Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011)

[MJW]

I thought I would make a thread for this title since it doesn't appear that there was one already.



I saw this film a few months ago and am really looking forward to the Blu-ray release. I am a big Studio Ghibli fan and the plot reminded me of some of Hayao Miyazaki's films, not to mention the character designs. I'm also curious to hear the English dub and I hope it's well produced.

Anyone else picking this up on release day? I'm hoping Amazon drops the price, even just a little bit, as I think $29.99 is a little high.

[jala12]

Haven't seen this movie before, but will blind buy it.

[MJW]

Children Who Chase Lost Voices is currently available for $18.73 shipped at ImportCDs.com with promo code SAVE10 (expires 11/20).

Much better than Amazon's $29.99, unless we can get them to match?

[Paliodor]

Hi,
do you guys know if this film is region B "friendly" ? Would love to have a Makoto Shinkai film on Blu.

[MifuneFan]

Originally Posted by Paliodor

Hi,
do you guys know if this film is region B "friendly" ? Would love to have a Makoto Shinkai film on Blu.

Sorry, it appears to be Region A locked

you can see the Region A logo on the back here:

[Show spoiler]

[richieb1971]

Originally Posted by Paliodor

Hi,
do you guys know if this film is region B "friendly" ? Would love to have a Makoto Shinkai film on Blu.

Its coming out in the UK before February under a different name.

The name is Journey to Agartha. Apparently the dub is holding up the UK release.

[HD_Aficionado]

Just pre-ordered Grave of the Fireflies, so this has to wait a bit. But I'm definitely looking forward to it. Really enjoyed Shinkais work so far.

[jala12]

Originally Posted by MJW

Children Who Chase Lost Voices is currently available for $18.73 shipped at ImportCDs.com with promo code SAVE10 (expires 11/20).

Much better than Amazon's $29.99, unless we can get them to match?

Dang, thanks for that link. You just saved me $20! In Canada, the price is about $39.99.

[Paliodor]

Originally Posted by richieb1971

Its coming out in the UK before February under a different name.

The name is Journey to Agartha. Apparently the dub is holding up the UK release.

Thanks for the info. It's good to hear that someone will release this anime in the Europe.

[MJW]

Has anyone that pre-ordered this title received their copy yet? I'm anxious to hear how the English dub turned out.

My copy shipped from ImportCDs.com on Friday so I should get it in the next few days.

[DarknessBDJM]

Originally Posted by MJW

Has anyone that pre-ordered this title received their copy yet? I'm anxious to hear how the English dub turned out.

I'd like to know as well. I have the English subtitled Hong Kong disk and though I enjoy listening to the original Japanese tracks, the voices of some female characters can be really tough to listen to due to how high pitched and squeaky they can be for some voiceovers.

[manicsounds]

Mine from DeepDiscount shipped yesterday.

[MOONPHASE]

Originally Posted by Paliodor

Hi,
do you guys know if this film is region B "friendly" ? Would love to have a Makoto Shinkai film on Blu.

All Sentai Filmworks titles are Region A locked.

[MJW]

I received my copy from ImportCDs.com late last week and watched the film and bonus features over the weekend. The picture quality is excellent and I didn't notice any issues worth reporting. The English dub was pretty well done, and I'm glad that Asuna's English voice actress didn't try to make her sound like a typical "little girl."

The bonus features were pretty good and included a 55-minute Japanese cast interview and a 45 minute "making of" special. There was also a short preview of the Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray, which looks to another great release.

[kemcha]

There's an anime discussion topic for all anime releases:

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=101899

[celticmoon]

So I bought this along with the Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray a couple of months ago, and finally watched it yesterday. I'm fluent in Japanese, but I typically buy the localized editions for Japanese movies (if available) due to their much more reasonable price point. However, it seemed like with this release, the only option when watching with the Japanese audio track is to have English subtitles there... Is there really no way to watch it in Japanese with the English subtitles turned off? I've never seen a Blu-ray like this where there weren't separate audio track and subtitle options.

And I'm wondering if all Sentai Flimworks Blus are like this.... I mean, it's not a deal breaker, but the subtitles are just so distracting.

