Specs for the UK Discs:

Monster Is Incorporated?

Fixed that. "Monsters, Inc."

Castle In The Sky and Whisper Of The Heart US disc reviews at BlurayDefinition. Whisper gets literal English subtitles, and they also say that Castle has dubtitles only.

And it looks like Whisper of the Heart has the Japanese credits intact. What the heck is up with Disney? Alright, hopefully it's all on the up and up from here.

It would seem as if Disney is using the previous DVDs as the reference for these BDs. Since the 2010 Castle in the Sky was dubtitled, so too is the blu-ray. And since Whisper of the Heart's previous DVD release (there was only one, I think) had 2 angles (for onscreen signs/text) and a literal subtitle track, so too is the blu-ray.

The upcoming Arrietty also seems fine, with alternate angles and seemingly a literal subtitle track.

In conclusion, it appears as if that of the 3 releases, Arrietty and Whisper are generally perfect releases. Avoid Castle in the Sky.

Maybe there will be a good HK Blu of Laputa. ;~}

There already is a HK BD of "Laputa" but it loses out on most of the extras (including storyboards), has only the Japanese version (with Mandarin or Cantonese dubs). The English subtitles are apparently the correct ones. Not dubtitles

The HK BD sound like it would suit our purposes just fine -- we have no real interest in the Disney dub and are not likely to rewatch the storyboard feature in any event. ;~}

The HK disc also loses out on the Disney featurettes, which were on the 2010 US DVD. The best one is the UK disc (for people who are B or free) for price and quantity, and subtitle quality.

But the UK disc (like Optimum's other Ghibli titles) evidently applies DNR that actually removes parts of the original drawings:

Japanese edition
UK

Notice how the motion lines on the ground have mysteriously thinned out in the UK cap. The U.S. and HK Ghiblis don't seem to have any DNR and look basically identical to the Japanese versions (in fact the HK Castle in the Sky uses the exact same encode). This applies pretty much across the board, not just with Castle in the Sky. I don't know for a fact that Miyazaki actually likes grain, but since Ghibli are ultimately responsible for the transfers, I'd imagine he has a say in how they look. So if you want literal subtitles, you have to choose between extras and a properly film-like transfer.

Disney Arrietty review at blu-ray.com

Oh, if you take advantage of amazon.com's bundle offer right now, you can get these for 50% off (Arrietty and Whisper of the Heart for me.)

For people in the US, Best Buy has the $8 off deal but it can be with any 2 Ghibli titles combined. On Amazon, 1 must be "Arrietty"

Picked up both Arrietty and Whisper of the Heart this week.

I only spot checked Arrietty, but everything seems fine as the reviews above noted.

Whisper of the Heart on BD is a revelation. There's about 5-10% more information on the left and right sides now compared to the slightly cropped original DVD, so overall the film feels wider and spacier and the individual shots seem better composed. Literal subs are fine, Japanese and English end and title credits can be turned on and off depending on which audio track you choose. Colors seems more natural and less red boosted.

The end credits now don't obscure the walkway at the top of the screen where the little animations take place. They scroll up and fade below the walkway.

Don't need the old DVD anymore, this BD trumps it handily.

It's a shame Disney fucked up on Castle in the Sky, because IMO Whisper of the Heart is the best Ghibli BD Disney has released to date, and should be the standard.

I agree, I got my copies of Arrietty and Whisper of the Heart in the mail yesterday. Only took a brief look at them and tested the subs & credits but they seem perfect, everything just right, really wonderful.

Hopefully there's a recall on or a repressing of Castle in the Sky. Disney didn't do it for Nausicaa (I didn't expect them to) but I think there's enough reason for them to go back and redo this one. At the very least the negative response to Castle and the highly positive response to the other two should ensure Disney doesn't make the same mistake again.

More on the Castle in the Sky BD, this blu-ray.com user says that it contains the original Japanese credits, as Arrietty and Whisper of the Heart do. If that's true, I might consider getting the U.S. BD.

Anyone know if the additional dialogue at the beginning of the film (and elsewhere) in the English dub script is deleted from at least one of the dubtitle tracks?

I don't recall everything, but the 2010 re-edited dub (which this BD uses) does take out a few lines that were in the 2003 original dub. It still has some lines which are not in the original Japanese script, so the dubtitle tracks will still have lines appear where there is no Japanese dialogue.

I did hear that they include Japanese credits, but I'm still going to hold off and see if I can get a better version, or if they might ship a revised disc. I suppose those here that don't need subtitles to understand Japanese might want to consider it though.

I'll also confirm that the UK Blu-ray is also less 'talky' on the English dub, compared to the 2003 DVD, but it does retain the orchestral score from the 2003 DVD.

The US disc apparently has taken out the orchestral score and replaced it with the original synth score for the English track.

Put on the English dub of Castle in the Sky to refresh my memory. It's not quite as good as I recall it being - that probably due to the final 40 minutes or so, which are a great improvement over the first half. Van Der Beek is part of the problem but it's really the dub script that bugged me, so that clinches it, I'm staying away from the U.S. Blu-ray for now.

I haven't emailed Disney about the Blu-ray but it looks like others are starting to get more than canned responses from them. Maybe they will fix the problem.

I'm looking at the Hong Kong version now but it'll probably be a while before my next Yesasia order. We'll see what Disney does in the next couple of months.

Studio Canal UK Howl's Moving Castle and Tales From Earthsea reviews

Grave of the Fireflies BD review at DVDBeaver (Japanese disc)

"Panda Go Panda" US DVD reissue from Eastern Star/Discotek Media, DVDTalk review.

The transfer is different than the old Pioneer DVD, but severely windowboxed like many previous Ghibli DVDs.

Coming December 5th 2012 in Japan:

"Kiki's Delivery Service" and "Only Yesterday"



In The UK, Studio Canal will release "My Neighbour Totoro", "Grave Of The Fireflies", and "Lupin The Third: Castle Of Cagliostro" Blu-rays in November.

Coming in November in japan: 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (Marco) by Isao Takahata. It does have some english text on the DVD box so might possibly be subtitled in english. 15.000 yen for a 13 dvd box set isn't bad as japanese prices go. But 52 episodes is a lot. Has anybody seen this? Is it essential?

Not just that, but also from Bandai are 13-disc boxes of other series including "Rascal the Racoon", "Anne Of Green Gables", "The Dog Of Flanders" etc for the same price. True, it's not bad for the amount of episodes and considering the prices of other Japanese boxes.

No English subtitles or dub though. "3000 Leagues" also includes an isolated score track and an isolated sound effects track