Millennium Actress (2001) from Anime Limited

[professorwho]

Just announced.

Originally Posted by NormanicGrav

I've been told this release will be a 4K SDR type, which may disappoint folks.

[Geoff D]

Another £50 job?

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Another £50 job?

No clue. It has been DNR'd, but nowhere near as bad as Akira.

Pricing should be revealed soon, I'd assume.

[SpazeBlue]

Originally Posted by professorwho

No clue. It has been DNR'd, but nowhere near as bad as Akira.

Does it look better than the Shout blu? I got that back in December when it came out, (first anime purchase ,) but I would buy the 4K version too if it's an upgrade.

[Godzilla360]

Originally Posted by Geoff D

Another £50 job?

Probably. It's packaged similarly to Weathering with you, which IIRC was $78 to preorder. I'm assuming it will be in the $70-$90 price range.

[Yami]

Incredible news. Firstly because it's Millennium Actress. Secondly because it seems that AL see 4K UHD as an economically viable format going forward from what seemed like a nervous toe dip in the water with their limited release of Weathering With You.

[professorwho]

The 4K disc is being done by MediaOCD/Justin Sevakis, so we’re in good hands- should be no compression issues at all.

[qw0aszx]

Saw the 4K DCP in this year's Shanghai Film Festival, I actually think the DNR on Millennium Actress is heavier than Akira 4K restoration on several parts. I doubt how much improvements on detail would be in UHD. I'll still get this set though (hope Anime Ltd could include the new interviews from Shout and all old extras including that audio commentary), but I should keep the Taiwan blu-ray for the old HD transfer.

[Dailyan]

That's a surprise! I'd love if "Perfect Blue" got an UHD as well even with it's less-than-ideal source element (and highly potential DNR) it could still benefit from a fresh scan at the very least.

[silverlakephil]

Sweet. I considered buying the Blu-ray recently, so I’m glad I hesitated. I’m a recent Satoshi Kon fan and I’m waiting for Paprika and Tokyo Godfathers to show up in the mail. Hopefully this is a trend for future UHD releases of his films.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

That's a surprise! I'd love if "Perfect Blue" got an UHD as well even with it's less-than-ideal source element (and highly potential DNR) it could still benefit from a fresh scan at the very least.

I would love for it to happen as well, but the chances of it happening are incredibly slim. The original camera negative was accidently damaged or destroyed, and thus for the BDs, they had to use a lesser element (not sure if it was an IP or release print, even). Now, I've read conflicting reports on what elements still exist, so if the JP license holders get their sh*t together, perhaps we'll see a 25th anniversary UHD in 2022.

If anyone wants to buy Perfect Blue, the older UK Blu-ray from Anime Limited is the best release. The "remastered" Blu-ray they released in that overpriced box set, which GKids used for their release is a DNR disaster. Don't believe the site's review saying "Perfect Blue has never looked better on home media."

(Satoshi Kon is the Sergio Leone of anime, in that all his films/works have a messy home video history with no absolutely perfect release, save for the Manga UK BD of Paprika, only because it's a digitally made film whose original source files still exist)

[AreaFive]

Nice!

[Rusty100]

For a moment this made me hope for a Perfect Blue 4k but then I remembered what the more recent masters looked like. I hope this one looks okay, but if it's less DNR than Akira is should be alright.

[professorwho]

The 4K restoration here was first put out on Blu-ray by Shout Factory late last year. Here's some screencaps from it so you can see what it looks like without any spoilers;







Album of screencaps (major spoilers there, so be aware)

Is it perfect? Nope. But there actually is film grain here, which is a plus. The last shot there, and that scene as a whole in the film is the worst looking part of the restoration. Even at the cinema it stood out as being heavily DNR'd. Thankfully, it is the only part of the film which is like the Akira restoration, as the rest is far better- obviously DNR'd, but there's good detail and some grain in darker areas.

I have the Japanese Blu-ray as well, which uses the an restoration, so I'll take screencaps of it down the road.

[qw0aszx]

Originally Posted by professorwho

The 4K restoration here was first put out on Blu-ray by Shout Factory late last year. Here's some screencaps from it so you can see what it looks like without any spoilers;

Took five screenshots from the Taiwan BD, which is sourced from the old HD transfer, you can compare them and clearly tell DNR and possible some digital sharpening were applied to the 4K restored source:




For Perfect Blue or Akira, those old HD sources was done years back, probably telecine transfers. Some limitations from those transfers can be easily improved by fresh modern scans. I always think the old Akira HD transfer looks digital sharpened and the new 4K restoration improves on that. However DNR destroyed some details and made many soft and out of focus shots (caused by the cinematography stage back when they made it I think?) much more evident. However, the old scan of Millennium Actress looks already decent for my eyes, so a new scan didn't provide much improvement for me, not to say it was DNR'd.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by qw0aszx

Took five screenshots from the Taiwan BD, which is sourced from the old HD transfer, you can compare them and clearly tell DNR and possible some digital sharpening were applied to the 4K restored source:

For Perfect Blue or Akira, those old HD sources was done years back, probably telecine transfers. Some limitations from those transfers can be easily improved by fresh modern scans. I always think the old Akira HD transfer looks digital sharpened and the new 4K restoration improves on that. However DNR destroyed some details and made many soft and out of focus shots (caused by the cinematography stage back when they made it I think?) much more evident. However, the old scan of Millennium Actress looks already decent for my eyes, so a new scan didn't provide much improvement for me, not to say it was DNR'd.

For convenience, I downloaded your caps and made this comparison here;

https://slow.pics/c/5HvnKZt5

(JP/TW left, US right)

There appears to be no additional detail, but it doesn't have the over-processed look of the 4K restoration of Akira to my eyes. It's been obviously DNR'd, and I definetly do prefer the older BD, but the DNR has been applied here at least competently like Space Adventure Cobra (that has more detail over the 1080p BDs because it was restored by humans and not an automated program coughQ-Teccough even with zero film grain at all). Maybe there will be more detail on the UHD itself, but until it's out, I have no clue. I'm buying it regardless because it's one of the best movies about movies ever made, and it'll show support for Anime Limited to release UHDs in the UK.

[Rusty100]

Originally Posted by professorwho

The 4K restoration here was first put out on Blu-ray by Shout Factory late last year. Here's some screencaps from it so you can see what it looks like without any spoilers;

[Show spoiler]

Album of screencaps (major spoilers there, so be aware)

Is it perfect? Nope. But there actually is film grain here, which is a plus. The last shot there, and that scene as a whole in the film is the worst looking part of the restoration. Even at the cinema it stood out as being heavily DNR'd. Thankfully, it is the only part of the film which is like the Akira restoration, as the rest is far better- obviously DNR'd, but there's good detail and some grain in darker areas.

I have the Japanese Blu-ray as well, which uses the an restoration, so I'll take screencaps of it down the road.

Man, I dunno, this looks way worse wacked with the DNR stick than Akira was to me. Viewed in motion Akira does have some noise futzing about. This just looks a bit nuked to me.

[Kyle15]

I'd say it does look worse than Akira. Makes Ghost in The Shell look border untampered to boot.

[Rusty100]

Dunno what to say other than I think the image on the right looks quite a bit worse.
And definitely worse than Akira's 4k.

[professorwho]

To be fair, I don't own the 4K Akira, but from the screencaps, the 4K restoration here looks far better, as it actually retains grain and has equal detail levels to the 1080p disc, unlike Akira... again from screenshots. I know people have been saying that there's grain/noise in Akira, but I just don't see it, while I clearly can here with Millennium Actress.