by H-Man » Thu Jul 11, 2019 1:15 pm
Basically there are two major complaints with the Blu-ray:
1. It's dubtitled: the subtitle script corresponds directly to the English dubbing. Sometimes this isn't a problem, but in this case it is. The dubbers added dialogue in some scenes where there hadn't been any in the Japanese version, so watching the Japanese version with the "dubtitles" means there are subtitles for dialogue you can't hear. This makes parts of the movie pretty frustrating to watch. Incidentally these are the exact same subs from the DVD version.
2. Visually it's the English version. Columbia didn't cut a frame from the film when they released it in 1960, so you're not missing any footage, but all the credits are in English. The Toho logo is replaced by a Columbia logo of equal length. Some people are upset that the Japanese visuals weren't also included, and I totally understand that especially since they were accessible through seamless branching on the Icons of Sci-Fi DVD.
In short, it's like a scaled down version of the earlier DVD. You still get both English and Japanese audio tracks and the commentary track by Ed and Steve but you don't get the option to view the Japanese title and credits. The one thing you do get that you didn't have before is the film in high definition.