Dragon Princess: R1 vs R2J

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HungFist
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Dragon Princess: R1 vs R2J

Post by HungFist »

Top: BCI R1 (Grindhouse double feature)
Middle: Toei R2J
Bottom: Toei Channel (TV)

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edit: added Toei Channel

DVD Comparison:

Video
R2J Toei suffers from heavy softness. It looks a bit dark in comparison but I didn’t notice it until I saw the BCI disc. BCI on the other hand is overly bright. The night scenes are no longer night scenes, and the daylight scenes lose colour detals (sunsets are no longer visible for example). There’s also other colour issues, interlacing and lots of print damage. Ironically it’s still sharper than Toei (which was to be expected). But for what it is (7,5$ double featurette), the presentation is pretty much okay appart from the ending.

Audio
Toei is original mono and sounds good. BCI is mono too but dubbed in English.

Cuts
Toei is the japanese version. BCI features the US cut. More info soon.

Extras
Toei comes with their usual extras (Original Trailer and Photo gallery). BCI has no actual extras, but it’s a double feature dvd with Karate Warriors. The program starts with two trailers (The Bodyguard and Legend of the Eight Samurai), after that comes the movie. After the movie there’s an intermission and two more trailers (9 Deaths of a Ninja and Sister Street Fighter) before the second feature, Karate Warriors, begins.
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Post by HungFist »

Toei is the japanese version, which runs 80:58 (with Toei logo). BCI features the US cut, which runs 79:19 (with different logos). I took a quick look and noticed the following differences (there could be more):

US version is missing the New York introduction scene.
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US version had different title screen and opening credits (see dvd comparison)
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Toei
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The scene that shows the assasins killing people abroad features some very weird differences.

- The shot of the airplane appears squeezed on the US disc.

BCI
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Toei
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- The green tint has been removed from the fight and the scene plays slightly longer. The japanese version ends with a freeze frame of the guy in the air, but the US version shows him falling..

Toei
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BCI
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... and just when he’s about the hit the ground there’s quick cut to a burning man running in New York. Wtf? This short glimpse is actually footage from the japanese opening scene (set in New York)

BCI
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Toei
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Later on there’s a new scene in the US version, edited in in true grindhouse fashion. After the party scene around 50 min (first cap) it cuts to a new disco scene, which later turns into a sex scene, all with groovy disco/porno music on the soundtrack. This scene is obviously lifted from some other movie. I guess there wasn’t enough boobs in the original version...

Yasuki Kurata is having fun..
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till suddenly...
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who are these people?
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Last edited by HungFist on 23 Aug 2007, 14:23, edited 1 time in total.
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HungFist
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Post by HungFist »

Linn wrote:
HungFist wrote:But I still think Toei's Dragon Princess transfer is far superior to BCI.
How so? It doesn't look it from the screen caps you posted. Most of the shots of the BCI one has less of the brown tinge I see in the Toei screen shots you've posted.
Caps one by one:

1. BCI is interlaced and too bright. Toei is a bit darkish but better overall.
2. Night scene, and with a great background colour. BCI misses both. Toei wins.
3. Pale colours on BCI + print damage. Toei wins
4. Toei is too dark, but clean. The print damage on BCI is not just that frame, it's basically the whole scene and a whole lot more noticable in motion. Toei wins slighty.
5. Taking a quick look BCI might look better but this is actually a sunset scene (unless Toei managed to fool me real good). BCI would seem to be incorrect. Toei wins
6. Toei really suffers from softness here, but look at the colours on BCI. A totall mess. There's red and pink spots or whatever those are everywhere. Toei wins.
7. Toei is darkish, BCI is totally wrong. This is a night scene, and there's only candles to bring some light. Toei wins.
8. BCI hurts my eye. Toei wins by a mile.
9. Another sunset setting. BCI looks like the sun just exploded. There's also slight edge enhancement on BCI. Toei wins.

As you can see; when I'm not 100% positive on how the image should look I'm stating Toei as the winner. Maybe this is unfair, but the chances of Toei's recent remastering having the correct colour scemes is higher than those of BCI's.

You should also notice that BCI's problems would seem to appear throughout the movie. The print damage won't go away, the colors won't stay stable etc. There could be more problmes that I'm not awere of cause I haven't viewed the whole BCI disc and have no intention to. Toei I have watched twice.

