R3 TW boxes - good to look at, better & cheaper to buy.

[Njr Scrawl]

Surfing through JSMall, some of the R3TW boxes used are very tasty looking.

Utena particuarly caught my eye;
http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=13&products_id=6 695

Final Approach, Rougin Z (a DTS release) are cute. Patlabor has Noa, not mecha. Air, Galaxy Railways, Madlax, Society for the study of modern visual culture(!), Beserk, Maison Ikkoku ("The Moment of Together"), Mazinkaizer, Mask of Glass OVA, Chrno Crusade, Kimiga Nozomu Eien, Rahxephon


Yay! They have Ashita no Joe ("Tomorrow's Joe"), also a Catalyst Logic release in the sale reduced to NT$399 per 4 disc box.

Also - Yamato TV series 3 (Proware copy of R2J), LPCM audio.

Ah My Goddess LE movie with full rate DTS has a R3 Proware twin disc release.
http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=13&products_id=2 431

and the Perrine En Famille TV series which has English subtitles. It was Hiromi Tsuru's debut anime - she is the seiyuu for Perrine. Box 1 (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=13&products_id=3 76) Box 2 (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=13&products_id=3 77)

[slerch666]

I have the Proware Yamato. The LPCM is kind of worthless. It's LPCM from a mono source, the same type of source the R2s would have used and they did theirs in DD I believe.

I'm also not so sure that the the video is remastered. There are scenes that look like they may be, but at least for the first couple of openings on box 1 they had all sorts of video issues (broken film and such, not compression problems).

I also have the Kimi nozomu releases and they are spot on for the most part.

I believe they also have Scrapped Princess listed in that pile, so it would be interesting to see if they have the same video issues we had on the R1s.

Although, some of those shows are tempting, if a show is getting an R1 release I'd rather show support for the local Anime market than the overseas. That doesn't stop me from buying R3s instead of super expensive R2s though. I'm really thinking about Rozen Maiden on R3, along with Gunbuster 2...

[Pyocola]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
I'm also not so sure that the the video is remastered. There are scenes that look like they may be, but at least for the first couple of openings on box 1 they had all sorts of video issues (broken film and such, not compression problems).

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't think the R2s were remastered either, at least not to the same degree as Harlock, GE999 etc.

Personally I'm a bit interested in Lady Oscar, if it's the remaster. It's also from Catalyst Logic however so it might be worth it to wait and see if it gets re-priced like AnJ/Touch. There are also quite a lot of World Masterpiece Theatre boxes, some with English subtitles. Though I've read that the video quality on many of the R2s are shit so these are probably no better.

Then there's Honneamise as well, but something tells me we might see that one on R1 soon so I'm holding off for now. /images/graemlins/wink.gif Lots of other stuff as well, but much of it has already been released on R1 DVD and if there's no difference in quality I'd much rather get those, even if I had to pay a bit more. They do have Alien 9 and NTHT for cheap though, so those might be worth it to replace CPM's composite transfers.

[naiera]

They also have a Gravion set that is quite nice. I believe they may have mirrored the R2 release where you got a part for the robot with each DVD. It was on sale when I saw it. Looked like the wanted to get rid of it, so I don't know if they still have it.

Is Rozen Maiden something that's OMFGZ good and not looking to be licensed soon? I think I can find teh subs for that one...

[crane]

I also have a few R3TW releases (Monster, Fullmetal Alchemist & Cardcaptor Sakura) and they are all in great quality.

But I'm anticipating the release of The Legend of the Galactic Heroes from Proware. According to their DVD spec (http://www.prowaremedia.com.tw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9154), it's even better than the R2J! Can't wait!!

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
crane said:
But I'm anticipating the release of The Legend of the Galactic Heroes from Proware. According to their DVD spec (http://www.prowaremedia.com.tw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9154), it's even better than the R2J! Can't wait!!

[/ QUOTE ]
Is there a release date set for LotGH?

[Njr Scrawl]

[ QUOTE ]
There are also quite a lot of World Masterpiece Theatre boxes, some with English subtitles.

[/ QUOTE ]

Perrine En Famille/Perrine Monogatari is one such. I have the R3 TV series w/English subs & the R2J movie. Nice boxes. Moving story based on a French book I believe.

The Von Trapp box looks like the character designs are more modern.


Akane Maniax seems to have disappeared.

[Randall Flagg]

[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:
Yay! They have Ashita no Joe ("Tomorrow's Joe"), also a Catalyst Logic release in the sale reduced to NT$399 per 4 disc box.

Also - Yamato TV series 3 (Proware copy of R2J), LPCM audio.


[/ QUOTE ]

/images/graemlins/noseblef.gif /images/graemlins/noseblef.gif /images/graemlins/noseblef.gif /images/graemlins/noseblef.gif
They also have Yamato 1 and 2.

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
roastedpekingduck said:
How is the Chinese dubbing for these sets? Also, is the Chinese they feature Cantonese or Mandarin?

[/ QUOTE ]
I can't speak for the Chinese on it, as I don't know the difference between Mandarin and Cantonese. Sorry. I can understand spoken Japanese and some printed, but Chinese is beyond my scope.

[naiera]

So, what are some good series that the R1 licensors have missed during the last few years that can be bought on TW R3? I know of a few "missed" series but if we go just a few years back I'm not at all up to speed.

[leongsh]

[ QUOTE ]
roastedpekingduck said:
How is the Chinese dubbing for these sets? Also, is the Chinese they feature Cantonese or Mandarin?

[/ QUOTE ]

If it's from Taiwan, it's Mandarin.

[hub]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
I believe they also have Scrapped Princess listed in that pile, so it would be interesting to see if they have the same video issues we had on the R1s.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm currently collecting their R3 release of Scrapped Princess and the video is awesome compared to the R1 release. From what I can tell it's a straight rip of the R2 release, because it doesn't suffer from any of the composite problems that plague the R1 release. Also, their R3 release of Gunbuster 2 rocks as well. Nothing better than R2 quality releases at R3 prices. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[demonanya]

One thing I will say about R3 Taiwan releases is that Evangelion Renewal in DTS is just fantastic, makes it even better than the R2 release, and 10 times better than the R1.

Just wish I had some patience and hung on until Prowaremedia started releasing the R3 version of Ichigo Mashimaro instead of buying the R2 releases, would have saved myself a small fortune even with the high shipping fee's from JSDVDMall.

