[JP] WB's Brave Story Anime Movie

[Chris Beveridge]

Just got this in today, it was an 11/23 release in Japan from Warner Bros. of their theatrical movie from earlier this year, Brave Story. Done by Gonzo, it wasn't a big box office movie but the visuals are lush and this is the first "true" anime released on BD.

Main disappointment: The R2 encoded DVD has English subtitles. The BD and HD DVD do no.

Otherwise, well, sorry. Holy [crap].

First, Warner Japan apparently does MPEG2 releases. Or at least this one is. No idea on the HD DVD. These things are too expensive to buy multiple unsubtitled versions. Audio is Dolby Digital 48khz 640kbps. Video, via PS3, says MPEG-2 and average bitrate with the info status up over the first 30 minutes of this 2 hour movie is - 39.9mbps. Several 40.X hits as well.

On my 50" LCD set (720P), the visuals are just stunning. If anyone has seen any amount of anime (digital or traditional), there are almost always the bad areas of dark blues in backgrounds that seem to be alive. I had to be six inches away from the screen before I could see those in these backgrounds. I watch on average 60 anime DVDs a month for review and it's prevalent in everything - visible from several feet away easily. This is just gorgeous. Colors are lush, solid. Near perfect (Because nothing can be perfect!).

The menu system is clunky. Really slow. Not impressive at all.

The real kicker folks? At least I think it is.

THX Optimizer 2.0 is on here. I can't imagine them putting a DVD level optimizer on a BD disc. It *is* in Japanese for the text, but presumably it's the standard menus we've seen on other ones. Due to the text, I can't be anywhere near 100% sure that it's an HD optimizer though.

The opening THX trailer is the one with the robot getting stuck inside the car engine. near constant 40mbps video for it. Flawless and aurally amazing.