Knight Rider - Japanese BD boxset

NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan released
"Knight Rider Complete Blu-ray Box"
in Japan today (2014-11-27).

The set contains all 4 seasons (84 episodes) on BD,
plus 2 bonus DVDs.

Buy at Amazon Japan



Links

• The publisher's product page
• Japanese official website of the show

(They are in Japanese only, of course.)


Basic disc specs

• Discs: BDx24 + DVDx2
• Region code: All
• Audio: English dts mono / Japanese dts mono
• Subtitles: Japanese
• Total running time: 4355

Supplements

• Birth of Knight Rider
• Design gallery
• Photo gallery
• Behind the shooting of Knight 2000
• On musical score
• Audio commentary with David Hasselhoff and Glen A. Larson on the pilot episode
• 2 bonus DVDs (English audio with Japanese subtitles):
  • Knight Rider 2000
  • Knight Rider 2010
  (Caution: I'm NOT sure if DVDs are also region ALL, as it's not explicitly stated.)
  
• Booklets:
  • Episode guide (40 pages)
  • Initial pressing only: Reproduction of Japanese dubb script for the pilot episode (192 pages)

According to the advertisement,
This is the "world's first release of Knight Rider on Blu-ray"
and it's "HD transfer from the original films".


For Japanese customers, the big "catch" is the additional Japanese dubbs with the original voice cast,
for the cut scenes and missing episodes from the original Japanese broadcast.

Of course it adds nothing for foreign fans,
but I think such effort shows the publisher's care for this release.

Easy Rider and Taxi Driver - Japanese special boxset BDs

On Sep. 03, 2014, SPE Japan will release special limited editions of
Easy Rider and Taxi Driver blu-ray,
featuring miniature replicas of motorcycle and taxi, respectively.

As of this writing there's no information on SPE Japan's official website,
but according to several sources including Amazon Japan,
the spces are as below.

Easy Rider

Region code: ALL

Audio:

• English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
• English DD 5.1
• Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1

Subtitles:

• Japanese
• English

Extras (65 mins):

• Audio commentary w/ Dennis Hopper
• Making-of

Misc:

• Special box packaging
• Miniature replica of Captain America's motorcycle
• Reproduction of Japanese press sheet

Taxi Driver

Region code: ALL

Audio:

• English dts-HD MA 5.1
• Japanese dts-HD MA 5.1

Subtitles:

• Japanese
• English

Extras:

• Interactive Script to Screen (graphic-in-picture)
• 1986 Audio Commentary:  Director Martin Scorsese and Writer Paul Schrader
• Audio Commentary: Professor Robert Kolker,  University of Virginia
• Audio Commentary: Writer Paul Schrader
• Martin Scorsese on Taxi Driver
• Producing Taxi Driver
• God's Lonely Man
• Influence and Appreciation
• Taxi Driver Stories
• Making Taxi Driver
• Travis' New York
• Travis' New York Locations: 1975 and 2006
• Intro to Storyboards by Martin Scorsese
• Storyboard to Film Comparison
• 4 Photo Galleries:
  • Bernard Herrmann Score
  • On Location
  • Publicity Materials
  • Scorsese at Work

(The extras appear to be identical to the US DigiPack edition in 2011.)

Misc:

• Special box packaging
• Miniature replica of Travis' taxi
• Reproduction of Japanese press sheet

The Doors - Japanese "Singles Box" released

On Jun. 23, 2013, Warner Music Japan (WMJ) released a boxset entitled
"The Doors Singles Box".

Buy at Amazon JP


This strictly limited, Japan-only boxset compiles all the Doors singles released in Japan
from 1967 to 1972 (originally from Victor Records),
as a collection of 14 "maxi" CDs in paper sleeve replicas of the original releases.

WMJ's catalog info is here.

Cat. #: WPCR-14801/14
Discs: 14

• Newly digitally remastered in 2013
• Bonus alternate sleeve of "Light My Fire"
• Gorgeous booklet
• Original lyrics and Japanese translations

Tracklisting:

Disc 01
1 - Light My Fire (mono, Single Ver.) +
2 - The Crystal Ship (mono) +

Disc 02
1 - People Are Strange (mono) +
2 - Unhappy Girl (mono) +

Disc 03
1 - Love Me Two Times (Original Album Ver./Different with US Ver.)
2 - Moonlight Drive (Original Album Ver./Different with US Ver.)

