Starter/1st anime Blu Ray DVD

[Njr Scrawl]

What title would you recommend an anime fan as his/her first anime Blu Ray or HD DVD buy?

Which would best show the new format to its full capability?

[slerch666]

I'd recommend Wings of Honneamise. Of course, with the dirt/scratches I'm not sure anyone would be overly impressed with it.

I'd have to say Jin-Roh is pretty phenomenal as well. Definitely an excellent transfer. May be too "heady" for a complete noob, but who knows?

[whitefox]

I'd say Paprika or Tekkon Kinkreet. Both are visually excellent and have extras that show off some of the technology side of BD.

[davesimmons]

Paprika looked great and was a fun movie.

Appleseed Ex Machina also looked good if you don't mind its pure CG 3D style, similar to the CG opening to GitS: Stand Alone Complex.

It's not anime, but The Fountain looked very nice on my 1080p 50" DLP set, especially the future sequence in the nebula.

[Rhodes]

Innocence - has great picture and audio quality.

[Mr. Spiffy-Pants]

Paprika! It's not insanely priced (I'm sorry, but $80-100 on average for Wings is just crazy) and it's very well animated. The plot is a little crazy, but I love weird plots soooo...

[JeffDM]

Paprika! It's not insanely priced (I'm sorry, but $80-100 on average for Wings is just crazy) and it's very well animated. The plot is a little crazy, but I love weird plots soooo...

Huh? Average? The list price is $80. The actual sell price is less. It's definitely very expensive, but please, at least get the numbers right.

[DeadlyMessiah]

I'd say Perfect Blue if you don't mind importing from Japan with a no sub or dub release. It is the only anime right now I consider worth it, unless you are a big DBZ fan. Paprika was an average movie at best. Visually it was great, but it was just a waste of time with a, "Hey, look what we can do with animation now," taste to it rather than actually making a movie with a plot.

[itsuka]

I bought Paprika and Tekkon Kinkreet on Blu-Ray, but haven't watched them yet. I say the choices for anime are still quite limited.

However, on the subject of the non-anime blu-ray with the greatest wow effect, I have to put in a good word for the BBC documentary series Planet Earth. I've never, ever seen anything look so incredibly beautiful on my 40" Sony Bravia X2000. Plus, it's a good documentary, going off to some wild places that aren't terribly wellknown but very beautiful.

[Mr. Spiffy-Pants]

Huh? Average? The list price is $80. The actual sell price is less. It's definitely very expensive, but please, at least get the numbers right.

I'm including sites like this one:

Best Buy (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=15783831&st=honneamise&lp=1&type=product&cp=1&id=1666272)

Clearly, that's $100. Therefore, $80-100 is distinctly possible. In addition, the price was always $80 the handful of times that I did spot the Blu-Ray release in-stock locally at F.Y.E. and MovieStop. It is possible to find it for less online, but any way you slice it Wings is a VERY expensive release. :)

(Yes, I know that this is the HD-DVD version, but they have apparently discontinued carrying the Blu-Ray version. When they did carry it, it was the exact same price.)

[Buster Darkwings]

WTF? The MSRP is 79.99, isn't it? They're really earning their "Worst Buy" nickname if that's what they're charging...

[JeffDM]

WTF? The MSRP is 79.99, isn't it? They're really earning their "Worst Buy" nickname if that's what they're charging...

Yes, and Amazon charges $56. In-store, they used to charge above SRP for then-Pioneer distributed titles.

Somehow I just don't think of Best Buy as a place to order online anyway.

[brycec1701]

Get Appleseed Ex Machina!!!

I've seen it in both versions and it is by far the best looking anime release on Blu-ray so far.

[twistedsymphony]

I haven't gone Blu-Ray yet but I've already decided that my first 2 Anime purchases will be Appleseed Ex Machina and Innocence

Both movies were originally rendered/Scanned in HD which means that they'll benefit from the higher resolution much more than an older movie/series that's being re-released to the format. In general older releases are a crap-shoot with many of them just being up-converted versions of the DVD release.

Also don't forget that 1080p is only half the experience with the other half being lossless 7.1 Surround Sound, another feature that those two movies will benefit from greatly. Again because they were mastered in that format initially, not to mention that their use of sound is much more engaging than your drama/romance film.

Even if you've only got a 5.1 system the benefit to the audio clarity will be apparent on a Blu-Ray release. If you've got a stand alone blu-ray player and no HDMI input on your audio receiver I highly recommend investing in some RCA cables to connect the discrete analog outputs of your player to the pre-amp inputs on your receiver. This offers a much better audio experience than a digital coax or optical connection. If you're using a PS3 however this option is not available.

[Mr. Spiffy-Pants]

WTF? The MSRP is 79.99, isn't it? They're really earning their "Worst Buy" nickname if that's what they're charging...

Yes, and Amazon charges $56. In-store, they used to charge above SRP for then-Pioneer distributed titles.

Somehow I just don't think of Best Buy as a place to order online anyway.

I usually scope them out just for pricing comparison's sake. There was one time that they were running a deal online where every Full Metal Alchemist DVD was $16.99. This was right before the final FMA disc and the movie were released, so it was a pretty good deal that I jumped on at the time. Every now and then, they'll have a gem buried in all the garbage.