The Madman Asian Eastern Eye/Director's Suite Thread!

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 09 Nov 2006, 19:13

Brad, Matt = Shingster. I don't know his last name

Knetan · Post by **Knetan** » 09 Nov 2006, 19:20

hey,

http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/index.php?pag ... wer=100164

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 09 Nov 2006, 20:25

Ahh, cheers

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 09 Nov 2006, 21:09

Thanks Knetan.

I pity the guy, he appears to be saddled with reviewing a copious amount of shit anime titles from tired and childish rubbish sub-genres like harem sex comedies and vapid shonen fan service-laden junk. Samurai Champloo should be a great title though, if Cowboy Bebop's awesomeness is anything to go by.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 Nov 2006, 00:27

EvaUnit02 wrote:I would suggest Ong-bak, but that will just reopen that old can of worms that would again produce endless bitching from certain individuals.

Hmmmm. Their release Akira is NTSC-PAL but features both the old 1990 Streamline dub (which is otherwise only on old VHS copies) and the 2001 Pioneer/Geneon dub. The Streamline dub does features legendary voice actors like Cam Clarke as Tetsuo (His voice can be heard literally everywhere). Not that I or most people care, both those dubs suck IMO.

EvaUnit02 wrote:BTW Hidden R4 has been out for like a month now.

Their Ghost in the Shell SE is the best release out there (for English speakers). Native-PAL transfer, Japanese DTS and DD5.1. All R2UK releases of the are NTSC-PAL junk with only Japanese stereo tracks.

The R1 SE is near identical but look at all the audio tracks:-
Japanese DTS-ES 6.1
English DTS-ES 6.1
Japanese Dolby Digital EX 5.1
English Dolby Digital EX 5.1
French Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
German Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo

Vs. the R4 SE's selection:-
Japanese DTS 5.1
Japanese DD-EX 5.1
English DD-EX 5.1

All those audio tracks on the R1 SE have got to negatively affect the quality somehow. Also the initial batches of the R1 SE had broken .LFE channels on the DTS tracks, appears to be fixed by now but you never know what luck of the draw you'll have.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 10 Nov 2006, 01:09

grim_tales wrote:When 2 DVDs are *about* the same but one is much cheaper I'll get the cheaper one - whats wrong with that Shingster? Smile

Absolutely nothing, price is an important factor when deciding which title you want to buy, it should not be used as a factor in determining which is the best.

memetic wrote:I think everyone has valid opinions, but I think it's a mistake (and ironic) to use technical credentials to precede a "case in point" involving an entirely subjective issue of colour saturation. Most commercial market punters probably would like their colour saturation boosted but it just comes down to what one prefers. Any argument to try say increased colour saturation is more correct or faithful to the original film stock is pointless and a "complete waste of everyone's time! "

I agree with what you say memetic, but the point I so badly got across is that when you say this transfer is better than that, you should at least say why & site examples. I say Brad has zero insight because he just says "I prefer X release" or "X release looks better to me". Completely uninformative and useless comments.

It's particularly annoying as a DVDreviewer when you spend hours going through a transfer & comparing it to another DVD release, writing up a comparison review and arranging detailed screenshots to back up your criticisms and why you state one DVD is greater than the other, then someone ike Brad comes along and just says "I think the other one looks better".

EvaUnit02 wrote:I pity the guy, he appears to be saddled with reviewing a copious amount of shit anime titles from tired and childish rubbish sub-genres like harem sex comedies and vapid shonen fan service-laden junk. Samurai Champloo should be a great title though, if Cowboy Bebop's awesomeness is anything to go by.

I pity you as well, because you obviously can't read properly. That list has many films in it, and I've only handled 5 "fan service" laden shounen shows (Popotan, Ikkitousen, Mahoromatic, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, & Ai Yori Aoshi: Enishi)

I joined DVDtimes in order to take on those Anime titles. The editor of the site is a good friend of mine and he was having a hard time getting reviewers to take on Anime titles & the review copies were piling up. Some of the shows I've covered can be classed as vapid, but I have also covered some excellent shows, like Gungrave, Full Metal Alchemist, Hajime no Ippo & Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 Nov 2006, 01:19

Shingster wrote:Absolutely nothing, price is an important factor when deciding which title you want to buy, it should not be used as a factor in determining which is the best.

