blog好き

Jun 20 2004

Categories: anime, commentary

1 Comment »

This is why I do not like ADV (quote from Anime on DVD):

“These will be part of the Essential Anime line. There will be three, two-disc sets. The first set will street in September. SRP is currently planned at $19.98. The overlays will be gone. English audio will be upgraded to 5.1.”

Referring to Nadesico. They did a horrible, horrible job with it originally, and charged $30 over 6 DVDs. Naturally, I like Nadesico, and ADV said back then they were not planning on releasing an un-mutilated version. So I bought them. Now they announce a new version, one they don’t overlay, for a lower price? They’re doing this with Eva too. I feel like I’m being punished for being a faithful fan. Now if I want the good version, because those overlays are extremely irritating in Nadesico, I need to shell out more money. Of course, the problem is that I also need to find a new home for my old discs, which are pretty much devoid of value now.

This is a big reason now why I stopped buying most shows at release. I’m going to wait and see if they’re going to come out with some cheaper boxset or some “better” version. Honestly, the changes made to Nadesico managed to upset a lot of fans, and there was a great “overlays make Ruri cry” campaign. They completely turned a blind eye to it then. Is it so much to ask for to actually have the companies listen to fans? Remember when Disney first announced the Mononoke DVD without the Japanese language track? Eventually, a huge letter/postcard/petition campaign got them to include it, almost as an afterthought… because they thought they knew that the fans did not care about it. But by including the Japanese language track, they managed to make a lot of fans– especially the hardcore ones– happy.

I’m glad that the English speaking world is finally getting a decent Nadesico release. I just wish that such a thing wouldn’t have been necessary in the first place.