Disc 04
1 - The Unknown Soldier (mono, Single Ver.) +
2 - We Could Be So Good Together (mono, Single Ver.) +

Disc 05
1 - Hello, I Love You (Original Album Ver.)
2 - Love Street (Original Album Ver.)

Disc 06
1 - Touch Me (Single Ver.) +
2 - Wild Child (Original Album Ver.)

Disc 07
1 - Tell All The People (Original Album Ver.) +
2 - Easy Ride (Original Album Ver.)

Disc 08
1 - Runnin' Blue (Original Album Ver.)
2 - Do It (Original Album Ver.)

Disc 09
1 - Land Ho! (Different Mix) +
2 - You Make Me Real (Original Album Ver.)

Disc 10
1 - Love Her Madly (Different Mix) +
2 - (You Need Meat) Don't Go No Further (Different Mix)

Disc 11
1 - Riders On The Storm (Edited Short Ver.) +
2 - Changeling (Single Ver.) +

Disc 12
1 - Tightrope Ride (Single Ver.) +
2 - Variety Is The Spice Of Life (Single Ver.) *

Disc 13
1 - Get Up And Dance (Single Ver.) *
2 - Treetrunk (Single Ver.) *

Disc 14
1 - The Mosquito (mono, Single Ver.) +
2 - It Slipped My Mind (Single Ver.) *


*: Previously unreleased ‘SONGS’ on CD
+: Previously unreleased ‘VERSIONS’ on CD



Buy at Amazon JP

Tokyo Story - newly restored BD w English subs in July in Japan

Newly restored BD of Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story (Tokyo Monogatari) is due July 6, 2013 in Japan.
(DVD edition will be released too but I don't think it's important.)



Here's the info I took from Ozu 110th website and Shochiku's product page.

BD specs

Disc format: BD50G
AR: 4:3
Running time: 135 mins
Audio: Japanese LPCM Mono
Subtitles: Japanese / English
Region code: unknown

Extras

• Trailers (7 mins)
• Audio commentary recorded in 1984, with:
  • Chishû Ryû (actor)
  • Takashi Kawamata (Assistant cinematographer)
  • Buichi Saitô (Assistant director)
  • Yoshio Shirai (film critic)

Note: I guess (or rather, believe) English subtitles are NOT available for the commentary.

Goodies exclusive to initial 5,000 copies

• Slipcase
• A book of complete script with photos from the film

Restoration

In 2011, the film was given a digital restoration with 4K scanning.
NHK aired it in April 2011 on their HD channel.
More brush-ups were given to this broadcast master
for the presentation in Berlinale Classics of the Berlin Film Festival in 2013.

This newest master was supervised by Takashi Kawamata, who was as an assistant cinematographer of the film.
Audio was supervised by Yasuyoshi Tanaka who served as assistant to Ozu in 3 films.
Kazuhiro Shimizu, who has done all the restoration of Shochiku films in the past, is in charge of this restoration too.

Personal thoughts

From what I read on the net, it seems previous DVD of Tokyo Story in the USA (from Criterion) and BD/DVD in the UK (from BFI) are rather disappointing in terms of picture/audio quality.

I hope Criterion will release new BD utilizing this new master,
with audio commentary subtitled in English.

(Same goes for Eureka's Masters of Cinema in the UK,
but as BFI already released BD of the film,
perhaps it's difficult for them to get the right.)

Giant Robo The Animation - Japanese BD boxset

On Oct. 26, 2012, Frontier Works and Media Factory released
"Giant Robo The Animation - The Day The Earth Stood Still"
as limited "Ultimate Blu-ray Box" in Japan.
[Added Dec. 23, 2012: Publisher's website: Media Factory]

Basic disc specs

Number of discs: 4 (Single-Sided Dual-Layered x3 + Single-Sided Single-Layered x1)
Video: 4:3 1080p
Audio: Japanese LPCM 2.0 / English DD [*1]
Subtitles: None
Running time: 512 mins (Main feature: 339, Special features: 173)

*1: To my understanding, there are 2 versions of English dubbs with different cast. But I can't tell which version is included here.

