AnimEigo

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Rufus T. Firefly · #26 Post by **Rufus T. Firefly** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 1:59 am

tryavna wrote:
Steven H wrote:
dmkb wrote:Any word on The Wolves?
I haven't heard anything. There's always the R2 UK version.
Of course, with the pile of unwatched DVDs I already have, I guess I can wait seven months for the Animeigo release.

I suggest you wait. The R2 is a VHS-quality transfer, very murky and artefact-ridden.

tryavna · #27 Post by **tryavna** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:02 am

Rufus T. Firefly wrote:I suggest you wait. The R2 is a VHS-quality transfer, very murky and artefact-ridden.

Ah, thanks for the advice, Rufus. I guess I will wait after all. By the way, do you -- or anyone else -- have the R2 release of Illusion of Blood? I really enjoyed the Toyoda/Nakadai Portrait of Hell collaboration and am curious about this one. It seems that Warrior, who released both Illusion and Wolves in the UK, is the British counterpart to Animeigo, but beyond that, I don't know what their overall quality is like.

Steven H wrote:Also, if you can find it, Cash Calls Hell is probably my favorite Gosha/Nakadai

There is a listing for it on eBay right now. I presume it's a bootleg. Is the A/V quality enough to justify spending $20?

Steven H · #28 Post by **Steven H** » Sun Sep 02, 2007 11:08 am

tryavna wrote:
Steven H wrote:Also, if you can find it, Cash Calls Hell is probably my favorite Gosha/Nakadai
There is a listing for it on eBay right now. I presume it's a bootleg. Is the A/V quality enough to justify spending $20?

Actually, yeah. It's sourced from the Japanese DVD and it has removable English subtitles. But don't buy it...

From their site:

Revenge of Kabuki Actor (1963) (Yukinojyo Henge, An Actor's Revenge) Don't say you've seen enough beautiful Kon Ichikawa art films UNTIL you see this one. His unique camera/lighting work, dreamy Kimono beauties, and the usual all-star cast make this another must-see film for fans of the Master Director.

The Ballad of Narayama (1983) (Narayama Bushiko) Winner of the Palm d'Or, Cannes Film Festival 1983; 8 other awards and 9 nominations. Directed by Shohei Imamura, 2-time Palm d'Or winner (Kurosawa won only once).

These are amazing films, and I hope AnimEigo can improve upon existing DVDs (BFI for the former, International HK the latter, both fairly successful with some notable weaknesses as the DVDBeaver links point out.) There is some hope as both were recently released on DVD in Japan, which means a strong transfer might be available (like the relatively great looking Japan's Longest Day disc.) Contextual information, however, is off the table I would imagine (as well as any distant hopes of a Criterion release of these milestones.)

They also reconfirm Gosha's The Wolves as an 08 release, along with some samurai flicks and a Miike (Big Bang Love Juvenile). The one oddity is Nezu no ban (or "Hardest Night!!") which might be worth a rental. I'm going to go ahead and express my dissapointment as a big Okamoto fan that they didn't go after any more of his work, but oh well.

Narshty · #29 Post by **Narshty** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:31 pm

How on earth did Criterion let An Actor's Revenge through their fingers? It's an absolutely stupendous film. Still, as long the new disc has a good transfer, I'll be happy.

#30 Post by **kinjitsu** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 8:52 pm

Narshty wrote:How on earth did Criterion let An Actor's Revenge through their fingers? It's an absolutely stupendous film. Still, as long the new disc has a good transfer, I'll be happy.

You can say that again.

Edit: Sad to say, the transfer doesn't compare to the Bfi.

Steven H · #31 Post by **Steven H** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:36 pm

kinjitsu wrote:
Narshty wrote:How on earth did Criterion let An Actor's Revenge through their fingers? It's an absolutely stupendous film. Still, as long the new disc has a good transfer, I'll be happy.
You can say that again. Sad to say, the transfer won't compare to a Criterion transfer, not to mention those obnoxious yellow and green subs.

I suppose AnimEigo won't be able to stay out of DVDBeaver's crosshairs with these releases. They've pretty much ignored them in the past (probably due to the debacle that is the Samurai Assassin DVD). Its heartwarming that another US company is interested in Japanese artfilms from the past, and maybe they'll really put some effort into it (other than just paying for the rights and throwing some colorful subtitles on it.)

#32 Post by **kinjitsu** » Wed Sep 05, 2007 9:40 pm

Their DVD of Japan's Longest Day annoyed the hell out of me, so much so, that I'm considering adding it to my pending trade list, however...

tryavna · #33 Post by **tryavna** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:57 am

kinjitsu wrote:Their DVD of Japan's Longest Day annoyed the hell out of me, so much so, that I'm considering adding it to my pending trade list, however...

Their Samurai Assassin was indeed an abomination, but I've been relatively pleased with most their other releases (that I own). As Steven points out, Japan's Longest Day is nice, and I still think that Portrait of Hell boasts as fine a transfer as any of Criterion's. (Plus, Animeigo do add some contextual information, though almost entirely as on-screen footnote-like textual notes.)

I agree that the multi-colored subtitles can be distracting at first, but a lot of folks find them helpful. My father, who isn't the biggest fan of foreign-language movies, sat through a couple of Animeigo's releases over the Christmas holidays because of the color-coded subs. But then again, I've never really been all that bothered by yellow subs to begin with.

Steven H · #34 Post by **Steven H** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 11:00 am

tryavna wrote:I agree that the multi-colored subtitles can be distracting at first, but a lot of folks find them helpful. My father, who isn't the biggest fan of foreign-language movies, sat through a couple of Animeigo's releases over the Christmas holidays because of the color-coded subs. But then again, I've never really been all that bothered by yellow subs to begin with.

