OFFICIAL Japanese Import Anime Discussion/Photo Thread

[Girls With Guns]

PLEASE NOTE: To find out which Japanese anime releases are English-friendly (with English Subs, English Dub, or Both), simply check the listings in the first few posts of our Japanese Anime Releases with English Sub/Dub thread, stickied at the top of this anime forum. The listings include direct links to the item pages on Amazon.com, for ease of purchasing! If a title you are looking for does not appear in the listings, then it is not English-friendly.

I decided to start a General Discussion thread specifically dedicated to Japanese and other Asian releases of Japanese anime, since we really don't have one here in the anime forum yet. I previously created the "Japanese Anime Releases with English Sub/Dub" thread with the intent of that being a discussion and unboxing photo thread, but that quickly morphed solely into an Anime List thread, with links to purchasing English-friendly anime - so we'll just let that thread be used for that purpose, and start a new one for my original intent.

SO, as the title states, this thread is to be used for all general discussion, anime news alerts, and the sharing of unboxing photos of any Region A Japanese anime releases from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, which you may be considering to import or already have imported into your collection. I know we have some Japanese-speaking members here in the forum, so the discussion does not necessarily need to be limited to English-friendly releases - I just ask that those releases you post about that aren't English friendly be specifically noted as such in your posts, so those of us who do rely on English for viewing anime will know if that title is available for them to enjoy as well.

If anyone wishes to see what a certain import release looks like before making a purchase, just request it here in the thread, and I'm sure someone will be able to provide some nice unboxing photos for you that would be more detailed than the few photos provided at online retail sites. Thanks All!

[Naiera]

All my anime Blu-rays are imports

[Girls With Guns]

That's why the thread title specifically states it's for Japanese and Asian releases only...

Here's an interesting tidbit - I was just on Amazon last night and happened to check out the listing for the OOP Ergo Proxy Blu-ray box - Holy crap, there's one new copy listed there, for the super-bargain-basement discount price of just 198,000¥ - that's only about $1,700US...! Also two used copies available for 95,000¥ and 130,000¥ - any takers?!

http://www.amazon.co.jp/Ergo-Proxy-Blu-ray/dp/B007RKNKX0

Maybe I should consider putting my copy in a safe-deposit box or something...

EDIT: Wow, the 198,000¥ copy is gone already...

[morningtoke]

I was looking to get these



I know it's not anime per se, but still

I'm a tremendous fan of Miyazaki, and I love seeing his interviews. I also rank Hisaishi as the greatest composer ever (In my opinion), and am also a huge fan of his work as well. From what I can gather, these are region locked and aren't English friendly

[Naiera]

Originally Posted by Girls With Guns

That's why the thread title specifically states it's for Japanese and Asian releases only...

We don't take kindly to your "facts" around here, ye dirty yankee

[Girls With Guns]

Originally Posted by morningtoke

I was looking to get these

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I know it's not anime per se, but still

I'm a tremendous fan of Miyazaki, and I love seeing his interviews. I also rank Hisaishi as the greatest composer ever (In my opinion), and am also a huge fan of his work as well. From what I can gather, these are region locked and aren't English friendly

I have the Joe Hisaishi Concert Blu-ray, and I will say that it is definitely a must-have for every Ghibli fan. It's mostly just an instrumental concert with choir and a few guest singers, so no real need for it to be English friendly. You can watch the entire 2 hour concert on Youtube while your waiting for your copy to arrive (if they haven't removed it yet)... Just do a search on Joe Hisaishi Ghibli Concert.

[morningtoke]

Originally Posted by Girls With Guns

I have the Joe Hisaishi Concert Blu-ray, and I will say that it is definitely a must-have for every Ghibli fan. It's mostly just an instrumental concert with choir and a few guest singers, so no real need for it to be English friendly. You can watch the entire 2 hour concert on Youtube while your waiting for your copy to arrive (if they haven't removed it yet)... Just do a search on Joe Hisaishi Ghibli Concert.

Oh wow, I know the concert you're talking about! I always put it on in my car when I'm driving far. I'm getting this for sure then! Also, will it play on an American PS4?

[Girls With Guns]

Originally Posted by morningtoke

Oh wow, I know the concert you're talking about! I always put it on in my car when I'm driving far. I'm getting this for sure then! Also, will it play on an American PS4?

Yup, the Blu-ray you posted the pic of is that same Joe Hisaishi: 25 years of Ghibli concert at Budokan which is posted in HD on YT.

I would think it should play just fine on on a PS4, as JP Blu-rays are Region A, same as the US. I do have a PS4 on the TV upstairs, but I never tried playing the disc in it.

[Naiera]

It will play just fine, of course. There's a reason why the Japanese are so scared of reverse importation these days.

