Section23 Films Announces January 2013 Slate

AN Shows
1

Per PR:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[size=16]SECTION23 FILMS ANNOUNCES JANUARY SLATE[/size]
MARDOCK SCRAMBLE: SECOND COMBUSTION Available on January 1st

HOUSTON, October 10, 2012 – Home video distributor Section23 Films today announced its January slate of releases; including the second combustible volume of Mardock Scramble! The second release of the spectacular trilogy, Mardock Scramble: Second Combustion will be available on both DVD and Blu-Ray.

Product details follow, in order of release
Coming January 2013

Title: MARDOCK SCRAMBLE: SECOND COMBUSTION
Published by: Sentai Filmworks
Distributed by: Section23 Films
Run Time: 61 min.
Street Date: 1/1/2013
Format: DVD
Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
SRP: $29.98

SYNOPSIS: Rescued by Doctor Easter from a deadly assault on their headquarters by Dimsdale Boiled, Rune Balot finds temporary shelter in “Paradise”, a high-tech laboratory where the Scramble 09 protocol originated. While the severely injured Oeufcoque regenerates in a healing vat, Rune struggles to find the answers within herself that will let her equally injured psyche find some measure of peace. But as the search for clues to the location of Shell’s hidden memories continues, Boiled finds them again, and Rune and the Doctor decide it’s time to carry the war to the enemy. It’s a world of high-stakes gambling and glamour, as Rune struggles to bring the man that murdered her to justice in the second combustible volume of Mardock Scramble!

Title: MARDOCK SCRAMBLE: SECOND COMBUSTION BLU-RAY
Published by: Sentai Filmworks
Distributed by: Section23 Films
Run Time: 61 min.
Street Date: 1/1/2013
Format: BD
Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
SRP: $39.98

SYNOPSIS: Rescued by Doctor Easter from a deadly assault on their headquarters by Dimsdale Boiled, Rune Balot finds temporary shelter in “Paradise”, a high-tech laboratory where the Scramble 09 protocol originated. While the severely injured Oeufcoque regenerates in a healing vat, Rune struggles to find the answers within herself that will let her equally injured psyche find some measure of peace. But as the search for clues to the location of Shell’s hidden memories continues, Boiled finds them again, and Rune and the Doctor decide it’s time to carry the war to the enemy. It’s a world of high-stakes gambling and glamour, as Rune struggles to bring the man that murdered her to justice in the second combustible volume of Mardock Scramble!

Title: BODACIOUS SPACE PIRATES
Published by: Sentai Filmworks
Distributed by: Section23 Films
Run Time: 325 min.
Street Date: 1/8/2013
Format: DVD
Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
SRP: $59.98

SYNOPSIS: Most families have a skeleton or two in the closet, but Marika is understandably shocked to learn that what her family has been hiding is a skull and crossbones! And while the revelation that her late father was a space pirate would have been earthshaking enough for most teenage girls, discovering that he was the captain of the notorious pirate ship Benten Maru will change Marika’s life forever. Because, you see, pirating is a family business, and she’s just inherited the position of captain. Not to mention that her father’s former crew is quite intent on making sure Marika accepts the job! So what’s a girl to do? Well, if you’re a high school student whose prior total naval experience has been working at the space yacht club, there’s really only one moral dilemma that has to be resolved: are pirates allowed to wear really short mini-skirts? Get ready for intergalactic buccaneering unlike any you’ve ever seen before as the spaceways get broad-sided by cutting lasses, curvy knaves and the sexiest pirate’s chest ever in Bodacious Space Pirates Collection 1!

Title BODACIOUS SPACE PIRATES BLU-RAY
Published by: Sentai Filmworks
Distributed by: Section23 Films
Run Time: 325 min.
Street Date: 1/8/2013
Format: BD
Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
SRP: $69.98

SYNOPSIS: Most families have a skeleton or two in the closet, but Marika is understandably shocked to learn that what her family has been hiding is a skull and crossbones! And while the revelation that her late father was a space pirate would have been earthshaking enough for most teenage girls, discovering that he was the captain of the notorious pirate ship Benten Maru will change Marika’s life forever. Because, you see, pirating is a family business, and she’s just inherited the position of captain. Not to mention that her father’s former crew is quite intent on making sure Marika accepts the job! So what’s a girl to do? Well, if you’re a high school student whose prior total naval experience has been working at the space yacht club, there’s really only one moral dilemma that has to be resolved: are pirates allowed to wear really short mini-skirts? Get ready for intergalactic buccaneering unlike any you’ve ever seen before as the spaceways get broad-sided by cutting lasses, curvy knaves and the sexiest pirate’s chest ever in Bodacious Space Pirates Collection 1!