Also, just been looking at the Prowaremedia site and they have got the following new licences:

He is my Master (getting this, glad I hung back on the R2 now)
R.O.D. The TV
Yonna in the solitary fortress (not sure what that is but it's from Cowave Films.)
Sunabozu (is that Desert Punk?)
Magikano (I'll probably get this)
BLACK CAT
Trinity Blood
SPEED GRAPHER
SoltyRei

They also have some Godzilla stuff and other bits and bobs but these seemed the most relevant. Looks like Prowaremedia are the R3 equivalent of Funimation i.e. loads of GONZO stuff.

[raistlinmajere]

[ QUOTE ]
Demonanya said:
One thing I will say about R3 Taiwan releases is that Evangelion Renewal in DTS is just fantastic, makes it even better than the R2 release, and 10 times better than the R1.


[/ QUOTE ]
Is it progressive?

[ QUOTE ]
Demonanya said:
Sunabozu (is that Desert Punk?)


[/ QUOTE ]
Yup

[ QUOTE ]
Demonanya said:
Magikano (I'll probably get this)


[/ QUOTE ]
NOOOOOOOOOOO! (http://vaderno.ytmnd.com)

[Pyocola]

[ QUOTE ]
Raistlin said:
[ QUOTE ]
Demonanya said:
One thing I will say about R3 Taiwan releases is that Evangelion Renewal in DTS is just fantastic, makes it even better than the R2 release, and 10 times better than the R1.


[/ QUOTE ]
Is it progressive?


[/ QUOTE ]
Not entirely. I would guesstimate maybe 80-90%.

[ QUOTE ]
Raistlin said:
[ QUOTE ]
Demonanya said:
Magikano (I'll probably get this)


[/ QUOTE ]
NOOOOOOOOOOO! (http://vaderno.ytmnd.com)

[/ QUOTE ]
Got that right. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
roastedpekingduck said:
Can anyone attest to the dub quality? Also, which boxsets are dubbed? Unfortunately, I cannot understand Japanese or read Chinese.

[/ QUOTE ]
Dub? As in English dub? Uh, none of them that I've seen contain an English dub.

Hell, most of what I've seen doesn't include a Chinese dub. That's at least a part of why these are so much cheaper than their R1 counterparts, since they aren't paying to localize the audio and the credits. It's generally a rip or similar of the R2 DVDs, inlcuding the single audio track.

[crane]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
Is there a release date set for LotGH?

[/ QUOTE ]

They haven't announced it yet. Since they will soon accept pre-orders, I guess the first box would be released within a month or two.

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
roastedpekingduck said:
Dub as in a Chinese dub...they may be cheap, but if I can't understand anything, it's like throwing money into a toilet...

[/ QUOTE ]
Well, go through the site as they list what the language is on the disc. The majority are Japanese w/ Chinese subs.

[HyugaKojiro]

[ QUOTE ]
hub said:

From what I can tell it's a straight rip of the R2 release, because it doesn't suffer from any of the composite problems that plague the R1 release.

[/ QUOTE ]

I've been wondering about this for some time now, when a company licenses a show from Japan can they just rip the video off the R2 DVD? If its a common practice for R3 releases why don't the R1 companies go ahead and do it as well. I don't see a reason why companies such as Bandai should release a series with crappy video after having paid lots of money for the license just because they got crappy masters.

[Sugei]

What is the quality concerning the titles that have english subtitles? The quality of the english subtitles that is.

I would love to see Legend of the Galactic Heroes with decent english subs.

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
HyugaKojiro said:
I've been wondering about this for some time now, when a company licenses a show from Japan can they just rip the video off the R2 DVD? If its a common practice for R3 releases why don't the R1 companies go ahead and do it as well. I don't see a reason why companies such as Bandai should release a series with crappy video after having paid lots of money for the license just because they got crappy masters.

[/ QUOTE ]
There are plenty of reasons.

It may be possible that the R2 companies don't know the R3 companies are ripping their video.

It may be possible it is part of the R2/R3 contracts to allow use of the materials.

Most English studios like to put English credits in their shows, which means they need to reauthor to some extent anyway.

R1 contracts may not allow for the transfer of authored materials.

R2 is a single language release (generally speaking) so many releases maximize bit rates for the best possible picture and sound. Since R1 companies have to include dual languages, this potentially takes away from video/audio quality, thus requiring a reauthor.

The real truth is that it is likely no one really knows the answer to your question other than the studios themselves and they aren't talking.

The only instance I can think of where a company is admiting to using Japanese MPGs is Animeigo's new release of the AMG OVA.

[Atomsk]

I bought Rozen Maiden from them. Nice box, image and sound quality are fine. Their Karas release is also great. Video quality is slightly worse, but it does contain a full rate DTS soundtrack. Air has the same video issues as the Japanese release.

As for the older series that contain English subs, be aware the quality of the translation is rather mediocre. At least that was the case with "Daddy longlegs", but I don't think the other animation classics are any better.

Too bad I can't get the fansubs scripts for Daddy Longlegs. Always the same story: fansub groups overestimate their importance and think offering the scripts will cause all kind of bad things to happen. It's the same nonsence as refusing to sell knives, "because they can be used for murder" of course, but they just don't seem to get it.. </rant> /images/graemlins/depresse.gif

Anyone bought GitS:SAC 2nd Gig (HK release) from them by the way?
http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?products_id=8018 It has English subs, but I'm unsure about the translation quality.

One last thing: JSDVD's website doesn't work very well with Firefox. Parts of the navigation menu are gone and payment might fail. IE works fine.

[Pyocola]

[ QUOTE ]
Atomsk said:
Anyone bought GitS:SAC 2nd Gig (HK release) from them by the way?
http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?products_id=8018 It has English subs, but I'm unsure about the translation quality.

[/ QUOTE ]
There was a customer review on YesAsia for the first season of that HK release, apparently the subs are horrible.

[HyugaKojiro]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
[ QUOTE ]
HyugaKojiro said:
I've been wondering about this for some time now, when a company licenses a show from Japan can they just rip the video off the R2 DVD? If its a common practice for R3 releases why don't the R1 companies go ahead and do it as well. I don't see a reason why companies such as Bandai should release a series with crappy video after having paid lots of money for the license just because they got crappy masters.

[/ QUOTE ]
There are plenty of reasons.

It may be possible that the R2 companies don't know the R3 companies are ripping their video.

It may be possible it is part of the R2/R3 contracts to allow use of the materials.

Most English studios like to put English credits in their shows, which means they need to reauthor to some extent anyway.

R1 contracts may not allow for the transfer of authored materials.