I emailed them and they sounded OK with the idea of making it an option between color and monochrome.

tryavna · #35 Post by **tryavna** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 11:03 am

Steven H wrote:I emailed them and they sounded OK with the idea of making it an option between color and monochrome.

I think that would be a good move for them. It would certainly end the automatic deductions that Beaver and many folks around here give a release for having yellow (or other colored) subs.

Fan-of-Kurosawa · #36 Post by **Fan-of-Kurosawa** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 9:23 am

Are there any news about Ichikawa's An Actor's Revenge and Imamura's Ballad of Narayama? I 've looked at Animeigo's webpage and there are no updates.

tryavna, you mentioned in another post that Gosha's The Wolves will be released in the summer? Do you have any news about the other Animeigo films?

Apart from that, does anybody know the film "Father of the Kamikaze"? The Animeigo website does not even mention its director. Only that it was released in 1974. I've searched for it in the imdb and I can't find anything. I have even tried searching it with its Japanese title but I still get nothing.
That's very strange.

tryavna · #37 Post by **tryavna** » Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:21 pm

Fan-of-Kurosawa wrote:tryavna, you mentioned in another post that Gosha's The Wolves will be released in the summer? Do you have any news about the other Animeigo films?

I'm afraid not. I'm only basing this on a brief exchange I had with them a few months ago. Basically, they were hoping to release one new title per month through the latter half of 2007 and most of 2008, so all of the announced titles will be coming eventually. Bear in mind, however, that Animeigo is a very small operation in the relatively out-of-the-way location of Wilmington, North Carolina. They also tend to prioritize anime and movies with lots of blood-letting (since these tend to have a large built-in audience). But my sense is that they're becoming increasingly aware of the audience for more art-house fare -- hence all the Ichikawa.

Ashirg · #38 Post by **Ashirg** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 4:19 am

The Ballad of Narayama has a date now - 6/10

Fan-of-Kurosawa · #39 Post by **Fan-of-Kurosawa** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:45 am

Their July release is going to be Shogun Assassin 5. Street date is the 8th of July.

That's a pity in my opinion. I expected something better like Gosha's The Wolves or Ichikawa's An Actor's Revenge.

Well, what can you do...

Fingers crossed for August.

Cold Bishop · #40 Post by **Cold Bishop** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:32 pm

Fan-of-Kurosawa wrote:Their July release is going to be Shogun Assassin 5. Street date is the 8th of July.

Really though, aren't these the most useless things ever?

shadowlab · #41 Post by **shadowlab** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 10:12 pm

Cold Bishop wrote:
Fan-of-Kurosawa wrote:Their July release is going to be Shogun Assassin 5. Street date is the 8th of July.
Really though, aren't these the most useless things ever?

Somebody must unfortunately buy them or else they would have been canned a long time ago. They really are a butchery of the series and are taking up release spots of other anticipated releases. If they shipped out two titles a month maybe it wouldn't be as bad, but they've stuck to one a month. Guess we'll have to wait and see for August.

Fan-of-Kurosawa · #42 Post by **Fan-of-Kurosawa** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 4:07 am

There is no August release.

Their September release is going to be Hideo Gosha's The Wolves (at last).

Release date, according to Amazon, is the 2nd of September.
Of course, no other details are available so far but judging from the company's recent track record (like the Ballad of Narayama) we can assume that the disc will be quite good.

mteller · #43 Post by **mteller** » Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:57 am

I emailed them a second time about An Actor's Revenge and still no response. Sigh.

mteller · #44 Post by **mteller** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 9:16 pm

Finally got a reply today!

We don't have a release date for it yet, but likely around October or November. We often get into situations where we get licenses in a burst, and then it takes a while to chew through them all.

Fan-of-Kurosawa · #45 Post by **Fan-of-Kurosawa** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:18 am

Yes! It has just been announced. Revenge of an Actor will be released on the 14th of October according to Amazon under the title Revenge of a Kabuki Actor. Thank God because I want this film very badly and I don't want to buy the mediocre BFI release.

Perkins Cobb · #46 Post by **Perkins Cobb** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 12:16 pm

Seriously? They're using an English title other than An Actor's Revenge? Well, there goes half their sales (at least). Dolts.

mteller · #47 Post by **mteller** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:27 pm

Perkins Cobb wrote:Seriously? They're using an English title other than An Actor's Revenge? Well, there goes half their sales (at least). Dolts.

It's a dumb move. It's going to make my brain hurt deciding whether to file it under "A" or "R".

Cover art is decidedly blah:

I can't find any mention of special features, and the title isn't even listed yet on Animeigo's site. I'm assuming there will be an essay and nothing else. Sigh. At least they do good subtitling.

sidehacker · #48 Post by **sidehacker** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 12:52 pm

Wait, what's wrong with the BFI disc?

mteller · #49 Post by **mteller** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:03 pm

sidehacker wrote:Wait, what's wrong with the BFI disc?

Nothing, I suppose, if you have a region-free player.

Fan-of-Kurosawa · #50 Post by **Fan-of-Kurosawa** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:52 am

The BFI disc has a dull, hazy image, no extras at all and non-removable subtitles.

The Animeigo disc is certain to have at least one trailer, removable subtitles (and the Animeigo subtitles are usually very good), and possibly a better transfer. Let's not forget that the BFI disc came out in 2003 and now it is 2008 so Animeigo had more time to find a better transfer.