Studio Ghibli is pretty much universally admired among Twitch writers and readers I'd wager. Hayao Miyazaki's work has, however, been somewhat under-appreciated in this new high definition world. Until now. A few weeks back, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was released in a stunning new edition in Japan. The good news: super cool packaging, English subtitles, multiple language dubs, and Region A coded, which means it is good for all of our North and South American friends as well as all of Asia. The bad news: it is priced like a Japanese disc, those of you who have purchased Japanese discs know what I mean, and it is locked to Region A, which means our European friends won't be able to view it without modified hardware. But don't despair! Optimum in England and Madman in Australia are releasing Nausicaa in Region B land, presumably with similar extras features minus the cool packaging. No word yet on when Disney plans of sharing the love in North America for those us who are a bit more budget conscious in these troubled times.
Now for something new! Mamoru Hosoda's Summer Wars has also had its ass praised off by Twitch and anime enthusiasts worldwide. The first English subtitled edition of this beauty comes from Taiwan, and it looks like a good one as well. Two discs, a film cut, book, etc are all part of the package. This edition is scheduled to release on September 10th, and is available for preorder from Yesasia. The region coding status is still up in the air, but it will at least be Region A for N/S America and Asia. Again, our European buddies needn't fear, Manga in the UK has this release tentatively scheduled for early 2011. For those in the US who prefer not to import, Funimation has picked up the film and will be distributing it with a limited theatrical run in late 2010 and on home video in early 2011.
Happy shopping!
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DVD Details
- Approximately 116 minutes recording time
- Japanese Audio (2.0ch / Linear PCM)
English / French / German / Korean / Cantonese / Mandarin (2.0ch / Dolby Digital)
- Japanese subtitles Subtitles / English Subtitles / French Subtitles / Subtitles Korean / Mandarin (Traditional) subtitles
- Widescreen 16:9 screen size 1920 × 1080 FULL HD
- Special Notes Package Specifications
- Inclusion Award - "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind GUIDE BOOK" mini-book edition reprint
Summer Wars (Taiwanese)
- Language: Japanese, Mandarin
- Subtitles: English, Traditional Chinese, Japanese
- Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1
Sound Information: Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio, Dolby Digital 5.1
- Film Strip
- Bonus DVD with Press Conference, Storyboards, and Director and Voice Cast Interviews
More from Summer Wars
- Reviews: Promises to keep: another SUMMER WARS BluRay review
- Reviews: Blu-ray Review: SUMMER WARS
- Reviews: UPDATED: A review for the English-friendly Taiwanese BluRay of SUMMER WARS
- Reviews: SUMMER WARS Reviews
- Mastheads: Summer Wars
- News: English-friendly SUMMER WARS in October 2010?
- News: Anime in NYC! US Premeire For SUMMER WARS And More!
- News: SUMMER WARS to hit UK next summer (or autumn...)
- Reviews: LIFF '09: SUMMER WARS review
- Reviews: [J-FILM REVIEWS] サマーウォーズ (Summer Wars)
- Reviews: Sitges 09: SUMMER WARS Review
- Reviews: Sitges 09: SUMMER WARS Review
With the US and Japan sharing a region now, I expect a very long wait for NAUSICAA so as not to ruin sales of the Japanese disc in Japan with cheap, imported US Blu-rays. This year seems out of the question, and if I were placing bets I wouldn't expect a 2011 release either. Fall 2012 sounds about right.
I'm thinking the Manga's Summer War release is still coming in mid-October as planned going by the fact that it's cinema release kicks off on the 8th. Play has it listed for release on the 11th.
Mind you, that gorgeous Japanese BluRay for "Nausicäa" is confirmed Regionfree. Japanese Ghibli releases generally are.
But yes, it's pricey as hell and the Optimum BluRay for Europe is already scheduled for the 18th of October...
A word of warning. BluRays from Taiwan and Hong Kong are usually single-layered and of poorer quality than Japanese or US releases. If you don't mind blurrier images and poorer sound, they are a decent buy, though I can't imagine why anyone would bother getting BDs in that case.