I don't. I've not mentioned price once in post 1 of this thread, not once at all.

If however two DVDs are essentially or the same then price has to be a factor, as what's left?

I agree with what you say memetic, but the point I so badly got across is that when you say this transfer is better than that, you should at least say why & site examples. I say Brad has zero insight because he just says "I prefer X release" or "X release looks better to me". Completely uninformative and useless comments.

Ah that does make much more sense. You're missing the ENTIRE point of the thread, it's a spot check not the definitive answer. You'd think that was obvious when I put naff all actual "detail" into the list.

I'd expect the viewer to then find out why. It would get very confusing and cluttered if I wrote why for every title. It's the same as the idea behind DVD Compare. Which I know many hate but I personally find useful, as a quick spot check (again not the definitive answer).

For the record I do find the comparison screenshots ridiculously too small, why are they this size?

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 10 Nov 2006, 01:27

bradavon wrote:Ah that does make much more sense. You're missing the ENTIRE point of the thread, it's a spot check not the definitive answer. You'd think that was obvious when I put naff all actual "detail" into the list.

All this week you've been telling people that the Madman Kitano releases are the best releases in the world, across different forums & then linking to this thread as further proof. Whether the intention is there or not, you were using this thread as a definitive comparison across the regions.

For the record I do find the comparison screenshots ridiculously too small, why are they this size?

Depends on the reviewer, I personally provide smallish thumbnails that can be clicked for the full res versions. Noel Megahy prefers to stick to around 400-450pixels width. You can't really go any higher than that without using thumbnails, as it effects the layout of the page for readers with lower viewing resolutions.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 Nov 2006, 01:30

Good point Thumbnails then please 8)

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 10 Nov 2006, 10:57

Fair enough Shingster, you're right about price being an important factor, in the case of Kwaidan the R4/MoC releases seemed about the same to me, both were uncut, from the same master, but since the R4 was much cheaper I went for that

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 10 Nov 2006, 23:35

EvaUnit02 wrote:All those audio tracks on the R1 SE have got to negatively affect the quality somehow. Also the initial batches of the R1 SE had broken .LFE channels on the DTS tracks, appears to be fixed by now but you never know what luck of the draw you'll have.

The film is only 80 minutes that leaves plenty of room on a DVD-9 for lots of dubs.

I'll add it.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 11 Nov 2006, 07:00

Shingster wrote:and I've only handled 5 "fan service" laden shounen shows (Popotan, Ikkitousen, Mahoromatic, Daphne in the Brilliant Blue, & Ai Yori Aoshi: Enishi) ...

Some of the shows I've covered can be classed as vapid, but I have also covered some excellent shows, like Gungrave, Full Metal Alchemist, Hajime no Ippo & Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi.

The list of bad shows is longer and I wasn't counting the films.

I did find Abenobashi torturous to sit through, but then again I did only have access to ADV's awful dub. I imagine that I'd be just as awful with the original Japanese track. IMO Gainax tried to reproduce FLCL and failed miserably.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 11 Nov 2006, 18:10

Wow, I've covered Anime shows you consider crap, damn! I really should give up writing reviews, coz heaven forbid I actually have to review a crap title now and then!

Abenobashi is very similar to FLCL in terms of the story, but it's a far more referential spoof. ADV decided to interpret the Osakan dialect of the characters with southern american accents, so it is a very marmite English dub.

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 12 Nov 2006, 06:59

Shingster wrote:Wow, I've covered Anime shows you consider crap, damn! I really should give up writing reviews, coz heaven forbid I actually have to review a crap title now and then!

Would you quit putting words in mouth. I was just making observations which meant nothing, not soliciting advice. Do whatever the fuck you please, I don't give a fuck about what you do.

Shingster wrote:. ADV decided to interpret the Osakan dialect of the characters with southern american accents, so it is a very marmite English dub.

