Hi Ladycat,

Sorry, but I don't know who else to ask so... I had seen a petition link for the uncut Kite on animeondvd, but now I see release info about Kite on 4/25/00.

Questions:

Is this release the uncut version or an edited version?

If the release is the edited version, what is the status of an unedited version release?

Is the unedited version that much better than the edited version?

What was edited out? How many minutes?

Thank you very much for your time. m(_ _)m

Whilst out this weekend at a local computer shop, I happened upon several copies of the Bubblegum Crisis Collection. I found one set in the original box (light blue borders, with the singer on the cover) that a friend had told me to avoid due to problems with 50% of the 3rd discs in the set. However, the store also had two sets in boxes with a different design than the old box (the cover had all 4 Knight Sabres on it, was trimmed in royal blue, and named the characters over their portraits on the sides of the box). I've heard that Bubblegum Crisis set was going to be re-released with the problems on the 3rd disc fixed. I was wondering if these new boxes were of the re-release, and if the problems were fixed?

do you know anything about the hi-rez TVs and how the anime dvd look on it?

Vampire Princess Miyu TV show DVDs are releasing at quite steady pace in Japan. Anyone when they are coming here? Or Who has the rights here in usa? I have import soundtrack and it rocks just like the OVAs!! I want this bad, while I wait for AnimEigo get their butt in gear on OVAS.

Hi Ladycat,

In the DVD world, there are discs that are properly encoded so that they can be viewed with progressive scan (without interlacing artifacts) on a monitor that has that feature. In general, is this the case with anime DVD's? Have the encoders been smarter about this in this field, or if not, is it moving in that direction? field?

Thanks

The 13 episodes he's referring to are from the original Dragonball. The Dragonball Saga was broken into 3 parts (DB, DBZ, DBGT). Before Funimation dubbed Dragonball Z, they dubbed the first 13 episodes of Dragonball. This is what the person was referring too. The movie Blood Rubies (actually "Curse of the Blood Rubies) is the 3rd Dragonball movie. As for them being released on DVD in the near future? I seriously doubt it and almost certainly not before Funimation finishes dubbing the entire DBZ series (290+ Japanese episodes).

Actually the person who wrote in concerning Dragonball (the original TV series not Z) was correct, the movie was called Blood Rubies. You had just thought it was of the Z series...

What Mr. Ramirez was referring to was the 13 episodes of Dragonball that Funimation dubbed and showed before skipping ahead to the more action-oriented and profitable for the US audience Dragonball Z. Last I had heard, Funimation has no plans to release those episodes on DVD.

"Blood Rubies" was the Dragonball (not DBZ) movie Funimation also dubbed and showed. No known plans to release that on DVD as well.

Dear Ladycat,

In response to your response to Romain on the shadows behind Lady Tokimi, I think Romain may be referring to the last episode "Here Comes Jurai." At the very end, Lady Tokimi looks down at a silhouetted/hologram figure that kind of looks like Tenchi, but is generating like 5 light-hawk wings or something. She makes some comment about that, and then also says something like, "My sisters, what are you doing there in that dimension?" or something like that. I haven't watched my DVDs in awhile, so I don't exactly remember. But, the scene pans out to show Tokimi with two shadows behind her that look like Washuu and Tsunami. At least that's what I think.

I also read on the web somewhere that Washuu, Tsunami, and Tokimi are like three higher level beings (sisters), but that Tsunami and Washuu both decided to join up with the "normal" Tenchi dimension some time ago. Tsunami ended up starting the whole Jurai tree thing, while Washuu went on and created Ryoko, etc. So that's why Jurains like Yosho could capture Ryoko's gems and integrate them with the master key. It's actually all the same energy type stuff, except that Washuu's form is more compact and regenerates much faster then Tsunami's tree type. There are some other random comments that lead to this sort of speculation in "Here comes Jurai," especially the conversation between Washuu and Funaho. You can check it out. I think the subtitles are more clear on this. Of course, this could all be just fan speculation or something, but I still hope that it's helpful in some way.

By the way, if you ever watch MTV, maybe you've seen one of No Doubt's newer videos. I forget what the song is called, but the video is directed by Hype Williams, and is ripped right out of "Kite," specifically the bathroom assassination scene. So much for Hype Williams' originality, I guess. Thanks for putting up with the long winded-ness.

As for Digimon on DVD... Fox has released a tape with the first three episodes on VHS, but no DVDs yet, or announced that I know of (and I would guess none for a while).

Also, that letter was asking about Dragon Ball, not Dragon Ball Z. Before doing DBZ, FUNimation dubbed the first 13 episodes of Dragon Ball, and the first movie (calling it "Curse of the Blood Rubies"). It basically flopped, so they skipped right to DBZ. Those tapes were distributed by (I'm not 100% sure on this one, it's been a while since I've seen the tapes and I've only rented them) "Kidmark", labeled as a division of "Vidmark". However, FUNimation released themselves the second Dragon Ball (not Z) movie by themselves, calling it "Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle" (or something like that). I'm not sure if FUNimation got back the video distribution rights, or what happened to them. So I don't think it's very likely to see these on DVD anytime soon.