R2 is a single language release (generally speaking) so many releases maximize bit rates for the best possible picture and sound. Since R1 companies have to include dual languages, this potentially takes away from video/audio quality, thus requiring a reauthor.

The real truth is that it is likely no one really knows the answer to your question other than the studios themselves and they aren't talking.

The only instance I can think of where a company is admiting to using Japanese MPGs is Animeigo's new release of the AMG OVA.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I guess you pretty much summed up all the possible reasons. But even if the R1 version needs more work they could still rip the video and start out with a better transfer than by using the supplied and in some cases inferior masters that are sent to them from Japan. I'm sure that the R1 companies are forking over more cash than the R3 companies (since there's more profit to be made in the US for each show) so the license holder should be generous enough to supply the masters (or a DVD) with the best possible video quality. Oh well its like you said, the oly ones who know aren't talking so it'll stay a mystery, kind of annoying though.

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
HyugaKojiro said:
Yeah I guess you pretty much summed up all the possible reasons. But even if the R1 version needs more work they could still rip the video and start out with a better transfer than by using the supplied and in some cases inferior masters that are sent to them from Japan.

[/ QUOTE ]
That would be stealing the work of the original Japanese DVD authors unless they were compensated for it, or unless the license says they are able to do this, which precludes the authoring house being paid for the work and allowing for international use of said work. Just because no one may ever find out about it that doesn't make it right to do from a morality stand point.

[Ericf]

I'd say it's more likely the Authoring House has no say in the matter. They have done their job and have been paid for it by the licensor who, then, can sell the result to anyone they want.

Or are we talking compensation among the lines of music artists? Royalties and such?

[Njr Scrawl]

Like selling any commodity, licenses are priced-up if the customers are considered able to pay & seem hungry for what's on offer.

Its doubtful if any license would be bought for legitimate release in R3 zones if the cost to R1 companies was converted straight to other currencies.

[slerch666]

So I received my set today.

The outter boxes are pretty nice in terms of quality, sturdy chipboard.

The DVD cases are poop quite simply. They are a 2 disc case, where the one disc is on a hinge. The hinge is shit. The first set I opened, the hingeg piece was laying in the case. The DVD was pretty securely on the hub though, so there was no damage.

I did something stupid. When I ordered, I only ordered vol. 20-101, instead of ordering 1-20 as well. D'oh! So I just placed an order for the last box, and since shipping is a bitch from TW, I threw in the TV specials and the movie box. Guess I'll have those by Monday or Tuesday.

I'll have pics of the stuff once I get a chance to snap some pics.

In the meantime though, I have some images I captured to show off. It doesn't look bad at all. I don't know if it is the remaster, but I can say that for a show that costs ~$100 to own it all (shipped), it isn't bad video quality AT ALL.

1 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/1.jpg)
2 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/3.jpg)
3 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/2.jpg)
4 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/4.jpg)
5 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/5.jpg)
6 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/6.jpg)
7 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/7.jpg)

The pics are from eps 21. No I won't do requests. I'm lazy. If you look up "f***ing lazy" in the encyclopedia, there is an entire entry devoted to me.

For those that care, this is NOT progressively encoded. There are plenty instances that make you aware (by going through Virtual Dub Mod) that it is interlaced.

[treatment]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
So I received my set today.

The outter boxes are pretty nice in terms of quality, sturdy chipboard.

The DVD cases are poop quite simply. They are a 2 disc case, where the one disc is on a hinge. The hinge is shit. The first set I opened, the hingeg piece was laying in the case. The DVD was pretty securely on the hub though, so there was no damage.

I did something stupid. When I ordered, I only ordered vol. 20-101, instead of ordering 1-20 as well. D'oh! So I just placed an order for the last box, and since shipping is a bitch from TW, I threw in the TV specials and the movie box. Guess I'll have those by Monday or Tuesday.

I'll have pics of the stuff once I get a chance to snap some pics.

In the meantime though, I have some images I captured to show off. It doesn't look bad at all. I don't know if it is the remaster, but I can say that for a show that costs ~$100 to own it all (shipped), it isn't bad video quality AT ALL.

1 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/1.jpg)
2 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/3.jpg)
3 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/2.jpg)
4 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/4.jpg)
5 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/5.jpg)
6 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/6.jpg)
7 (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/7.jpg)

The pics are from eps 21. No I won't do requests. I'm lazy. If you look up "f***ing lazy" in the encyclopedia, there is an entire entry devoted to me.

For those that care, this is NOT progressively encoded. There are plenty instances that make you aware (by going through Virtual Dub Mod) that it is interlaced.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm. The images indicate the video don't look remastered at all. Very soft and lots of noise/dot-crawls and stuff. It's still good stuff, tho, and quite a money-deal compared to the $800+ that the R2 will cost you for an old-school title.

Maybe you can coordinate with Leongsh to do R2-vs-R3-vs-LD comparo.

edit: I just noticed the images were in jpg's. i know you don't want to do requests, but it would better if the images you snapped were in png-format.

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm. The images indicate the video don't look remastered at all. Very soft and lots of noise/dot-crawls and stuff. It's still good stuff, tho, and quite a money-deal compared to the $800+ that the R2 will cost you for an old-school title.

Maybe you can coordinate with Leongsh to do R2-vs-R3-vs-LD comparo.

[/ QUOTE ]
I didn't say it looked remastered, but compared to VCD or something along those lines, I'd say it is MUCH better.

The TV series, after shipping, ran ~$90. Almost 10x less than the JUST the MSRP on the Japanese DVDs (and no telling what you'd pay if you tracked down the OOP box set(s?) on Yahoo Japan and paid deputy fees). I'm definitely not complaining over video.

If Leongsh wants to post some caps from eps 21-101 and tell me what eps and so on, I'll see if I can match up with the scenes he picks out. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

My guess is that this is a LD master to DVD set, but I don't have the LDs so I can't be sure.

[slerch666]

So here are the pics of the goods themselves. I didn't take too many pics in terms of getting shots of all the DVD covers and so on, but this will give you a fair idea on how it looks:

Box covers (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/boxesfront.jpg)
Backs of the boxes (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/boxesback.jpg)
Spine (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/spine.jpg)
DVD covers (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/covers.jpg)
Discs (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/slerch666/Touch%20My%20Special%20Spot/discs.jpg)

The DVD artwork, on the DVD set I opened was all the same, unfortunately, besides the disc number.

