Orguss on Blu-ray!

[Marzan]

Box art revealed:

Absolutely stunning. The definitive set for sure.

I hope someone licenses it so we can get BD quality with decent subs (don't expect the box art to be as nice though!).

[Alex]

Masterpiece Orguss approves of this thread.

[Renato]

Da whole package!

[Hikuro]

It's tempting, but when I see a solid price, that'll make my decision. Most likely I'll pass, it'll be a 350-400 dollar Price range.

[Renato]

It's tempting, but when I see a solid price, that'll make my decision. Most likely I'll pass, it'll be a 350-400 dollar Price range.

The price has been a "solid" Y52,290 for a long time now (although most places are offering rather significant discounts). It's out today.

[Hikuro]

Well that happened quick, didn't realize. Yeah 607 on Play-asia, 501 dollars on CD Japan if I caught that right. I honestly thought it was a mediocre series....not worth that much cash : /

[Renato]

It's out and it's fantastic.

[Renato]

By the way, these are not screen captures -- they are photographs I took with a crappy phone camera. Looking at them on a bigger monitor screen now is making me realize that they do not do the Blu-Ray images justice at all.

The remaster is absolutely glorius -- much, much better than the SDF Macross one and on par with the Macross 7 and Yamato one. Just like those, it's like you're watching the cels on the screen.

The cases are nice and have that smooth matte classy package quality to the texture.

The booklet might not be as thick as I wanted, but they did take the time to interview Mikimoto (who doesn't seem very excited about this show at all). Unfortunately, I would have also wanted to hear how Miyatake saw his brainchild 30 years later.

The extras are OK, it would have been nice if they had included the vintage commercials for the toys. Also, it's a shame (though expected, since the distributor this time round is Toei, not Bandai) that the "Making of Orguss 02" extras are not included.

The two "Orguss Memorial" episodes are not remastered. (Though they are the highlight of the bonus material, having not been available since the 80s).

Finally, the box art. It looks very nice indeed, though the number of characters here highlights Mikimoto's current hit-and-miss style. Some characters are drawn beatifully, and some look rather odd. The strangest thing is the omission of the title mecha itself. What the huh? I dunno. The Orguss 02 is there, though. If nothing else, it is great seeing both the original and the sequel characters together for the first, and likely last, time. Except for Athena. Again, what the huh??

Overall, yeah, I love the show and I am very pleased to finally own the definitive set. With this and Macross 7 on BD, I feel like I now no longer need to buy another anime DVD or BD ever again (I will probably just conentrate on tracking down the LDs and VHSs I missed). "See you, Space Fanboys!"

[Renato]

Oh my god, I forgot the most important (depending how much of a nerd you are) thing!!

So, back when this set was first announced, some guy on Amazon.jp was commenting that the show had never been properly released with the original broadcast opening sequence -- the Bandai Visual/Emotion releases on LD/VHS/DVD all used an alternate version of the Casey Rankin song which was edited from the album version. The original broadcast, though it was the same song with the same arrangement, was clearly a different take. I had only ever heard this version on the opening to the Memorial videos and on the Drama LPs -- I thought it was specially recorded for those products, but thanks to this guy I put two and two together and concluded that this was in fact the original broadcast opening.

Well, this set finally gives you the show as it was originally seen, with the original opening. And that includes the arrangement of the handful of episodes that had a pre-opening short introductory sequence -- something which was repositioned to *after* the openings for the Bandai releases.

If you miss the short edit of the album version of "Sky Hurricane", you can still find it here on the bonus disc, since it is used as the BGM for the "Overseas Version Opening". This opening was used for the US Renditions dub in the 90s.

I just got this set, so I haven't seen everything yet, but if I spot any more changes/differences, I will post them here.

[Tochiro]

Great write up Renato! Thanks for that!

Will probably pick this up myself eventually. You've talked me about 65% or so into getting it.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

the audio is mono?

[Renato]

the audio is mono?

The box says it is mostly Linear PCM Mono (2ch), but notes that some portions are in Stereo. The Bandai releases said they were Stereo, but I think it was a trick -- that's probably why they changed the opening song to the album edited version, to justify the Stereo label (just a guess). Sneaky.