As for the question regarding the shadows behind Lady Tokimi, I found a scan somewhere (I forget where) showing these to be Washu and Tsunami. I noticed the shadows when I was watching, so you might want to watch it again. :)

In response to a recent question from Romain, concerning Tenchi Muyo:

The two shadows seen a couple of times behind Tokimi are Washuu and Tsunami, who are frequently alluded to as sisters, with the three of them as "the three goddesses". Like many of the OAV plot threads, there hasn't been much conclusively stated, but it seems that Tokimi, Washuu and Tsunami at least have had some prior relationship, and certainly all three of them are extremely powerful.

Of the three, Washuu seems the least "Goddess-like", and it has been suggested that 20,000 years ago an incident occurred which made her more like the Washuu we know; Some believe her powers and memory prior to that time are trapped inside the three gems which figure prominently throughout the series.

On the other query, the second OAV series DID finish on a cliff-hanger, clearly implying a third OAV series, which never eventuated. Rumours state that the original creators now wish to revisit the Tenchi OAV series, but nothing official has been announced as far as I know... Many OAV fans are hanging out for it (and have been for YEARS). ^_^

First off let me say that I enjoy your column very much and have found it quite useful! But I gotta respond to the whole "Is the Matrix a manga?" thing. I like the Matrix, lots of good action and CGI, even a plot that was interesting enough to capture an audience’s attention. However, there were a few things that just didn't quite feel right about it. After watching the DVD and the featurettes, the writers/directors of the movie admit to the Matrix being very influenced by manga and anime. Though they don't say it directly, I think they pretty much ripped off some choice titles. One of them being Ghost In the Shell. Remember in the Matrix when they're running through what looks to be a Chinese Market when all of a sudden a shot is heard and watermelons are exploding in your face? Now, where have I seen THAT before...? It seems as though it was just a live action version of that scene in GitS, almost identical frame by frame. Am I the only one that thought that? The only difference was that the Matrix was pumping high energy techno while GitS added to the realism by subtlety playing a Chinese pop song in the background.

Anyway, if the Matrix was indeed first a manga, it wasn't a very original one. I know there are common themes and elements and plot devices similar to almost all anime and manga, but where does the line divide homage and plagiarism? Again, I enjoyed the Matrix and I think it's a good movie for what it is, but original it isn't. (C'mon, how many times have you seen that stop motion animation in commercials alone? the Gap, T.G.I. Fridays, car and soda commercials... This movie reeked of MTV-esque eye candy targeted to the inattentive youth of America). For all those people out there who are hailing the Matrix as some deep, meaningful thought-provoking opus, try watching 12 Monkeys (the "pod" scenes), the Crow (the dark anti-hero is reborn and beats the crap out of his enemies, hunting them down until the climatic final confrontation with the big bad guy), Dark City or almost any space/action/sci-fi/mecha themed anime and see where some of the "inspiration" for this movie comes from. And while those may not be so original themselves, nothing these days is entirely original, I know that! But let's not make the Matrix to be something that it's not.

Perhaps that can be the next contest..."Name the anime and manga titles the movie "the Matrix" ripped off and tried to pass off as its own to an unaware (or forgetful?) American audience."

I just read your column and one reader mentioned the Akira DVD on Ebay. I won one of these about two weeks ago and received it today. The disc is an obvious bootleg. There are several typos on the packaging that would never slip through on a legitimate disc. MPEG is spelled MEPG and stereo is spelled stered. The video quality is actually pretty good. The sound is presented in Japanese Dolby Digital 5.1. I haven't had a chance to rate how good or bad the sound is yet. The sub-titles and translation are terrible. The sub-titles are done in a small white font with no bordering. They are difficult to read plus there are countless spelling and grammar errors. I also received DVDs for Gundam: Char's Counterattack and Whispers of the Heart from the same seller and these DVDs are even worse. I couldn't get any audio from the digital output on both of the discs. I had to use analog connections to get any sound plus Whispers of the Heart only had sound on the right channel. It's really a shame since the video quality is also quite good on both of these discs.

I have the Akira DVD with English/Chinese subtitles. The transfer is only decent, being just a bit better than VHS, but not as crisp as possible, plus there are some noticeable artifacts. The subtitling, however, is simply awful. The translation was more than likely done from Japanese to Chinese and then to English as this is a Taiwan release. Some of the timing is off as well. This doesn't matter to me as I have the movie practically memorized ;)

Beast Wars is available on DVD somewhere out there...I've seen DVDs of the first season on eBay (selling for some insane price). I think it's Singapore, but I could be wrong. The new Beast Wars Metals (that's season 2 to us in North America) will be released on DVD in Japan soon.

As for VHS, some tapes are available in Canada but nothing is in the US yet. However, ADEQUATE.com is starting to put the pressure on Pioneer to release Beast Wars in the US on DVD (since they're doing it in Japan.) Dunno how much good it will do.

Details are here:

http://www.adequate.com/transformers/ (The CyberStore there also contains links to Beast Wars videos for sale from a Canadian online store.)

Also, it's worth mentioning that Rhino will be releasing Transformers: The Movie on DVD this fall...but I'm sure you knew that already.