After doing some reading on the genlock subject it might be easier to go for the PC option after all. the 200-300 usd range isn't so bad, but the only one store here in sweden that sells that blackmagic card. Trying to look after other cards that doesn't without hardware encoding but I feel that it in some cases doesn't say what it uses on the specs, but maybe I am looking for it in the wrong places...

Wow Johan,
I collect English translated anime laserdiscs, but you have done a lot more research than I have. On my wishlist of Japanese LDs with english, I only have the Lupin titles (Already own Akira and Ghost in the Shell.) I do question some of the items like Lodoss War, only because none of the other volumes are listed with English. Anyway, you've given me some more titles to look into. The Studio Gibli box set would be amazing to have. Thanks.

Just so that you know, and this has been mentioned in other threads, there at 10 films in Ghibli Ga Ippai Collection (1996) [TKLO-50180] (plus On Your Mark and some supplement) but only 4 of the films have English dubs. I think none of them have CC. None have hard subs.

If you want Grave of the Fireflies translated there is Grave of the Fireflies (1988) [ID2231CT]. If you want a dubbed Kiki (badly, IMO) there is Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) [12722 AS] which is actually AC-3.

The Memories LD box has CC subtitles,

It is a shame so few Japanese Anime LD have CC or LD-G

Regarding English tracks on Pioneer anime releases: None of these series are going to have English if they were released before Pioneer started doing dubs for the US market. Their first US release was Tenchi Muyo Episode 1 in...I think 1993, maybe 1994. Some of Pioneer's stuff is listed in LDDB as having an english track, such as one episode of the Hakenden. While I haven't personally verified this, I'm %99 certain this is a mistake because the entire Hakenden was put out in Japan before Pioneer did a single dub for the US. This mistake is probably due to the earlier US releases having indistinguishably different sleeves from the JP releases (at least to a noob).

If you buy a JP release of a Pioneer OVA you will be missing both the dub and the CC track. The reason Armitage the movie was released in English in Japan is because that's the only version that exists. They got Kiefer Sutherland and Elizabeth Berkley to do the voices for the movie...for some reason, and they wanted to keep them. The Tenchi Muyo In Love super fancy-ass box PILA-1393 has English on the mono analog because there was, for some reason, a strong market for the English version of Tenchi. They even released a CD called "Meet the Tenchi" which was the dubbed versions of all the music. The Digital and AC-3 are in Japanese on that set.

They actually released the movie cut in theaters in Japan with the English dub and Japanese subtitles (I was in Japan then and went to go see it.) I read an interview with the director and he was asked why they only wanted the movie to be dubbed in English. His reasoning was that if they release the movie with American actors doing the voices, the Japanese moviegoers might think of the movie as a Sci-Fi movie rather than an anime movie, thus getting a larger audience!

I believe they also released Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and Blood: The Last Vampire in Japanese theaters with an English dub soundtrack only.

that sounds so cool, i've never been to Japan but always wondered what it would be like to watch
a film like Godzilla or an anime film with people around that would be into it,
like teenagers etc.

would they be laughing or screaming at what scenes, would be great.

i saw AKIRA, Gojira, and a double feature of Mothra and Godzilla vs ebria the crab in NYC at film forum.
and saw matango at a special showing.
they were great but all the people were so serious, i'm serious about watching the stuff but it
would have been cool to see them with a native audence doing all the things that we do.

when we went to see the avengers it was a fun film since the group we went with was into it and
we were all screaming at the screen and having fun.

So I started looking at the list of films in the box set with English dubs, and I wonder where the dubs came from. Can someone tell me if these were dubs by Streamline for use on international flights? Were Totoro and Kiki the Buena Vista Home Video releases? I'm really curious, but don't want to spend the $2000 current asking price to find out.

I think the Totoro and Laputa dubs are the old Streamline one from when the movies toured US theaters in the late 80s/early 90s. I'm not sure about Kiki, but isn't the timing wrong for it to be the Buena Vista version? This box is still from Animage video and not BV Japan so I think it was the last of the pre-Disney deal releases and probably doesn't use the horrible Phil Hartman dub for Kiki. Porco was, as far as I know, only seen in English for airplane passengers so that's where that dub came from.

I think this box is obtainable in VG condition for well under $1000, maybe even as low as $300 if you are patient, btw. eBay and LDDB prices for most anime releases are ridiculously high. I recently got a copy of Memories for 円520, well under the $100 it goes for in the US. Don't let guys like Da Don play you for a mook. ($50 for Mononoke Hime? Are you kidding me?)

i agree, you can get them cheaper if you can wait it out or know where to look.
BUT i do have some higher prices sets in my shop here, i just don't want to sell them, but if i do i won't be upset

I saw several Ghibli films in the theater about a year ago — they did a "festival" including the US premiere of Arriety. It was great fun, all the local anime fans came, & those with kids brought them…



Yes, these dubs are all by Karl Macek, for use on JAL trans-Pacific services (in some cases re-used for US theatrical releases), & the box antedates the Buena Vista release deal. So, I believe the Totoro dub is the same as on the pan-&-scan US LD, but the Kiki dub is not the one with Phil Hartman as Jiji.

