AsianBlurayGuide.com | The Asian Films and Anime on Blu-ray Disc List

Spirited Away HD footage on Disney's Snow White Blu-ray Disc

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:02:00 +0100

A keen eyed user from the Blu-ray.com forum has spotted a few seconds of HD footage from Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away in the bonus features of Disney Picture's Snow White Blu-ray Disc release. Hopefully this means that Disney will release Miyazaki's masterpieces on Blu-ray Disc together with Ponyo in March 2010.

[via Can you Moe?]

Kam & Ronson continues Police Story and Once Upon A Time In China

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 04:00:07 +0100

DDDHouse is now listing Kam & Ronson's Blu-ray Disc release of Jet Li's Once Upon A Time In China 2 and Jackie Chan's Police Story 2, both for November 13. I pray that K&R has learned from past mistakes like the crappy (upscaled?) transfer on Police Story and the massive digital noise reduction and filtering massacre on the first Once Upon A Time In China, but knowing them I really don't have much hope for these releases...

Johnnie To's ACCIDENT will happen in November

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 03:01:03 +0100

When it comes to quick and export-friendly home video release of recent domestic blockbusters, nobody beats our friends from Hong Kong.
See the Johnnie To produced and Pou-Soi Cheang directed thriller Accident (Yi ngoi). The film had it's theatrical release in Hong Kong on September 17th and not even two months later (November 11th) it will be available on DVD and Blu-ray Disc including English subtitles.
Most of Mega Star's Blu-ray Disc releases have been reported as region free, so there's really no reason not to preorder this while we wait for an English subtitled release of Johnnie To's Vengeance...

Johnnie To's will take Vengeance in December

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:01:07 +0100

Sometimes, but just sometimes it must be great to live in a film-loving nation like France, because our friendly south-western neighbors were not only the first that could see Johnnie To's Vengeance on the big screen back in May, but will also be the first to get a DVD and Blu-ray Disc release. On December 11th, TF1 Video will release the film in three flavors, a standard one disc edition, a two disc collector's edition and of a Blu-ray Disc edition in a nice looking steelbook.

Sadly none of these releases will included English subtitles and TF1 Video also has the bad habit to enforce the French subtitles when the original (mostly english in Vengeance) language track is selected. But since Vengeance opened in Hong Kong on August 20th, I bet English friendly HK DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases will pop up by the end of the year as well.
[via @wildgrounds]

Cover Artwork for upcoming Palisades-Tartan Releases

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 21:01:09 +0100

DVDTimes.co.uk has posted the cover artworks for Palisades-Tartan's much delayed Blu-ray Disc release of the three Korean classics, A Tale of Two Sisters, and Chan-wook Park's Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance. All three discs will be released on November 2nd and are currently only available from/listed at HMV.co.uk.

Ponyo: USA to get day to day release with Japan [Update]

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:01:02 +0100

Good news for those of us who want to see Hayao Miyazaki's latest Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea in glorious HD as soon as possible without paying a premium price for the Japanese Blu-ray Disc release. According to Rope of Silicone, Walt Disney Home Entertainment will bring the significant cheaper US DVD and Blu-ray Disc release on the same day as in Japan, meaning December 8th. So the October date mentioned back in July was (just as espected) just some retailer related date.

[Oct. 20] Update: According to a tweet from Disney producer Frank Marshall, Ponyo will be released in the US in March 2010! I asked him about the date Rope of Silicone stated but I didn't receive an answer yet. Hard to believe that Disney won't take advantage of the upcoming Christmas sales, especially since a French BD release for December was announced two days ago. [via The Ghibli Blog]

Miyazaki's Spirited Away on BD in November?

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:01:09 +0100

Despite Studio Ghilbi's statement that Japan will be the first country to see their films on Blu-ray Disc, Dutch distributor Paradiso Home Entertainment announced Spirited Away (Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi) for November. According to DVDInfo.be and bol.com, Hayao Miyazaki's Oscar-winning feature will be released on Blu-ray Disc on November 19th with Dutch and French subtitles, so even if this will really hit the shelves it won't be of much use for most Ghibli fans...

