Discotek Licenses 1997 Berserk Anime, Urusei Yatsura OVAs, Mazinkaiser, More
posted on 2024-01-08 23:44 EST by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Also: Reborn! fan disc, Kenichi OVAs, more Lupin III specials, God Sigma, Toei’s Little Mermaid, Nanoha A’s, Futakoi Alternative, Albegas, Tonagura!, Lovely Complex live-action
Some Q& A from last night’s stream:
- Stardust Crusaders OVA - not available; they are proactive about that one and want to put it in print; they ask periodically and it’s never available
- Tomorrow’s Joe 1 out of print and not coming back; 2 is still in print and is a different licensor (TMS), so reprinting would be an involved process
- No news for Detective Conan. Most of what happens with Conan in the United States comes from TMS, not Discotek or other companies. Right now, TMS does not see a ton of value in bringing Conan over to the United States. There seems to be this hope that when Conan is brought to the United States, it’s going to blow up in popularity like it did over in Japan, and then there always seems to be a sense of confusion of what to do next when that doesn’t happen. (This is me paraphrasing more or less what Discotek said)
- Monster Rancher subtitled will never come out on SD Blu-ray (“definite no”was the term used); wasn’t successful. Had detrimental effects even against licensing other subtitled kids’ shows like Sonic X (which did sell very well).
- Dominion Tank Police is unobtainable; acquisitions and requisitions of the company have essentially led to Toshiba not even knowing that they own it or where the paperwork is, meaning they can’t pay residuals to the people who need them, etc.
- The same is true (but slightly different) for Sega and the Sonic OVA: in this case they know they own it, but they have no clue where the paperwork is for certain aspects of the OVA like the voices and music, meaning it can’t be licensed. It’s a log jammer (Discotek’s words) because they don’t know who to pay and where to pay them outside of Japan.
- He mentioned another OVA at around the hour and 51 minute mark that was not lincenseaeble but I didn’t catch what it was; feel free to edit my post to add it in. They said they weren’t sure why it wasn’t available.
- No more Sgt. Frog. Maybe it’s selling poorly? (My speculation). Seemed pretty definitive as far as a no (they used the phrase that movies and specials “won’t be released by us”).
- Lupin the 3rd pilot is not available; released on some sort of bonus disc in Japan
- No Japanese names for IGPX subtitles per licensor request.
- Saint Seiya will never happen; waxed a bit about how it fell off of Netflix in a year even with a complete dub (now on Crunchyroll)
- Berserk took them a decent amount of time to get (no surprise there), but was very quick to release after that (two months).
Time to see if I can get a copy of the ADV DVD…
Who has Netflix and uses it to watch anime from the 80’s though? To be fair it’s pretty cheesy at times and some of those times it not in a good way.
Per email blast:
Announcements from It’s a Very Big Discotek New Years!
During the It’s a Very Big Discotek New Years! livestream we announced a ton!
Small newsletter this time
Before the new releases though…
Earlier in the week we had did our “It’s a Very Big Discotek New Years!” livestream and we announced 17 upcoming Blu-ray releases (or more based on what you count!) in what we honestly think may be the craziest set of announcements we’ve done on a single stream.
But first, a brand new sizzle trailer!
https://twitter.com/discotekmedia/status/1744539982533214353
This is a quick rundown for those of you who couldn’t make it. The stream archive is still up for now if you want to watch and catch the extra details!
Well… archives.
It got cut off in the middle of it, but we restarted and it continued on smoothly enough. For those of you who were there, we appreciate you hanging around during that trouble. Nearly all of you moved over to the new stream within a couple minutes, and we actually hit the highest number we’ve ever had during that new stream
On to the overview!
Announcements from It’s a Very Big Discotek New Years!
• Urusei Yatsura: The OVA Series Collection- The 11 OVAs from the original series are all here! 10 are native HD, 1 is an upscale based on the available materials. The AnimEigo subs have been polished up for this release, just like the TV series.
• Mazinkaiser- The original Mazinkaiser OVAs are coming to Blu-ray!A new upscale, upgraded subtitles, & the English dub! This is one of the mecha greats & it hasn’t been around for a long time.
• Lupin the 3rd: The Secret Page of Marco Polo- In the 23rd Lupin TV special he is accused of murder & pretends to be an Inspector as he works to clear his name. This one is native HD, and has promo clips & liner notes for extras!
• Lupin the 3rd: Princess of the Breeze- Treasure, a baby, & a princess means Lupin has his hands full this time. And that’s without even going over anything else in this special. Native HD with promo clips & liner notes!
• Space Emperor God Sigma- The 50 episode super robot show from Toei gets a subbed English release for the first time! Really nice mecha designs in this one, especially the main combination.
• Lightspeed Electroid Albegas- 3 robots that can combine in different formations to half a dozen versions of super robot Albegas! This one had US toys & more and was intended to be the 3rd Voltron series back in the 80s. It’s been an almost 40 year wait!
• Space Sheriff Sharivan- This one is already up to pre-order, but since it appeared inbetween announcements, felt like a good time to act as a reminder. Some good extras on this one! It’ll be here soon!
