R2 release through Buena Vista Japan, September
2001, as part of the Jhiburi Ga ippai Collection
2 Single sided,
Dual layered discs.
Film presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 aspect
ratio. Progressive scan format
Image encoded as NTSC format.
Contains Original
Japanese soundtrack, in DD2.0 Surround (quoted as stereo on packaging).
Contains Carl Macek Dub
soundtrack in DD2.0 mono
Contains
Japanese subtitles.
Contains English subtitles.
18 Chapter
stops.
DVD packaged in a white DVD Amaray case, one sheet insert
with chapter list, DVD technical specs and handling advise. Plus
flyers for other releases.
Contains significant extras.
Expect
to pay around £30 / $50.
As we have come to expect from the R2 Ghibli DVD releases, the transfer is excellent. Colours, contrast, brightness, and lines are all spot on. Damage and grain levels are well below
even recent DVD transfers. The aspect ratio is perfectly encoded, the widescreen is anamorphic and a new, and hopefully continuing trend, is the addition of progressive scan encoding. The bit rate averages around 7MBps, peaks well over 10, and drops no lower than 4. One
minor nit-pick though: The film has been encoded over two layers (with the layer change, as usual, perfectly hidden) yet only half of each layer is used. Could the bit rate not have been greatly increased to remove some of the (noticeable to the trained eye) Mpeg compression artifacts and the unused space on both layers
have been utilized? It's not as if they can't do this - it is done on the second disc for the E-konte (although the image is poorer on the second disc due to the addition of the storyboard angle and the fall back to interlaced scan). Edge-Enhancement is used again, but isn't too bad due to the light colour scheme of the film.
The Japanese Soundtrack is stated as being stereo, yet my player reports it as DD2.0 surround. Doesn't matter, the point is that it is excellent. Very clean, very clear, with a superb bit of stereo imaging present. Encoded at 448Kbps.
The English dub is reasonable. Not bad, not brilliant. The annoying thing is, again, the English subtitles are based on this dub. Although in the case of this film,
watching it in pure Japanese in not such a big deal - dialogue is minimal and, for the most part, fairly simple. The English dub is presented in DD2.0 mono. And is of inferior quality to the Japanese track.
As usual, the extras are all
contained on the second disc. The movie is also contained on the
second disc, but has an alternate angle with the complete story
boards. This angle plays the entire film, soundtrack included, in
animated story board form. I doubt you'd watch this feature more than
once, but it is interesting though. Also on the second disc are the
original trailers for the film which include the double feature information. Also included are
interviews with the creative staff for "Hotaru no Haka" and "Tonari no Totoro". It's worthwhile noting that
the interviews regarding "Hotaru no Haka" are the SAME as those found on the R2 DVD release. Also included are the opening and ending to the film minus credits - a feature common on US anime DVD releases.
Again we see trailers for upcoming DVD releases: "Panda ko Panda" (which will top the R1 release if it maintains the standard found on the trailer), "Meitantei Holmes", and "Mononoke Hime". Also we see the "Ghibli complete collection" trailer.
Another feature is a 20 minute long walk around the Ghibli museum which has just opened it's doors to the public. Miyazaki-san walks us around the museum, showing the layout, designs, look and where each film comes in. This feature is (obviously) in Japanese, with no subtitles.
The packaging for this release is
good. Sensible is a better word - Manufacturers have a tendency to
place double disk sets in ostentatious packaging. Not here, the
Amaray case is of standard size, with an extra section inside for the
extra disk. The inserts and cover art are good, the back cover
contains comprehensive information on the DVD content. Also worth noting (although somewhat defunct) is that if you were lucky enough to
pre-order this release early, you gained a little bonus from BV.