Title: PERSONA 4 COLLECTION 2
Published by: Sentai Filmworks
Distributed by: Section23 Films
Run Time: 365 min.
Street Date: 1/15/2013
Format: DVD
Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
SRP: $59.98

SYNOPSIS: The mystery of the murders seems to have been solved, but the riddle of the Velvet Room and the lethal Midnight Channel is an enigma that Yu and the other students who form the Investigation Team still have to crack. And that’s to say nothing of the question of how their powers of Persona work in the first place, and how the fictional Teddie can exist in the real world. As conundrums wrap in conundrums, and the school year burns inexorably towards a blistering summer, the team must prepare for the most deadly challenge yet while still pretending to lead normal high school lives. But that won’t be easy under the evil eye of their new homeroom teacher. And when Detective Shirogane reenters the game with new information about irregularities in the police investigation and clues that may lead to an entirely different conclusion; both team and detective find themselves playing the role of prey once more! The body count is on the rise, the Shadows attack and new Persona are about to ascend as the Midnight Channel launches the ultimate cancellation program in the grand finale of PERSONA4!

Title: PERSONA 4 COLLECTION 2 BLU-RAY
Published by: Sentai Filmworks
Distributed by: Section23 Films
Run Time: 365 min.
Street Date: 1/15/2013
Format: BD
Language: English
SRP: $59.98

SYNOPSIS: The mystery of the murders seems to have been solved, but the riddle of the Velvet Room and the lethal Midnight Channel is an enigma that Yu and the other students who form the Investigation Team still have to crack. And that’s to say nothing of the question of how their powers of Persona work in the first place, and how the fictional Teddie can exist in the real world. As conundrums wrap in conundrums, and the school year burns inexorably towards a blistering summer, the team must prepare for the most deadly challenge yet while still pretending to lead normal high school lives. But that won’t be easy under the evil eye of their new homeroom teacher. And when Detective Shirogane reenters the game with new information about irregularities in the police investigation and clues that may lead to an entirely different conclusion; both team and detective find themselves playing the role of prey once more! The body count is on the rise, the Shadows attack and new Persona are about to ascend as the Midnight Channel launches the ultimate cancellation program in the grand finale of PERSONA4!

Title: SAIYUKI GAIDEN COMPLETE COLLECTION
Published by: Sentai Filmworks
Distributed by: Section23 Films
Run Time: 90 min.
Street Date: 1/22/2013
Format: DVD
Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
SRP: $49.98

SYNOPSIS: In their former lives, 500 years before Genjyo Sanzo and his crew of misfits began their journey west, they were gods, but being godly didn’t make them act any more divine. And when Goku flies into a murderous rage after seeing his best friend die, Heaven’s had enough and wants him dead! But Konzen Douji, Field Marshal Tenpou and General Kenren are willing to do anything to protect Goku, even if it means turning all of Heaven against them. Will the three of them be enough to break through the Heavenly Western Army and escape to the Lower World? Or will the Journey to the West be over before it’s even begun?

Title: FATE / STAY NIGHT TV COLLECTION 1 BLU-RAY
Published by: Sentai Filmworks
Distributed by: Section23 Films
Run Time: 300 min.
Street Date: 1/29/2013
Format: BD
Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
SRP: $69.98

SYNOPSIS: Raised by a mysterious sorcerer after the horrific death of his parents, Shiro Emiya has only just begun to help others using the small tidbits of magic that he’s learned. However, when he’s suddenly caught in a battle between two more powerful Magus, Shiro finds himself performing a spell above his expected ability, summoning the beautiful spirit warrior Saber to protect him! But safety is only momentary as Shiro and Saber now find themselves thrust into in a secret world of dark magic and deadly challenges: a no-holds barred duel to the death known as the Holy Grail War! At stake: a prize of unimaginable power. But can the inexperienced Shiro and Saber survive long enough to even enter the contest? First they’ll have to withstand waves of treachery and assassination, even as Shiro scrambles to learn everything he’ll need to know to stay alive as seven teams of Magus and Spirit Servants face off in mortal combat! The ultimate game of death and magic comes to Blu-Ray as the Holy War erupts in FATE/STAY NIGHT- Collection One!

