Shonan Bakusozoku on R3 thoughts

[slerch666]

So quite some time ago I picked up the entire series of Shonan Bakusozoku on R3 Taiwan DVD through JS DVD Mall. You can find the sets here. (http://mall.jsdvd.com/advanced_search_result.php?categories_id=&search_in_description=1&inc_subcat=1&keywords=shonan&x=0&y=0) They run ~400 Taiwan dollars, or roughly... all of ~$13 each.

Each box comes with 6 discs, 1 episode each to get you all 12 OVA eps.

As far as the packaging you can sum it up in one word... lame. You have a cardboard box, pretty heavy duty, that covers over the DVD keep case. At first I thought it was a "brick" but that would be heaping praise upon it which it is not due. No, instead you open the keep case up and inside are mylar sleeves, 6 total, one for each disc. Really super lame.

Now as far as the video, it doesn't look bad at all. I'm not sure if they got the remastered prints from Toei used on the R2 release or not, but given the lack of dirt and other weirdness, I'm going to say they did. Just don't shoot me if you find out otherwise.

Of course for $30 for the entire run you do pay another price. I had hoped for soft subtitles, but instead you get hard coded Chinese subtitles in the video. This is weird because you have the option for Japanese or Chinese audio. Why would you want to watch in Chinese audio with Chinese subtitles?

So in all for less than a single R2 of the series you can get the entire run. It comes at a price and I say you get what you pay for, but it's nice to have and interesting to watch.

[Njr Scrawl]

Bought awhile ago but not watched. I can repackage the discs, but Chinese hard subs suck. It is from a cheaper company than Proware.

Is Hiromi Tsuru's part, Yoshiko Tsuyama, a large one? I'm guessing she plays a tough girl as in Pelican Road Club Culture (where her character fought throwing razor blades!)

Think I'll try & find the Animeigo OOP VHS...

[Thanatos]

I've been watching the R2s, renting them (they are two episodes per disc, by the way). If the R3s include extras like the original previews, that would be the thing to compare the video to. On the r2s the print is remastered (very little damage) but the previews are not and are soft and contain film damage.

It's not weird to have Chinese with Chinese subtitles. If the viewer is not a Manadrin speaker, he won't understand the dialogue but will with Chinese subtitles. I've watched hong kong tv broadcasts with hardpressed Chinese subtitles, especially anime like Maison Ikkoku and DBZ. I figured it was a common practice.

[Njr Scrawl]

I didn't know any anime had been dubbed in Mandarin. Do you know of any other R3 anime with Mandarin dubs?

[slerch666]

Is Hiromi Tsuru's part, Yoshiko Tsuyama, a large one? I'm guessing she plays a tough girl as in Pelican Road Club Culture (where her character fought throwing razor blades!)

Think I'll try & find the Animeigo OOP VHS...
She plays Eguchi's girlfriend, and Eguchi is the focus of the show.

As far as tracking down the Animeigo VHS, no thanks. Did Animeigo even have all 12 episodes? It's hard to tell from what's left on their website.

I'm sure the video is better than a rewatched and recycled VHS tape even w/ hard subs. And since it's VHS you'll have hardsubs anyway... well, except they'll be in English.

For ~$30 for this set, if all you want is to see the series, then you can't beat it.

[slerch666]

I've been watching the R2s, renting them (they are two episodes per disc, by the way). If the R3s include extras like the original previews, that would be the thing to compare the video to. On the r2s the print is remastered (very little damage) but the previews are not and are soft and contain film damage.
They don't have the previews. Something tells me this ISN'T the remastered version. It doesn't look bad, but without having the originals to compare it to I'll go with the sage bet and say it isn't remastered. One day I might get the motivation up to rip some caps and we can compare.

[Thanatos]

Took 2 remastered video screenshots from R2 volume 4.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=W00QSXX3

[dormcat]

Why would you want to watch in Chinese audio with Chinese subtitles?
It's a cultural difference. Chinese contains dozens of different spoken dialects but they generally share the same writing system, so most TV programs, animated or not, are hard-subbed when early models of TV sets had no closed caption function. Even after the technology of close captioning and concealable subtitles (e.g. DVD) are available in virtually every household, people are adapted to watch TV programs with subtitles (with the exception of news).

I didn't know any anime had been dubbed in Mandarin. Do you know of any other R3 anime with Mandarin dubs?
Sweet Jesus, I didn't expect that from a veteran of over 13K posts. :roll:

- All Ghibli titles released by now-defunct Buena Vista Home Entertainment (Taiwan).
- All Crayon Shin-chan TV series and movies. Shogakukan didn't even allow the licensing of Japanese audio track, fearing possible reversed import.
- ATASHIn'CHI, for the same reason.
- All Pokemon series.
- Most, if not all, children-oriented titles aired on TV, such as Digimon and Beyblade.
- Many, but not all, popular shounen series on TV, like Inuyasha, Keroro, Yakitate!! Japan, and Naruto.
- Some teen to young adult (seinen) titles e.g. the bloody Mandarin dub of The Twelve Kingdoms.
- And many others I haven't mentioned here.

Personally I watched dubbed Mazinger Z, Gatchaman, and Candy Candy when I was two.

[Njr Scrawl]

My experiene is mainly of western releases, different media.

FWIW I assumed that most Chinese dubs were in Cantonese.