[varmintx]

Originally Posted by celticmoon

So I bought this along with the Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray a couple of months ago, and finally watched it yesterday. I'm fluent in Japanese, but I typically buy the localized editions for Japanese movies (if available) due to their much more reasonable price point. However, it seemed like with this release, the only option when watching with the Japanese audio track is to have English subtitles there... Is there really no way to watch it in Japanese with the English subtitles turned off? I've never seen a Blu-ray like this where there weren't separate audio track and subtitle options.

And I'm wondering if all Sentai Flimworks Blus are like this.... I mean, it's not a deal breaker, but the subtitles are just so distracting.

I know it doesn't seem very fair, but you are a very, very small minority and locked subtitles is a reasonable compromise given how much less blu-rays cost here as opposed to Japan. Better than the alternatives of having the Japanese track be lossy only, no Japanese track, or no North American release at all. Read reviews here and elsewhere or ask others about a specific title as I would suspect this practice is going to become common place. You can then weigh the extra cost to import vs. the convenience for those releases that do have locked subtitles.

[chronoclast]

Originally Posted by celticmoon

So I bought this along with the Grave of the Fireflies Blu-ray a couple of months ago, and finally watched it yesterday. I'm fluent in Japanese, but I typically buy the localized editions for Japanese movies (if available) due to their much more reasonable price point. However, it seemed like with this release, the only option when watching with the Japanese audio track is to have English subtitles there... Is there really no way to watch it in Japanese with the English subtitles turned off? I've never seen a Blu-ray like this where there weren't separate audio track and subtitle options.

And I'm wondering if all Sentai Flimworks Blus are like this.... I mean, it's not a deal breaker, but the subtitles are just so distracting.

While other companies' BDs have locked subtitles, so far none of Sentai's BDs have them and your report is the first I've seen that Children Who Chase's subtitles are locked. This would be their first. This thread has a list of all affected US BDs.

I haven't bought this yet so I can't check myself. You've tried switching subtitles on the fly and it won't work right? I assume the menu only lets you switch the audio track?

Locked subtitles don't matter to me at all because I need them but I do like to keep track of the restrictions that the Japanese licensors enforce on US releases. Like varmintx posted above, it could be a lot worse. Dub-only, lossy audio, and inferior video masters have all happened on other releases.

[manicsounds]

Yup, the subtitles are non-removable for the Japanese track. Also annoying on this disc that it defaults to the English track no matter what audio option you select.

[celticmoon]

Thanks for the replies, guys.

Originally Posted by varmintx

I know it doesn't seem very fair, but you are a very, very small minority and locked subtitles is a reasonable compromise given how much less blu-rays cost here as opposed to Japan. Better than the alternatives of having the Japanese track be lossy only, no Japanese track, or no North American release at all. Read reviews here and elsewhere or ask others about a specific title as I would suspect this practice is going to become common place. You can then weigh the extra cost to import vs. the convenience for those releases that do have locked subtitles.

Yes, I can agree that it certainly makes sense from a business perspective. I can't say I have viewed all too many Japan-to-US releases, and since none of the other BDs I have viewed previously had the locked subtitles, I was just kinda caught off guard. Now that I know that this practice is becoming commonplace, I will be on the lookout for it in future purchases.

Originally Posted by chronoclast

While other companies' BDs have locked subtitles, so far none of Sentai's BDs have them and your report is the first I've seen that Children Who Chase's subtitles are locked. This would be their first. This thread has a list of all affected US BDs.

I haven't bought this yet so I can't check myself. You've tried switching subtitles on the fly and it won't work right? I assume the menu only lets you switch the audio track?

Locked subtitles don't matter to me at all because I need them but I do like to keep track of the restrictions that the Japanese licensors enforce on US releases. Like varmintx posted above, it could be a lot worse. Dub-only, lossy audio, and inferior video masters have all happened on other releases.

Thanks for the info. This is from memory, but the options under "Language" included "English," "Japanese with English Subtitles," and "Japanese Commentary with English Subtitles." I was just kind of surprised since the back of the BD case listed the audio tracks and the subs separately. And since I've been able to select the options separately on other releases, I just assumed that this would be the case here. Now I'm educated on the matter, and if I ever purchase another released with locked subs, hopefully it will be a conscious decision!