written: 1997-07-14
Anime Watch is a column about Anime (Japanese Animation) written by Jay Scott Raymond (A.K.A. Jay The Obscure). The puerile sensibilities of those who have not yet dedicated their lives to Anime are beneath my notice and will be trampled here with alacrity.
Here's some new stuff coming out for September as listed in Previews (Not a full listing, if a full listing from Previews is something you'd like to see in the future, email me. If I get enough requests, I'll do it.):
3x3 Eyes Volumes 5 and 6, Ushio & Tora Vol. 2, New volumes of: Ranma ½, Maison Ikkoku, Blue Seed
Dragon Slayer, Patlabor the NEW OVA Vol. 5, Neon Genesis
Evangelion 0:7, Street Fighter II TV Vol. 7, Tokyo
Revelation
Here's some news from the mysterious "Other Sources" :
Pioneer is releasing Dragonball Z as well as the
El-Hazard TV series.
Kitty Media will be releasing the hentai classic:
Ogenki Clinic.
Here's some news from Usenet (so take it with a crystalline nodule of
sodium chloride ^_^;).
AnimEigo is not doing much anime-wise at the moment other
than getting ready for UY TV and KOR TV. The rights to
Urusei Yatsura have lapsed but no other American company has shown an
interest in picking it up. Woodhead is optimistic in getting the rights
back.
AD Vision- They're going to finish up Blue Seed and
Evangelion as well as doing Dirty Pair Flash,
Capricorn, and Gude Crest. Once done, they'll do a bunch of
OVAs and movies, including ShinKOR, the second half of Aozora
Shoujotai, Dirty Pair OVAs, Slayers Perfect, Slayers
Return, and the Slayers OAVs. After that, they'll do
Bakuretsu Hunter TV and OVAs.
They are also considering doing DVDs.
Disney-Tokuma - Kiki's Delivery Service andLaputa
- Castle in the Sky will be released sometime this year. They're
doing their own dubs and not using the Macek dubs.
Central Park Media
Upcoming and/or recent releases:
Art of Fighting , Ayane's High Kick, Blackjack,
Darkside Blues, Gowcaizer, Shin Kujaku-ou, Slayers
NEXT, Takegami, Yohtoden, Yuu Yuu Hakusho OAVs,
Yuu Yuu Hakusho movies.
Urban Vision
Releases for July 1997:
Bio Hunter, Gatchaman 1
For August 1997:
Psycho Diver, Gatchaman 2
For September:
Gatchaman 3
Manga Entertainment
Upcoming releases:
Escaflowne movie, Evangelion movies, Shadow Skill 1-3, X
DVD - The anime fan's friend or enemy?
Now that I have your attention, what I'm going to do is address some of
the hoopla that's been buzzing around since DVD was announced. I know
this isn't directly an anime subject, but there is a lot of talk about it
among anime fans. In order to address this in an efficient manner I will
do it in the style of a FAQ. Please bear in mind that I don't own a DVD
player myself. What I say here is based off of the technical info
available, the consensus I'm able to draw from posts on Usenet and the
few demos of commercial DVD releases I've seen in stores. Here
goes:
Q - What is DVD?
A - DVD stands for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc or
nothing at all, depending on who you talk to. It is a new video format
that looks like a CD but thanks to the use of MPEG-2 compression, can
hold 133 minutes of video per side (on average). It has a variety of
features, including: multiple soundtracks, multiple subtitle tracks,
different aspect ratios selectable on the same disc, different versions
(the PG rated and R rated, for instance) of the same movie selectable on
the same disc and more. Of course, as with laserdisc, its up to whoever
presses the disc as to whether these features are implemented or
not.
Q - Is it recordable?
A - Not now, but it probably will be in 2 to 3 years.
Q - How does the picture quality compare to laserdisc.
A - That depends on a number of factors. A DVD can have a bad pressing
just like a LD if those that produce it don't make the effort to do it
right. The general consensus I'm getting from the newsgroups is that, all
else being equal (good pressings, equivalent equipment, etc.), the
picture quality is about the same or a little better than LD over an
S-video connector, but the DVD looks much better over a component video
connection. If you have a crappy little 14 inch TV, you won't be able to
tell the difference.
Q - I've heard that DVD will have a big digital artifacts problem thanks to the MPEG compression, especially for animation; is this true?
A - The word on Usenet seems to be no, or at least no more so than live
action. On the few in-store demos I've seen, I haven't noticed this
problem.
Q - Does this mean I'll have to replace all my laserdiscs?
A - No. The laserdisc format will be around for at least a few more years
as far as new releases goes. It will take a while for DVD to take
off.
Q - What if it flops?
A - Unlikely. This new format has most of the big boys of home video
behind it and those that have held back are now starting to come on
board. Since the specs for the format were agreed upon ahead of time, a
Betamax like fiasco is near impossible.
Q - Should I invest in this now?
A - Well, since you ask ... ^_^;. Personally I'd say hold off for a while
(a year or so). Right now the cheapest DVD players are about $500.00.
Cheaper than laserdisc players were when they first came out, true, but
still a pretty chunk of change. Also the selection of software (video
titles) is kind of slim right now, although that should start to grow
pretty fast (including anime).
Q - I've been waiting forever for (insert title of video not available on LD here) to come out. If DVD takes over from LD I'll never see this title come out on anything but VHS, right?
A - I thought so too at first; here's what changed my thinking. Although
the first generation of DVD isn't recordable, it will be within 2 - 3
years. The companies putting out DVD want it to be the ultimate home
video format. To do that it has to replace VHS as well and the DVD folks
have said that that's exactly their intent. The sales figures from the
limited release of DVD over the past three months have been very
promising. While I think it will take some time to even approach the
market share of VHS, I think DVD will quickly surpass LD's market share
and thus provide the greater sales incentive needed to get those titles
we never got on LD out on DVD.
My Conclusion: Unless you're an "early adopter" stay away from the first generation of DVD players. Wait a year or two for them to get the bugs out and for the prices to come down. I think that DVD will take off within a year or two and a few years down the road we'll be seeing those rare titles we could never get on LD out on DVD. For we anime folk this will mean more anime on a non-corruptible disc format instead of tape and a big savings of space (much as I love my LDs, they do take up a lot of space).
Well, that's all for this edition of Anime Watch. Remember, anime is The One True Form Of Entertainment!
Anime and Giant Battle Robots Forever!
-Jay The Obscure