Original Sin (1992) with English subtitles -- May 10th, 2024

[McCrutchy]

Happinet will release Takashi Ishii's Original Sin (死んでもいい) (1992) on May 10th, 2024. English subtitles are planned to be included for the main feature.

https://happinet-p.com/jp3/releases/HPXR-2516

[Takuma]

Fantastic news. I can retire my old DVD.

Now if someone could just re-release A Night in Nude because I missed the previous BD which is now going for silly prices.

Speaking of which, isn't it about time Ishii's neo noir films get UK / US releases? These are some of the best Japanese films of the 90s yet they didn't even get released on DVD in the UK / US with the exception of Gonin.

[Flack999]

Great news. Great film.
Hope to see "Freeze me" and "Alone in the Night" released some day as well. Than all the best Ishii films would be on Blu.
Very underrated director of some of the best 90s J-cinema.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Takuma

Now if someone could just re-release A Night in Nude because I missed the previous BD which is now going for silly prices.

Just added to Amazon and out June 5th, 2024:



It's not listed at Happinet yet, but when it is, it should be here:

https://happinet-p.com/jp3/releases/HPXR-2517

At least for the moment, there do not appear to be English subtitles included, which is a shame.

Apparently, the previous Kadokawa Blu-ray was 1080i (according to the back cover), but who knows what this Happinet disc will have. They mention the making of an HD master, but there does not seem to be any reference to a new remaster. You would hope a decade would bring an improved disc, but who knows.

[Takuma]

Fantastic news! I'm so getting this (unless as UK or US company manages to announce a release before this is out)!

[Takuma]

Originally Posted by McCrutchy

It's not listed at Happinet yet, but when it is, it should be here:

https://happinet-p.com/jp3/releases/HPXR-2517

The page is up!

And what's better, it says Alone in the Night and Angel Guts: Red Flash BDs are planned for July and August. Both are BD debuts! Red Flash wasn't even released on DVD before!

[Iron Grendel]

Originally Posted by Flack999

Hope to see "Freeze me" and "Alone in the Night" released some day as well. Than all the best Ishii films would be on Blu.

Extralucid Films plans to release Freeze Me on BD in France this year.

[Flack999]

Originally Posted by Iron Grendel

Extralucid Films plans to release Freeze Me on BD in France this year.

Wow, that is exciting news. I only have a horrid old UK Dvd for this.

[White Dang]

The subtitles are a nice surprise! I'm eagerly hoping some of his others will as well.

[McCrutchy]

Originally Posted by Takuma

The page is up!

And what's better, it says Alone in the Night and Angel Guts: Red Flash BDs are planned for July and August. Both are BD debuts! Red Flash wasn't even released on DVD before!

Alone in the Night is now available to pre-order:



https://happinet-p.com/jp3/releases/HPXR-2518

Once again, no subtitles are listed.

[Takuma]

Originally Posted by Takuma

Angel Guts: Red Flash

https://happinet-p.com/jp3/releases/hpxr-2519
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0D2LG3LML

[White Dang]

So, what makes Original Sin the only release to get the English subs?

And does anyone know of the cheapest place to order?

Thx

[Takuma]

Originally Posted by White Dang

So, what makes Original Sin the only release to get the English subs?

It's the only one that was subbed on DVD, so I guess they've just ported the existing subs.

[logboy]

Originally Posted by Takuma

It's the only one that was subbed on DVD, so I guess they've just ported the existing subs.

subs would be existing for lots of the later ishii films. don brown subtitled 'night in nude : salvation' and 'brutal hopelessness of love' i think ... believe maybe a few others. the subs were (iirc) used on the HK DVDs as the credit was given at the end, but they went out of print and i don't think blu-ray rereleases happened. HK doesn't seem to deal with physical media to that extent any more? anyway ...

https://donbrown.jp

... subtitles exist usually for international festivals, sales and all kinds of odd reasons i'm not that sure of because although i'm aware of don's work, it is just that and it goes on quietly and professionally then i might suddenly hear of a project that's finally showing somewhere or releasing.

english subtitles are ultimately just not desirable on japanese releases because that market doesn't print at quantities that are intended to support international buyers. if it happens, it's an oddity.

i can remember the makers of 'mind game' (masaaki yuasa) telling me they were surprised the japanese dvd had them on, and they were distraught as it's usually just a quick way to corrupt international distribution as the film's new and will likely get attention from illegal downloads of rips all too quickly.

[Rutger Lundgren]

Originally Posted by logboy

i can remember the makers of 'mind game' (masaaki yuasa) telling me they were surprised the japanese dvd had them on, and they were distraught as it's usually just a quick way to corrupt international distribution as the film's new and will likely get attention from illegal downloads of rips all too quickly.

I find this somewhat amusing, because for anime in particular you can usually expect multiple fansub options of good to great quality within hours of the original Japanese release, whether official subtitles are available or not.

[logboy]

Originally Posted by Rutger Lundgren

I find this somewhat amusing, because for anime in particular you can usually expect multiple fansub options of good to great quality within hours of the original Japanese release, whether official subtitles are available or not.

it's twenty years ago though. different times.

[Rutger Lundgren]

Originally Posted by logboy

it's twenty years ago though. different times.

Right, good point. But I would also expect that many of those arguments don't really hold water anymore. And going by the amount of Japanese releases with English subs that I'm finding on Amazon.co.jp lately - still not a lot, but beating my expectations - things are maybe improving a bit on that front.

[logboy]

Originally Posted by Rutger Lundgren

Right, good point. But I would also expect that many of those arguments don't really hold water anymore. And going by the amount of Japanese releases with English subs that I'm finding on Amazon.co.jp lately - still not a lot, but beating my expectations - things are maybe improving a bit on that front.

how many are you finding? i've always found a small handful. i stopped looking because they're so rare and were expensive even back then. i've probably had a dozen or two altogether. i've always been tempted to look into applying subtitles, especially as i have an oppo player that can synch them from files. however, the admin on subbed releases continues to be hard enough as it is.

[Rutger Lundgren]

Originally Posted by logboy

how many are you finding?

Between those that I'm considering buying and those that I've already bought, there are roughly 50 (not counting another 50 Tora-san films). But yes, importing them is not cheap.

[logboy]

Originally Posted by Rutger Lundgren

Between those that I'm considering buying and those that I've already bought, there are roughly 50 (not counting another 50 Tora-san films). But yes, importing them is not cheap.

i always thought they'd either be well-known directors with past exposure at festivals, or studios that had a draw internationally that maybe visitors / residents from the west might pick up to watch. shinoda, kitano, kore-eda all had subbed dvd releases in japan i think. ghibli releases did, and they were the first anywhere for the most part, prior to an explosion in interest but a long time after a still-significant number of people knew about them.

the general sense i always got was that it was connected to what japan had a sense was already of interest to international viewers. this might seem contradictory, but it's as though they knew english-speaking residents of japan would pick it up, or that festival-going viewers with prior knowledge of key output would want them. sometimes it was hard to see how a film would fit into these two, and it might have been an attempt (desperation?) to draw licensees in or make the most of a film and see if it made a difference in drawing any kind of attention from the outside world.