Discotek to Release All of City Hunter (Anime Franchise)

[Bobo1313]

it feels like a useless release done as a cash grab

A useless release where I get all the CH Movies and TV Specials for $30 instead of paying well over $100 for a bunch of ancient DVD releases.

and cash grab? Discotek ain't no charity folks.

Originally Posted by SteamfloggerBoss

The guy in that thread is big mad about Oedo. Heh.

A vault find thanks to Robert Woodhead, they didn't know the film materials still existed when they originally released it or at the very least couldn't find them.

[SteamfloggerBoss]

Originally Posted by Bobo1313

A useless release where I get all the CH Movies and TV Specials for $30 instead of paying well over $100 for a bunch of ancient DVD releases.

and cash grab? Discotek ain't no charity folks.

Agree and very far from a cash grab type manuever anyway imo. Like you said everything for $30. They could of tried releasing everything separate.

This also includes a previously unreleased in the US tv special. I'm really looking forward to watching it.

Originally Posted by Bobo1313

A vault find thanks to Robert Woodhead, they didn't know the film materials still existed when they originally released it or at the very least couldn't find them.

Yeah it was an absurd claim to make. We saw what happened with Ako when they got their hands on the original materials, they canceled the upscaled release which they had already done work on.

I'm not even remotely mad about the Oedo situation and I bought the original release. It was not nearly as bad as that post made it out to be. I haven't even bothered with the steelbook release yet. Was kinda hoping it would see a standard case release and I don't care enough to buy if it doesn't.

[sagadego]

Originally Posted by gloomranger

We knew this already.

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...0#post20338110

basically i'll trust what justin says over some random nobody crying over it

[SpaceDandy]

Most if not all City Hunter movies were edited and finished on tapes, like Kare Kano and Video Girl Ai. If they did have the film elements at hand, they would still have to redo all of the editing to match what had been done in the past. So unfortunately upscales are probably the best we will ever get.
Beside, the japanese never got the specials or the movie on DVD, ever. Only VHS and LD.

.357 Magnum of Love aired a few days ago in Japan on TVK and BS12 channels. Have a glimpse at how the master in Japan looks.
And here's a close-by frame from the upscale sourced from a french streaming service. It's not perfect by any means but it is much more watchable.

[Gowho]

Originally Posted by SpaceDandy

Beside, the japanese never got the specials or the movie on DVD, ever. Only VHS and LD.

https://www.cityhunter-dvd.com/dvd.html

Apparently they were never released separately but were part of the Complete DVD Box set from 2005.

[SpaceDandy]

Oh, that's new to me. I would expect they use the exact same master as the LD and VHS tho.

[CrashOveride95]

Originally Posted by SpaceDandy

Most if not all City Hunter movies were edited and finished on tapes, like Kare Kano and Video Girl Ai. If they did have the film elements at hand, they would still have to redo all of the editing to match what had been done in the past. So unfortunately upscales are probably the best we will ever get.
Beside, the japanese never got the specials or the movie on DVD, ever. Only VHS and LD.

I doubt sunrise really cares about if it's been edited on tape considering the amount of shows that have been edited on tape that they've completely rescanned like GaoGaiGar and Outlaw Star
We'll see what the future holds but I don't anticipate Discotek being in any hurry to make a new set with the real scans if Sunrise does get around to doing it

[jsevakis]

We waited over 2 years into the license period for Sunrise to remaster the movies, but none has been planned. Unlike many other licensors, Sunrise is usually on top of their materials and knows the importance of proper rescans. We don’t know why they’re not doing the CH movies but we can probably assume there’s a good reason.
Have you seen those old SD transfers? They look HORRIBLE. I wasn’t going to even attempt to upscale them, we were just going to do SD-BD until the French upscales came along. They look waaay better than they have any right to with that source material.

[Gowho]

I wonder if they're holding off until they plan a complete series Blu-ray Box in Japan? The way the DVDs were handled kinda makes this look likely to me and if so then yeah, I don't see remasters happening for a long time.

[El_Fez]

Originally Posted by jsevakis

Have you seen those old SD transfers? They look HORRIBLE.

I haven't seen anything beyond the old ADV discs, but those looked like before watching, I smeared Vaseline all over my TV. Those things looked atrocious!

Discotek is the Criterion of anime. If it was another label, I might be more inclined to *****, but here I trust them to do the best they can with masters that were probably not stored under the best of conditions. Or at all.

I'm sure the movies will look just fine from what I had.

[russ869]

I found some screenshots from the Japanese DVD of ".357 Magnum." These look like they are from a re-encode rather than the original disc, but they aren't what I would call "HORRIBLE" for DVD.





And some from "Death of the Vicious Criminal Ryo Saeba."

[El_Fez]

Wound up watching most of the first disc of the movies (which has .357 Magnum, Bay City Wars, Million Dollar Conspiracy, Goodbye My Sweetheart on one, and Secret Service, Death of Ryo Saeba, and the extras on the other).

