Shows where R1 got a Japanese remaster

[russ869]

I was wondering if people knew about shows that were remastered in Japan, and then that master was eventually brought over to the U.S. in some form. Examples of what I'm talking about include:

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Renewal Edition (ADVs Platinum Edition)
Dragon Ball Z: Dragon Box (Funimation's Dragon Box)
Irresponsible Captain Tylor (Nozomi's Tylor remastered sets say something like "contains the remastered video from the Japanese DVDs")


This is opposed to the cases where an American company had their own film print and decided to make their own remaster. Naturally, some of these were less than stellar (i.e. Dragon Ball Z, Super Dimension Fortress Macross).

Or just in general, what older anime is there in R1 that was "remastered" but not de-grained with DNR?

[Kyon]

I believe ADV's release of Dirty Pair: Project Eden had the same remaster as the Japanese DVD release.

Pioneer/Geneon's release of Lupin III 2nd TV Series used a cleaned-up restored version from Japan.
Pioneer also released the remastered version of Tenchi Muyo OAV (Parts 1 an 2) in the US for their DVDs.

Bandai Visual USA released the restored Japanese DVD version of Gunbuster here, of course with edits to the audio in episode 1.

[Fenris21]

Isn't there another re-release for Rayearth that's supposed to have the Japanese remaster? It's kind of funny that after three or four releases, there would be another incentive to sell the same exact show with better picture on DVD.

[Serial Experiments Nobue]

Originally Posted by Fenris21

Isn't there another re-release for Rayearth that's supposed to have the Japanese remaster? It's kind of funny that after three or four releases, there would be another incentive to sell the same exact show with better picture on DVD.

Ah yes, there is this. I've actually preordered it already, and am awaiting the day that the second season gets announced. I haven't watched MKR in years, and a better quality version of it makes a good incentive for a rewatch. Especially if the new cases are smaller than the sets I currently have of seasons 1 and 2. (Precious shelf space, you know?)

IIRC, Media Blasters is trying an "experiment" by releasing a remastered MKR, and I hope it succeeds. If it means that we get more remastered/restored R1 reissues of older programs down the road - ::coughUtenacough:: - then I'm all for it.

[LenMiyata]

Grumble Grumble Grumbe

The Right Stuf product listing for the movie 'Akira' claims it's a remastered video release...
http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/cat...em/58242/4/0/0

[kakugo]

Akira's JP DVD release was actually taken from the Pioneer transfer, though the 5.1 mix was from Japan. The Blu-ray from Honneamise/Bandai Visual, however, is literally the new Japanese disc in English packaging.

While I'm none too impressed by any of AnimEigo's "remastered" DVDs, I'll admit that I feel some level of sympathy for them; when all you have access to is a 15+ year old composite tape master, there's very little you can do to fix it. To Heart went as far as to remove specific bits of film damage and stabilize the original telecine bobble, which is more than any of CPM's or Manga's "Remasters".

Having spend many hours experimenting with how to make composite materials look ever so slightly better, I can tell you that restoring from a crappy analog source isn't for the faint of heart. There's no "flip a switch and make it beautiful" option. Eliminating things like film scratches and dot-crawl can lead to problems worse than what you started with in the first place, if you aren't careful.

US studios doing their own telecine (film to video) transfers is often never a good thing, but not for the reasons people may think. Every time you print film from one generation to another, you lose quality; colors change, contrast goes haywire, damage is multiplied and new layers of grain appear. Japanese studios aren't going to send the camera negative outside the country, so instead they get a second generation Internegative printed, and send studios outside of Japan those. Even if, say, FUNimation or AnimEigo had taken these 35mm prints to the best post-house in Hollywood, the transfers would never look as nice as a Japanese produced remaster from the negative, because the film quality just isn't there to begin with.

[Njr Scrawl]

Maison Ikkoku was the Japanese DVD version (apart from ep.24's op & ed)

Gunbuster OVAs, were the re-master (apart from the R1-exclusive music edit in ep.1)

Bubblegum Crisis OVAs & Oh! My Goddess OVAs were the R2 re-masters. (BGC now has a Japanese Blu Ray release which is wayyy better than anything before)

[Skywise]

Originally Posted by LenMiyata

Grumble Grumble Grumbe

The Right Stuf product listing for the movie 'Akira' claims it's a remastered video release...
http://www.rightstuf.com/cgi-bin/cat...em/58242/4/0/0

It is. Pioneer spent $1 million back in the day to retransfer and clean up from a film master for the DVD release.

[kakugo]

Yes, but the remaster wasn't done on the Japanese end, which was the OP's question.

Japan (and the rest of the world) used Pioneer's transfer until the Blu-ray.

[Skywise]

Right, but I interpreted Lenmiyata's post as being skeptical about it having been remastered at all.