No shit Sherlock. We all know that Osakans are viewed as "country bumpkins" and/or blue collar.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 12 Nov 2006, 18:54

Ok, I've taken this thread off topic enough already, so I'm not going to reply to any of your posts here anymore. Besides, every second I take conversing with someone like you is a second I've totally wasted. You're not worth my or anyone else's time.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 12 Nov 2006, 18:57

Back on topic I forgot to mention I've added "Ghost in the Shell" to the front page. A lame excuse I know to try and bring the thread back on topic

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 26 Nov 2006, 13:33

Madman have acquired the rights to a number of Seijun Suzuki films, including Branded to Kill and Youth of the Beast. I wonder how their releases will stand next to the Criterions?

BTW Brad, their GITS1 SE is only a 1-discer (I can confirm this as I own it).

Their GITS2:Innocence release is a 2-discer though and is worth noting. Two extra Aussie exclusive ~10 minute interviews absent from the UK 2-discer, non-intrusive layer change (the UK layer-change flips a word of dialogue on some players, not noticeable on the original Jap track, but it is while playing the dub track). It is missing the Japanese DTS track though, which is available on the UK 2-discer (unforgivable in my books Madman, I issued you the middle-finger while I bought the UK release).

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 26 Nov 2006, 14:37

EvaUnit02 wrote:Madman have acquired the rights to a number of Seijun Suzuki films, including Branded to Kill and Youth of the Beast. I wonder how their releases will stand next to the Criterions?

It's a mixed call it seems, sometimes Criterion and sometimes Madman. Eureka with their MOC range are worth keeping and eye on too.

EvaUnit02 wrote:BTW Brad, their GITS1 SE is only a 1-discer (I can confirm this as I own it).

Cheers I'll correct it. The Madman site says 2 discs

p.s - In the Realm of the Senses and The Eel added, thanks again Eva. Do you know if The Eel is anamorphic?

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 26 Nov 2006, 18:46

Can we please get rid of the following for Spiral please

ArtsMagic have the UK rights, review here. The R4 wins for offering both DD5.1 and DTS; the UK R2 has more extras but is only DD2.0. Shame the film is supposed to be utter drivel, strange choice therefore for DTS. Universal have the US right but nothing more is known, see here.

The movie isn't that bad, if you looking for another Ringu, then of course, you will say it crap, however as a progression from Ringu, it is a really good movie. I had done a mini review on https://www.bulletsnbabesdvd.com/forums/ ... ight=ringu

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 27 Nov 2006, 00:07

bradavon wrote:Do you know if The Eel is anamorphic?

Yah.

The Dreamworks R1 of Spiral (released under the Japanese title Rasen) is only available in a boxset ("Ringu Anthology of Terror") with the other Japanese Ringu films AFAIK.

Brad, it's worth noting that the film is also known as Rasen. Please make a note of GITS2 as well.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 27 Nov 2006, 08:30

The Dreamworks R1 of Spiral (released under the Japanese title Rasen) is only available in a boxset ("Ringu Anthology of Terror") with the other Japanese Ringu films AFAIK.

Yup it true Eva, and the link I provided gives a mini review from that boxset

EvaUnit02 · Post by **EvaUnit02** » 27 Nov 2006, 09:42

I never bothered seeing Rasen or Ringu 0, as Ringu 2 was absolutely dire.

Shingster · Post by **Shingster** » 27 Nov 2006, 10:30

Rasen's a lot worse than Ringu 2, but Ringu 0 is better - easily the best of the Ringu spin offs.

BiscLimpkit · Post by **BiscLimpkit** » 27 Nov 2006, 10:57

Ok, assuming I'm a complete idiot, could someone please list the Ringu/Rasen/The Ring films from best to worst please? Thanks.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 27 Nov 2006, 12:14

Shingster wrote:Rasen's a lot worse than Ringu 2, but Ringu 0 is better - easily the best of the Ringu spin offs.

Really?? Mmm to me I prefer Rasen over Ringu 2. Ringu 2 towards the end was getting a bit tiring, but Rasen followed up Ringu perfectly

...
How comes you didn't like it Shingster, was it because it was completely different from the 1st movie?