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"Arrietty" has been announced on BD and DVD in Japan for 6/17/
Amazon Page





Specs:
BD50 MPEG-4AVC 16:9 1920×1080 FULL HD for Blu-ray
DVD MPEG2 NTSC 16:9 anamorphic Region 2 (2 discs) for DVD

Audio
Japanese DTS HD MA 5.1, LPCM 2.0 (for BD), Dolby Digital 5.1, 2.0 (for DVD)
French, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean DTS 5.1 (dubs on BD only)

Subtitles
Japanese, English, French, Korean, Cantonese (traditional), Mandarin (simplified) (for BD)
Japanese, English (for DVD)

Extras for DVD and BD
-Picture In Picture complete storyboards
-Voice Recording Script
-Interviews: Hayao Miyazaki (24m), Hiromasa Yonebayashi (41m)
-43 minute documentary
-Music Video
-Trailer

And for people in Japan,
tonight (3/21) on NTV at 9:00pm, they will show "The Studio Ghibli Story" (Studio Ghibli Monogatari), a 2 hour plus documentary.

No power cuts tonight!

Very interesting things I learned in that Studio Ghibli documentary. I really had no idea that Takahata and Miyazaki really became like rivals to the point of, "I think the movie is wrong in its messages" (Takahata on "Mononoke") and "I'm not interested in watching his movie" (Miyazaki on "Yamadas"), and they were very frank about it. I knew they had different interests, but I always felt that they supported each others' work. Pretty big shock there.

Miyazaki and Takahata appear to have been going in different directions for quite some time. It is clear that Miyazaki came out on top -- and that Takahata has largely been on the sidelines for years. I think Takahata (being more of a team player) was more committed to developing successors -- while the studio was more interested in anointing a second Miyazaki to promote the brand.

While I thought too that they supported each other, that's somehow less surprising than the fact they can get along. While they do have some points in common (mainly on protecting environment), they have such different visions. I don't picture Takahata liking Ponyo and it's apocalyptic stuff.

And personalities! No wonder Miyazaki is the star, Takahata is so quiet. And he doesn't have cool silver hair/beard and huge glasses to help.

Miyazaki seems to have a lot of frank-but-professional rivalries with a lot of the prominent Japanese animators. His back and forth with
Mamoru Oshii is a well documented one. Usually there's a sign of grudging respect there in both parties, in that "I respect your skills but your philosophy is ridiculous" kind of way.

Except when it comes to Miyazaki and his son. Then it's "your philosophy is ridiculous and I don't respect your skills." Which is fair enough.

John Edmond wrote:Except when it comes to Miyazaki and his son. Then it's "your philosophy is ridiculous and I don't respect your skills." Which is fair enough.

Well, we know how Junior's skills turned out with "Tales From Earthsea"... but I'm hoping to be proved wrong with the next Ghibli movie coming in summer. Although I am skeptical as to how it would be handled as with the premise of the film, (just before the 1964 Tokyo Olympics as the setpiece) I really wished Takahata or Miyazaki Senior, who both lived through those times would handle the material. Anyway, we will see.

I'm still wondering why it takes Ghibli so long to get their films to be released overseas in many markets. Asian markets are covered a few months or so after the Japanese release. For the US, it takes years sometimes. Arrietty is still not released in the US or other English markets and it makes me question what their strategy is.

I'd partly presumed it was due to the care taken with dubbing - you get Lasseter roping in celebrities and trying his hardest for a half decent dub, but you have to wait for him to find time.

Ghibli's new Arietty is currently being screened all over in Paris -- but only at time child-friendly times (during prime museum visiting hours -- and not in the evenings). The Miyazaki connection is featured prominently (moreso than the actual director).

BDDefinition on Yamadas, AVforums on Yamadas

BDDefinition on Laputa, AVforums on Laputa

Nice job, Optimum, except for the spine numbering problem...

Disc is region ABC,
extras, about 2 hours worth of video-based extras, storyboards picture in picture, dialogue script (in Japanese only) with the availability to jump to the scene you are reading. None of the extras have subtitles.

