You do realize that even if that was the case, Sony releases their own 4Ks too?
And where did you hear that Sony stopped sublicesning with boutique labels?
Fairly, nobody knows what would happen to their film catalog if Sony buys them out. This isn't the American branch of Sony we're talking about either, the international licensing process isn't the same.
I had a feeling we would see a 4K release of the Heisei trilogy from Arrow at some point. Maybe it'll be in the pipeline before anything mucks up the situation.
Yeah, they won't renew any of the licenses with boutique labels and let the films rot cuz all Sony wants are their gaming IPs.
From what I've heard, the anime/manga publishing/distribution stuff is the vast majority of the company's value. Fromsoft and the other couple of game studios are pretty small in comparison. Sony would have a near monopoly on anime/manga distribution if they bought them out.
But yeah, that still means you're right that Gamera is probably the last thing they care about!
Those covers are gorgeous. I know some probably think they are too bland or simple looking, but after the visual assault of most of the Toku/Shaw Brothers covers we get, I'm loving the minimal, pop art poses they have going on here.
You can take half a second to identify which movie it is by the color and shapes, and they chose some awesome ,wild shots of each Kaiju.
Guess that's why Arrow is holding off on giving the Heisei films a 4K, they waiting for them all.
Well now this is interesting. Shinji Higuchi, director of Shin Ultraman and the SFX director of the Heisei Trilogy, are overseeing the restorations for the Showa Gamera films: https://kaijuunited.com/2025/08/01/s...-gamera-films/
Quote:
Statement from Shinji Higuchi
“This film was made the year I was born, so it’s about 60 years old. Ideally, someone involved in the production should have supervised it, but as far as I could see, there was no one there. That’s a shame.
And now, with the help of Shunichi Ogura, a legendary timing man for our generation, and Yoshiaki Abe, a colorist at Imagica who is at the forefront of digital grading, I, the unworthy Higuchi, have humbly accepted this important role as a representative of fans.
Uncovering the texture of the monsters’ skin, which had been buried in the darkness and hidden by the grain, and unearthing the atmosphere of the scene that was recorded on the low-sensitivity negative film of the time, was a wonderful and satisfying task, as it felt like reliving the great achievements of my predecessors who created wonderful works through repeated trial and error.
It is particularly shocking to see the large number of double-roll composite shots, which were made by rewinding the original negative and exposing it twice without using an optical printer, as revealed by the timing data. I am deeply impressed by the efforts of my predecessors, who were making monster movies at a time when blue screen compositing was no longer an option.
Please watch with great interest as you witness the birth of Gamera as you have never seen it before.”
Statement from Shunichi Ogura
“When I heard about this project, I was delighted because I never imagined I’d be involved in the 4K restoration of “Showa Gamera,” a film I saw in the theater as a child. I was also involved in the “Heisei Gamera Trilogy” at the right time. What you saw in the theater was a print film (positive). This 4K restoration was done from the negative. Naturally, it will look different from the way it looked in the theater because it wasn’t printed through a positive. Negatives contain a wealth of information, such as the details in the bright and dark areas that couldn’t be expressed in a positive. I restored it in a way that preserves that information, while also striving to recreate the texture that was seen when I first saw it. Please look forward to it.”
Will be curious to see if the Japanese 4K’s may include English subs potentially, I’d contemplate importing actually if they do, but definitely down for these if Arrow or other boutique put them out. The big Gamera set is probably still my single favorite collection I’ve gone thru, had never seen any of the movies but enjoyed the majority of them quite well. Amazing extras, incredible art, and the books are easily my favorite of any release in my collection.
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