The Anime Blu-ray Video Quality Thread

[Naiera]

Ugh. Just caught the first episode of TSR. It’s turrible. The worst anime Blu-ray I’ve had the “pleasure” of watching for a long time.

Does anyone have the JP release? It’s pretty cheap (used). I could sub 13 episodes

[pikagreg]

At least the menus for TSR are cooler than the other Funi sets

[Naiera]

Wut?

[Naiera]

There are also German and French releases. I don’t mind buying the whole thing again if mp3dom had a hand in either release

[Lambadelta]

Originally Posted by slerch666

I have the complete box. this one.

Please don't tell me there is a problem with this set. I will not be pleased to have to search out another copy of this show. I watched it on JP BD and it looked fine so... I'm hoping. Hesitantly going to look at the links now...

Looking at the images, which set is which? I am hoping the right side is the complete box... Cause man if I have to track this down again... lol

isn't the anniversary box the one where they censored a scene or two by redrawing the scene a bit.

[professorwho]

Okay, here’s my prolonged explanation on how Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou (His and Her Circumstances, or Kare Kano) from Q-Tec is probably the best the show will ever look given the circumstances behind its production.

Gainax, for all their incredible work, did some really dumb sh*t in the 90s.

(Here they are burning Kare Kano cels. This is from the ED to Episode 19. They did the exact same thing with Evangelion, and as a result, what few cels still exist are worth a fortune.)

In fact, it started in the late 80s, but really came to a foothold when they began TV anime production in the 90s. What was their offense? Implementation of digital effects.

Essentially, once computers came down in cost in the early 90s, animation studios were given cool new opportunities in how to produce the visuals. In 1995, Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell became the first anime film to be fully composited on a computer, as it allowed for the implementation of digital text, frame manipulation and CG. Gainax, like IG, were among the first to implement digital stuff into their anime.

When one looks at the DVD release of Kare Kano, it’s presented at 29.97 fps like most DVDs, so a simple 2:3 pull down was done. When de-interlaced, it can be frame rate corrected, and some of it looks fine, but then we get to the biggest issue- 30i text.

For reasons beyond me, Gainax added digital text at 30i on top of a 2:3 telecine. So, you have 2D animation at 24p and digital text at 30i. What a mess. So for that reason, Q-Tec did the right thing in presenting it at 1080i, as it would look really poor when frames are chopped out.

The next episode previews are pure 30i.

But, remember what I said- they added the 30i effects on a 2:3 telecine. Well, that was in MPEG-2, presumably at SD resolution, and while it looks fine on a CRT, when put on any flatscreen display, the side effects are obvious. Telecine of the time wasn’t perfect, but by doing it at SD resolution, scenes with this digital text would have to be upscaled, as remember, the original cels were burned, and unless the original 16mm film with just the 2D animation exists (I have no clue) and that text was redone from scratch, it’s SD forever.

Which brings me to my next point. More downsides of doing stuff in SD quality. Dot crawl is kinda obvious. Look closely, and you’ll see it.

Look at Miyazawa Yukino’s eye. While it’s blown up 200% from the DVD, and pixelation is obvious from blowing up from so low a resolution, you can see a checkerboard pattern in her eye, hair and head cap. It’s pretty distracting. This is due to the D2 tapes.


In addition, while not digital by nature, Kare Kano was edited... on film. Like, they actually edited the film by cutting off frames of the film and you can see splice marks in some frames. You can see the tape splices (that’s what the clear thing is). While not as often as Dot crawl appearing (which is pretty much at all times)- when it comes up, it’s insanely jarring as you see an artifact that ruins the image to a large degree.

Now, Q-Tec’s smearing can’t fix the film splices, but it can fix dot crawl. Take Blue Submarine No. 6 Being an early digipaint series it has ugly dot crawling, and because Q-Tec smears the area with the colour it’s supposed to be, it has the side effect of eliminating dot crawl. In particular look at the man’s jacket. Take a look:

(DVD, Bandai)

(Blu-ray, Q-Tec)

Overall, Kare Kano is royally f**ked. Add in how Nozomi/RightStuf’s DVD release is censored- using the broadcast version of the series- with poor video compression and it’s impossible to find a perfect release. The only thing that will be improved for sure is the audio. It’ll be lossless (most likely in LPCM), so it’ll have more clarity than any DVD release.