I'm usually a pretty forgiving guy, when it comes to dubs - but man, I had to tap out of those old ADV dubs. That was some weapons grade terrible! The Video looked great - way better than my ADV discs. I put on my old copy of Bay City / Million Dollar - and it was night and day.

[LexInHD]

I too, am not a fan of ADV dubs, but I find them bearable in small doses and will watch when I have no better English dub to choose from.

[SpaceDandy]

Originally Posted by russ869

I found some screenshots from the Japanese DVD of ".357 Magnum." These look like they are from a re-encode rather than the original disc, but they aren't what I would call "HORRIBLE" for DVD.

Yet somehow Yomiuri TV keeps distributing and broadcasting the old transfer I showed above.
Anyway, here is a frame matching one of yours from the same streaming service again. Blu-Ray should be better. Still a quite fair improvement.

[jignat]

Re: the old ADV dubs, I found it serviceable, but not as good as Cowboy Bebop.

I felt the Umibozu actor was consistently great.
Kaori/Miki were ok.

Ryo was decent for the comedic parts, but for the "badass/serious" parts he cannot compare to Akira Kamiya. He would sometimes go into some kind of different "accent"

Saeko was the worst imo. She had none of the "sex appeal of the Jpn" actress and was flat.

[segapluto]

ADV put out some legendary dubs. City Hunter sadly just happens to be one of their worst dubs ever.

[Gowho]

They were done at their Monster Island studio in Austin so it's not that surprising. Very few of the dubs done there were good and some of their worst were for well-known titles like the Rurouni Kenshin movie & OVAs.

[El_Fez]

Well, spun up The Death of Ryo Saeba, the one City Hunter movie I've not seen - yikes. That one was my least favorite of the movies so far. I mean I get that the whole Ecchi is part and parcel of the character, and I don't mind that side of the character. I always smile just a little bit when Kaori whips out the impossible hammer. I like goofy Ryo.

But there has to be a balance between Horndog Ryo and Serious "Oh sh!t, it's game time" Ryo. Here, they've somehow made him even more lecherous than he already was. And doing that, they've made the gag REALLY annoying and repetitive.

And it feels like there should be more backstory, like I'm missing an episode or something. The rivalry between Ryo and Old Rival Who's Name I Forgot seems really underbaked and underdeveloped. And the worst part? Dump some of the padding, like Ryo going out to get drunk or trying to get laid and focus on developing the villains.

Was Sayuri really alive and pretending to be Sayaka? Who was Mad Dog, aside from Main Henchman? Why couldn't she just take off the damn poison ring? Why did Umibozu insist on dueling Ryo right then and there? I know the two have beef and need to occasionally measure their penises, but it did nothing to serve the plot.

Oh, and I was not a fan of the opening credits music.

[jignat]

I just finished watching the recent CH "Movies/TV Specials" Release by Discotek.

Picture 8/10

These are the best these have ever looked. They're not as sharp as the TV series, but I cant knock them for that. Thanks for those French upscales.

Sound : 7.5/10
These sound a bit better than the TV episodes with a bit more punch. They're all 30 year old stereo tracks, but I could hear everything clearly.

Subtitles: Excellent

Special Features: Good. I believe most of them were on ADV's DVD release from 2002-2003.

I have not watched these in 20 years and the 99 "Death of Evil Ryo" was new to me.
El Fez had the same issues as I did. 6/10.

I feel like I like .357 Magnum a little less than when I watched in in 1998. There is a lack of action save for a car chase. Despite being a theatrical film, it didnt really wow me with the animation.
7.5/10

I think the 2 OVA (Bay City War and $1 Million Dollar Conspiracy) fare much better than the others because they are shorter and tighter. They also have more interesting set pieces and one with a simple villain and one with a slightly more complex plan.
While CH bills itself as action, I feel it could always use more. Bay City has probably the most action in 40 minutes than some of the 90 minute films.
Both look like the TV show in S3/91 with 10 percent extra color and fluid animation. 8/10

Secret Service has a convoluted plot but the humor and client pull it up for me.
Id still put it at second worst after 99. 7/10

Goodbye my Sweetheart is imo the best of these and is worth being 90 minutes.
It's nice to have a main villain who has good schemes and is a good physical match for Ryo.
The client Emi has a little bit of personality and the twist and her similarity in some ways to Professor makes her a bit more interesting than the mostly goodhearted clients.
also, it is one of the few specials where all 5 main characters are working together. Even Miki gets to fly a chopper. 8.5/10

I still think 45 minutes is the best runtime for a CH story as the 2 parters in S1 and S2 were the best.

1) 90 minute specials run into the same "problem"

70 minutes of mokkori jokes
20 minute action climax.
There are many exposition scenes but they need to put some action interspersed throughout the film instead of mostly saving it for the end.

2) None of them really address any lingering plots from the show that well.
Hans in the final episode of S4/91.

3) The Ryo/Kaori moments are usually minimal.

[NLScavenger]

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