[Thanatos]

I have the Touch R2 DVD boxset as well as the LD-BOX. That's definitely not the remastered version.

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanatos said:
I have the Touch R2 DVD boxset as well as the LD-BOX. That's definitely not the remastered version.

[/ QUOTE ]
At least we know for sure now.

I'm happy with it as I didn't pay the R2 price.

[Nuriko]

[ QUOTE ]
hub said:

I'm currently collecting their R3 release of Scrapped Princess and the video is awesome compared to the R1 release. From what I can tell it's a straight rip of the R2 release, because it doesn't suffer from any of the composite problems that plague the R1 release. Also, their R3 release of Gunbuster 2 rocks as well. Nothing better than R2 quality releases at R3 prices. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

That probably explains why R3 TW sets are more expensive than the R3 HK sets. There are many R3 Tawanese series where they only have the Japanese dub and Chinese subtitles that cost twice as much as the R3 HK set which includes a Cantonese dub.

One of the reasons anime releases in R3 TW is exceedingly faster than R3 HK might be because of a straight dump from the R2 releases without local dubs. It's faster, save cost on dubbing, R2 quality, and cheaper than R2. The only reason why I think it is more expensive than a R3 HK set with Cantonese dub is because of its R2 video/audio quality, but I have nothing to compare to.

I bought the R3 HK Naruto, YYH, and Fullmetal Alchemist dvds. They all come with Cantonese dubs and chinese subs, but Naruto is at least 2 times as cheap as the R3 TW sets which does come with a Mandarin dub with lower episodes per discs. But for Fullmetal Alchmist, there was no Mandarin dub but each dvd still cost about $5 more in MSRP price.

At one point in time, there wasn't much HK TW sets to begin with, now they are pumping it like mad crazy and probably surpassed the R3 HK in terms of anime releases. It's great that Tenge Tenhjo, Prince of Tennis, Initial D, Ranma 1/2, Gundam Seed and Zeta, GITS series, etc are all coming out in R3. I know I've been buy alot more R3 dvds these days than R1, not because it is cheaper, but their Cantonese dubs are excellent and I don't have to read subtitles, lol

[Njr Scrawl]

Whoa! R3 Zeta Gundam?! If they have the original intros & endings on each episode, I'll buy. Got some R2s (co-owned collection), & I'd like to complete it.

Checking Yesasia ZG TV is sold in 2 R3 boxes. Each has 2 volumes.
Also the ZG movie 1 is R3 already! Best of all there are 2 ZG heroine figure sets. Want to own Emma, Hamann & Four?

[Nuriko]

[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:
Whoa! R3 Zeta Gundam?! If they have the original intros & endings on each episode, I'll buy. Got some R2s (co-owned collection), & I'd like to complete it.

Checking Yesasia ZG TV is sold in 2 R3 boxes. Each has 2 volumes.
Also the ZG movie 1 is R3 already! Best of all there are 2 ZG heroine figure sets. Want to own Emma, Hamann & Four?

[/ QUOTE ]

There's a LE Zeta boxset coming out soon for $150. I was thinking about the original intros & endings as well, but I prefer the english subs for space sci-fi series. If anything, I'll get Gundam Seed to test the water, at the newer animation makes it easier to swallow, lol

[Njr Scrawl]

(Sorry, each box has 4 volumes!)

Both boxes cost less than $150, $46.99 each - but I see the $150 box is LE collectible. Gundam Z now comes with a Gundam Mk-II and Z Gundam silver coins, and a mouse pad! This version also includes a colored battleship model, limited to 999 worldwide, all numbered. The discs and the extras are packed in a special deluxe boxset.

The R3 movie 1 is cheap at $15.99 as well.

I've got the R1s (original set, Grrr..) already, & CDs, but intend to own the unchanged version as well.

[Pyocola]

A tip: the LE box, and a lot of other HK releases are cheaper at buyoyo.com than YesAsia. They charge shipping however (but usually still cheaper), and with pre-paid VAT from YA it's probably not a better option for people in the UK, but otherwise it might be worth it to see if they carry it.

[Johnny]

[ QUOTE ]
Nuriko said:
At one point in time, there wasn't much HK TW sets to begin with, now they are pumping it like mad crazy and probably surpassed the R3 HK in terms of anime releases. It's great that Tenge Tenhjo, Prince of Tennis, Initial D, Ranma 1/2, Gundam Seed and Zeta, GITS series, etc are all coming out in R3. I know I've been buy alot more R3 dvds these days than R1, not because it is cheaper, but their Cantonese dubs are excellent and I don't have to read subtitles, lol

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, I never imagined I'd be able to buy Naruto, Initial D 4th Stage and Prince of Tennis so cheaply. All I need is One Piece and Bleach boxsets to be confirmed and I'm a happy man!

[Njr Scrawl]

My R3 Zetas are shipping. I'll post when I've run through a few.

If anyone knows any differences/changes to the op & end animation, which episodes should I be looking out for? Anything else special to R2J?

[slerch666]

I'm really just interested in if the tracks changed on the R1 are "right" on the R3s. That would be a real kick in the balls, considering the claim was a license thing. I'd find it pretty shitty if the original author allowed the use of the track in Taiwan but not the US.

BTW, do you have links to the Zeta box? I'm going to scroll up and see if I missed it...

[Njr Scrawl]

Here they are;

LE whole series box (http://global.yesasia.com/en/prdGrpDept.aspx/section-anime/code-c/version-all/pid-1004100806/)

Box 1 (http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/code-c/section-anime/pid-1004189926/)

Box 2 (http://global.yesasia.com/en/PrdDept.aspx/section-anime/code-c/version-all/pid-1004104080/)

and

cheap HK version of ZG movie 1 (http://global.yesasia.com/en/mc/-/CSprd1004104080@1004100855/PrdDept.aspx/section-anime/code-c/version-all/pid-1004100855/)

[ndm]

[ QUOTE ]
Nuriko said:
I bought the R3 HK Naruto, YYH, and Fullmetal Alchemist dvds. They all come with Cantonese dubs and chinese subs, but Naruto is at least 2 times as cheap as the R3 TW sets which does come with a Mandarin dub with lower episodes per discs. But for Fullmetal Alchmist, there was no Mandarin dub but each dvd still cost about $5 more in MSRP price.


[/ QUOTE ]

Can you give an impression on how the sets are (especially the Naruto dvds)? I like the prices, but I'm a bit alarmed by a customer review at YesAsia for the first Naruto set which says "I found the chinese subtitles were hard-coded for those who are interested" - does this mean they can't be turned off? I don't need English subtitles, but I don't want Chinese subs and just want to be able to watch the dvds raw in Japanese. I could go the TW sets instead (assuming that these aren't hard-subbed either), but the price is a lot higher.

