Higanjima (Japan - King Records) (No English)

[kannisto]

I received Higanjima from Amazon JP yesterday (on the release day).

It's a Japanese-Korean vampire action adventure / horror movie based on a manga, with a group of high-school kids and a resistance group fighting vampires in a remote Japanese island. It's directed by a Korean director Tae-gyun Kim who also directed Volcano High, but it was filmed in Japan with Japanese actors.

I think this is the first live-action movie release by King Records on Blu-ray, though they've released quite much Anime, Music and variety content already. The movie was distributed theatrically by Warner Brothers in Japan and there's also a Warner intro before the movie. Manga Home Entertainment is going to release the movie on Blu-ray in UK in September, so that release should be English subtitled. The UK release is called "Higanjima - Escape from Vampire Island".

This comes packaged quite nicely in a digibook-like case and with a booklet in Japanese containing some related manga comic and various other information. The first two pics are with the shrink wrap on to show how it was packaged originally, though I had already opened the packaging from the bottom. The rest are of the outer case (black on the outside) and inner case (white on the outside) + a leaflet. Pics of the booklet in a separate post as there's the limit of 10 pics per post.

Apparently this version is a limited first-press edition so they'll likely simplify the packaging and perhaps remove some of the content (especially the booklet) in later pressings.

Case pics:




Basic specs:
- Region free BD50
- Video: MPEG-4 AVC 1080p / 23.976 fps, 2.35:1 (OAR), 35012 kbps
- Audio: Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1 (16-bit) & DTS-HD MA 2.0 (16-bit)
- Subtitles: None

Note: There are no English subs (actually no Japanese subs either for the main feature) and the extras are also with Japanese audio except some parts in Korean (e.g. interview of the director etc.). Only the parts of extras that are in Korean have Japanese subs.

Extras:
1) Main disc contains 2 trailers and 2 TV spots
1080p / 23.976 fps but windowboxed in a smaller frame
2) Separate Dual Layer NTSC SD DVD (region 2 locked) with the following:
- Making of
- Event footage, e.g. from Pusan International Film Festival and from Japan opening
- Director and Cast interviews
- 9mm Parabellum Bullet (band who did some of the music for the film) interview

BD Info scan:

                                                                                                                Total   Video                                             
Title                                                           Codec   Length  Movie Size      Disc Size       Bitrate Bitrate Main Audio Track                          Secondary Audio Track
-----                                                           ------  ------- --------------  --------------  ------- ------- ------------------                        ---------------------
(JP) Higanjima                                                  AVC     2:02:48 38,197,140,480  40,970,629,116  41.47   35.01   DTS-HD Master 5.1 2442Kbps (48kHz/16-bit) DTS-HD Master 2.0 1758Kbps (48kHz/16-bit)

DISC INFO:

Disc Title:     KIZX90001
Disc Size:      40,970,629,116 bytes
Protection:     AACS
BD-Java:        No
BDInfo:         0.5.3

PLAYLIST REPORT:

Name:                   00002.MPLS
Length:                 2:02:48 (h:m:s)
Size:                   38,197,140,480 bytes
Total Bitrate:          41.47 Mbps

VIDEO:

Codec                   Bitrate             Description     
-----                   -------             -----------     
MPEG-4 AVC Video        35012 kbps          1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

AUDIO:

Codec                           Language        Bitrate         Description     
-----                           --------        -------         -----------     
DTS-HD Master Audio             Japanese        2442 kbps       5.1 / 48 kHz / 2442 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit / DN -4dB)
DTS-HD Master Audio             Japanese        1758 kbps       2.0 / 48 kHz / 1758 kbps / 16-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 16-bit / DN -4dB)

FILES:

Name            Time In         Length          Size            Total Bitrate   
----            -------         ------          ----            -------------   
00000.M2TS      0:00:00.000     2:02:48.361     38,197,140,480  41,471          

CHAPTERS:

Number          Time In         Length          Avg Video Rate  Max 1-Sec Rate  Max 1-Sec Time  Max 5-Sec Rate  Max 5-Sec Time  Max 10Sec Rate  Max 10Sec Time  Avg Frame Size  Max Frame Size  Max Frame Time  
------          -------         ------          --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  --------------  
1               0:00:00.000     0:04:43.324     32,176 kbps     40,569 kbps     00:00:08.341    38,242 kbps     00:01:22.248    37,832 kbps     00:04:31.604    167,725 bytes   369,351 bytes   00:00:49.758    
2               0:04:43.324     0:03:42.388     37,516 kbps     40,544 kbps     00:07:02.046    38,318 kbps     00:06:58.334    37,991 kbps     00:05:26.284    195,589 bytes   458,003 bytes   00:07:01.462    
3               0:08:25.713     0:06:38.731     37,578 kbps     43,352 kbps     00:09:33.114    38,808 kbps     00:09:29.068    38,289 kbps     00:09:24.105    195,914 bytes   445,023 bytes   00:11:23.641    
4               0:15:04.445     0:06:35.186     36,511 kbps     44,720 kbps     00:17:05.774    38,812 kbps     00:17:01.812    38,279 kbps     00:16:56.807    190,349 bytes   443,039 bytes   00:21:02.344    
5               0:21:39.631     0:09:02.667     36,832 kbps     46,906 kbps     00:22:41.735    38,232 kbps     00:22:37.731    37,958 kbps     00:30:23.154    192,023 bytes   561,578 bytes   00:22:42.611    
6               0:30:42.298     0:06:02.320     34,170 kbps     39,579 kbps     00:31:12.370    38,240 kbps     00:31:47.155    38,039 kbps     00:31:42.066    178,148 bytes   404,727 bytes   00:35:16.197    
7               0:36:44.619     0:05:16.024     34,943 kbps     39,727 kbps     00:39:58.437    38,182 kbps     00:38:28.597    37,943 kbps     00:39:55.518    182,175 bytes   457,446 bytes   00:37:53.437    
8               0:42:00.643     0:05:51.768     32,601 kbps     39,960 kbps     00:45:08.831    38,049 kbps     00:46:42.257    37,899 kbps     00:45:31.437    169,965 bytes   378,646 bytes   00:46:16.857    
9               0:47:52.411     0:06:02.820     33,994 kbps     40,388 kbps     00:48:54.765    38,162 kbps     00:48:19.980    37,893 kbps     00:49:57.661    177,228 bytes   445,390 bytes   00:50:27.441    
10              0:53:55.232     0:07:18.146     36,796 kbps     40,458 kbps     00:55:39.335    38,336 kbps     01:00:35.757    38,027 kbps     01:00:31.044    191,836 bytes   593,335 bytes   00:55:28.033    
11              1:01:13.378     0:08:16.621     37,140 kbps     41,711 kbps     01:07:04.895    38,220 kbps     01:03:01.444    38,001 kbps     01:02:56.481    193,633 bytes   503,391 bytes   01:01:15.380    
12              1:09:29.999     0:03:49.520     36,040 kbps     40,022 kbps     01:12:26.800    38,264 kbps     01:12:15.164    38,018 kbps     01:12:09.950    187,897 bytes   496,596 bytes   01:10:14.919    
13              1:13:19.520     0:05:47.346     35,780 kbps     40,177 kbps     01:16:38.468    38,292 kbps     01:16:34.673    37,974 kbps     01:18:31.248    186,540 bytes   411,787 bytes   01:17:59.883    
14              1:19:06.867     0:07:18.855     37,153 kbps     40,841 kbps     01:23:55.739    38,310 kbps     01:23:52.152    38,060 kbps     01:23:13.113    193,697 bytes   552,558 bytes   01:24:02.287    
15              1:26:25.722     0:04:14.212     35,345 kbps     43,827 kbps     01:29:21.856    38,924 kbps     01:29:17.852    38,299 kbps     01:29:12.972    184,274 bytes   481,765 bytes   01:27:42.924    
16              1:30:39.934     0:05:49.557     37,149 kbps     44,235 kbps     01:31:50.254    38,437 kbps     01:34:37.338    38,117 kbps     01:34:32.249    193,678 bytes   480,585 bytes   01:34:58.943    
17              1:36:29.492     0:05:23.323     34,792 kbps     41,424 kbps     01:38:13.596    38,069 kbps     01:38:39.246    37,947 kbps     01:40:56.049    181,389 bytes   472,836 bytes   01:41:24.286    
18              1:41:52.815     0:09:14.762     35,309 kbps     43,041 kbps     01:50:49.517    38,384 kbps     01:47:09.172    37,947 kbps     01:47:30.110    184,083 bytes   544,476 bytes   01:47:14.594    
19              1:51:07.577     0:03:47.936     35,629 kbps     44,472 kbps     01:54:10.593    38,369 kbps     01:52:09.472    37,875 kbps     01:51:26.763    185,751 bytes   528,236 bytes   01:54:11.427    
20              1:54:55.513     0:02:17.136     37,121 kbps     40,124 kbps     01:56:46.416    38,340 kbps     01:56:42.412    38,069 kbps     01:56:37.407    193,530 bytes   424,520 bytes   01:56:48.626    
21              1:57:12.650     0:05:35.710     18,799 kbps     27,072 kbps     01:58:12.251    26,524 kbps     01:58:10.166    25,544 kbps     01:58:09.165    98,009 bytes    412,697 bytes   01:58:13.711    

