldn’t do that.
I think someone at Disney (or Miramax) opened their mouth and spoke out of
turn. ‘Course, at this point, that person is sooooo fired. Anyhoo, until I see
the disc in my hands on 5/8/00, I’m not believing that it’s coming out.
So, on to the other titles. There’s no listing for Gatchaman on the Urban
Vision website yet (
www.urban-vision.com).
They are hoping to get something released later this year, but as of yet,
there’s no other info than that about a release for this title on DVD.
Now, about Robot Carnival. At this point, I don’t even see it available on
VHS. And I can’t seem to even find who has the rights to it at this point.
Best Film and Video is listed as the studio at Amazon (and that’s about the
only info that’s available). And I somehow get the feeling that that company
has gone the way of Streamline.
www.imdb.com
isn’t very helpful either. If anyone knows if anyone has the rights to this,
and if they also have the DVD rights, let me know. Reading all those
descriptions makes me really want to see this anime. It sounds really cool.
OK, so Memories, huh? Well, that is available on DVD for region 2 (you
didn’t mention if you’re codefree or not), but no one has the show
domestically. If you do have a codefree player, you’re set. Otherwise, it may
be a long wait before you see a domestic release.
All right, and the toughest one for last. Lupin III. This one was also a
little difficult to dig up info on. Well, anything that wasn’t blatantly
obvious, that is. OK,
www.amazon.com
and
www.dvdexpress.com
have Lupin III: The Mystery of Mamo listed as available on DVD, released by
Image Entertainment, according to the specs. That’s the only title that they
have, though. There are a couple of titles that are available on VHS over at
www.animeigo.com. Here’s a site that’s
got a bit of info:
http://www.empire.net/~sgorton/rupan/.
You might want to head over there and see what’s up. Also, you’ll want to head
over to manga.com. They’re saying that they’re going to release Castle of
Cagliostro on DVD sometime in 2000. Only 10 more months to go! ;-) Other than
that, there’s not much more info out there about DVD releases. But you know
that Chris’ll put something up as soon as there’s info, so keep an eye out on
the main newspage for more news. Eventually. J
From Chrisr:
Hello again,
What is the current state of LD in Japan? I am thinking of purchaseing the
Pioneer DV-K301C and am wondering if it is worth it at this point to get a
player that supports LD play back. I know that it is next to impossible to
find LD's in US stores. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks a lot!
This one I have to turn over to Chris:
LD's are still alive and well in Japan. And it's also becoming one of the
few places left to get some US releases in LD format, including the upcoming
Phantom Menace movie.
Also I’d like to mention that it is pretty heard to get LDs at this
point. And LD players. Mostly the people who have them are the ones who got
into LD and have a decent collection already. It might be rather hard at this
point to start an LD collection. But if you’re willing to look for a place
here that has them or buy imports, I wish you luck. I’d also like to suggest
that if you’re looking for an LD player, you might want to find a "gently
used" one. I know there’s a electronics store near me that’s taking LD players
from people who want to "upgrade" to DVD, and finding people who’d like to buy
their used LD players. I know that’s probably an exception, but you never
know. You might want to check around your area and see what’s up.
From garry7:
I recently read, on the Anime News Network, that there is going to be a
release of a Ryoko figure from McFarlane toys. Do you know any other
information about this? I really like Tenchi Muyo (and especially Ryoko) and
would like to know how I can obtain one, it's projected price, and projected
release date.
Thank you.
Well, in case you haven’t seen it, here’s a mockup of what the Ryoko figure
will look like
Hopefully it won’t look too much like the mockup because the mockup looks
weird. J
I asked my local comic shop owner (yay Caleb!), and here’s what he had to
say: the date for preorder is usually two to three months before the street
date. And the figures were nowhere to be seen in the solicitation catalog that
he has that came out for February. So that means that, going by his "wait
time", we’re into June or July at least before we see these figures. Now, he
is a little independent comic shop owner, so I don’t know if that means he’s
last on the list to receive product, and bigger stores get it first, or what.
But, as I actually find out more info from him, I will let you know what’s
going on. And of course, if there’s anything else that pops up on the website,
I’ll let you know about that, too.
Addendums: There’s only a couple this week. I did have a favor to ask
though. If you all come across any links that don’t go where I say they do, or
any broken links, please let me know. I’ll get them fixed or taken down. No
point in them being up if they don’t work, right?
Now this provoked a couple of responses . . . .
These are in response to the comment that Kiljoy made about, um, let’s just
say otaku with impossible standards.
From Bai Shen:
I read your column for the first time today (I only stumbled across
animeondvd.com within the last week or two) and I just had to dispute Kiljoy's
comments. If you could CC her a copy of this message, I'd appreciate it.
Anyways, I know several female otaku, and none of them match the "tiny cute
asian Saiyuka" image that she mentions. And, AFAIK, most of them currently
have SO's. 'bout the only complaint I have 'bout female otaku is when they get
way more into anime than their SO (as in the case of one of my ex's who
wouldn't even pause the tape to talk to me for a few minutes-sigh-). Anyways,
enough rambling on my part. I guess what I wanna say is there are guys out
there who aren't looking for a "tiny cute asian Saiyuka". You jus' have to
look for them.
From Sysnityr:
Here's my $0.02:
I'd have to say, you're looking a little to hard for things that might not
be there. I don't think you should go for anyone, fanboy or not, that can't
look upon you as an equal, not to mention someone so shallow they base
everything on looks. They're just not worth your time or effort. Maybe you
should have a look elsewhere, and not to hinge everything on finding your
"ideal male otaku".
Just had to get that off my chest. :)
From Adam Ingram:
If you find someone that you like, share common interests with but they
can't get over the fact that you're not an anime character, I really don't
think they are ready to have a serious relationship with anyone.
Well met in fact! I could not have said it better myself. You all have
great points. I think she just needed to vent a little. You’ll be happy to
know that Kiljoy does in fact have a significant other that (I hope!)
appreciates her for who she is and not what she looks like.
His and Her Circumstnaces: More info trickles in. Kind of.
From Kaoru:
i've heard from an "anonymous source" who has been in contact with the
right stuf about karekano that they have acquired the dvd and tv rights. this
is like, 75% sure.
So, that’s it for this time. I’ll see y’all next week with a new batch of
questions! J
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