[Njr Scrawl]

Other series on R3 newly noticed (sourced from JSmall).

All Proware
Maria-sama (just starting)
Nadia (2 boxes)
He Is My Master
Z-Gundam:Lovers (movie 2)
Air:Memories (is this the prequel disc?)
Air:In Summer
Air TV (2nd box with vol.5)
W Wish
Final Approach
FMP:TSR (DTS)
Super Robot Wars
Evangelion TV DTS box set + bonus disc
Akane Maniax (under "Kimiga Nozomu Eien-OVA")

anyway that's from browsing the 1st 150 of 600! Older releases the further you progress.

E-muse also has a decent range of unreleased &/or R2J equivalent titles like One Piece, Reementar Gerard, Yakitate, Kakyusei, Black Jack TV, Peach Girl, Hunter x Hunter, Wind-A Breath of Heart OVA,

Mighty are releasing Inu Yasha & Naruto.

Cyclon do sports & martial arts. Including Touch TV, Hokuto no Ken, Tomorrow's Joe but also Gancutsuo, Cyborg Soldier, Tetsujin NO.28, Twelve Kingdoms tin box sets @ TW$399 each and this mystery title. (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?cPath=104_122&products_id=3521)

Top-Insight have Gundam W, Seed/Destiny, Pokemon movie 5, Pichi Pichi Pitch Pure, Initial D with 5.1 audio, Full Metal Alchemist

Pimgroup have Future Boy Conan box set, Gravion & Gravion-Zwei, lots of anime from classic books, Mask of Glass OVAs, Dog of Flanders TV with English subtitles & Trapp Family with English subtitles.

Super Doll Licca, Tetsujin 28 movie, Aeon Flux, Advent Children (THX), Shonan Bakusozoku set, Slam Dunk, Appleseed DTS & LCE, "Gross Fight!" (Dangaioh? Iczer?) & Akira DTS are all in the R3 market as well.

But no Inspector Gadget with Japanese track /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif

[Pelianth]

[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:
Air:Memories (is this the prequel disc?)

[/ QUOTE ]
Memories has the 13th recap episode and a bunch of extras on it. It's not Prelude.

[Legion]

[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:
But no Inspector Gadget with Japanese track /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]I'm almost afraid to ask but... why?

[Njr Scrawl]

[ QUOTE ]
Legion said:
[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:
But no Inspector Gadget with Japanese track /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif

[/ QUOTE ]I'm almost afraid to ask but... why?

[/ QUOTE ]


Penny (http://poll.imdb.com/title/tt0085033/)

[Johnny]

[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:

He Is My Master


[/ QUOTE ]

I just spotted this on R3 here (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?products_id=8452) and as I am thinking about buying the R2's, would rather pay less and get a box and go the R3 route.
The run time for this and the second volume suggests 2 episodes per disk which isn't great, but this is only a 12 or 13 episode series and it total would cost me less than £40 for the full series, which would get me maybe 2 R2's.

Anyway, I do have experience with R3's (Naruto, One Piece, Prince of Tennis, Initial D) and my main question here is does anyone know if these are hard subbed?

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
johnny said:
I just spotted this on R3 here (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?products_id=8452) and as I am thinking about buying the R2's, would rather pay less and get a box and go the R3 route.
The run time for this and the second volume suggests 2 episodes per disk which isn't great, but this is only a 12 or 13 episode series and it total would cost me less than £40 for the full series, which would get me maybe 2 R2's.

Anyway, I do have experience with R3's (Naruto, One Piece, Prince of Tennis, Initial D) and my main question here is does anyone know if these are hard subbed?

[/ QUOTE ]
The release matches the R2 setup w/ 2 eps a disc, only these are much cheaper.

The majority of Proware's releases, as I believe He is My Master is, are soft subbed in Chinese. I believe He is My Master follows this pattern and is soft subbed.

[Njr Scrawl]

I found Galaxy Railways (http://mall.jsdvd.com/index.php?cPath=104_109&sort=3d&page=12) on R3 wile browsing. They seem to be like the R2s, 13 discs & LPCM audio. Cheap.
(Don't know how good R1 is as I haven't bought them)

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:
I found Galaxy Railways (http://mall.jsdvd.com/index.php?cPath=104_109&sort=3d&page=12) on R3 wile browsing. They seem to be like the R2s, 13 discs & LPCM audio. Cheap.
(Don't know how good R1 is as I haven't bought them)

[/ QUOTE ]
Actually, the R2s are Dolby Digital stereo. I don't know if they had access to the original materials so I can't comment on whether or not the R3s are "real" LPCM or just LPCM taken from the Dolby Digital source (which would give you a track that takes up more space on the disc but still sounds like the Dolby Digital version since you can't magically uncompressed compressed audio and have all the lost data restored).

As far as the R1 quality, I have it and have no real issues with it. There are likely things wrong with it that I didn't notice, since it is FUNimation and others have pointed out they can have issues on their encoding.

Whether a person goes for the R3 set, the Japanese box set or the R1 release they are getting a damned fine show either way. If you need subs however, get the R1 release. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

So I have the Japanese box set and the R1 singles w/ box. I don't need to buy it again, but others certainly should! /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Johnny]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
[ QUOTE ]
johnny said:
I just spotted this on R3 here (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?products_id=8452) and as I am thinking about buying the R2's, would rather pay less and get a box and go the R3 route.
The run time for this and the second volume suggests 2 episodes per disk which isn't great, but this is only a 12 or 13 episode series and it total would cost me less than £40 for the full series, which would get me maybe 2 R2's.

Anyway, I do have experience with R3's (Naruto, One Piece, Prince of Tennis, Initial D) and my main question here is does anyone know if these are hard subbed?

[/ QUOTE ]
The release matches the R2 setup w/ 2 eps a disc, only these are much cheaper.

The majority of Proware's releases, as I believe He is My Master is, are soft subbed in Chinese. I believe He is My Master follows this pattern and is soft subbed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for that. I went ahead and ordered vol 1 w/box and vol 2 so once they arrive I'll confirm either way what the situation with the subs is.

[Skywise]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
Actually, the R2s are Dolby Digital stereo. I don't know if they had access to the original materials so I can't comment on whether or not the R3s are "real" LPCM or just LPCM taken from the Dolby Digital source (which would give you a track that takes up more space on the disc but still sounds like the Dolby Digital version since you can't magically uncompressed compressed audio and have all the lost data restored).