Notes:

• Remastered and restored from the original negatives scanned in 4K
• Contains all the special features in the dvd releases in the past (upconverted from SD)

The Package

Newly drawn box cover art by Akihiko Yamashita (character design).

Digipack

Booklet

Approx. 100-page booklet is entitled "Project GR".
Includes design works, interviews, text data

Disc Contents

Disc 1

Main feature: Episodes 1-3

Special features:

• Audio commentary on Ep 1: Kappei Yamaguchi, Sumi Shimamoto
• Audio commentary on Ep.3: Akihiko Yamashita, Kazuyoshi Katayama

Disc 2

Main feature: Episodes 4-6

Special features:

• Audio commentary on Ep.5: Masamichi Amano, Yôta Tsuruoka

Disc 3

Main feature: Episode 7

Special features:

• Audio commentary on Ep 7: Akihiko Yamashita, Masami Ozone, Kenji Hayama, Kazuyoshi Katayama

Special features menu page 1

"G-Robo Battle Talk - 'G' by maestros" (30:22)
is a discussion by Yasuhiro Imagawa, Shinji Higuchi, Federico Colpi (and the host whose name escaped me).

Interviews with cast and crew (36:27) includes:

• Kappei Yamaguchi (voice actor, Daisaku)
• Sumi Shimamoto (voice actress, Ginrei)
• Kazuyoshi Katayama (animation director)
• Masami Ozone (drawing director, storyboards) [who also did the manga version]
• Kenji Hayama (drawing director, storyboards)
• Masamichi Amano (composer)
• Yôta Tsuruoka (music design, sound director)

Sumi Shimamoto

PV/CM

• Episode 0 (Ver.1): Ep.1 teaser
• Episode 0 (Ver.2): Ep.1 trailer
• Ep.2 TV spot
• Ep.7 promo video
• Ep.7 TV spot
• 1999 promo video for website (for DVD release)
• 2 promo videos and 4 TV spots for BD boxset release

International PV

• US promo video
• 3 promo videos for Italy

 

Special features menu page 2

Recording sessions by the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
for Ep.1,2,3,6,7 (09:52, 10:56, 14:59, 18:52, 22:44 respectively)

This appears to be a bunch of home videos of the recording sessions.
So, don't expect the quality of concert video.
The videos occasionally show noises which must be in the source.
Most performances are not complete.
There's no narration, but sometimes Japanese text explains the date, the title of the music being played.
Some tunes are shown with the accompanying scenes in a small window.

Mostly it's just the musicians performing, Amano conducting. No interviews with anyone.
But occasionally you see interactions between Amano and musicians, engineers at work, and a little bit of views of Warsaw.


Working videos for sound mixing
of Ep. 2, 6 (11:42, 16:11 respectively)

Unfinished anime (some portions of which are rough drawings, storyboards cutouts, and memos) is shown with finished audio.

Giant Robo in videogames

• GR in "Super Robot Taisen Alpha 64" (00:34)
• Promo video for PS2 game (06:25)

DVD Premium Re-Master Edition opening movies: GR-1 to GR-4
The opening movies of discs in the previous 4-disc DVD boxset entitled "Premium Re-Master Edition".

Disc 4

Contains entire original soundtracks albums of Ep.1-7.
Audio: LPCM 2.0 96kHz/24bit

While playing the music, the album cover art is shown with zooming and panning.

Popup menu has tracklist, and indicates what tune is now being played.
However, being a popup menu, it disappears after a while. I find it rather inconvenient.

IMO, this is the greatest new special feature in this set,
because all 7 CDs are long time OOP. (I own them all, though)


While Phoenix Entertainment (the company which controls the copyright of the GR music) offers most of them as remastered editions with bonus tracks (mostly from "Ginrei" series) on their website, they are limited to Japanese residents.

So, in some cases they are priced very high in used disc market.
Or you have to go to places like YouTube to listen to the music, violating copyright.