[thanks to AnimeOnBlu for the heads up!]
[Oct 19th] Update: Peter from GhibliWorld.com informed me that Paradiso will only release an upscaled version taken from their current master on Blu-ray Disc. meh!

Kamikaze Girls will attack in February 2010

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 07:01:02 +0100

Nippon Cinema reports that Third Window Films will release its first Blu-ray Disc in February 2010 and that the British independent label has chosen Tetsuya Nakashima's 2004 GothiklolitaBikergirlComedyDramaThingy Kamikaze Girls starring Kyoko Fukada and Anna Tsuchiya as the first high definition title.
Planned release date is February 8, 2010, the Blu-ray Disc will include the original Japanese audio and English subtitles. Features are tba, but I guess TWF has lots of extra material since Kamikaze Girls will be released as a two disc special edition on the same day.

Eureka Seven: Pocket Full Of Rainbow Movie announced for January 2010

Wed, 10 Dec 2008 03:02:00 +0100

During their press panel on the New York Anime Festival, Bandai Entertainment announced a new Blu-ray Disc release for the US market.
On January 26th 2010, the theatrical feature of Studio Bones' Eureka Seven, Eureka Seven: Pocket Full of Rainbow (see Trailer @ AHT) will hit the shelves. The film opened in Japan in April and has been available on Japanese Blu-ray Disc since late June.
[via SOS-Brigade & AnimeOnBlu]

Once Upon A Time In China Screenshots

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:01:02 +0100

Avid Asian Blu-ray Guide reader (and contributor) DCJuggler has posted two links to screenshots for Fortune Star and Kam & Ronson's Blu-ray Disc release of Once Upon A Time In China that made me spray my morning coffee all over my keyboard. What the flying fuck happened here?!

Hey boys and girls at Fortune Star, if some douche bag trainee tells you that he can transform bad source material to Blu-ray Disc worthy material by using some DNR and photoshop painting effects magic...please, just don't listen to him!

Ghost in the Shell 2.0 UK Blu-ray Disc to include 1.0

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:01:03 +0100

Sometimes it really pays off to re-read updated posts. DVD Times has updated one of its posts regarding Manga Entertainments upcoming UK Blu-ray Disc release of Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell 2.0 with the sweet fact that the original 1995 version (1.0) will be included on the same disc that will hit the shelves October 26th!
However, according to the comments the picture quality of the original is nothing to write home about:

The original movie is on the Blu-ray and is in HD, but it's 1080i and has to be the worst transfer I've ever seen on Blu-ray. The source looks like a VHS tape.

I _guess_ Manga Entertainment used of their own transfers for this instead of using the Japanese 1.0 Blu-ray Disc, probably because of legal reasons.

No English Dub for the Japanese Ponyo BD release!?

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 19:00:08 +0100

Small update on the Japanese Blu-ray Disc release of Hayao Miyazaki's latest film Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. According to the GhibliWiki, the English dub will NOT be included!
So fans of Frankie Jonas and Noah Cyrus will have to wait for Disney's US release, which should be out before Christmas anyway.

Thanks to AnimeOnBlu for the heads up!

Update: Now the GhibliWiki mentions that it has been announced by Walt Disney Home Entertainment and Studio Ghibli that the English dub (with Japanese subtitles) will included as a bonus feature.

Palisades-Tartan to reanimate Sympathy for Lady Vengance and A Tale of Two Sisters

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:02:02 +0100

Just a happy little update for this mornings Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance article. During the day, HMV also added the retailer exclusive Blu-ray Disc releases of Ji-woon Kim's A Tale of Two Sisters and Chan-wook Park's (Sympathy for) Lady Vengeance.
Both films were first announced in 2008 and then pushed back to 2009 when Tartan went belly up. HMV lists November 2nd for Tale of Two Sisters but still the old 2008 release date for Lady Vengeance.

