[US] Serial Experiments Lain

[WTK]

Reported issues with the art booklet from four different people (via TFP forums):

I have a funky "shiny" triangle on the spine of my art booklet... almost looks like somebody got a corner of sticky tape on it during production. I'll be curious if anyone else has random glossy spots, or if this was some bizarre one-in-a-million fork up.

I have a "shiny" square spot on the spine of my art book. Just received my copy and noticed it under the plastic. Thought it was just some dirt which wouldn't be the first time. I think that's what is under the texture feel of the art book, that glossy stuff. I've seen it before like that. I don't think it's worth the trouble or hassle of getting a return or replacement.

heres a picture of mine, you should be able to see it.

My artbook has something that looks similar to what's in your picture, only a bit thinner and more oblong. I gently nudged it with a fingernail to see if it was some glue or plastic that would come off, and some thin skrinkwrap like stuff seemed to be coming off leaving under it an even shinier spot. For a minute it looked like the black coating of the spine itself was lifting off, but now it looks like it might just be a slight defect with the cover's thin matte plastic coating. A small blemish to be sure, but I also don't think I'll bother attempting to get a replacement.

My copy, now that I've taken a look, has the same sort of chip or nick or scratched-off spot on the spine of the book, also in a slightly different location and a slightly different shape. I chose those terms because that's what it is, a removal of the outer coating on the book's cover.

Given that now four of us have noticed such a defect, of different shapes and in different locations but all still on the spines of the artbook, I'd have to say that it's a manufacturing defect, caused by equipment, that occurred either during the mass production of the books at the printer, or during the packing and shrinkwrapping process of the entire set at the replicator.

Kind of tough to catch, given how (relatively) small a batch of these items FUNimation had had made, and not likely enough to elicit a replacement program or even a response. But hopefully something they can take notice of (please, folks, send them e-mails or post on Facebook or dispatch a carrier pigeon) and work to prevent, or at the very least call up their vendors and have a "WTF did we pay you for" phone call. Particularly if they're going to ever be doing such things again. And especially given that they're considering future extra-special LE items. Because let's face it, the Venn diagram that depicts folks who like and are willing to pay for extra-special LE releases, and the folks who notice production defects and have a problem with such things, has quite a bit of overlap.

Another potential issue:

https://twitter.com/to_aru_Oni/statu...81315632201729

Whoa...a few days after I unwrapped my Lain BD set and the chipboard artwork is peeling off! Anyone else having this issue?

https://twitter.com/to_aru_Oni/statu...83514424758272

Lain boxset chipboard artwork QC issue? http://i.imgur.com/Q46ey.jpg http://i.imgur.com/LogsD.jpg http://i.imgur.com/EFOTP.jpg

[Damius]

Funimation...you can't even do a good job once for a change it seems...

[YoshiYoshi]

Guess this release was too good to be true... sigh...

Though to be fair this is really more of a manufacturing problem but poor QC should be blamed too.

[bored@lazy]

Geez, when I saw the initial reaction I was thinking there were horrific motion artifacts aka Moribito by Media Blasters but it turned out to be some banding... Don't get me wrong, there's no excuse for banding at all from anyone but damn from some people's reactions I thought it was going to be much worse than that.

[AKX20000]

artbox problem is reminding me of some reactions for the first Dragon Box set

[Buster Darkwings]

Originally Posted by WTK

via TFP forums

I wonder if this was just caused by FUNi not using a debanding filter like SBMV. Low bitrate shouldn't be the sole cause of this.

[bored@lazy]

Originally Posted by Buster Darkwings

I wonder if this was just caused by FUNi not using a debanding filter like SBMV. Low bitrate shouldn't be the sole cause of this.

If someone could find out what the bitrate is during these scenes that'd be a big help to find out I guess...

[FruitPunchSamurai]

For Funimation to make such a big deal out of this restoration, the final product should be amazing or at least on par with the Japanese. But we couldn't even get that...

[TheGreenMan]

I mentioned this over at TFP, but the audio bitrate goes from 300kbps to 1000 kbps (during the first episode). Shouldn't this be higher, or is it just the show it is? Lain is a pretty quiet, brooding show. Both tracks are like this. I was using PowerDVD 11.

[FUNiOP]

Ugh, FUNimation's most premium release since approximately ever, and the video gets fucked. Well at least I'll love the packaging when I get home on Friday (unless there's a problem which requires I try to get a replacement), but I'm very disappointed that it won't be the perfect release I had hopes that it could be.