And there's no way you need to pay $2000. I got mine for $65. Even Santini would probably only stick you for $800 or so.

Last November a local theater here in Rochester played a bunch of Miyazaki films, one per week. I was busy for most of them, but I managed to sit in on my favorite - Princess Mononoke, and even got to see Spirited Away. Both were on gorgeous 35mm prints, and I was so impressed at the crowds they drew. I can attest to screenings such as these being incredibly entertaining, everyone was in good spirits. Even after the movie, everyone stayed to chat with each other for a little while.
I also saw Arriety opening weekend....not that exciting of a film, but it was good fun to see it in a nearly empty theater with my peers. But I can't wait for the US release of From Up on Poppy Hill, and I will probably drop everything and run to the theater when we get to see Miyazaki's and Takahata's new films, hopefully in a double billing.

In December two theaters in Vancouver played all the Ghibli films including most from 35mm. One theater did English audio, the other Japanese plus subs.

Kept missing them due to other engagements, then stood in line for Princess Mononoke and was informed it was sold out. With all of the online buyers, they only had six tickets at the box office.

I would say that Mononoke is one of my least favorite Ghibli movies. Not only is it violent and stressful but it lacks the grace of the earlier stuff. Its pretty obvious Miyazaki was depressd during that period. All that diguesting black oozing stuff that first apeared in Mononoke just wouldnt go away either! It was in Spirited Away and Howl as well. I was so happy that Ponyo finally got rid of the ooze.

The only Ghibli movie I like less than Mononoke is I Can Hear the Ocean.

I'm extremely interested in the upcoming stuff. I'm hoping that The Wind Rises brings back the Miazaki I fell in love with as a kid.

Guess I'm a pretty dark guy Mononoke was the first Ghibli film and I fell in love. After that, I saw Grave of the Fireflies (not Miyazaki) and had to see more. I picked up Kiki and Totoro and was kinda turned off/bored. It was Spirited Away that drew me back in.

Dang, that's like the exact opposite for me. I saw Nausicaa in 1986 and most of the other movies more or less in the order they were released. IMO Miyazaki's best *direction* was actually in Totoro and Kiki, the more simplistic movies. The more massive they get the more his little touches aren't needed and then tend to just disappear.

When they ran the ads for Mononoke that said, "10 years after Nausicaa..." I thought, "Dang, ish is going to get real now!" but when I actually saw the movie I was really let down. Its ugly and depressing. Its full of decapitations and blood and slaughter. The heroes are less likable than the villains in other Ghibli movies. When I saw the Disney dub with the Neil Gaiman I have to admit it I felt I understood it better. It was almost uplifting by the end, but it still just seemed like a huge miserable ordeal instead of a place I wanted to escape to. Its no wonder Miyazaki "retired" after making this movie.

I like flying stuff. Pigs and witches and stuff.

Do Japanese LDs state whether they have English subs/dub on the back of the cover? Is it written in Japanese/English anywhere?

Honestly, I always have to check LDDB.
Of the three I have with English, here's the run down.
Akira Special Collection [PILA-1086]: Says "Multi-Audio:" followed by two lines in Japanese.
Ghost in the Shell Premium Box [BEAL-921]: Nothing on the box, but the individual sleeves reference, in English, "Manga Inc" which is the company responsible for the US Dub.
Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro [TLL-2473]: Just says "Multi-Audio".

I should probably learn the Kanji for "English" sometime.

I tend to think that Miyazaki's best work is where he shows his great love of the air.

英語

The irony is that you have to be able to read some Japanese to be able to tell if an LD has English or not. The "multi-audio" is a clue that there *might* be a dub on there, but the vast majority of the time Multi-Audio is used for isolated soundtracks.

The Memories "Black Box" is a bizarre release since it was clearly designed for export, or at least for gaijin nationals. The obi goes out of its way to declare that it has LG-G and CC. Since LG-G subs are (I think) always English and this movie was originally Japanese, then its therefore translated. What exactly is the point of LD-G anyway? Was it really designed for foreigners living in Japan? That seems like a very small market, but the only one that makes sense. Americans living in the US have CC so only English speakers in Japan where there are no CC TVs can use it.

More importantly though, and more sadly, I actually doubt there are any Japanese released anime LDs with English subs or dubs that aren't covered in this thread so you probably don't have to worry about it.