The Place Promised In Our Early Days - Which release to buy?

[callahan09]

It appears that the only English friendly releases of this film on blu-ray are a UK edition that also comes with a disc containing the separate short film "Voices of a Distant Star" and both films have not only English subtitles for the Japanese audio track, but contain English dubs as well. And the other release is a Hong Kong release which only contains the Japanese audio but does have English subtitles (and does NOT contain the "Voices of a Distant Star" short film).

The UK release came out less than a year ago, but I can't find it anywhere. Is it already out of print? Was it a limited edition?

Should I wait it out until I find it? Should I wait for a US edition to come out someday (what are the odds of that happening anytime soon? Who has the rights?) Should I just buy it on DVD (which might also be out of print and no easier to find for a decent price than the UK Blu-Ray, but I haven't looked too hard yet). Should I just buy the reasonably priced Hong Kong edition? I don't want to miss out on the short film as this director has quickly become a personal favorite... and I also don't want to miss out on the dub, because my wife doesn't really like watching movies with subtitles.

I was very excited when I heard about the UK edition, but it's crazy that it's less than a year old and I can't find it anywhere!

[alvarez468]

Another way to get voices of a distant star, you could buy the 5 CPS japanese release it also includes that short, I don't remember if it has the english dub version though but it is subtitled and the Hong Kong version of PPIOED seems to be the best available yet. So far I don't think they've announced any rerelease for the UK version which being OOP surprises me,as you say only being less than an year out lol.


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[NLScavenger]

Yes, the UK Blu-ray is a limited edition, but I'm sure Anime Limited will do a standard edition some day. According to some people, the UK Blu-ray appeared to have been filtered and sharpened, so it's not the most ideal version to own. I went with the Hong Kong Blu-ray from Neofilms because of that. It's a decent release, but lacking in content.

Neofilms has also released Voices of a Distant Star+She and her Cat on DVD without the dub and it is missing the surround sound. The US DVD isn't very expensive on the second hand market.

You could buy the Hong Kong Blu-ray of The Place Promised In Our Early Days and double dip when a US Blu-ray is announced.

[callahan09]

Originally Posted by NLScavenger

Yes, the UK Blu-ray is a limited edition, but I'm sure Anime Limited will do a standard edition some day. According to some people, the UK Blu-ray appeared to have been filtered and sharpened, so it's not the most ideal version to own. I went with the Hong Kong Blu-ray from Neofilms because of that. It's a decent release, but lacking in content.

Neofilms has also released Voices of a Distant Star+She and her Cat on DVD without the dub and it is missing the surround sound. The US DVD isn't very expensive on the second hand market.

You could buy the Hong Kong Blu-ray of The Place Promised In Our Early Days and double dip when a US Blu-ray is announced.

So currently the only way to get the dubbed version of The Place Promised in Our Early Days is the UK blu-ray or the out of print DVD, correct? The out of print DVD is still very expensive, so I guess what I'll probably do is just purchase the Hong Kong version and then double-dip if it ever gets a US release or a re-release in the UK.

[callahan09]

Looks like it might be possible to buy the original DVD's for less than I thought, at least separately (not the edition that came with both, but there are individual editions of the short and the feature). They are DVD not blu-ray, but do have the English dub and some bonus features. I'm thinking of buying these DVD editions now, and then not getting it on blu-ray at all (in other words, not buying the subtitled-only Hong Kong edition of the blu-ray that does not contain the short film) until it gets another official English-dubbed release.

Or, should I forsake the English dub on DVD and get the subtitled-only blu-ray?

I can watch it with my wife if it's dubbed and she will enjoy that, whereas I have no problem with subtitles and will enjoy THAT version, so it really comes down to how huge of an improvement the picture quality is on the blu-ray. If it's significant, I may get that and then get the Voices of a Distant Star short on DVD. But I can't decide!

[BwayJ]

I want to confirm this before I buy. This Japanese release, dated 11/4/16, does contain English subtitles?

[gundamcero]

Originally Posted by BwayJ

I want to confirm this before I buy. This Japanese release, dated 11/4/16, does contain English subtitles?

It does not include english subs.

[BwayJ]

Originally Posted by gundamcero

It does not include english subs.

Dang. The back image suggests it does.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by BwayJ

Dang. The back image suggests it does.

Because it isn’t the cover of the Japanese release. It’s the cover of the Hong Kong release. Look closely on the bottom left hand side of the back cover.

Plus, the text is in Chinese, not Japanese. Notice the lack of Kana (hiragana and katakana). I can read Japanese, so the lack of Kana makes it obvious.

[BwayJ]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Because it isn’t the cover of the Japanese release. It’s the cover of the Hong Kong release. Look closely on the bottom left hand side of the back cover.

Plus, the text is in Chinese, not Japanese. Notice the lack of Kana (hiragana and katakana). I can read Japanese, so the lack of Kana makes it obvious.

Okay. Thanks for the clarification. Now I know which version to look for.

[svenge]

That HK release from Deltamac is pretty good, with decent English subs but no extras. Of course it's the only English-friendly Region-A compatible BD release in existence, so it kinda has that market on lock at the moment.

There is also a Region-B locked UK release, but I haven't looked at that one myself.

[MifuneFan]

US release coming from Shout! Factory

https://www.importcds.com/the-place-...s/826663221961

[Zhou]

Finally! Can't believe it took this long for a Shinkai movie to get a US BD release.

[theberserker22]

and i just recently upgraded from the US dvd to the Hong Kong bluray! good move by Shout, look forward to seeing their release.

[NLScavenger]

I'd triple dip if they're using the Dynit master, but that's very unlikely to happen. The color banding artifacts are nicely cleaned up in the Dynit Blu-ray.

[GeoffOliver]

About time. Hopefully it includes Voices of a Distant Star as a bonus feature. Then we’ll have all of Shinkai’s works on Blu-ray here. It would also be nice if they reissued 5CpS with the far superior ADV dub (although Discotek’s Blu-ray is otherwise a very nice release).

[twentythird]

With Discotek’s 5 Centimeters Per Second license expiring recently, I can see Shout/Gkids picking up as much of the Shinkai catalogue as they can.

[Member-571539]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

US release coming from Shout! Factory

https://www.importcds.com/the-place-...s/826663221961

Originally Posted by E_I

The listing for A Placed Promised in Our Early Days has been deleted from Deepdiscount. Hmmmmmmm...

https://www.target.com/p/place-promi...y/-/A-85397204

It’s currently available for preorder at Target.com, but there is no release date. The listing’s title also leaves a lot to be desired:

PLACE PROMISED IN OUR EARLY DAYS (BLU-RAY/JAPANESE/ENGLISH-SUB) POSTPONED (Blu-ray)

[Traveller]

Can also buy them all in Australia. 5cm comes with Voices as well.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by gloomranger

https://www.target.com/p/place-promi...y/-/A-85397204

It’s currently available for preorder at Target.com, but there is no release date. The listing’s title also leaves a lot to be desired:

Yeah, I saw that this morning. I'm sure it's still coming, but probably in March or something.