Afro Samurai (Japan - Pony Canyon) impressions

[kannisto]

My first HD DVD disc after Toshiba's announcement arrived today. As did my first HD DVD hw post-announcement.

I didn't have time to check the disc itself yet but I got some pics already. This title has original English audio track in both DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby TrueHD 5.1, are there any others like this before? Commentary track is in Stereo DD (Japanese only). Optional Japanese subs. I think the artwork is really cool, this must look better in red case.

Case pics:



My new HD DVD recorder (shaky pic in low light), I'll be busy setting it up now. The manual is huge and only in Japanese, and I suppose the User Interface is purely Japanese also. Exciting challenge.

[Sunny]

Dammit I wish that came out on blu-ray. Incredible anime. I bet it looks sick in HD.

[Liqwid]

Man... if only Toshiba had been selling HD DVD recorders here in the US.

[damanjeff6]

Originally Posted by Sunny

Dammit I wish that came out on blu-ray. Incredible anime. I bet it looks sick in HD.

it is also out on blu ray

[Cadrian]

Originally Posted by Sunny

Dammit I wish that came out on blu-ray. Incredible anime. I bet it looks sick in HD.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/AFRO-SAMURAI...3523341&sr=8-3

It did come out on Bluray.... Theres the Link. Since Japan is Region A you should have no problem importing

BTW Kannisto.... WTF do you do for a living? seems you have a whole lot of money to invest into movies (Something I wish I could do)... Its none of my business I am just curious.

[pkde]

I'd like to have this HD DVD, but shipping from Japan to Germany is 3000 Yen.

I would have to pay nearly 57.50 EUR (with customs) or nearly $85.

No way. How much did you pay? Did you order online or did you buy it in a B&M store?

[pkde]

Originally Posted by Cadrian

http://www.amazon.co.jp/AFRO-SAMURAI...3523341&sr=8-3

It did come out on Bluray.... Theres the Link. Since Japan is Region A you should have no problem importing

BTW Kannisto.... WTF do you do for a living? seems you have a whole lot of money to invest into movies (Something I wish I could do)... Its none of my business I am just curious.

People in Japan just earn more money in comparison to Americans or even Europeans.
Therefore imports are very cheap.

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by pkde

I'd like to have this HD DVD, but shipping from Japan to Germany is 3000 Yen.

I would have to pay nearly 57.50 EUR (with customs) or nearly $85.

No way. How much did you pay? Did you order online or did you buy it in a B&M store?

I paid about 4500 yen at Amazon Japan, 26 % discount from the original tax inclusive price which is quite much for this title, around 6000 yen. Amazon Japan's domestic shipping is free. Amazon JP is the cheapest place for me to get Japanese discs as long as I pre-order, sometimes the discounts get much worse after the release date. Some other online stores sometimes meet Amazon's pre-order prices but rarely go below them and Amazon is easy to buy from. In B&M stores the best discounts are usually 10% off MRSP + 10% in store points that can be used to pay part or whole of later purchases.

Yeah, Europe is quite bad when it comes to the customs that add to the import costs a lot. I experienced it while I was still living in Finland and importing some VHS tapes from some European countries (mainly Holland and UK) before the EU.

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by Cadrian

...
BTW Kannisto.... WTF do you do for a living? seems you have a whole lot of money to invest into movies (Something I wish I could do)... Its none of my business I am just curious.

I work as a SW Project Manager in Japan office of a big global company that makes mobile phones and other telecommunications related stuff. My salary is fairly good though nothing extraordinary. I have indeed spent most of my "disposable income" on movies especially since I got bitten by the HD bug at the end of 2006 My wife thinks I should spend much less on my hobby. I think that will be easier in the future with less HD DVD releases coming out

Sometimes I bought more HD DVDs than I probably should have with the intention of supporting the format. With the other format I don't really have any such motivations so I'll probably buy only the most top interesting titles while I keep enjoying my existing backlog of movies.

I'm also thinking about subscribing to one of the two good HDTV movie channels available here. With my new HD DVD recorder I got a new CAS card (some kind of TV channel access control card) and with that it seems 2 movie channels are available for free for an introductory period now. I already programmed 3 movies to be recorded tonight The picture quality is pretty great with some of the movies and good surround sound is available too. I guess that will be my method of catching some of the older movies in HD in the future.

This is the movie guide page of WOWOW, which is probably the best such TV movie channel / service here: http://www.wowow.co.jp/guide/movie/index.html

[Oktoberfest]

Originally Posted by pkde

I'd like to have this HD DVD, but shipping from Japan to Germany is 3000 Yen.

I would have to pay nearly 57.50 EUR (with customs) or nearly $85.

I love shopping Amazon.co.jp because I have absolutely no clue how much money I'm spending - who the hell knows what a Yen is ..!? But 57.50 EUR, goddammit... At least, some more American Express Membership Reward points ...

[pkde]

Originally Posted by Oktoberfest

I love shopping Amazon.co.jp because I have absolutely no clue how much money I'm spending - who the hell knows what a Yen is ..!? But 57.50 EUR, goddammit... At least, some more American Express Membership Reward points ...

Some German:
Wie wäre es denn, wenn wir eine Sammelbestellung machen würden?
PS: Hab vergessen, das wir die jap. Steuer nicht zahlen müssen, somit kostet es nur knapp 56,20 EUR. Wenn 2 Einheiten verschickt würden, dann wäre es pro HD DVD nur knapp unter 46 EUR.

[Oktoberfest]

Originally Posted by pkde

Some German:
Wie wäre es denn, wenn wir eine Sammelbestellung machen würden?
PS: Hab vergessen, das wir die jap. Steuer nicht zahlen müssen, somit kostet es nur knapp 56,20 EUR. Wenn 2 Einheiten verschickt würden, dann wäre es pro HD DVD nur knapp unter 46 EUR.

Können wir gerne machen, um den Zoll werden wir uns bei den Preisen und Expressversand ja eh nicht mogeln können. Weil momentan die Verfügbarkeit bei 1-2 Wochen liegt, ist meine Bestellung noch nicht verschickt - soll ich die Anzahl für dich um eine HD DVD erhöhen oder soll ich stornieren und du bestellst? Wie funktioniert das mit den jap. Steuern, habe gar nicht darauf geachtet ob Amazon den Preis automatisch reduziert.



Btw kannisto, does the disc also offer english subs or only jap. subs?

[pkde]

Originally Posted by Oktoberfest

Können wir gerne machen, um den Zoll werden wir uns bei den Preisen und Expressversand ja eh nicht mogeln können. Weil momentan die Verfügbarkeit bei 1-2 Wochen liegt, ist meine Bestellung noch nicht verschickt - soll ich die Anzahl für dich um eine HD DVD erhöhen oder soll ich stornieren und du bestellst? Wie funktioniert das mit den jap. Steuern, habe gar nicht darauf geachtet ob Amazon den Preis automatisch reduziert.

Moment, nichts bestellen. Kannisto hat mir angeboten, dass er es mir schickt, um Zoll zu umgehen und natürlich Versand zu sparen. Ich würde dabei auf einen Preis von unter 33 EUR (Waren + Versand) kommen. Frag mal bei ihm nach, vielleicht kann er es direkt 2x machen.

Now, back to English.

Kannisto you got mail.

[gunz4sale]

Any impressions on the disc itself?

[kannisto]

Originally Posted by Oktoberfest

...
Btw kannisto, does the disc also offer english subs or only jap. subs?

Only Japanese subs. In the main feature they are completely optional.