STREAM DIAGNOSTICS:

File            PID             Type            Codec           Language                Seconds                 Bitrate                 Bytes           Packets         
----            ---             ----            -----           --------                --------------          --------------          -------------   -----           
00000.M2TS      4113 (0x1011)   0x1B            AVC                                     7395.305                34,988                  32,342,930,480  175,880,378     
00000.M2TS      4352 (0x1100)   0x86            DTS-HD MA       jpn (Japanese)          7395.305                2,438                   2,253,952,720   13,405,116      
00000.M2TS      4353 (0x1101)   0x86            DTS-HD MA       jpn (Japanese)          7395.305                1,758                   1,625,077,900   9,992,526

[kannisto]

[kannisto]

[kannisto]

[kannisto]

I watched the movie last night. It was entertaining and quite action-oriented, packed with lots of katana-fights between the resistance fighters and samurai-era peasant-like vampires. It hasn't received very good reviews generally, but I found it to be quite fun. It's not really scary so I wouldn't necessarily classify it as a horror movie, it's more like a vampire action movie with a feeling of an adventure. Some parts are dragging on a bit too long without much progress and indeed there's a big CG monster that appears at one point that is kind of sloppy and would have been better left out, but overall I enjoyed it quite a bit as pure kinetic entertainment with rather nice visuals.

The story: The main character is Akira, a high-school boy whose big brother Atsushi disappeard a couple of years ago when he was on a trip to a remote island to meet his girlfriend's family. A mysterious woman called Rei finds Akira and tells him about his brother being alive in the Higanjima island, and soon Akira and his friends head off to the island with Rei on a boat. There they run into a large pack of vampires and also meet a group of resitance fighters and Atsushi who are fighting the vampires. The vampire clan is lead by a Visual kei style inspired powerful vampire called Miyabi, who is quite charismatic.

PQ was excellent, there's a lot of detail in the image and daylight and dark scenes all looked very good. AQ was also pretty solid, though there wasn't anything especially exciting in the audio side. I managed to follow the movie pretty well with my less than native Japanese level, though I think I missed some smaller details here and there.

Some reviews:
http://twitchfilm.net/reviews/2010/0...ima-review.php
http://japancinema.net/2010/03/30/higanjima-review/
http://www.fearnet.com/news/reviews/...higanjima.html
http://www.quietearth.us/articles/20...tion-HIGANJIMA

Homepage:
http://wwws.warnerbros.co.jp/higanjima/

Trailer (low-res):
http://ch.yahoo.co.jp/higanjima/fullplayer.php