Armored Trooper Votoms comparison

[Vintrus]

Hi I was wondering if anyone had done a side by side comparison between the USA and JP version of Armored Trooper Votoms. The three biggest changes I can see on the face is the
us version
[TV Series - 4:3 , SD] Episodes 1-52, Recap Compilations (x6) • [OVA - 4:3 , SD] Last Red Shoulder, Big Battle, Origin of Ambition, Brilliantly Shining Heresy (Eps. 1-5), Pailsen Files (Eps. 1-12) • [OVA - HD] Genei ~ Phantom Arc (Eps. 1-6), Case; IRVINE, VOTOMS FINDER, Chirico's Return
price around 50usd
JP
Everything is HD
No subs
price around 579.77usd

thanks
James

[Noir Black Schwarz]

Wouldn't the best release to buy be the complete collection on Rightstuf? It includes the entire series and ovas/movies.

[chronoclast]

Originally Posted by Noir Black Schwarz

Wouldn't the best release to buy be the complete collection on Rightstuf? It includes the entire series and ovas/movies.

The US complete collection has the TV series and most of the OVAs in 480p standard definition as listed above.

The OP is asking about the Japanese BD Perfect Soldier box set released last year that had all of it except Brilliantly Shining Heresy remastered in HD.

[Gowho]

To clarify, Brilliantly Shining Heresy is included but it's a Q-Tec FORS upscale.

Also the Japanese set has Armor Hunter Mellowlink and the movie version of Pailsen Files, neither of which are on the US releases.

[Vintrus]

Looks like to my disappointment I am going for the USA version mainly due to budgetary reasons paying 10x or more for the jp version doesn't seem worth it it to me even for the HD improvement.

[Saturn2888]

Originally Posted by Vintrus

Looks like to my disappointment I am going for the USA version mainly due to budgetary reasons paying 10x or more for the jp version doesn't seem worth it it to me even for the HD improvement.

It was worth it for me. I really enjoyed watching this series, but the $800+ cost is hefty for sure.

At least it wasn't just one show. It's everything including the OVAs. Everything was converted to HD, rescanned, regarded, etc except Brilliantly Shining Heresy.

This was one of the most expensive sets I've bought. Definitely not something I wanna buy everyday. The other would be Fafner (similarly priced). It wasn't the whole series, but it's the only one that came with a 4K disc of one of the movies.

There was an extra minute of footage that wasn't known about by anyone in the English-speaking community. I had to get my Japanese friend to help translate since no translated copy had subs available. I only noticed because the subs were in sync at the beginning of the video and outta sync later on while I was clicking through.

[Ajc228]

Originally Posted by Vintrus

Hi I was wondering if anyone had done a side by side comparison between the USA and JP version of Armored Trooper Votoms. The three biggest changes I can see on the face is the
us version
[TV Series - 4:3 , SD] Episodes 1-52, Recap Compilations (x6) • [OVA - 4:3 , SD] Last Red Shoulder, Big Battle, Origin of Ambition, Brilliantly Shining Heresy (Eps. 1-5), Pailsen Files (Eps. 1-12) • [OVA - HD] Genei ~ Phantom Arc (Eps. 1-6), Case; IRVINE, VOTOMS FINDER, Chirico's Return
price around 50usd
JP
Everything is HD
No subs
price around 579.77usd

thanks

James

I wonder why Sentai wasn’t given access to the remastered HD material. The SD transfer looks rough

[Saturn2888]

I'm not sure either. It's not uncommon though for other shows like Re:ZERO's Memory Snow which is only 5.1 audio on the limited edition JP box set. Ask me how I found that out...

It could've also been timing.

If you guys still want comparison shots, gimme some timecodes. I still have both versions.

[mjk]

IIRC, the Japanese release came out several years after Sentai's release. If Sentai lets the rights expire for it and somebody else swoops in, the new version will likely be based on the HD remaster. That said how is the Japanese release? I've noticed that a lot of JP releases have really have really heavy-handed degrading. Is that the case here?

[Gowho]

Originally Posted by Ajc228

I wonder why Sentai wasn’t given access to the remastered HD material. The SD transfer looks rough

Because there was no HD remaster at the time. Keep in mind that they licensed the show in 2018 while the Japanese Blu-ray Box was announced in October 2020 for release in February 2021.

Same goes for Xabungle.