Japan Blu-ray movies

[Prasad]

Hi

Does anyone know which BD movies are availble in Japan (with English subtitles atleast) which are not availble in US. Please help me out as my friend is coming to US from there next week.

thanks
Prasad

[lgans316]

1) 30~50% of the Animation flicks feature English subs - though many of them are not released in the U.S they are prohibitively expensive.
2) Transporter Twin Pack - though released in U.S, the Japan version is uncut and features a slightly superior video encode with a nice selection of extras.
3) Danny the Dog aka Unleashed - though released in the U.S on HD DVD, the Japan version is unrated and features a slightly superior encode with a decent selection of extras.
4) Kung Fu Hustle - U.S (cut) vs Japan (uncut)
5) The Island - Doesn't feature English menu I guess
6) Zodiac - like many Warner titles features English menu (if BD menu language in your player is set to English)
7) Cinderella Man - features English subtitles but not SDH/HoH [So consider importing the U.K or AUS version]
8) Air Force One - features English subtitles but not SDH/HoH [So consider importing the U.K or AUS version]
9) Hollywood land - features English subtitles but not SDH/HoH [So consider importing the U.K or AUS version]
10) Biohazard (Resident Evil) Trilogy - Part 2 received a new encode from Sony. No info about availability of English SDH/HoH or English Menu.
11) Ronin - average PQ & SQ
12) My Super Ex-Girl Friend (MPEG-2, BD-25)
13) Species - different encode (AVC, BD-25)
14) Dodgeball (MPEG-2, BD-25)

There are other titles like Phantom of the Opera, Eternal Sunshine, Babel, Sahara (wrong aspect ratio), U-571 (wrong aspect ratio) etc that features superior encode than the U.S version but they don't feature English subtitles which is a norm for titles released by GAGA.

[HumanMedia]

Originally Posted by Prasad

Hi

Does anyone know which BD movies are availble in Japan (with English subtitles atleast) which are not availble in US. Please help me out as my friend is coming to US from there next week.

thanks
Prasad

Hopefully this should help:

http://www.releaselists.com/BLURAYIn...lReleased.html

[krylonman]

There are also a couple of MGM/Fox releases that were announced but never released here; I've got 'Ronin' and 'To Live and Die in L.A.' myself. Unfortunately neither one of these is really worth the hefty import price; they're both MPEG-2 transfers that look to have been made a lot earlier than the discs were released. They have the same look as the U.S. 'Transporter' BD and, I imagine, other earlier Fox titles--a little washed out, a little fuzzy. ('To Live and Die in L.A.' also has a soundtrack that really shows its age, so don't get it for an upgrade in that department.) They're still both a big step up from the DVDs, of course, but unless money is no object I'd recommend waiting to see if they get better treatment when they're eventually released here.

Sony has a pretty good BD of 'Trainspotting;' it's not an amazing-looking movie, but it's solid enough and packed with features. Beyond that and the ones mentioned above I can't think of anything else from Japan...I wonder if they'll end up releasing an uncut version of 'Kill Bill Vol. 1' when we get the R-rated version, though, the way they did on DVD.

(P.S. English subtitles are indeed few and far between on these things, it seems, but they don't skimp on the English-language soundtracks at all; same lossless sound you'd get if they were U.S. Sony/Fox releases.)


Edit: I'm sorry, I didn't see your note about English subtitles being a prerequisite. I'm afraid I don't know for sure with these ones, although if you were only interested in subs for Japanese-language films, full steam ahead!

[quexos]

Originally Posted by Prasad

Hi

Does anyone know which BD movies are availble in Japan (with English subtitles atleast) which are not availble in US. Please help me out as my friend is coming to US from there next week.

thanks
Prasad

I would assume that if it is American movies that they would have an English track on them, not just subtitles.

[Konrad]

Originally Posted by lgans316

There are other titles like Phantom of the Opera, Eternal Sunshine, Babel, Sahara (wrong aspect ratio), U-571 (wrong aspect ratio) etc that features superior encode than the U.S version but they don't feature English subtitles which is a norm for titles released by GAGA.

Well, they all have English language audio tracks so the subs are not really necessary - except maybe for U-571 which has also some German dialogue for which English subtitles are not available (sometimes there are 'fixed' subtitles for foreign language parts in English language movies, it is not the case here).

The Japanese release of Phantom of the Opera is by far the best worldwide with both PCM 5.1 and DTHD 5.1 audio options. Warner gave the domestic US blu-ray release only plain Dolby Digital. If you love this film and love the music this is the release to have.

I can also recommend The Producers, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lonely Hearts, Almost Famous, Innocence.

[Xerios]

Can anyone verifiy if One Piece (anime) will be released on blu-ray in japan?

[Sky_Captain]

I wouldn't even want to guess how much that would cost IF true.

[jd213]

They didn't even release the Chopper movie from this year on Blu, I was sad But I'm sure One Piece will come eventually. Not sure if the earlier seasons done in SD will be released or not, but if so they'd have to be upscales. And the first 50 or so DVDs use composite masters And I'm not sure if component masters exist, as you can see rainbows/dotcrawl even when they re-use 1st season footage in fairly recent episodes.

[jd213]

Speak of the devil...

http://www.mania.com/aodvb/showthread.php?t=85315

Just the Alabasta movie for now, but it's a start.