[Naiera]

Finally, the last season 1 volume of Space Dandy from South Korea. Although much cheaper than the Japanese releases, it's still way too expensive (and bothersome to get, since KimchiDVD only carried the first two volumes), considering the quality of the show, which isn't superlative. It's merely "good", and a nice, wacky curiosity.



I'm going FUNi for season two

[Girls With Guns]

Space Dandy is not a series that interests me the least, as I'm not a fan of comedy at all - but I think I do like that box design much better than the psychedelic JP boxes... nice. What's all inside?

[Naiera]

It's actually a complete clone of the Japanese releases. It's missing a physical extra of some sort, and the keep case is clear instead of pink, but the artwork is the same, only with Korean where applicable, of course.

[Harlock415]

I stumbled upon this while bropwsing kimchidvd.com's site: http://kimchidvd.com/en/good/goods.jsp?good_seq=19772

[Blu-Ray]STEAMBOY
Publisher : Mirage Entertainment
ReleaseDate : 2013-10-31
List Price : USD33.99
Our Price : USD 29.99
You Save : USD 4.00 (12%)
Year : 2004
Stock Status: In Stock
Weight : 230 g
Genre: Animation
Directors: Katsuhiro Ohtomo
Actors: Anna Paquin / Patrick Stewart / Alfred Molina
Aspect Ratio & Format: 1.85:1 1080P HIGH DEFINITION
Language: Japanese
Sound Mix: Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1CH, Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0CH
Subtitles: Korean / Japanese
Rating: all
Region Code: A
Run Time: 126+60 mins
Number of discs: 1

So Patrick Stewart, Anna Paquin and Alfred Molina speak Japanese? Now I'm wondering what the error is. Either it has subs or doesn't (i'm likely to think it doesn't). And either it includes the English dub or doesn't. but the fact it lists the English dub leads me to think it's English friendly.

[NLScavenger]

Sounds like the voice actor info is an incorrect copy-paste job. Sony licenses their anime titles to other companies in a few territories such as Australia where they are getting Memories on Blu-ray next week. Hopefully they or some other company get to license Steamboy and Metropolis from Sony some day.

[Z-95]

Posting these here too!

[Fuzakeruna]

New import thread, yay !

Originally Posted by Girls With Guns

OOP Ergo Proxy Blu-ray box

http://www.amazon.co.jp/Ergo-Proxy-Blu-ray/dp/B007RKNKX0

Maybe I should consider putting my copy in a safe-deposit box or something...

Whoaa! its so pretty compared to the funi plain DVD i own !

[Girls With Guns]

Here ya go, Fuzakeruna - a few unboxing pics I took of the Ergo Proxy Blu-ray Box from back when I got it in April 2014 - it appears I never posted any of these photos in this anime forum, other than the first photo, so I guess I'll just post them all in here...

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Ergo Pic #2

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Ergo Pic #3

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Ergo Pic #4

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Ergo Pic #5

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Ergo Pic #6

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Ergo Pic #7

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Ergo Pic #8

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Ergo Pic #9

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Ergo Pic #10

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Ergo Pic #11

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Ergo Pic #12

[Girls With Guns]

Originally Posted by Z-95

Posting these here too!

[Show spoiler]

Very Nice, Z-95. I have both the JP and the US Kara no Kyoukai Recalled Out Summer sets, but the JP release is so much nicer! What exactly is the Type Moon release? I've seen that, but never saw any details on it. We'll need some unboxing photos!

[Z-95]

Originally Posted by Girls With Guns

Very Nice, Z-95. I have both the JP and the US Kara no Kyoukai Recalled Out Summer sets, but the JP release is so much nicer! What exactly is the Type Moon release? I've seen that, but never saw any details on it. We'll need some unboxing photos!

The JP release IS very nice--super sturdy and has more stuff!

The Type-Moon Blu is for their 10th Anniversary festival they had in 2012. The first 2 discs are the two day festival (about 9 hours!) that included musical performances of a lot of the music from Type-Moon releases by the actual artists (Fates, Knk, etc.) , lots of the seiyuus on stage, and announcement of Tsukihime remake and KnK epilogue movie. 3rd disc was a new Carnival Phantasm episode and tons of Type Moon videos over the years (VN openings and the like) (2.5 hours). 4th disc is an audio drama. The booklet has messages from Type-Moon/Nasu about the past 10 years (and the next), profiles of the seiyuus and music artists, a Type-Moon chronology and pictures of all their physical releases, interviews, and the results of a Best Girl and Best Guy poll they had.

Quick inside shot:


More by someone else: http://myfigurecollection.net/blog/6303

There is a companion book for it that should be arriving tomorrow

[Girls With Guns]

^^^ Wow, Ok - I knew there were live performances in it (especially love the rendition of KnK's Oblivion by Kalafina), but I didn't realize it was 9 hours worth - plus all that other stuff... Hey, if it's got a lot of Yuki Kajiura music (especially KnK) in it, I'll most definitely have to pick it up. I swear I want to marry her, lol...