[Skywise]

Why would you want to watch in Chinese audio with Chinese subtitles?
It's a cultural difference. Chinese contains dozens of different spoken dialects but they generally share the same writing system, so most TV programs, animated or not, are hard-subbed when early models of TV sets had no closed caption function. Even after the technology of close captioning and concealable subtitles (e.g. DVD) are available in virtually every household, people are adapted to watch TV programs with subtitles (with the exception of news).


Yes, but Taiwan is pretty much localized to only one dialect these days, so there's not much point in including subs, except for the hearing impaired. In addition they use traditional chinese writing instead of simplified like on the mainland, so they wouldn't be of much use outside of Taiwan. You could still read it, but it's still different enough that it would mess things up.

I don't see much reason for hardsubs at all really unless it's a licensing requirement to avoid reverse importation. One thing to note that if it's just softsubs that are forced on those can easily be gotten around on a PC by using AnyDVD.

[dormcat]

Yes, but Taiwan is pretty much localized to only one dialect these days
You apparently underestimated the power of language-related political issues here. KMT's policy of promoting an unified spoken language has been constantly vilified and demonized in the past decade. I'm unwilling to go any further on this issue, but you can see examples (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=296957#296957) like Hakka-dubbed World Masterpiece Theater and Stellvia.

I don't see much reason for hardsubs at all really unless it's a licensing requirement to avoid reverse importation.
Most of the time that's a major reason.

One thing to note that if it's just softsubs that are forced on those can easily be gotten around on a PC by using AnyDVD.
Not everyone has the required knowledge to setup computers doing the job. I've been teaching my mom how to use computers for over a decade (from Win3.1 to WinXP), but she still has "panic moments" every week.

[slerch666]

I don't see much reason for hardsubs at all really unless it's a licensing requirement to avoid reverse importation.
Most of the time that's a major reason.

Then I guess what confuses me there is how a studio in the same Region and country like Proware can give us nearly 100% R2 copies (almost) and soft subs and get away with it?

I'm not sure how long Shonan Bakusozoku has been available in Taiwan, but isn't it possible they had the license for a long time and wound up using hard subbed materials they had available? Looking at the caps Thanatos posted, I don't think this is the remastered video.

[Skywise]

Yes, but Taiwan is pretty much localized to only one dialect these days
You apparently underestimated the power of language-related political issues here. KMT's policy of promoting an unified spoken language has been constantly vilified and demonized in the past decade. I'm unwilling to go any further on this issue, but you can see examples (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=296957#296957) like Hakka-dubbed World Masterpiece Theater and Stellvia.


Heh that is weird.

One thing to note that if it's just softsubs that are forced on those can easily be gotten around on a PC by using AnyDVD.
Not everyone has the required knowledge to setup computers doing the job. I've been teaching my mom how to use computers for over a decade (from Win3.1 to WinXP), but she still has "panic moments" every week.

But does your mom watch anime and read this forum? The people who do are the audience I'm thinking of, and I mentioned it as a "service" to them in case that was a sticking point for not getting R3 TW releases. As noted earlier it only works if it's forced softsubs and not hardsubs burned into the video. Since AnyDVD also takes care of region coding I consider it pretty much a must if you're importing and want to watch DVDs on your computer.

[dormcat]

Then I guess what confuses me there is how a studio in the same Region and country like Proware can give us nearly 100% R2 copies (almost) and soft subs and get away with it?
Nothing to "get away with" here; it's title- and company (original license holder)-specific.

Take a look at Proware's titles. Most of them are otaku-kei and/or moe-kei i.e. those with pretty young ladies whom you can find in Megami magazine. For both R2 and R3 releases, they emphasized on collective quality, with tons of omake, limited artbox, and highest animation and audio quality possible. Those factor made potential Japanese buyers of titles licensed by Proware would have bought the R2 release before R3 released. In fact, many loyal Proware customers are also hardcore R2 importers as well. They'd buy both versions as long as their financial situations permit.

However, look at those titles with restrictions like Shin-chan and ATASHIn'CHI: while aiming at all family members (with younger children and/or elderly who can't follow subtitles fast enough), both have very simplistic animation and high episode count (per disc and as a whole), with very limited amount of extras on discs. Such titles, while very entertaining, have low collection value, and many people choose cheaper VCD instead of DVD, if not simply by renting instead. These apply to both Japanese and Taiwanese (or whichever the third country is) audiences. Thus, including original Japanese audio and/or concealable softsub but with only half the price (even after international shipping fee) is very attractive in the eyes of potential Japanese customers. I have to admit that I don't know the details of the deal for "locked softsub" like those of Saint Seiya, but I would assume the similar reason applies.

Furthermore, I do know that some anime production companies are very sensitive to possible reversed import, while most others are not.

I'm not sure how long Shonan Bakusozoku has been available in Taiwan, but isn't it possible they had the license for a long time and wound up using hard subbed materials they had available? Looking at the caps Thanatos posted, I don't think this is the remastered video.
Asia International, licensor of Shonan Bakusozoku, declared bankruptcy on May 1st, 2006. Methinks a company under such financial crisis (and many crappy release records such as hardsub on Naruto movie it distributed) would not digitally remaster anything.

But does your mom watch anime and read this forum?
She watches anime I recommended to her, like Emma and The Twelve Kingdoms, and I sincerely wish she could read this forum. ;)