[/ QUOTE ]

Err.. if they don't have access to the original materials as you put it, that would make them bootlegs. PCM is actually how things are usually stored on digital masters, if it's not straight analog.

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
Skywise said:
Err.. if they don't have access to the original materials as you put it, that would make them bootlegs. PCM is actually how things are usually stored on digital masters, if it's not straight analog.

[/ QUOTE ]
I meant if all they were given were already completed MPEGs, say off the DVDs (not that they ripped them). I don't know how the licensing world works or how the materials are handled. Sorry.

[jmnovak]

[ QUOTE ]
Skywise said:
Err.. if they don't have access to the original materials as you put it, that would make them bootlegs.

[/ QUOTE ]

This leads to a question I've been meaning to ask: for the R3
stuff, what assurances do we have that they aren't bootleg? If
I were to shop at JSDVD Mall, is all their stuff legit, only
the Proware stuff, catch-as-catch-can, what?

Basically, the only R3 discs I've gotten before were the Singapore
Odex releases of Pretear & Boys Be... way back when. I saw this
thread, and noticed some titles that are not available in R1 &
hard to get or that I'm not sure about spending tons of money
on in R2; but I'm also not interested in subsidizing bootlegging...

Sorry if this has been answered somewhere else, I was just thinking
about it in the context of this thread, and hadn't seen any other
mentions. I suppose the follow-up question is, are there any
other 'trustworthy' R3 retailers that ship to the USA that might
be worth my looking into?

Thanks!

(Of course, after a recent RightStuf sale, my unwatched backlog is
large enough that I probably shouldn't get anything else not
already planned for, no matter how tempting the price... :-)

--John N.

[slerch666]

JSDVD Mall only sells legit goods.

I don't recall how we figured it out, but Proware and all the other companies that have Anime listed on JSDVD Mall are legit. Hell, Proware has there own website (http://www.prowaremedia.com.tw/shop/default.php?cPath=22) that shows off all the shows they have. Have you ever seen a bootleg company with a website? (that would be like advertising "HEY SUE ME!")

[jmnovak]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
I don't recall how we figured it out, but Proware and all the other companies that have Anime listed on JSDVD Mall are legit. Hell, Proware has there own website (http://www.prowaremedia.com.tw/shop/default.php?cPath=22) that shows off all the shows they have. Have you ever seen a bootleg company with a website? (that would be like advertising "HEY SUE ME!")

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, yeah, my recollection (from some years back, now) was that the
big CD operations that were loose on the concept of licensing often
had their own websites; the issue as I understand it was that
Tiawanese law was lax on the enforcement of licensing issues,
so there was no reason not to advertise, you wouldn't be touched
anyhow. I do seem to recall some anecdotal evidence that things
had improved in recent years, but I wasn't following the issue
that closely, hence my question.

(I.e., company has a website isn't definitive evidence, though if
enforcement of licensing issues in the country the company does
business is strong, then it's reasonably convincing evidence. If
the Japanese company they license from says 'yup, they're legit',
then I have no qualms whatsoever -- beyond intrinsic quality of the
product, of course!)

For the issue at hand, I can accept that someone has presented
convincing evidence somewhere; thanks for the response!

--John N.

[Shiroi Hane]

I don't know about Proware, but the Kiddy Grade DVDs by PIM I bought from Yesasia are top notch and if they're bootlegged I'll eat my hat - and it's a big hat. I have the Case 12 LE with a shiny box and the Twelfth continuity file, which has had all text translated into Chinese, even the SFX from the storyboards and the handwritten note from Megumi at the back. I just wish FUNimation had gone that extra mile like they have with the Samurai 7 LEs since I at least know a some Japanese but not Chinese at all..

[ObiKenobi]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
JSDVD Mall only sells legit goods.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well yesasia says the same thing, but they've had R3 releases on their site that are rather shady or have been discovered to have unlicensed content.

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
I don't recall how we figured it out, but Proware and all the other companies that have Anime listed on JSDVD Mall are legit. Hell, Proware has there own website (http://www.prowaremedia.com.tw/shop/default.php?cPath=22) that shows off all the shows they have. Have you ever seen a bootleg company with a website? (that would be like advertising "HEY SUE ME!")

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep, it was a pretty well-known Korean bootleg company until it was eventually shutdown. Name was DVD Ani.

[lordwu]

Proware is probably the largest R3 anime studio in Taiwan. They are a bit like Geneon USA in that their releases consistently have good quality but they are also a bit pricier than other studios' releases. Also, Proware do put their licensing news on their homepage. I don't think any bootleg company would do that even if they have a website.

Here's their latest acquired licenses (news released on 7/7):

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
FMP TSR OVA
Fullmetal Alchemist Premium Collection
Blood the Last Vampire
MS Gundam MS Igloo: The Hidden One Year War

[Oniko]

I was just wondering if anyone knew of other places to purchase the R3 dvds that ships internationally. I know of Yes Asia and JSDVD Mall, but neither of these sites carries all of the dvds released by Proware.

Particularly, I want to pick up the REC and Binchotan dvds that they just announced as licensed.

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
Oniko said:
I was just wondering if anyone knew of other places to purchase the R3 dvds that ships internationally. I know of Yes Asia and JSDVD Mall, but neither of these sites carries all of the dvds released by Proware.

Particularly, I want to pick up the REC and Binchotan dvds that they just announced as licensed.

[/ QUOTE ]
I've found JS DVDMall stocks all of Proware's stuff assuming it is still manufactured. If the licenses were just announced that would explain why neither site is listing them for sale yet.

ANd I believe you can also email YesAsia and ask them to look into stocking a particular title, so if one title you want is released and you can't find it, give that a try.

[ObiKenobi]

Well I'm not arguing that they are a bootleg company. I'm just saying that some of the shadier R3 companies that have been pointed out to have had unlicensed material or flat out bootleg releases have had websites.

[Njr Scrawl]

[ QUOTE ]
lordwu said:
Proware is probably the largest R3 anime studio in Taiwan.
Here's their latest acquired licenses (news released on 7/7):

Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu
MS Gundam MS Igloo: The Hidden One Year War

[/ QUOTE ]

Yesss! /images/graemlins/cool.gif I'll wait!

