Studio Ghibli

[Zen_Amako]

Hand painted animation looks much better on Blu-ray as long as the transfer is good. I have the Bubblegum Crisis set from Japan, which received a new telecine, and it looks fantastic (I would dump the DVDs if not for the fact that the BDs don't have English subtitles). Just look at classic Di$ney releases like Sleeping Beauty if you want to see how good traditional animation can look in high-def given the proper attention.

[The Blu Knight]

BD greatly benefits traditional animation. The colors are brighter, the lines are sharper, the contrast is better, and the motion looks more fluid. Then again it all depends on the release, but Disney's shown how great 2D animation can look on blu-ray. The Simpsons Movie is a good example as well.

[Kyo28]

I have to agree that, when treated correctly, Blu-ray can offer a substantial improvement in quality for hand-drawn animation. A lot of Japanese Blu-ray releases confirm this: Bubblegum Crisis (as mentioned above), Riding Bean, Dancougar, etc. All hand-drawn animation going as far back as the 80's and gaining a lot of detail, better colors and sharper delineation thanks to Blu-ray.

[Blaumann]

I love most of Miyazaki's films (haven't seen them all yet) and i'm really excited about a Blu release. Actually his films are probably the "catalog" releases i care most about.

While the DVDs i have look nice, they should look really gorgeous in HD. I have the french Blu-ray of Ponyo and it's breathtakingly beautiful.

[molson1138]

I did some searching but couldn't find an answer. Will the US PS3 Slim play Blu's for other regions? If I buy from Amazon Japan can I just use my US address or will it not allow me to order? I want Nausicaa and don't want to wait for the US version.

[singhcr]

Originally Posted by molson1138

I did some searching but couldn't find an answer. Will the US PS3 Slim play Blu's for other regions? If I buy from Amazon Japan can I just use my US address or will it not allow me to order? I want Nausicaa and don't want to wait for the US version.

No it won't, US players will play Region A or Region-free discs. Japan is in Region A so you can order anything you want from there. Keep in mind that some movies may not have English subtitles though.

Ordering through Amazon Japan is just like the US site. I can't remember where it is on the screen but there's an option to display text in English, or just use a converter site. You will pay everything in US dollars too which is nice as you know exactly what you are paying before you order.

[Jeff Kleist]

If you think hand drawn doesn't benefit. Nearly every background is hand drawn in Ponyo. Watch that and get back to us.

[ryoohki]

Yeah Sleeping Beauty, even the new one, look like crap on DVD (the dvd come with the bluray) et the Bluray look awesome..

[jdub]

Have you guys seen a Miyazaki DVD upcoverted properly . It looks amazing and I just don't see my self spending the money to convert all the movies to blu. I agree it prob looks better but the price just isn't worth it to me.

I will be buying Ponyo on blu and I will watch one of my DVDs after that to give myself a true comparison. I may eat my words when it looks so amazing I have to do the switch

[WMAangel]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

If you think hand drawn doesn't benefit. Nearly every background is hand drawn in Ponyo. Watch that and get back to us.

In my opinion, it is not just the increased resolution BD offers, but also the increased color depth....hand drawn animation on DVD still looks good, but it just looks less rich and the full range of the spectrum looks more limited to my eyes after seeing the luscious rainbow that BD provides....

[Jeff Kleist]

Have you guys seen a Miyazaki DVD upcoverted properly . It looks amazing and I just don't see my self spending the money to convert all the movies to blu. I agree it prob looks better but the price just isn't worth it to me.

Well, I'll counter with "have you ever seen an older Miyazaki movie in HD or on film?", and not something you torrented either

[mikejet]

Can this be a Miyazaki films discussion instead of a Studio Ghibli one? I want Castle of Cagliostro on Blu!!!

[Shinma]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Well, I'll counter with "have you ever seen an older Miyazaki movie in HD or on film?", and not something you torrented either

Just to reinforce what Jeff has said, I have seen many of the Ghibli movies on film and on upscaled DVD, and have seen hundreds of the original backgrounds and thousands of the production cels in person. Film to blu-ray will not even do some of the artwork justice, but it is dramatically better then upscaled DVD. You can't fully recreate resolution (in color or spatial frequency) that isn't there in the source. Also, keep in mind that the most aggressive and best upscaling technologies out there use temporal techniques. Those will be meaningless when there is no motion of the background, as is the case in the majority of scenes in these movies.

[Shinma]

Originally Posted by svenge

Unfortunately, Ponyo's audio didn't benefit from BD, no thanks to Disney

I really don't know what to do here. I want to support the release of these movies, but I also don't want to reward this kind of treatment. I wish there was a good way to let them know that a reduction in sales is function of the final product and not the source, but I don't know how to get that message across. So far, in my opinion, Disney's treatment of the audio and subtitling for ghibli films has been abysmal. At least I think they have stopped doing things like adding sound effects in Kiki's, but the subtitling is all over the place (The Cat Returns being particularly horrific). I don't understand why they don't get that the people who are choosing to read subtitles don't want the story changed to remove cultural aspects different from ours. I'm not crazy about the same changes with the dubbing, but can at least understand it because the target audience is different.

[gavydizzle]

I just want to see Howls, it was so incredible in the theatre!

[CookSux]

From what I heard, the US version of Ponyo is edited and cut out a scene or two from the original source. If true, does the blu-ray make up for it?

[magicalwands]

Originally Posted by CookSux

From what I heard, the US version of Ponyo is edited and cut out a scene or two from the original source. If true, does the blu-ray make up for it?

Impossible. When Ghibli made a deal with Disney, allowing Disney to distribute Ghibli films, they were promised there would be no frames cut.

[KillerFocus]

Any news on whether or not Tokyo Godfathers is coming to Blu-Ray? Love that movie.

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by KillerFocus

Any news on whether or not Tokyo Godfathers is coming to Blu-Ray? Love that movie.

Not Studio Ghibli and it's not even Miyazaki related. It's Satoshi Kon's work.

[Dubstar]

Originally Posted by The Blu Knight

BD greatly benefits traditional animation. The colors are brighter, the lines are sharper, the contrast is better, and the motion looks more fluid. Then again it all depends on the release, but Disney's shown how great 2D animation can look on blu-ray. The Simpsons Movie is a good example as well.

I've only watched a few scenes off of my HK bluray copy of Ponyo but the level of detail is amazing, you can actually see the color pencil shades/markings in the background artwork - I'll be double dipping for sure for the US version just for the extras, but the HK's BR audio DTS-HD MA 6.1 sound (in Japanese no less) is awesome. It's odd that the boy addresses his mother by her first name: 'Lisa' - ugh! I hate that when kids do that