Sorry for a basic question, but can someone confirm that I'm understanding the Amazon listing correctly? In the US blu-ray of Nausicaa, which is a blu-ray/DVD combo, the film appears on both discs, right? It's not a blu-ray of the film plus a DVD of only extras, yes?

Yup, film is on both discs.

oh, and while at it, and not mentioned here before,

11/16/11 in Japan:



Ponyo is being rereleased on the same day, but the disc is the same, just the coverart changed.

In the UK, Optimum/StudioCanal will release "Whisper Of The Heart" on BD/DVD combo on 11/21

"Whisper Of The Heart" UK reviews

BDdefinition, Digital Fix, Avforums

"Arrietty" UK review

digital fix

"Whisper" retains all the Japanese extras, but "Arrietty" cuts out a significant 45 minute making-of documentary that was on the Japanese release.

I thought I remembered people complaining that the Optimum Ghibli's were more DNR'd or something compared to Disney's versions. Considering how Disney is dragging their feet with releasing these things, is there any relevance to this? Considering the raves these recent releases got, maybe I remember incorrectly.

Edit: Only had to look a page back, but I guess with only Nausicca and Ponyo out in both territories, it is hard to compare. You could compare the UK to the Japanese ones, as those seem to be similar to the Disney port...

"Grave Of The Fireflies" DVD reissue coming on March 6th.

Although Amazon lists "2 discs", the back cover suggests a barebones issue. Although it says "Remastered", I'm guessing this is the same remastered source from 2002's DVD.



"From Up On Poppy Hill" is up for pre-order at Amazon Fr, but without a release date. I'm guessing summer or early autumn.

Looks like Studio Canal UK will release these in June. I'm in for Howl, but I'll pass on Earthsea.

Universum Deutschland will release both on May 18th as well, but only with German language options.

On May 16th in Japan:



72 minute making-of "From Up On Poppy Hill", aired last summer on NHK TV. Pretty intriguing documentary, but I don't see why they are making it separate from the main movie.

Guess what? The Grave Of The Fireflies - remastered DVD is actually, remastered. Compared to the ADV / CPM release, this seems to be a different source. Although it has been windowboxed (I believe this is the same on the Japanese disc as well), the colors look much better, but sadly, no extras.

Studio Ghibli Japan will be announcing their summer Blu-ray releases this month (From Up On Poppy Hill is a given), we will see if "Grave" will be a part of it....

manicsounds wrote:72 minute making-of "From Up On Poppy Hill", aired last summer on NHK TV. Pretty intriguing documentary, but I don't see why they are making it separate from the main movie.

Often done in Japan (at least a few years back). For instance, Princess Mononoke had a whole set of Making Of films -- never released in subbed form.

Michael Kerpan wrote:

manicsounds wrote:72 minute making-of "From Up On Poppy Hill", aired last summer on NHK TV. Pretty intriguing documentary, but I don't see why they are making it separate from the main movie.

Often done in Japan (at least a few years back). For instance, Princess Mononoke had a whole set of Making Of films -- never released in subbed form.

True, so was the extended making of Ponyo (12 hours 30 minutes! I can't think of a longer making-of). But these were massive-length multi-disc documentaries. This one is only 72 minutes, which begs the question, what extras will be on the film's disc?

manicsounds wrote:This one is only 72 minutes, which begs the question, what extras will be on the film's disc?

The extras on Buena Vista's Ghibli discs have almost always been pretty paltry (if you aren't interested in the sketchwork version of the film -- or whatever you want to call it).

Ghibli/Disney Japan will release 2 titles on 6/20, the aforementioned "From Up On Poppy Hill" plus a re-release of "Arrietty"

2 disc Yokohama edition BD+bonus DVD


standard BD


2-disc DVD


"The Secret World Of Arrietty" English edition


This new 'English edition', will offer English dubs, both US Disney and UK Studio Canal versions, plus English opening and closing credits, along with the original Japanese audio plus subtitles in Japanese (SDH, plus English subtitles translating the 2 English dubs). It seems the older extras won't be carried over.

Kind of a waste of a release to me. I would've rather had another catalog title reissued as opposed to something that came out only 6 months ago.

It makes me feel a little better now that Japan also gets that awful North American Arrietty poster art foisted on them in some way.