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BB wrote:...The translation itself though is extremely well done on the Tora-san set.

Yes, but as I know, Animeigo didnt do the films' subtitles. It was Shochiku in Japan, for when they rererererereleased the Tora-san boxset this year.

Since there were never any "official" English translations done for the series, with no good translations for the witty and unusual dialogue of Tora-san, they undertook a massive translation process in English, trying to subtitle the jokes and the gists carefully and better than before.

There were even Japanese TV programs that focused on the new subtitles on English-learning programs.

Although Animeigo did subtitle the "notes" as it seems.

pretty nice with the interactive maps on the Tora-San releases that you can see his travels.
(I live pretty close to his "hometown", in Adachi) but this might have been better if somehow a DVD-rom feature could have been connected to Google Earth or something.

Come to think of it, I wonder why no one else has thought of that before.
Whether connecting the DVD or BD to shooting locations, or historical locations the movie is based on, etc with Google Earth....

Yes, but as I know, Animeigo didnt do the films' subtitles. It was Shochiku in Japan, for when they rererererereleased the Tora-san boxset this year.

Actually the animeigo subs are new and vastly superior to the Shochiku re-releases. The Shochiku subs are good, but they clearly did not have a native english speaker on board. By contrast the animeigo subs are really quite inspired.
Credit where credit is due.

I do not love the look of AnimEigo's subtitles, but as long as the titles are legible (which AnimEigo's are), I can deal with them.

Question for anyone who's ordered from their site: How long can I expect to wait for my order to arrive? I chose free shipping because my order was more than $25 and I'm not in the biggest hurry to receive it. Still, I'm curious, especially since I just noticed I've been charged for the order but I've received no notification that they've sent it out beyond the order having been "created." I e-mailed them about it moments ago, but with the three-day weekend coming up, I'm not expecting a reply anytime soon.

I placed the order two days ago, for what it's worth.

I got my order in less than a week.

And when I got home that night it was there in my mailbox. Kudos to AnimeEigo; A+ will shop again.

Animeigo has announced their next set of releases!

April 2010

Tomu Uchida's 5-part Mushashi Miyamoto series with Kinnosuke Nakamura

May 2010

The Blind Menace (Shiranui Kengyo) - starring Shintaro Katsu

June 2010

Sleepy Eyes of Death Volume 2 - Movies 5 thru 8 - starring Raizo Ichikawa


I'm very excited because I was really hoping they'd continue with the "Sleepy Eyes of Death" series. I really love those movies. And the Mushashi Miyamoto series from 1961-1965 was one I had been hoping would be released for a long time. I've never even heard of the other title but I'm psyched about it as well, apparently it inspired the Zatoichi movies.

All in all this is a great slate of releases and I am really looking forward to owning them all.

Tomu Uchida's 5-part Mushashi Miyamoto series with Kinnosuke Nakamura

Now that is exciting. He made some wonderful films, and, for mine, is one of the top-tier Japanese filmmakers. I can't understand why tomu Uchida, along with Yoshitaro Nomura, haven't been given some sort of decent english-subbed dvd retrospective from a major company. I think Carlotta have covered both directors, and there are the Hong Kong Yoshitaro Nomura's.

Thanks for the heads-up. I'll email Animeigo to see if more Tomu Uchida's might be in the pipeline.

gonzoisking wrote:Animeigo has announced their next set of releases!

April 2010

Tomu Uchida's 5-part Mushashi Miyamoto series with Kinnosuke Nakamura

May 2010

The Blind Menace (Shiranui Kengyo) - starring Shintaro Katsu

June 2010

Sleepy Eyes of Death Volume 2 - Movies 5 thru 8 - starring Raizo Ichikawa

all.

I have all of these on bootleg, and they are ALL worth a double dip.

gonzoisking wrote:Sleepy Eyes of Death Volume 2 - Movies 5 thru 8 - starring Raizo Ichikawa. I'm very excited because I was really hoping they'd continue with the "Sleepy Eyes of Death" series. I really love those movies.

Ditto, brilliant series and the discs in set one look fabulous.

I just wish there was a company that would release good subbed DVDs of Uchida's non-jidaigeki (historical adventure) films.

For those who still need to pick up their Tora-San set, you can purchase it through their website for $42.98. Use coupon code Sakura to get $20 off (until February 6, limit 1 per customer). I also had $5 off coupon automatically applied for orders over $50 and free shipping.

This was released on May 4th, with a Galbraith commentary on on movie.

Shogun Assassin is going blu on August 24.

Disappointing that this is their first Blu, but understandable given that it is arguably the biggest "name" title in their catalog.

I think unavailability of other titles on Japanese blu-ray (correct me if I'm wrong) prevent them from releasing any other title.

Depends. From the MoC Profound Desires of the Gods thread re Blu licensing:

peerpee wrote:Only Toho at the moment it seems. We keep plugging away at them.

Shochiku seem okay (BFI Ozu) and Nikkatsu (MoC Imamura and Ichikawa).

Those stubborn folks at Toho are the major hold-outs.

Toho's film "Kamikaze Girls" (2004) was released in the UK on BD BEFORE the Japanese release, and to add to that, Region Free of all things.

Because Japan and the US has the same BD region code, I think that is the problem. Seems Japanese companies are letting Region B countries release Japanese films on BD before Japan, knowing that many people in Japan don't have region-free BD players.

manicsounds wrote:Toho's film "Kamikaze Girls" (2004) was released in the UK on BD BEFORE the Japanese release, and to add to that, Region Free of all things.

Because Japan and the US has the same BD region code, I think that is the problem. Seems Japanese companies are letting Region B countries release Japanese films on BD before Japan, knowing that many people in Japan don't have region-free BD players.

We asked Toho about that. They said they didn't handle overseas sales for that title. For new titles, they leave it to the various production companies as to whether an overseas Blu-ray release is approved or not. For their 'classic' titles, Toho's homevideo entertainment department makes the decision.

manicsounds wrote:Ultimate Miyamoto Musashi Collection gets a DVDTalk Collector's Series tag

Not quite Ultimate as it omits the 6th Musashi film that Uchida directed with Kinnosuke Nakamura again in the leading role. Uchida's last film (released post mortem) is not a sequel but an invented side-story with Rentaro Mikuni as a chain and sickle merchant. Visually striking but not particularly good otherwise. Mikuni was the priest in the earlier films, played a role in the first film of the Inagaki/Mifune series and was Musashi himself in 1954 for good measure. I wonder if he's read the book.

I think they couldn't include it, as that one, "Shinken Shobu" was a Toho film, while the 5 films in this boxset was a series made by Toei. Even the Japanese boxset includes only the 5 films.

Does anyone have a recommendation for The Blind Menace. The Zatoichi connection is intriguing, but I'd like to know more.

I have The Blind Menace, and it's a great film. Very dark.

Although I'm hoping for an announcement of a second "Tora-San" set for November, like last year, I can't help to think that then it would take 12 years if they plan on releasing 4 Tora-San film sets a year....