Akira Kurosawa: The Masterworks Blu-ray Disc Collection III in 2010

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:01:04 +0100

Toho has announced to release yet another Blu-ray Disc collection of Akira Kurosawa classic. The third box set will be released on February 19, 2010 and will include Drunken Angel (Yoidore tenshi), No Regrets for Our Youth (Waga seishun ni kuinashi), One Wonderful Sunday (Subarashiki nichiyobi), Throne of Blood (Kumonosu-jou), Dodeskaden (Dodesukaden), Red Beard (Akahige) and Heaven and Hell (Tengoku to jigoku)...and of course no English subtitles.
All titles will be available outside the box set as well.

HMV has Sympathy...for Mr. Vengeance

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 17:00:07 +0100

Looks like Tartan Video is back on track with new releases after the merging/takeover by Palisades in July 2008. At least UK based retailer HMV.co.uk has listed a shop-exclusive Blu-ray Disc release of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, the first part of Chan-wook Park's amazing Vengeance trilogy for November 2nd.
With this release, the complete Vengeance trilogy consisting of Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, OldBoy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance would be available on Blu-ray Disc with English subtitles.
Thanks to AnimeOnBlu for the heads up!

Jet Li's Once Upon A Time in China in September

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:01:00 +0100

Fortune Star and distributor Kam & Ronson just keep on pushing their short notice policy when it comes to their Blu-ray Disc releases of already announced titles.
That's why DDDHouse has just listed the English subtitled Blu-ray Disc release of Jet Li's Once Upon A Time in China that will already hit the HK shelves this Friday (September 18th). The film has been announced back in June together with Police Story.
Talking of Police Story, looks like Fortune Star ~~didn't really put much effort~~ really fucked up this release...at least if we can trust this single screenshot of the Blu-ray Disc from the Asian DVD Guide forum. Of course my copy has already shipped, so I'm going to keep you updated if the rest of the film looks just as bad once it arrives. Guess I have to stop to blindly pre-order BD releases from Hong Kong if labels begin to screw paying customers like this.

Fortune Star to release Enter The Dragon & The Way of the Dragon in September

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 10:00:08 +0100

After the fresh announcement for the HK Blu-ray Disc for Jackie Chan's Police Story, Fortune Star puts another big log on the fire with the last two of the already announced four Bruce Lee classics for Blu-ray Disc.
According to YesAsia, the HK Blu-ray Disc of Enter The Dragon and The Way of the Dragon will be released with English subtitles on September 30th.
It is to be expected that Fortune Star and distributor Kam & Ronson will "protect" these two releases from evil European customers by using region code A like their former Bruce Lee releases.
[Thanks to Martin and AnimeOnBlu for the heads up!]

One Piece movie galore to set sail in November

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 07:02:01 +0100

Probably to celebrate the theatrical opening of the 10th movie One Piece: Strong World [ANN] on December 12th, Toei Video announced to release all nine One Piece movies on Blu-ray Disc in Japan starting with the 2000 production One Piece: The Great Gold Pirate on November 21st, 2009.

Details for the Korean The Good, The Bad and The Weird Release

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:00:08 +0100

YesAsia has listed the first "real" picture of the upcoming (September 24th) Korean Blu-ray Disc release of Kim Ji-Woon's oriental western The Good, The Bad and the Weird:

Also, Korean based retailer K2DVD confirmed my enquiry about the included version of the film. According to them (and the YesAsia product description), only the shorter international cut will be included while the DVD Special Edition released in March included both cuts.

Fortune Star will tell a Police Story in September...

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 03:02:02 +0100

After a bunch of delays, the Hong Kong based distributor Fortune Star finally starts to keep its promises made in earlier this year regarding the announced Blu-ray Disc releases. After two of the four Bruce Lee classics were already released in August, fans of HK super star Jackie Chan can rejoice as well as YesAsia has listed the Blu-ray Disc release of the first part of Chan's Police Story 1985 classic today! The Police Story trilogy was announced together a Blu-ray Disc trilogy box of Jet Li's Once Upon A Time in China back in June. The Blu-ray Disc of Police Story I will be released on September 7th and will (according to YesAsia) include English subtitles. Since there's a huge "1" visible on the front cover and spine (displayed left) I guess the other parts will be released soon as well. Let's hope that Fortune Star won't use region coding to lock out European buys like they did with their Bruce Lee releases...