About Section23 Films:
Section23 Films provides home video marketing and distribution services for a variety of companies, including Sentai Filmworks, Switchblade Pictures, Maiden Japan and AEsir Holdings. With its special focus on genre entertainment, Section23 Films distributes some of the very best anime, martial arts, and horror titles on the market today.

2

Sentai might have ceded the end of 2012 to Funimation (et al) but by the looks of this they’re coming back with a vengeance in 2013, starting the new year off right.

I’ll be placing an order for all the blu-rays in that list. I might even make an exception and get the Sayuki Gaiden dvd.

3

It seems that Sentai and Funimation seem to avoid releasing major titles at the same time as each other. So when one has a heavy month, the other seems to be lighter or releases lower priority titles. I don’t know if that’s intentional, but it is interesting and probably makes a lot of sense. Major movie studios often avoid releasing big films on the same weekends as other major titles so as I avoid hurting box office returns. The same is often true for home video releases.

Anyway, I’m surprised to see no Fate/Stay DVD set solicited since it’s been out of print so long. I will definitely be picking up the bluray of that, Mardock Scramble, and Space Pirates. January looks to be an expensive month.

4

[quote=“dragonrider_cody”]It seems that Sentai and Funimation seem to avoid releasing major titles at the same time as each other. So when one has a heavy month, the other seems to be lighter or releases lower priority titles. I don’t know if that’s intentional, but it is interesting and probably makes a lot of sense. Major movie studios often avoid releasing big films on the same weekends as other major titles so as I avoid hurting box office returns. The same is often true for home video releases.

Anyway, I’m surprised to see no Fate/Stay DVD set solicited since it’s been out of print so long. I will definitely be picking up the bluray of that, Mardock Scramble, and Space Pirates. January looks to be an expensive month.[/quote]

Start dropping hints now that you want cash for Christmas, Cody…

5

Looking at Mardock Scramble: Second Combustion and Saiyuki Gaiden.

6

Oh yeah. I completely forgot about Saiyuki. Add that to the list!

7

Scramble and Pirates BD are a go!

Everything else will be a maybe/wait n’ see…

8

I was hoping that Persona 4 would be able to have a bilingual BD by now. I can’t say that I miss not having the Japanese track. Though I’m still debating on whether or not to get part 2 as Part 1 was mostly filler and the show makes me facepalm often. Granted I’m laughing my butt of while doing it but still…

Is Fate/Zero really only going BD? Isn’t that a pre-HD-era ~2007 anime? Seems strange to me.

Wow, was the first movie really only an hour long? I guess so, but it felt longer, in a good way.

9

Don’t confuse aspect ratio with resolution. Anything shot on film-color or black & white; 1.33:1 (3x4), 1.51:1 (3x2)(classic old film aspect ratio), 1.85:1 (US widescreen) or 2.40:1 (Panavision anamorphic)-is of a much higher resolution of all current broadcast and Blu-ray disc formats. 35mm film is scanned at 2000 lines for DVD mastering, which is above even 1080p.

10

Well, for me, I will just have to get Bodacious Space Pirates and Mardock Scramble in BD.

11

Just these for me:

MARDOCK SCRAMBLE: SECOND COMBUSTION BLU-RAY
BODACIOUS SPACE PIRATES BLU-RAY


12

[quote=“Newshawk”]

Don’t confuse aspect ratio with resolution. Anything shot on film-color or black & white; 1.33:1 (3x4), 1.51:1 (3x2)(classic old film aspect ratio), 1.85:1 (US widescreen) or 2.40:1 (Panavision anamorphic)-is of a much higher resolution of all current broadcast and Blu-ray disc formats. 35mm film is scanned at 2000 lines for DVD mastering, which is above even 1080p.[/quote]

Almost hardly any anime is actually shot on film, at least not since the early 2000’s. Secondly, Fate/Stay was produced in HD. It was animated in 720p. Virtually no anime series are animated at 1080p. Most are either 580 or 720. Pretty much all anime blurays are up scales of one sort or another.

