Robotech_Master
08-20-2006, 12:38 AM
Got the DVD in the mail today from RightStuf; they shipped it early. Opened it up and took some looks. At first all seemed pretty good--great extras, wonderful anamorphic video quality on the main feature--but late in my viewing I found some stuff that's going to get people really ticked off.
First off, looking at the outside of the box:
Back cover blurb has been condensed from the prior Manga version; Protoculture Addicts quote has been replaced with "...Clever and charming mix of romance, comedy, adventure and action that keeps viewer hooked...not to be missed!" --DVDTalk.com
Also keeps the Spielberg "one of the greatest adventure movies of all time" reference.
Special Features: [from the back of the box, with my snarkiness in brackets]
Digitally Remastered [one of those meaningless phrases that means whatever you want it to]
Widescreen Presentation enhanced for 16x9 TVs [YES!!!]
In English, Japanese, Spanish (Castillan), French and Japanese with English Subtitles [Japanese, French, and Spanish are mono; English comes in 2.0 and 5.1 flavors. Yes, it's still the Manga Video dub in both cases]
Complete Animatic: Storyboards with Feature Soundtrack [in 4:3 ratio]
Interview with Animation Director Yasuo Ohtsuka [25 minutes long(!), in 4:3 ratio]
Photo Gallery [actually a misnomer; there are no "photos" in it, just line drawings and framegrabs/paintings]
Japanese Trailers [there is actually just the one Japanese trailer, in 4:3]
Motion Menus [if that can be considered an extra. All menus are in 16:9.]Below the credits listing, there's a note that the movie "Contains Mild Language. Parental Guidance Suggested." (I can hear all the Miyazaki mailing list people cringing from here. :))
I slipped the jacket off, opened the disc. Was mildly surprised and then quite amused to find the first 2-sided "flipper" DVD I've seen on a newly-released movie in quite some time. (Too cheap to spring for two discs and a 2-disc case, eh Manga?) Apart from the disc, and an "other titles from Manga Video" card, there is no liner insert.
I looked at the extras on Side B first. The main Extras menu was Lupin against the brick wall with spotlights panning over him. The Extras Features menu is Lupin looking at the castle as animated fireworks go off in the background. Apart from the previously-mentioned extras, there is also a section of trailers for other Manga DVDs on the extras side. The trailer is interesting; it features mainly action scenes, music, and very little dialogue, and often what dialogue there is is different from the movie. It ends with a notice saying that Lupin vs the Clones would be showing simultaneously.
The interview was interesting, though it ranged a bit far afield from Cagliostro, and the interviewer hadn't done his homework on Ohtsuka before doing it--he didn't know that Ohtsuka had done the first Lupin TV series before doing Cagliostro. It's probably overly simplistic to say that Ohtsuka came across as a mildly crotchety old man who didn't think the Japanese animation industry in these days was as good as it had been in his, but that's the impression I got from my first viewing.
Flipped the disc over (what a novelty!) and gave the main side a spin. The main menu is rather silly, it starts with a big "The Castle of Cagliostro" logo appearing, then Lupin's car bursting through it scattering the letters in all directions. We are then treated to cardboard cutouts of Lupin's car, Zenigata's car, and the Count's autogyro (backward!) moving randomly around against a background of the castle, with the occasional burst of gunfire appearing at random. It's all very silly, but on the other hand it looks approximately 300% better than that "Lupin climbing" thing on the main menu of Manga's prior version.
The audio menu is a close-up of the rings, with animated glints of light on them. The scene selection menu is Lupin in his Zenigata outfit gripping the corners of that ceiling panel, with three of the other panels cut out and used to display animated clips from the scenes in them.
Watched a bit of the movie. It starts with the Manga logo as before, but instead of the old familiar scintillating TMS logo from Manga's prior release, there is a brand new CGI logo with dolphins sliding down a rainbow. Pretty neat, and kind of unexpected. The picture quality is great. The dub is the same old Manga dub, not bad but too many bad words. Wasn't really able to listen to the 5.1 at full volume (neighbors), but it sounded all right; with the rear surrounds seeing some use for music and sound effects but most of the action on the front soundstage. Picture quality was impressive; I've never seen Cagliostro look this good.
Or so I said on my first look. Then someone asked me if they'd kept the hard-subtitled overlay on the sign inside the hood of the car, and hard-subtitled title overlay on the opening credits, which part I hadn't watched yet. So I went ahead and put the DVD back in again to check.
Well, the sign on the hood of the car is not matted. And technically, neither is the opening credits. But when I watched the opening credits...
...
I was left speechless. ABSOLUTELY FRICKING SPEECHLESS.
They replaced the gorgeous animated opening sequence, of Lupin and Jigen driving across the countryside...
...with a series of STILL FRAMES from that sequence, with English credits superimposed over them.
Bloody hell. Even Macek at least kept the sequences somewhat animated. And this after Manga had keptthe animated, Japanese-kanji titles on their previous Cagliostro DVD release and just ran the credits at the end. (And they still do run the credits at the end on this release! Why they mucked with the title sequence this time after doing it at least mostly properly last time is anybody's guess.)