Can Q-Tec save Kare Kano? Nope. Dot Crawl is eliminated, but at the expense of some detail via smearing, which can be seen by some as an improvement over a sh*tty 480i telecine with bad compression (of the era- it had to be exported somehow, and I assume in poor quality). So, Kare Kano looks like an early digipaint anime now. Is it ideal? Absolutely not. But, it was always doomed from the start. Unless they somehow find that 2D animation film and re-do all the text and effects, ala Star Trek TNG, it will never be in true HD. It was mastered to D2- a composite video source, thus explaining the dot crawl and rainbows.

Sorry it’s a long post, but it had to be to explain everything.

Diagram to explain it:

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Gainax, for all their incredible work, did some really dumb sh*t in the 90s.

Kind of like Evangelion episode 25 and 26...hey-oh!

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Dailyan

Kind of like Evangelion episode 25 and 26...hey-oh!

Well, they had to re-write the ending so I think it’s good for a rushed job. Also, the best animated cut in the whole show was in episode 26.

[Naiera]

The other day, I remembered I once watched Karekano dubbed

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by Naiera

The other day, I remembered I once watched Karekano dubbed

It’s funny for like 5 minutes when you realise it has the same voice actors as in Pokémon, but then you get over that and it’s pure cringe.

[Naiera]

AND HERE YOU ARE, PLAYING WITH THE CUTIES!

Is pretty much all I remember.

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Stuff about Kareshi Kanojo no Jijou

Thanks for the post!

One thing to point out, given what they are pricing this "remaster" at (dirt cheap for a JP box release) and the limited popularity of the show at this point beyond the hardcore, there's no way they would generate the cash needed to justify going back to the cel level to fix the text. It sucks for us but at least it will be better. You can argue Q Tec will make it worse but to me it sounds like they are doing the best they can to polish the turd.

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by Naiera

The other day, I remembered I once watched Karekano dubbed

I used to watch dubs on VHS. They were cheaper. Usually by $5-$10. When you work a minimum wage job and not on welfare or other state funds, $5 hurt. I don't have that issue anymore, thankfully. I also don't have any VHS anymore either...

Last dub I watched and remember was Lodoss TV. The original OVA was passable but forgettable in English. The TV series used the same voices for the main characters and it was... PAINFUL to listen to. Switched that to Japanese and never went back. I figured at the time even if the JP dub was flat and emotionless, I'd never know since I didn't know the language.

I then started learning Japanese and will never go back.

[professorwho]

Originally Posted by slerch666

I then started learning Japanese and will never go back.

それから俺は日本語を学びました。
Then I learned Japanese.

Since then I have seen some things dubbed, but only to see how they turned out- 95% of the time, rather poorly.

[husky1993a]

Guess I'm alone for loving the Kare Kano dub :3

[Dailyan]

Originally Posted by husky1993a

Guess I'm alone for loving the Kare Kano dub :3

[Show spoiler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_P-v1BVQn8

[pikagreg]

I have only seen it dubbed myself too. I remember enjoying it and the MC reminded me of Kyoko from Skip Beat

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by professorwho

Since then I have seen some things dubbed, but only to see how they turned out- 95% of the time, rather poorly.

I can't do it.

I never know what Monica Rial will show up in and I just can't stand her voice. No offense to those that may like her and or her voice. For whatever reason, it just hurts me to hear.

And this was long, long, long before the Vic thing that we do not want to talk about here.

[slerch666]

Originally Posted by husky1993a

Guess I'm alone for loving the Kare Kano dub :3

Whatever. You like what you like. Glad you like the show either way.

[Nostalgic Twilight]

H

Originally Posted by Dailyan

[Show spoiler]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_P-v1BVQn8

For shame. You should’ve used this one:

[Show spoiler]

Maison Ikkoku Alone again High Quality - YouTube