13

I also would not get your hopes up just because something is HD that it will look good. If the original way it was done was iffy then then nothing they do will make the Blu-ray look any better. Some companies constanly make the mistake of tweaking thinking they can fix something and usually make it worse with their “clean up”. I always recommend when it comes to anything on Blu-ray new or old unless you can get a great deal wait for reviews by several sources. Why several because there are a lot of reviewers that honestly don’t know what the heck they are talking about.

14

Just my thought on this subject.

Shakugan no Shana season 1 and Sekirei season 1 both on blu-ray looks bad. Shakugan no Shana season 1 on blu-ray plays at 1080 24p frames per second, unless you know how to tell the diffrens from 24p to 60p “fps” you would feel like you waisted your money. 24p fps is also diffrent between dvd and blu-ray if they both support it. Sekirei season 1 plays at 1080 60p fps but it does look a little better then the dvd.

Then again maybe I don’t know what I am talking about.

I did a little test for Shakugan no Shana season 1, on the geneon dvd and on Funimation dvd and blu-ray. What I did was at an exact point I paused and used steping to see how many frames were between two points. Funimation dvd their was 8 frames, blu-ray had 13 frames, both set to play at 24p fps and the Geneon dvd can only play at 60p fps there was a ton load of frames becouse most times I hit the step button it didn’t show a new frame and a third of them was out of focus. I look at it as more clear frames the smoother the playback image is. Sekirei season 1 had no extra frames between two points I checked between the dvd and blu-ray both only plays at 60p fps.

15

Shana looked terrible on bluray because it was a bad upscale. It had nothing to do with the frame rate. In animation, whether something is 24 or 60 fps should make little difference as far as image quality goes, though 60 should allow the motion to be more fluid. However, few anime are done in 60fps as you are more than doubling your work load and significantly increasing the production costs. In live action, it does allow images to look more life like, particularly motion, but since anime is pretty non-realistic looking anyway, that’s not really an advantage.

The problems with frame rate and anime are generally noted when something is animated in 30fps, such as the opening to FMP: The Second Raid. 30fps can only be done in 1080i, so when Funimation upscaled the video to 1080p, it caused every sixth frame to be dropped, creating a stuttering in the motion. Sentai wisely leaves their shows in whatever aspect ratio and frame rate they are provided with. Although that does still leave us with issues like Canaan’s video quality, which was caused by being upscaled from interlaced 720 masters. I still don’t think that one is as bad as some people make it out to be though.

16

Shana looks just as terrible on the funimation dvd and worse on the Geneon dvd.

I can prove to someone in person watching Rosario + Vampire dvd between 24p and 60p, that 24p is much better at a smoother image if your tv has any smooth playback features for 24p.

17

[quote=“chrisc”]

Shana looks just as terrible on the funimation dvd and worse on the Geneon dvd.[/quote]

I have the Geneon DVDs and they look pretty typical for their work of the time. The video quality isn’t amazing, but it’s more than acceptable. Do you have the Funi blurays or the DVDs? The original Funi set was just the Geneon discs repackaged in the cheapest thin packs ever made.

18

[quote=“dragonrider_cody”]

[quote=“chrisc”]

Shana looks just as terrible on the funimation dvd and worse on the Geneon dvd.[/quote]
I have the Geneon DVDs and they look pretty typical for their work of the time. The video quality isn’t amazing, but it’s more than acceptable. Do you have the Funi blurays or the DVDs? The original Funi set was just the Geneon discs repackaged in the cheapest thin packs ever made.[/quote]

I have the funi geneon release and the funi dvd/blu-ray combo.

19

[quote=“chrisc”]

[quote=“dragonrider_cody”]

[quote=“chrisc”]

Shana looks just as terrible on the funimation dvd and worse on the Geneon dvd.[/quote]

I have the Geneon DVDs and they look pretty typical for their work of the time. The video quality isn’t amazing, but it’s more than acceptable. Do you have the Funi blurays or the DVDs? The original Funi set was just the Geneon discs repackaged in the cheapest thin packs ever made.[/quote]

I have the funi geneon release and the funi dvd/blu-ray combo.[/quote]

Yeah, I have that DVD release too. I’m always afraid to open it, because the discs coming flying out of the cases. I thought about getting the bluray version, as at least it should have better casing, but I just can’t see spending the extra money right now when the video quality is marginal at best.

20

I would love to own B. space pirates!

have not had a chance to check out M. Scramble yet.