But now we can hear the music in 96kHz/24bit audio.

My thoughts on the product

Overall I'm happy with this boxset (except for its price, as always).

Inclusion of the entire soundtrack in HD audio is especially welcome.

Of course I can complain about other extras. I wish they included:

• A new interview with Imagawa, especially on the possibility of other episodes. (Imagawa is absent in new extras. Maybe he was too busy.)
• Uncut "funeral speech" by Iemasa Kayumi,. (Imagawa mentioned it was actually recorded.)
• Interviews with the musicians and the staff of the Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Interviews with more voice cast.
• Details of English dubb. (director, cast, translator, etc)
• Subtitles: Both English for Japanese audio and Japanese for English audio.
• While all the special features in the previous DVD editions are ported over, some information (i.e. comments from voice cast) in the DVD's booklets are missing.

But these are nitpicking.

One more nitpicking - to contain 7 episodes in 3 discs, they chose to have them as 3-3-1.
But I'd rather want them to be 2-3-2.
I mean, there are notable "breaks" between Ep.2 & 3, and 5 & 6. They are much appropriate points to change the discs. For me it's especially distracting to change the discs between Ep.3 & 4.

And who cares if some extras are scattered onto multiple discs? They are fillers to begin with. There really is no need to have them together in one disc.

Lastly... considering its price, I'm not sure if this boxset is worth your money if you have previous DVD boxset(s).
Video/audio quality is technically better, but not so many people (including myself) have A/V system good enough to fully appreciate the differences.
And this anime was made for smaller TV screen to begin with.
In the booklet, technical crew mentioned today's larger screen revealed blemishes and flaws in the original materials they didn't notice (or could tolerate) in the past.

But, being a big fan of this anime since its original LD release, this set was hard to resist.

Lawrence of Arabia - 50th Anniversary CE - US BD

I believe no one needs another review on the film and this product.
But I hope photos of the package can help some people who are not yet sure which edition they should get, gorgeous 4-disc giftset or simpler 2-disc set.

The Box

Inside the box

Keepcase: 1 CD + 3 BDs

CD tracklist:

1. Overture (4:15)
2. Main Title (1:54)
3. We Need A Miracle (3:06)
4. In Whose Name Do You Ride? (1:22)
5. That Is The Desert (2:51)
6. Nefud Mirage (2:21)
7. Sun's Anvil (3:10)
8. Lost In The Desert (2:09)
9. Bringing Gasim Into Camp (3:34)
10. Arrival At Auda's Camp (1:59)
11. The Voice Of The Guns (1:58)
12. Entr'acte (4:15) *
13. Continuation Of The Miracle (2:15)
14. Lawrence's Bodyguard (2:05)
15. End Credits (1:06)
16. Exit Music (2:37) *

Total time: 41:50
*: previously unavailable

I'm especially glad they had this CD in the set.
The soundtrack CD has been strangely OOP for a long time.
The used copy I got has been degraded so badly in the last decade

My thoughts on extras

Except for the interview with Peter O'Tool (on BD #2),
I find newly added extras (on BD#3) are generally boring.
If you are to get this edition because of BD #3, don't expect much.
The deleted "balcony" scene is the only extra I find really worth seeing in BD #3.

There's one thing I wish they included:
David Lean's brief speech at the premiere screening of the restored version,
which was included in the old LD and not in DVD, and BD.
Pity.


US versions:



UK versions:

Holmes/UFO/Thunderbirds on Japanese BD

Recently in Japan, some notable blu-ray releases of British TV shows were announced.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett)

Release date: Dec. 04, 2012
Publisher: Happinet Pictures

Region code: ALL
Audio: English LPCM 2.0 Mono / Japanese LPCM 2.0 Mono
Subtitles: Japanese / Japanese for dubbs / English
Video: 4:3
Discs 12
Running time: 2392 mins

Contents: all 41 episodes of the series.

Extras (all in SD):

• Some multi-part featurette entitled "How to enjoy Sherlock Holmes" (this may be in Japanese audio only) which has:
  
  • Holmes' art of detection
  • Baker Street 221B
  • Illsutrations of Holmes
  • Holmes and Jeremy Brett
  • Holmes and pipes

Also includes a booklet.