Toei's softness is irritating, but in time it gets less distracting. Colours look good, contrast seem about right, the brighness level goes much less wrong than BCI, there's no print damage, no edge enhancement (hardly a problem on BCI, though), it's progressive... To put it simple, Toei wins on every single area except the sharpness. The lack of sharpness is a big flaw, but all things considered Toei is a notably less bad option.
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Post by captainjoe »

No you're right. The BCI is shit compared to the Toei and I can live with the softness.
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Post by Shingster »

HungFist wrote:6. Toei really suffers from softness here, but look at the colours on BCI. A totall mess. There's red and pink spots or whatever those are everywhere. Toei wins.
It's called cross colouration and the BCI appears to be plagued by it.
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Post by captainjoe »

Shingster wrote:
HungFist wrote:6. Toei really suffers from softness here, but look at the colours on BCI. A totall mess. There's red and pink spots or whatever those are everywhere. Toei wins.
It's called cross colouration and the BCI appears to be plagued by it.
Now I know the technical term
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Post by saltysam »

but the toei has no english subs does it,which renders it pretty useless to me anyway :?
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You left off something.

Post by Linn »

HungFist wrote:The lack of sharpness is a big flaw, but all things considered Toei is a notably less bad option.
I'm not buying them anyway, so it doesn't matter much to me, but the Toei just looks really crappy in those caps. I'm sure there's a large difference with the film actually moving. But it would a be a constant bother for myself, moreso than the brightness of the BCI release.
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Post by HungFist »

Toei cover art scans (and additional caps) here:
https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... c&start=44
(forgot to link this before)

btw, there should be an HK Video release on its way sooner or later. Myself I couldn't care less but maybe someone else can.
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Post by HungFist »

"BCI’s transfer for Dragon Princess looks really good as it presents the film in its original aspect ratio, colors and flesh tones look faithfully reproduced and print damage is virtually nonexistent."
- http://10kbullets.com/reviews/d/dragon- ... rindhouse/

Clever, but they really should mention they're joking... oh wait, they're not.

(yeah, this is the same site that called Optimum's Azumi 2 transfer sharp)
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Post by EvaUnit02 »

HungFist wrote: colors and flesh tones look faithfully reproduced and print damage is virtually nonexistent."
- http://10kbullets.com/reviews/d/dragon- ... rindhouse/
They didn't get memo:- Japanese are supposed to have red skin like on Criterion DVDs; they're not meant to be paler than gingers.
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Post by HungFist »

Actually those caps look even brighter than I'd expected them to. Either they're fucked or I somehow managed to avoid all those scenes. I'll be updating this post with a matching cap in 5 min

EDIT: yes, their cap is
1) brightness boosted
2) taken in de-interlace mode

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v716/ ... DPGDPD.jpg
(my cap taken with powerdvd)
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Post by EvaUnit02 »

What do you normally take caps with?
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Post by HungFist »

powerdvd(6)
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Post by EvaUnit02 »

HungFist wrote:powerdvd(6)
It'd be much easier using Lourdes's method, believe me. Once you've experienced frame-by-frame navigation, you'll never go back.
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Post by HungFist »

EvaUnit02 wrote:
HungFist wrote:powerdvd(6)
It'd be much easier using Lourdes's method, believe me. Once you've experienced frame-by-frame navigation, you'll never go back.
I guess I should try it some time (at least if I'm posting caps to your or Lordes's comparison as I know there's a difference in brightness between the two methods (although nothing like the Dragon Princess caps))
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Re:

Post by HungFist »

HungFist wrote:
Later on there’s a new scene in the US version, edited in in true grindhouse fashion. After the party scene around 50 min (first cap) it cuts to a new disco scene, which later turns into a sex scene, all with groovy disco/porno music on the soundtrack. This scene is obviously lifted from some other movie. I guess there wasn’t enough boobs in the original version...

Yasuki Kurata is having fun..
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till suddenly...
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who are these people?
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To answer my question, the girl is Kumi Taguchi and the movie is Akira Kato's 1975 Roman Porno film Tokyo Emmanuelle. It only took me a decade to find out. I just watched the movie (Tokyo Emmanuelle) and immediately realized I've seen this scene before.
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Re: Dragon Princess: R1 vs R2J

Post by HungFist »

Added Toei Channel (TV) (2020) broadcasting to the comparison.

A few more Toei Channel screencaps

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Killer Meteor
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Re: Dragon Princess: R1 vs R2J

Post by Killer Meteor »

I hope this gets a BD release from Arrow at some point!
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