Let the defenestration commence.
First off, looking at the outside of the box:
Back cover blurb has been condensed from the prior Manga version; Protoculture Addicts quote has been replaced with "...Clever and charming mix of romance, comedy, adventure and action that keeps viewer hooked...not to be missed!" --DVDTalk.com
Also keeps the Spielberg "one of the greatest adventure movies of all time" reference.
Special Features: [from the back of the box, with my snarkiness in brackets]
Digitally Remastered [one of those meaningless phrases that means whatever you want it to]
Widescreen Presentation enhanced for 16x9 TVs [YES!!!]
In English, Japanese, Spanish (Castillan), French and Japanese with English Subtitles [Japanese, French, and Spanish are mono; English comes in 2.0 and 5.1 flavors. Yes, it's still the Manga Video dub in both cases]
Complete Animatic: Storyboards with Feature Soundtrack [in 4:3 ratio]
Interview with Animation Director Yasuo Ohtsuka [25 minutes long(!), in 4:3 ratio]
Photo Gallery [actually a misnomer; there are no "photos" in it, just line drawings and framegrabs/paintings]
Japanese Trailers [there is actually just the one Japanese trailer, in 4:3]
Motion Menus [if that can be considered an extra. All menus are in 16:9.]Below the credits listing, there's a note that the movie "Contains Mild Language. Parental Guidance Suggested." (I can hear all the Miyazaki mailing list people cringing from here. :))
I slipped the jacket off, opened the disc. Was mildly surprised and then quite amused to find the first 2-sided "flipper" DVD I've seen on a newly-released movie in quite some time. (Too cheap to spring for two discs and a 2-disc case, eh Manga?) Apart from the disc, and an "other titles from Manga Video" card, there is no liner insert.
I looked at the extras on Side B first. The main Extras menu was Lupin against the brick wall with spotlights panning over him. The Extras Features menu is Lupin looking at the castle as animated fireworks go off in the background. Apart from the previously-mentioned extras, there is also a section of trailers for other Manga DVDs on the extras side. The trailer is interesting; it features mainly action scenes, music, and very little dialogue, and often what dialogue there is is different from the movie. It ends with a notice saying that Lupin vs the Clones would be showing simultaneously.
The interview was interesting, though it ranged a bit far afield from Cagliostro, and the interviewer hadn't done his homework on Ohtsuka before doing it--he didn't know that Ohtsuka had done the first Lupin TV series before doing Cagliostro. It's probably overly simplistic to say that Ohtsuka came across as a mildly crotchety old man who didn't think the Japanese animation industry in these days was as good as it had been in his, but that's the impression I got from my first viewing.
Flipped the disc over (what a novelty!) and gave the main side a spin. The main menu is rather silly, it starts with a big "The Castle of Cagliostro" logo appearing, then Lupin's car bursting through it scattering the letters in all directions. We are then treated to cardboard cutouts of Lupin's car, Zenigata's car, and the Count's autogyro (backward!) moving randomly around against a background of the castle, with the occasional burst of gunfire appearing at random. It's all very silly, but on the other hand it looks approximately 300% better than that "Lupin climbing" thing on the main menu of Manga's prior version.
The audio menu is a close-up of the rings, with animated glints of light on them. The scene selection menu is Lupin in his Zenigata outfit gripping the corners of that ceiling panel, with three of the other panels cut out and used to display animated clips from the scenes in them.
Watched a bit of the movie. It starts with the Manga logo as before, but instead of the old familiar scintillating TMS logo from Manga's prior release, there is a brand new CGI logo with dolphins sliding down a rainbow. Pretty neat, and kind of unexpected. The picture quality is great. The dub is the same old Manga dub, not bad but too many bad words. Wasn't really able to listen to the 5.1 at full volume (neighbors), but it sounded all right; with the rear surrounds seeing some use for music and sound effects but most of the action on the front soundstage. Picture quality was impressive; I've never seen Cagliostro look this good.
Or so I said on my first look. Then someone asked me if they'd kept the hard-subtitled overlay on the sign inside the hood of the car, and hard-subtitled title overlay on the opening credits, which part I hadn't watched yet. So I went ahead and put the DVD back in again to check.
Well, the sign on the hood of the car is not matted. And technically, neither is the opening credits. But when I watched the opening credits...
...
I was left speechless. ABSOLUTELY FRICKING SPEECHLESS.
They replaced the gorgeous animated opening sequence, of Lupin and Jigen driving across the countryside...
...with a series of STILL FRAMES from that sequence, with English credits superimposed over them.
Bloody hell. Even Macek at least kept the sequences somewhat animated. And this after Manga had keptthe animated, Japanese-kanji titles on their previous Cagliostro DVD release and just ran the credits at the end. (And they still do run the credits at the end on this release! Why they mucked with the title sequence this time after doing it at least mostly properly last time is anybody's guess.)
Let the defenestration commence.