Personal comment
I'm slightly skeptical about this release, because previous DVDs of the show from Happinet had poor video quality. I hope they'd acquired HD remasters from UK this time around.

UFO

Release date: Dec. 05, 2012
Publisher: Geneon Universal Entertainment

Region code: ALL (Amazon claims A, but Geneon confirmed ALL)
Audio: Japanese dts SR Mono / English dts-HD MA 5.1 / English dts SR Mono
Subtitles: Japanese / Japanese for dubbs
Video: 4:3
Discs 7
Running time: 1300 mins

Contents: all 26 episodes of the series.

Extras (130 mins):

• Video interviews with Japanese voice cast (15 mins +)
• Original version of the opening Ep.1 （5mins）
• 2 deleted scenes from Ep.2 (Foster and Koffax [3 mins], Foster and Dr. Jackson [9 mins])
• SID sings （3 mins）
• Studio recordings from Ep.6 (Foster [2 mins), Straker [2 mins])
• Textless ending (1 min)
• SHADO Secret File (24 mins)
• Retrospective documentary "The UFO Documentary" (55 mns)
• Textless ending of Ep.14
• Effects test for Ep..24
• Unused sound effects for Ep.26

Booklet (40 pages):

• Introduction
• Cast bios
• Mechanics guide
• Episode guide

Note:

• Restored from the original 35mm negatives, telecine was done by Technicolor Creative Services (USA)
• DNR'ed with Teranex
• Scratches and dirts were repaired with HD Edifis

Here's a promo video on YouTube:

[ADDED Oct.6: One thing should be noted for foreign UFO fans.
It's very likely the Japanese BD will have the episodes in irder of the Japanese TV broadcast, as in the previous Japanese DVDs.
The Japanese order is significantly different from the original UK broadcast order (see Fanderson page).

Here's the Japanese broadcast order, preceded with the original ep.# in []:

1. [01] Identified
2. [05] Exposed
3. [04] Survival
4. [06] Conflict
5. [13] Close Up
6. [16] Kill Straker!
7. [17] Sub-Smash
8. [19] The Cat With Ten Lives
9. [18] The Sound Of Silence
10. [09] Ordeal
11. [15] E.S.P.
12. [02] Computer Affair
13. [03] Flight Path
14. [11] The Square Triangle
15. [21] The Man Who Came Back
16. [22] The Psychobombs
17. [20] Destruction
18. [10] The Responsibility Seat
19. [23] Reflections In The Water
20. [25] Mindbender
21. [07] The Dalotek Affair
22. [14] Confetti Check A-O.K.
23. [12] Court Martial
24. [24] Timelash
25. [08] A Question Of Priorities
26. [26] The Long Sleep

]

Thunderbirds

       

Release date: Feb. 06, 27, 2013 [date changed on Feb. 2, 2013]
Publisher: Geneon Universal Entertainment  (not much information as of this writing)  
Region code: A    
Audio: Japanese / English    
Subtitles: Japanese    
Video: 4:3  
Discs 9    
Running time: 1500 mins    

Contents: all 32 episodes of the series.    

Extras (over 170 mins):

• Documentary "Thunderbirds Companion" (50 mins)
• UK version preview (3 mins)
• All about the secret base (23 mins)
• Century 21 Files (2 mins x7)
• Thunderbirds in Tokyo (20 mins)
• Episode guide (2 mins x 32)

Booklet (60 pages):

• Introduction
• Cast bios
• Mechanics guide
• Episode guide

Note:

• Film scanning, telecine, restoration were done by JCA (UK).
• Original negatives were cleaned with ultrasonic.
• Films were scanned in 3K with Arriscan Film Scanner, output to super 2K DPX file, and digitally restored.
• Broken films and other problems such as kicks, flicker, were repaired semi-automatically and manually. Restoration technicians checked them frame by frame afterwards.
• All materials were tuned with Cinnefilm Dark Energy.
• Finally colors were adjusted, and restored materials were tuned as one program with Pandora Revolution Grading system.

Geneon has set up a promotional website for UFO and Thunderbirds here.