• Lovely Complex- The live action Lovely Complex movie is a breezy version of the story of a tall girl & short boy. Solid video & Japanese audio in 2.0 & 5.1.
• Sex & Fury- The first tale of Reiko Ike as Ocho Inoshika in a story of gambling, murder, debauchery, & revenge. Really nice remaster for this one!
• The Little Mermaid- The 1975 Toei classic adaption has a brand new & gorgeous remaster! This one also has good subtitles, the original English dub synced to the new video, plus a small collection of nice extras, including a reconstructed vintage English trailer!
• Sgt. Frog Seasons 5, 6, & 7- Yes, the rest of the series, 150+ episodes all at once. Enjoy as the show becomes bolder, crazier, froggier, with even more Gundam model kits!
• Medabots Spirit- Ikki & Metabee return for 39 action filled adventures, with new transforming parts!- Announced a bit too early last year, this one is finally coming in March! Medabots Spirits (Medarot Damashii in Japan) finishes off the uncut subtitled version of Medabots! Medabots/Medarot had incomplete home video releases for over 20 years, but not anymore!
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A’s- The 2nd Nanoha TV series features more action packed battles & character drama with Nanoha, Fate, & more! The video is the same used in Japan, a bit nicer than season 1. Subtitles have been upgraded & the classic dub is here!
• Futakoi Alternative- The alternate universe take on Futakoi with much heavier drama, plus innuendo, & even action! Another tale of twins, but much more focused. Did we mention they are also detectives?
• Tonagura- Some shows are harem, but Tonagura is one that defines the word. Kazuki is looking forward to her childhood friend Yuji to move back to the area. He comes back an ultra pervert. It’ll be fine. Probably.
• Digimon updates- Digimon the Movies: We’re working on it, we hope to have details soon…ish. Digimon Season 2: We hope the English dub release will be coming really soon. Digimon is a big property with a lot of approvals & signoffs, so please be patient. We want it out too.
• More Updates- Chie the Brat & IGPX haven’t been forgotten. Just aren’t quite ready to come out yet.
That is it for 2023!March 2024 pre-orders will be up soon. We talked about these all during the stream.
- The Little Mermaid
- Lovely Complex
- Medabots Spirit (Subbed)
- Futakoi
- Fist of the North Star: Legend of the True Savior: The Legend of Kenshiro
- Berserk: The Complete 1997 Series
We’ll catch you later to talk about the March 2024 pre-orders once they are up to order.
The Little Mermaid - 1975 Anime - Movie Trailer from Blu-ray
Lovely Complex- Live-Action Movie- Legacy Trailer from Blu-ray
Futakoi- Opening from Blu-ray
Medabots Spirit - Opening from Blu-ray
Per email blast:
March 2024 Pre-Orders
First set of pre-orders for 2024 are up!
Most of these were announced during our recent livestream!
A few surprises and a number of classics in this batch.
A good number of you are probably chomping at the bit for the big “one more thing” from the stream, so let’s start with that one…
Berserk
The original 1997 Berserk anime is a true classic!
The anime adaption of the Kentaro Miura manga is one people have been waiting for on Blu-ray for a long time!
Berserk has gotten a gorgeous remaster, plus solid extras.
If you haven’t seen the trailer for the Blu-ray, it’s one you’re going to want to watch over and over.The Little Mermaid
The 1975 Toei classic based on the Hans Christian Andersen tale gets a fantastic restoration.
The story of Marina skews closer to the original story in this adaption, with a nice mix of fun & drama.
The remaster on this one is pretty top notch and looks great.
Subtitles are just as good, plus the vintage English dub has been synced to the new video master.Lovely Complex the Movie
The live action movie tells a breezy version of the much-loved shoujo story!
Amusing cast in this one, and it stuffs in a lot of the story making it work in the theatrical run time.
Audio is available in both 5.1 & 2.0, and the subtitles have some nice styling that matches the upcoming anime release.Futakoi
Nozomu returns to his hometown looking forward to seeing a set of twins he was friends with as a child.
He finds twins everywhere he looks!
Futakoi is a fun & cute take on the harem genre that keeps things mostly all-ages.Medabots Spirit
The 2nd Medabots series (Medarot Spirits in Japan) gets an uncut release with English subtitles for the first time.
Medabots Spirit introduces transformations, new characters, & plenty of new parts for Robattles.
This is the first time these 39 episodes have been available on home video uncut w/ subtitles.Fist of the North Star: Legend of theTrue Savior: The Legend of Kenshiro
The final Legend of the True Savior.
Kenshiro tells the unknown portion of his story.
Video quality is solid for the finale of the series.
It has a brand new English dub in 5.1 & 2.0, with the same quality you’ve come to expect for these films, plus Japanese 5.1 with subtitles.While there isn’t a ton of text that needs sign subtitles, the font and styling work helps heighten the presentation. The previews above show off an episode title screen, along with the opening text from episode 1.
If you haven’t gotten one of our releases with more detailed sign subtitles before, this is all done in the subtitle renderer, leaving the video itself untouched.
We said we planned to start 2024 out strong in the last few newsletters of 2023, and we think we definitely hit that goal.
Hopefully you find a few titles to love in this batch.
Plenty more to come in 2024.
See you all later!