[demonanya]

[ QUOTE ]
lordwu said:


Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu


[/ QUOTE ]

Woo hoo, will wait for the nice cheap Taiwan version /images/graemlins/happy.gif I'm sure I read that Proware have also licenced Maria-sama, or am I just dreaming?

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
Demonanya said:
[ QUOTE ]
lordwu said:


Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu


[/ QUOTE ]

Woo hoo, will wait for the nice cheap Taiwan version /images/graemlins/happy.gif I'm sure I read that Proware have also licenced Maria-sama, or am I just dreaming?

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't know if it was Proware or not, but someone did and I ordered the first 2 sets (8 episodes I believe). It's actually E-Muse (http://mall.jsdvd.com/advanced_search_result.php?categories_id=&search_i n_description=1&inc_subcat=1&keywords=La+Vierge+Ma rie+&x=0&y=0) that licensed Maria-sama. I ordered it. It hasn't shipped yet but when it does I'll let you guys know how it is.

I also ordered Happy Lesson Advance and Final.

[Njr Scrawl]

Hopefully Stratos 4 Advance will go R3, as the 1st series has already. I'm still hoping for BE to announce they have the R1 license at Otakon (with BoTS III) though.

[naiera]

He Is My Master is definitely something I'd buy, if I had the right "tools" to make it watchable for me.

Outside of that, I still need to get the money for that FMP:TSR stuff, because I ain't going FUNi on that series...

[VanG]

I'm not sure about now, but before, Taiwan wasn't a party to the Berne convention. So if it's not licensed in Taiwan, then it's probably(?) legal to sell the bootleg...

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
VanG said:
I'm not sure about now, but before, Taiwan wasn't a party to the Berne convention. So if it's not licensed in Taiwan, then it's probably(?) legal to sell the bootleg...

[/ QUOTE ]
Taiwan joined the WTO and is now part of the Berne Convention. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_party_to_the_Berne_Convention_by _name)

These shows, at least Proware's, have been proved to be legit releases.

That's not to say Taiwanese bootlegs don't still exist because they do. It is just that JS DVD Mall only sells legitimately licensed DVDs.

[rcraven]

[ QUOTE ]
Oniko said:
I was just wondering if anyone knew of other places to purchase the R3 dvds that ships internationally. I know of Yes Asia and JSDVD Mall, but neither of these sites carries all of the dvds released by Proware.

Particularly, I want to pick up the REC and Binchotan dvds that they just announced as licensed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Binchotan is there now (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?cPath=104_106&products_id=8947) and the box looks very cute. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

By the way, this store is very dangerous for me. Though I understand very little Japanese and can't read Chinese, I'm still very tempted to drop lots of money here. This is bad for a currently unemployed person. /images/graemlins/depresse.gif

[Oniko]

[ QUOTE ]
NiteOwl said:
Binchotan is there now (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?cPath=104_106&products_id=8947) and the box looks very cute. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

By the way, this store is very dangerous for me. Though I understand very little Japanese and can't read Chinese, I'm still very tempted to drop lots of money here. This is bad for a currently unemployed person. /images/graemlins/depresse.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Aww, that box is adorable. But I'll have to resist purchasing the show for a while yet.

I fully understand; I'm not employed at the moment either. It could be potentially dangerous for me as well. But luckily I only have Discover at the moment and virtually no one accepts that card.

[Johnny]

[ QUOTE ]
johnny said:
[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
[ QUOTE ]
johnny said:
I just spotted this on R3 here (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?products_id=8452) and as I am thinking about buying the R2's, would rather pay less and get a box and go the R3 route.
The run time for this and the second volume suggests 2 episodes per disk which isn't great, but this is only a 12 or 13 episode series and it total would cost me less than £40 for the full series, which would get me maybe 2 R2's.

Anyway, I do have experience with R3's (Naruto, One Piece, Prince of Tennis, Initial D) and my main question here is does anyone know if these are hard subbed?

[/ QUOTE ]
The release matches the R2 setup w/ 2 eps a disc, only these are much cheaper.

The majority of Proware's releases, as I believe He is My Master is, are soft subbed in Chinese. I believe He is My Master follows this pattern and is soft subbed.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for that. I went ahead and ordered vol 1 w/box and vol 2 so once they arrive I'll confirm either way what the situation with the subs is.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well, the stuff (volume 1 w/box and volume 2) arrived today and I have to say I'm very impressed.
The series (or at least the first 2 disks) have removable Chinese subs (and Japanese audio) which is exactly what I was looking for.

The disks themselves are very nice in terms of packaging. Each disk also includes 2 individual month calendars for 06 (volume 1 has Jan and Feb, volume 2 has March and April) and a nice booklet with screenshots etc.

The art used for the box is alright. I'll try to get some pics up later of all of this.
It's also nice and sturdy.

[slerch666]

Well, looking at the Animeigo request thread, there are plenty of people who would like to see the remainder of You're Under Arrest. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but Proware is selling the YUA S2 set on R3 DVD (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?products_id=2342). I just ordered my set, so we'll see how it is. Since it's Proware my guess is that it'll be pretty close to the R2 in terms of quality. I still need to watch my Maria-sama DVDs...

[Randall Flagg]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

I just ordered that along with Mirai Shonen Conan, Yamato I-III, and the Yamato movie box.

And, man, are those prices insanely awesome.

[Njr Scrawl]

Now that Animeigo are not releasing this, & even if they were going to, I'm getting this. £21.51 for a whole season of R2J quality Miyuki goodness. SOLD!

[Buster Darkwings]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
Well, looking at the Animeigo request thread, there are plenty of people who would like to see the remainder of You're Under Arrest. I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but Proware is selling the YUA S2 set on R3 DVD (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?products_id=2342). I just ordered my set, so we'll see how it is. Since it's Proware my guess is that it'll be pretty close to the R2 in terms of quality. I still need to watch my Maria-sama DVDs...

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, another TW R3 release with LPCM where the R2 had Dolby Digital (I believe). Well, I guess the price is right so long as the video isn't total crap, which neither you nor anyone else has indicated before on other R3 TW releases. So hopefully this set should be safe to pick up.

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
Wrath of the Njr said:
Now that Animeigo are not releasing this, & even if they were going to, I'm getting this. £21.51 for a whole season of R2J quality Miyuki goodness. SOLD!

[/ QUOTE ]
There isn't anything that says they definitely aren't releasing it, and at the price even if they (or someone else) did it isn't that big of a deal.

[slerch666]

The video very likely is R2 or near R2 quality. All the R3 Proware stuff I've picked up has been thus far.

