Vexille (Japan - Avex) impressions

[kannisto]

I received my Vexille DVD + HD DVD release today. Quite fast action from Amazon Japan and Pelican delivery service (free domestic shipping) as release date is tomorrow Shipped this morning and delivered later during the same day.

This is released in Japan only on DVD and HD DVD by Avex Entertainment, HD DVD is available in 2 of the higher spec packages available. I bought the standard DVD + HD DVD edition. It doesn't contain any extra bonus features on the discs, the more special edition would contain 2 additional DVDs loaded
with extras.

Video: AVC, 1.85:1 (1080i stated in back cover)
Runtime: 109 minutes
Audio tracks (2 first in Japanese, 3rd is music only):
- Dolby TrueHD 5.1
- Linear PCM 2.0 (Dolby Surround)
- Linear PCM 2.0 (Dolby ProLogic II)
Subtitles: None (unfortunately no English subs)
Menu: Pop-up menu only, in English + Bookmarking feature.

The menu is simple and elegant. It includes "All Play", "Chapters", "Set Up", "Bookmark" submenus.

I took a quick look and some pics and checked it on my new PC as well with WinDVD9 Plus.

This is reported by WinDVD9 (selected audio track was TrueHD):

Video stream:
Type: H264
Bitrate: 21.000 Mbps
Framerate: 29.970 Hz
Resolution: 1920x1080
Aspect ratio: 16x9

Audio stream:
Type: Packed PCM
Bitrate: 2457 Kbps
Number of main channels: 6
LFE Channel: None
Sampling Frequency: 48khz
Bits Per Sample: 24

I'm not sure what the referred bitrate means exactly, maybe it's some kind of average bitrate. Actual often peeks at high levels even exceeding 28 Mbps during active scenes.

Disc size is 18.0 GB (19 355 074 560 bytes).

Case pics:



The PQ seems excellent as could be expected for a CGI Anime. The audio has a lot of surround use and seems to be quite immersive and effective. I haven't watched this so much yet so can't comment on the actual content now I'll try to watch it with my wife as she likes Japanese Anime and can explain if I miss some of the finer plot points in Japanese. I'll add more comments later when I have watched it completely.

[ahsoka]

Now that was fast - Thanks! As a fan of Japanese movies/Anime/CGI, I'm really looking forward to watch Vexille.
The specs are quite impressive. No English subs was only to be expected so can't say I'm very disappointed about that. As I've never actually watched this anime, I'm waiting for your comments about the movie itself later.

[kannisto]

I watched Vexille last night and enjoyed it very much. Although it's not a fully original story but seems to borrow some more or less familiar elements from a lot of other sci-fi stories, it has plenty of exciting action scenes and the music is pretty strong and well chosen. I found it to be a very positive viewing experience and I was constantly impressed by the CGI anime quality.

Some screencaps taken on the PC (they look slightly darker than the actual movie looks on WinDVD9):




The third audio track on the disc is actually music only and there are two types of chapter lists available on the disc. First chapter list is the traditional one, but the 2nd chapter list breaks the movie into 15 music driven parts and you can see the names of the artist and the song in that chapter list. I was especially excited to find Dead Can Dance's song Host of Seraphim on the movie.

I think this can be enjoyed quite a lot even if the viewer doesn't understand Japanese (there are no English subtitles). Highly recommended especially for Japanese Anime / CGI fans.

[kannisto]

Some more screencaps (limit in one post is 10):

[Staffyman]

That looks very nice, sounds like a good film too.

Pity about the lack of English subs as they are a 'must have' for me. Still, a cheap HK DVD has just been released so I'll get to see it that way anyhow.

[ahsoka]

Finally recieved Vexille (Special Edition). Really enjoyed watching it in HD - have a subtitled DVD as well. The visuals are extremely cool. Good music overall so the isolated music track and music chapters are useful. Didn't know the song Host of Seraphim before but it's a favourite now. There's about 2 hours of making-of etc on the 2 additional DVDs. Posting some pictures of the packaging and of some of the pop-up menus.

