Finally got my copy of the UK (Australian) edition of one of my favourite anime "film"s.
I will not be reviewing the film itself, which I first saw over four years ago, but the shambolic dvd release.
Much as Manga totally failed in alleviating fears I had about video quality (actually give accurate product listings, Amazon still thinks it's sub only), it was actually a good transfer. The standard for UK (Australian) anime dvds is a transfer from the US release, not from the source film, which leaves very bad artifacts form having the frame rate changed twice (e.g. interlace between 3 frames).
A history of the release schedule is in order:
first licenced in the USA by ADV films in June 2007
announced for UK release by ADV films in August 2007
released in the USA in March 2008
released in Australia in August 2009
released in the UK by Manga Entertainment March 2011
To point out to anyone who doesn't know UK anime releases use Australian masters, with almost no exceptions. So delays between Australia and the UK are unusual, normaly releases are within a month or two or never. Us getting series Australia hasn't got is also rare.
The excuse given to the huge time discrepancy is that Manga mistakenly believed they had BD rights and were awaiting with an aim to release on BD an dvd simultaneously. The simultaneously, being a requirement due to the main chain brick and mortar dvd store in the UK not liking to stock re releases. I spot flaws in this argument:
The loss of sales from physical shops (20%) is insignificant compared to the loss by time delay, assuming the issues with Full Metal Alchemist BD release are true. i.e. 60% or so of fans will import from the USA if it's first and cheaper.
No one else has been granted BD rights yet, anywhere, including much larger markets than us. It took 8 years for Funimation to get the dvd masters for Dragon Ball Z, and you faced similar with End of Evangelion, things haven't changed. You still need to wait many years to release high profile shows with proper masters.
I now import almost all my anime from the US; which is often cheaper and has better video quality. Not to mention most of my favourite shows have never seen release here, even after many years. I didn't in '08, and the fuck am I going to import from Australia, which costs almost as much as buying the Japanese release.
score:
quality: 8 (looks nice, for a dvd)
special features: 7 (US re release has more)
price: 6 (normal for film)
time delay: 2 (it came out eventually)
overall: 5.75
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