[Renato]

Great write up Renato! Thanks for that!

Will probably pick this up myself eventually. You've talked me about 65% or so into getting it.

And the other 35%? Do I need to talk about Orguss 02 and MANNING POWER?? He can be very persuasive.

Edited November 5, 2013 by Renato

[DarrinG]

Have always wanted to see this show.

Do not care for the mecha designs at all for collectables, but the characters and animation look great.

Is this MaidenJapan company picking up a lot of titles? Maybe they can get Orguss & do a subbed reg and blu-ray release like they did for Patlabor...

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Patlabor-TV-Collection-1-DVD-/300992628415?pt=US_DVD_HD_DVD_Blu_ray&hash=item46148f06bf

Edited November 5, 2013 by DarrinG

[Jasonc]

So, since you didn't mention it, I assume no english subs? I'll probably just stick to the Imaginasian DVD set until someone realizes people want it here, IF there's even a demand high enough for that.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

The box says it is mostly Linear PCM Mono (2ch), but notes that some portions are in Stereo. The Bandai releases said they were Stereo, but I think it was a trick -- that's probably why they changed the opening song to the album edited version, to justify the Stereo label (just a guess). Sneaky.

thanks for the clarification. i'm pretty big on audio for blu rays. akira bluray was remastered with the highest bitrate ever for an audio codec. (192 khz/24 bit. by some audiophiles: reference material...)

i was hoping 500 bucks gets some re-mastered in the audio dept.

[Renato]

thanks for the clarification. i'm pretty big on audio for blu rays. akira bluray was remastered with the highest bitrate ever for an audio codec. (192 khz/24 bit. by some audiophiles: reference material...)

i was hoping 500 bucks gets some re-mastered in the audio dept.

I can't imagine you can do very much with a mono master. It sounds clear and crisp to me, though, on par with the Macross set (save for the audio for the episode previews, which are lower quality, again, just like the Macross ones).

So, since you didn't mention it, I assume no english subs? I'll probably just stick to the Imaginasian DVD set until someone realizes people want it here, IF there's even a demand high enough for that.

No subs.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

I can't imagine you can do very much with a mono master. It sounds clear and crisp to me, though, on par with the Macross set (save for the audio for the episode previews, which are lower quality, again, just like the Macross ones).

you're right. i should've asked if they remastered the mono... which they probably did... (i'm guessing.) sounds like then it's worth the 500.

Some people might think that having 5.1 is better than 2.0 or stereo, or particularly than mono. HOWEVER, for most people who talk about quality audio, it's not primarily the number of audio channels, it is how good each channel sounds. I have owned a number of versions of "Seven Samurai", on LaserDisc, DVD, Criterion DVD, and now Seven Samurai (The Criterion Collection) [blu-ray]. In each case, the audio is in mono, IIRC.

Only in the Criterion BD is there high quality remaster of the original Japanese mono, "Japanese: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)", as well as standard LPCM stereo audio. That audio is greatly improved over the other, earlier versions of mono audio. But then, that's a Criterion remaster job. However, you don't get 24 bit mono on DVD, although you can get good (CD) quality 16 bit LPCM. Likewise, the original mono in Casablanca has been remastered for the 70th Anniversary version, and it is quite fine when Sam plays it again, e.g., if not quite as fine as the criterion remaster of the Seven Samauri mono audio.

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Casablanca-Blu-ray/41224/

"Audio | English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono"

So when I say it is greatly improved, I am talking about the good stuff regardless of how many channels it has. For some people, the enjoyment of 7.1 or perhaps 5.1 channels contributes very nicely to the aural soundstage, but that's only one part of quality audio...

http://www.amazon.com/forum/blu-ray/ref=cm_cd_et_md_pl?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx2R11KXGJPWBTU&cdMsgID=Mx248DIBOXH61FE&cdMsgNo=51&cdPage=3&cdSort=oldest&cdThread=Tx230DB1OUFG3ZK

[Zor Primus]

So, since you didn't mention it, I assume no english subs? I'll probably just stick to the Imaginasian DVD set until someone realizes people want it here, IF there's even a demand high enough for that.

Ditto....as long as They who must not be named decides to...