[demonanya]

For those who aren't picking up the R1 My-HiME due to Bandai's shocking treatment of it then you can pick up the R3 version courtesy of Mighty. Yesasia have got all 9 volumes listed which mirrors the R2 release to a tee. Also, Volumes 3, 6 & 9 come with boxes, I assume this was the same for the Japanese release. The only difference I can tell so far between the R2 and the R3 is that the R3 uses Dolby Digital 2.0 wheras the R2's used PCM stereo, at least according to CD Japan.

http://global.yesasia.com/en/prdGrpDept.aspx/section-anime/code-j/version-all/pid-1004190498/

[DiGiKerot]

[ QUOTE ]
Demonanya said:
For those who aren't picking up the R1 My-HiME due to Bandai's shocking treatment of it then you can pick up the R3 version courtesy of Mighty. Yesasia have got all 9 volumes listed which mirrors the R2 release to a tee. Also, Volumes 3, 6 & 9 come with boxes, I assume this was the same for the Japanese release. The only difference I can tell so far between the R2 and the R3 is that the R3 uses Dolby Digital 2.0 wheras the R2's used PCM stereo, at least according to CD Japan.

http://global.yesasia.com/en/prdGrpDept.aspx/section-anime/code-j/version-all/pid-1004190498/

[/ QUOTE ]

The Japanese releases didn't have boxes, period, though they did have other first pressings to make up for that. Anyone seen any pictures of the R3 boxes? Kind of tempted to pick some up to house my R2s...

[VanG]

I would stay away from TW's My-HiME release, there was a lot of complaint like missing extras, bad video quality (mostly vol 1), bad sound quality (all volumes), disc screen looks like bootleg, etc. (although I doubt the disc screen could get worse than Bandai)

[hub]

[ QUOTE ]
slerch666 said:
The video very likely is R2 or near R2 quality. All the R3 Proware stuff I've picked up has been thus far.

[/ QUOTE ]

Well I bought Proware's R3 release of Kimiga a couple of months back, and all I can say is that the video is flawless. I think it'll be *very* interesting to see how the video quality on Funi's R1 release compares to the R3 release. I'm guessing it won't match it. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif /images/graemlins/depresse.gif Also, I'm waiting to see how their release of FMP? The Second Raid turns out, because I'll buy the R3 release if the video quality is anything like ADV's release of Fumoffu (and considering that this is another Kadokawa show...).

That said, I really hope Proware licenses Magikano next. /images/graemlins/catgirl0.gif

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
hub said:
Well I bought Proware's R3 release of Kimiga a couple of months back, and all I can say is that the video is flawless.

[/ QUOTE ]
I bought the R3s of Kimiga a long time ago and was quite pleased with the quality. There are some compression issues in some places, but nothing people who watch at "normal" angles and distances should likely pick up on.

[ QUOTE ]
Also, I'm waiting to see how their release of FMP? The Second Raid turns out, because I'll buy the R3 release if the video quality is anything like ADV's release of Fumoffu (and considering that this is another Kadokawa show...).

[/ QUOTE ]
FUNi isn't authoring the discs, ADV is. So it is basically up to Kadokawa to provide component masters or whatever. It sounds like Kadokawa wants to play well in R1 land and I've a feeling if they mess this one up they won't be playing too long.

[Sepeh]

I'm going to order from JSDVD Mall. So I have a question. Do they mark down prices on the packages? Because if they do so, I can avoid customs and VAT in my country. I live in Europe and we have to pay 25% of the price, if it's over 45$.

Well I found out that already from their site, they declare the package as gift. But I have another question. What does that "not including the package set" in weight section mean? Doesn't those DVD sets have box set or does it mean that the shipping weight isn't including the package, but only the DVD cases which are inside the box set. I prefer boxes and I want them too, when I'm going to order. It's a shame, if they just dump the box sets and ship only the DVD's.

And the anime which I'm going to bought is World Masterpiece Theater series, like A Dog of Flanders etc.

[slerch666]

I've ordered things with boxes and I've gotten the boxes every time. Touch TV had several boxes for it and they were "pre-boxed" while Yamato was disc 1 w/box and the rest were singles and received the box with that as well.

I'd email them though to find out exactly what they mean.

EDIT- is the message you are seeing "not including packing box?" Basically they are telling you the weight doesn't include the box they use to ship.

[Sepeh]

Yes, that is what I meant. I think that it would be that, but I wasn't sure, so I confirmed it from here. And do they usually package the items safely, I mean that the items have arrived in good condition?

[slerch666]

[ QUOTE ]
Sepeh said:
Yes, that is what I meant. I think that it would be that, but I wasn't sure, so I confirmed it from here. And do they usually package the items safely, I mean that the items have arrived in good condition?

[/ QUOTE ]
I've never had any broken/damaged art boxes or DVD cases. When you order straight DVDs (no boxes) the packing could be a little better but even then they are done OK, just not amazing.

[mcarocks2003]

Can anyone confirm if the following use a remastered R2 print for their R3 release:

Urusei Yatsura Beautiful Dreamer
Roses of Versaille (Lady Oscar)
Appleseed OVA
Hokuto No Ken
Ashita no Joe (Tomorrow's Joe)

[Njr Scrawl]

All I know is that Touch did not, & seems to come from the LDs. Any of those listed from the same company might also be from LDs.

Proware usually come from re-mastered R2s, or they do some themselves (better audio than video).

Not sure who released Zeta Gundam, but they seem from DVDs not LDs.

[Pyocola]

Ashita no Joe is from the same source as the R2s but with some added edge enhancement. They didn't do a proper remaster for the R2s however, and as such, neither for these. (Only AnJ2 was remastered in Japan.)

[Thanatos]

I do believe Ashita no Joe 1 was indeed remastered. It's much better than the LD release. I think the problem is the show suffered a great deal of damage.

[Steve_the_Talking_Pie]

Is Rose of Versailles subtitled? Does anyone have a link?

[Pyocola]

Which is why I said proper remaster, since you could technically use an LD master and remove three specks from it in order to call it remastered. To be considered proper in my opinion you'd have to go back to the original film prints/negatives, which is something they didn't do here, evidenced by the muddy colours, bleeding and composite artifacts. They may have done some noise reduction, but compared to TMS's superb job on AnJ2 it looks like complete crap.

[Pyocola]

Rose of Versailles only has Chinese subs, first set is here (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?products_id=5463), second one here (http://mall.jsdvd.com/product_info.php?products_id=5464). No idea if it's from the remastered source.