Shin Godzilla on BD

[Gojira69]

Any news of this coming out this year?

For those of you familiar with Funimation's track record, are they fast in turning around from theatrical to BD release of films?

[O.Supreme]

Just did a quick wiki search, looks like it will be almost a year form the theatrical release of Attack on Titan until the Blu Ray is getting a release next week, the DBZ movies only took a few months to get a Blu Ray release...so who knows...

[lhb412]

^What he said.

There's no way to tell at this point.

[Dr Kain]

I wouldn't count on it. Toho usually doesn't release their movies until a good 6-9 months after being released in theaters. Then they usually have a 3-9 month embargo period before another company is allowed to release it, so I wouldn't count on us seeing it on BD in the US until late 2017/early 2018. Of course, this is based on how Toho has acted in the past and what seems to be the norma for Japanese companies in general given that Japan and US share the same region code. The first Attack on Titan movie came out on BD in Japan back in Feb and it is just coming out now in America.

It also doesn't help matters that one of my friends told me that it's like groundhog's day over at Toho. Every day feels like it is the first time they are ever talking to the guys at Toho.

[Dai]

Parts 1 and 2 of the Attack on Titan blu-rays were released in the UK in June and July this year respectively (a one-in-a-thousand case of us getting a home release first). Given that Shin Godzilla hit cinemas this year around the same time as Attack on Titan part 1 did last year, I'd say next June is the earliest it's feasible to expect a western blu-ray release in any territory. The seemingly quick turnaround between the cinema and home releases of the DBZ movies was due to the longer delay before they even hit cinemas in the US; I believe a delay of over a year for Battle of the Gods, versus less than 3 months for Shin Godzilla.

[Benjamin Haines]

How long does it take to produce a feature-length English dub? That's probably a factor in the time it takes Funimation to release these movies on home media.

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

My best guess: Japanese Blu-Ray in early 2017, North American Blu-Ray ... some unspecified later date in 2017.

[Gman2887]

The Rurouni Kenshin live action movies have been getting limited releases, via Funimation recently. The first movie was released in theaters this past August and will hit DVD/Blu-ray November 1st. The second movie had a limited showing about two weeks ago and it will be released December 6th. The third movie wrapped its theatrical release this past week.

These films were Warner Brothers though, so there's no telling how production companies/distributors affect this kind of thing. It could be possible that the Attack on Titan were merely held off to release alongside Shin Godzilla?

[klen7]

^ i think it has more to do with the Japanese release on Toho films, especially since Japan and the US share a BD region.

[Dr Kain]

[Dai]

Pre-order listings are up for the Hong Kong (zone A) blu-ray. All the listings I've seen claim it will include English subtitles--of course, it's Russian Roulette trying to guess if that subtitle track will be any good.

The distributor is Intercontinental Video Ltd. It's listed on Play-Asia and YesAsia, who I believe normally only stock legit releases, but why do HK companies have to sound like bootleggers even when they're not? Universe Laser & Video, who released Return of Godzilla and Biollante legally, sounded just as bad. Anyway, I won't post direct links, just in case.

I'm not sure if these are just placeholder listings, since each site I've seen it on has a slightly different release date: 22nd April on Play-Asia, 19th April on YesAsia, and 25th April on DDDHouse. I guess we'll know by the end of the month!

[lhb412]

^Hmmm... the folks on the blu-ray.com forums seem to accept it as an official release. This is the same region as us in North America, right? I don't get that: I thought they purposely delay releases with the same region coding as Japan in order to prevent Japanese audiences importing from countries where home video releases are cheaper. If Hong Kong is getting it so soon maybe is increases chances for Funimation releasing it sooner as well.

[Dai]

One thing I noticed that's somewhat troubling is that none of the pre-order listings state the runtime. I hope this doesn't end up being the butchered "airline" version. If it's a legitimate release then it shouldn't be, but you never know.

[lhb412]

^I believe it's common for films to get cut down for airplane viewing, but as far as I know those versions aren't made available anywhere else.

[Dai]

I'll risk it for a biscuit. I've pre-ordered it, so I'll report back (whenever it arrives) with details about the zone lock, subtitles, etc.

[lhb412]

'Risk it for a biscuit'... is that an English expression? I think I may start using that.

[Gigantis_99]

I pre-ordered it, too. I have the Japanese blu-ray. Anyway mine shipped last night and I should have it by Wednesday so hopefully all is good. I'll report back if no one else has by then.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Has anyone tried contacting Funimation to see if they have a date planned for the home video release?

[Dai]

My Hong Kong blu-ray arrived faster than I expected. First off, I've tested the region coding and it's locked to zone A, so any of my fellow zone B bretheren without a multi-zone player will have to wait for the Australian blu-ray in July. Second, and perhaps most importantly, the English subtitles: they're good. I don't know if it's the same translation that was used for the cinema release anywhere, but it's an articulate take on some seriously complex dialogue that flows well. While there are also Chinese subtitles, these are thankfully separate tracks instead of being displayed together, as sometimes happened on old DVDs. I noticed maybe half a dozen typos (nothing major) and one missing line of dialogue, which is about what I'd expect from a US or UK anime release. More significantly, none of the frequent on-screen signage is translated. This makes for a cleaner presentation, but means that many of the politicians remain nameless. It didn't affect my ability to follow the story though. Let's face it, most movies of this type don't bother to tell us the exact job titles of every minor character; Anno was just doing it for style and effect in most cases.

The video transfer looks good; I didn't notice any compression artifacts. However, it's a little dark and there's not much detail in the blacks. Since most of the movie is well lit and in daylight it's not much of an issue, but it's noticeable during the Who Will Know scene in the middle, eg. it's difficult to make out specific buildings in the wide shot of Godzilla approaching the centre of Tokyo that was used near the end of trailer #2. I don't want to overstate this--we're not talking anything close to Godzilla 2014 levels of darkness here--you can see what's happening just fine, but it's noticeable in that scene and in a lack of detail to black hair and dark clothes. I tried boosting brightness on my TV, and it's not a calibration issue, there's just no extra details in those blacks.

Also, the Hong Kong blu-ray appears to have been derived from the cinema master rather than the Japanese blu-ray master. Not a major issue, since I believe only a few effects shots were finessed for the home release, but the HK blu-ray has the original version of the following shot, for example: https://youtu.be/qammqRhMdeo?t=26s I guess this explains how it managed to come out so soon after the Japanese blu-ray.

Anyway, aside from a few quirks, I'm happy with this release. The translation is good and I like that it includes both the Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD-MA Japanese audio tracks. I might double dip if Madman or Funimation put out a stellar release, but if they just do a bare-bones offering I wouldn't mind sticking with this one.

[O.Supreme]

^Glad it worked for you. If there was little prospect of this being a general release I'd probably snatch it up now. You are correct in that *most* DVD's with subtitles have maybe a couple of spelling/grammar errors, perhaps even a missing line, but I do have to say, that from my memory (which is of course going back to only one viewing 6 months ago now), those subs that Funimation had were seemingly flawless. Now granted this movie was so dialogue-heavy even I had trouble keeping up with it, some screens I may have only got 75% of the words before it changed, but to me it seemed flawless.

The movie was really good, but I can wait however long it takes for Funimation to release their BRD. For those in other countries however, I completely understand, it seems like a well presented alternative.

[Dr Kain]

[lhb412]

[Dr Kain]

[Deathless]