[SterlingMax]

How does Orguss 02 look?

[DarrinG]

Not a blu-ray, but picked up a fan subbed set of DVDs for $22 bucks on evilbay - plus free shipping?

Hard to beat that price.

Subs messed up and so-so at many spots. And the names are all wrong which is strange because you can hear them saying Mimsy! But the sub is 'Memgen' or something?

First time seeing the series. The fight scenes are bad, and badly animated. Not believable at first - just stupid later as 1 against 20 gets old fast.

But the characters and awesome. And the premise of the plot is very intriguing to me - dimensions and time being squooshed together from a weapon going wrong. They develop a strange future world with nice detail.

Best part is the character interactions - along with the ship's interior. After watching a few episodes I feel like going with them and making the Glomar my home.

I have not seen another set of these DVDs go up for sale but I will post alink here if I do. Worth $22 for sure . . .

[Keith]

Bootleg.

[Hikuro]

I've had that DVD box set before, the subtitles are virtually impossible to understand and ruins the experience. Not too mention it's not remastered footage and I don't think include the preview episode at the end (Can't remember, been 7 years since I touched it).

My goal was to eventually dub the series like I did Macross DYRL, but the series got so annoying to me. so much rehashed battles and odd plot moments and translations that would just get lost in english.

[jenius]

That box set is my only experience with Orguss. It's too bad. The subtitles for various chunks were clearly done by different people simultaneously to rush it out. Possibly also another English class project also. They were just good enough for me to piece everything together and enjoy the show. I wouldn't say it was great but I did enjoy it. I would definitely like to get a value-priced set with improved sub (I don't see much of a reason to hunt down blu-rays of 80s cartoons though).

[Keith]

Blurays of hand-drawen animation look incredible. The subs on that set were 100% bootleg, nothing english class about them.

[Guest davidwhangchoi]

i used to have a toy from this show that i played with daily as a kid... was wondering where it came from.

[renegadeleader1]

Discotek Media is releasing/released the first Lupin series, original Cutey Honey, Mazinger, and Captain Harlock along with obscure titles like Mighty Space Miners(go planet Jackson!!!).

Nozomi/Right Stuf is releasing/released all of Original Dirty Pair, Original Space Adventure Cobra, and Rose of Versailles.

Sentai Filmworks is even releasing the original Science Team Gatchaman remastered.

With things like this happening lately I'd say the chances of getting Orguss in the next three years is about 60% unlike LotGH which is 0.00000000000001%. Two big things in Orguss favor is that it's getting remastered, and subtitles already exist for it.

AND VIA THEIR FACEBOOK PAGE DISCOTEK ANNOUNCES THEY HAVE ACQUIRED ORGUSS!!!

[DuelGundam2099]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-06-16/discotek-adds-orguss-mecha-tv-anime-series/.75639

It is true, they're also licensing Violence Jack and Shin Mazinger!

[technoblue]

Fantastic! Orguss needs another release around these parts. And I wonder if this means a subtitled blu-ray release is possible? If so, then even better.

[Hikuro]

I'll have to keep an eye out. I wanted to dub this series some years back, shortly after I finished the DYRL 2.0 audio. However finding the english dub version of this series first 17 is impossible cause I wanted to continue from 18 onward to make the job easier. Guess now I can probably have my way.

[Zhou]

How does Orguss 02 look?

Sorry it took me two months to see your post, but Orguss 02 also looks great on Blu-ray. To be honest, at first I had the impression of a yellowish tint on the picture, but I quickly got used to it, so I guess I might have had the wrong impression because I got too used to the TV series' color palette as I watched it.

I just wish I could find a decent set of English subtitles to watch it. The only ones I could find were ripped from Manga's DVD release, and as it turns out, they're terrible dubtitles. To make matters worse, they don't include translations for any of the on-screen text because all of it was hardsubbed in the DVD. That's quite problematic because a lot of the OVA's dialogue is spoken in fictional languages, and those lines are all subtitled in Japanese.

Edited June 17, 2014 by Zhou

[locidm]

anyone got this?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013D10GQU?keywords=orguss&qid=1445028892&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1

How is the quality? Had the toy as a kid but never got to watch the whole show. Worth it?