[GamerGuyX]

Its to bad there are no English subs. Otherwise I would of picked it up.

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by ahsoka

Finally recieved Vexille (Special Edition). Really enjoyed watching it in HD - have a subtitled DVD as well. The visuals are extremely cool. Good music overall so the isolated music track and music chapters are useful. Didn't know the song Host of Seraphim before but it's a favourite now. There's about 2 hours of making-of etc on the 2 additional DVDs. Posting some pictures of the packaging and of some of the pop-up menus.
...

The special edition packaging looks really nice! Thanks for posting the pics.

Glad you like Host of Seraphim too It's originally from Dead Can Dance's 1988 album Serpent's Egg. I was a big fan especially in the early 90's.

[GamerGuyX]

kannisto can you give me some insight into why the menu's are only English for this domestic Japanese release? I know if a movie came out here with everything in English but Japanese menu's it would not go over so well. I know English is more of a common language but that doesn't mean that your average Japanese consumer is going to know it. Am I right?

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by GamerGuyX

kannisto can you give me some insight into why the menu's are only English for this domestic Japanese release? I know if a movie came out here with everything in English but Japanese menu's it would not go over so well. I know English is more of a common language but that doesn't mean that your average Japanese consumer is going to know it. Am I right?

I think the menu on this disc is in English due to design style, I think they figured English (= written in western glyphs) look better with this kind of graphical design. Actually it's not very uncommon for menus on Japanese discs to be in English or partly in English. Most Japanese (especially the target buyers, i.e. not elderly people) can read this kind of basic English words well and this menu contains only very simple text. It's also very common in Japan to use loanwords, i.e. some English and other foreign words turned into Japanese phonetically and usually written in katakana. When people are familiar with such words they can also pretty easily read the corresponding original words in western glyphs. Also advertisements, pop songs etc. often use bits of English mixed in with Japanese for some kind of effect.

Recently quite many Japanese HD DVDs I've bought have contained English menu or mixed Japanese/English menu. For example The Tin Drum (German movie, only German audio) and Les Aventuriers (French movie) had the main menus in English though there were no other English language options on the discs (no English audio or subs). Gaga releases also tend to have dual Japanese/English menu labels as far as I've noticed.

[GamerGuyX]

Thanks for the insight kannisto.

Speaking of Vexille though, I just noticed that a local theater that I go to is having a theatrical showing of Vexille. Happened to just stumble upon it.

http://www.celebrationcinema.com/?pi...eld=02/15/2008

It's being played from the 14th to the 17th with only one showing per night. I would assume it would have English subs then.

[GamerGuyX]

Well me and my friend went to go see the only showing of Vexille at my local theater last night. We were the only two in the theater (which I can't remember the last time that happened). The movie ended up being dubbed in English which I was kinda disappointed with (I prefer original language tracks with subs).

All in all I enjoyed the movie. Waiting to see what the "new Japan" was going to look like then actually seeing it was quite a memorable moment.

Would also be willing to import the HD DVD version but I just can't without subtitles.

[Sporadic]

Hey kannisto,

How did you take those HD screenshots?

[GamerGuyX]

Originally Posted by Sporadic

Hey kannisto,

How did you take those HD screenshots?

Those are direct screen caps he takes on his PC using an HD DVD drive. Same thing with how he gets all the exact disc info.

[ahsoka]

Originally Posted by GamerGuyX

Well me and my friend went to go see the only showing of Vexille at my local theater last night. We were the only two in the theater (which I can't remember the last time that happened). The movie ended up being dubbed in English which I was kinda disappointed with (I prefer original language tracks with subs).

All in all I enjoyed the movie. Waiting to see what the "new Japan" was going to look like then actually seeing it was quite a memorable moment.

Would also be willing to import the HD DVD version but I just can't without subtitles.

Would like to see Vexille at the theatre too. I'd recommend the HD DVD even without subtitles, especially after watching it in English. There's not that much dialogue in it anyway and the visuals of the HD version alone are worth it.