New series now on DVD!!!!!!!!!!

[jeffbert]

An extract:

Anime bootlegs will invariably be subtitled in both English and Chinese. They might also include an English dub. But the important thing to notice are the English and Chinese subtitles in conjunction. No legitimate company releases anime with both Chinese and English subtitles; not one. This is one of the surest signs of a bootleg.

Thank you, Dr. Frag. I wish I had known that two months ago. Unfortunately, I was too eager to buy, and too trusting. I figured, how could an illegitamate product be marketed openly? Surely the copyright owners would have people investigating potential piracy, and nobody could possibly expect to get away with it. If I could find the product, than so could anyone else, including the guys who own the rights. Now I musttry to make it right. :angry: But I cannot see why the only English subtitled products are pirated. Surely, if the bad guys think it worthwhile to market English language products, the good guys should also feel the same way!!

[DrFrag]

Yeah, that's what I don't get too. The official Tezuka site is available in English, and the first translation of the 2003 series is into English and getting broadcast the same year. Yet there isn't a single "official" DVD release, subbed OR dubbed, of ANY series into English. I can't think of a single marketing perspective in which this makes sense. Hell, it took them 50 years just to translate the mangas. They're not doing themselves or their fans any favours.

[jeffbert]

Especailly when one considers that the USA has the strongest consumer economy in the world. Where else should they market anything if not here? :wacko:

[jeffbert]

Walk the plank, matey. I have received my disc, and viewed it. It has those characteristics that would associate it with the first sentence: English/Chinese subs, poor grammar, all region encoding, etc. Please do not use 'p'-word, in any replies. I am concerned about open forum. At any rate, I ordered the thing before I knew.

I will not give any spoilers,but some of you have seen the fansubbed versions anyway.

I like the emphasis on Atom's human qualities. After seeing the 36 episodes of B & W, 52 of 80s remake, and 8 mangas, this puts a fresh face on our little hero. Not that I find fault with the others. I thought he had forearm weapon that replaced index finger lasers, but they were in one of those first 4 episodes. Seeing Atom play with blocks makes it more realistic, after all, he was just 'born'. Very warm and entertaining.

I wish I could figure out the fansubs. I do not consider myself a technophobe, but I became frustrated after 1.5+ gigs of files were 'downloaded' on to my HD, and I still cannot get the thing to work. Are there any episode available through them?

[DrFrag]

Here are my thoughts.

I taped all of the 80s series off the television, but I still bought all the official VHS tapes when they were finally released (and the official tapes actually had less footage - chopping trailers and time fillers). I have no hesitation or ethical dilemma in doing the same with the DVDs - if (or when) they get released officially I'll be the first in the queue to buy them.

What I would really love is an official DVD release with both English and Japanese sound tracks. B)

[jeffbert]

I downloaded the episodes using eMule http://www.emule-project.net (based on the
eDonkey network), speaking of which Episode 9 should come on-line any time soon. Episode's vary in size from 191MB upto 280MB and are 640x480 res.

HybridMATRiX

I got eDonkey working, and downloaded 'Astro.Boy.ATOM.05.avi', but all WMP would do was play the audio. I know I need plugins, but am quite stumped about where to get them, and which ones to get.

[Anapan]

Nimo Codec Pack will usually do the trick.
http://nimo.everwicked.com/

DIVX, XviD and Microsoft MPEG4 are the most common formats of video. To be on the safe side, check the video codec by loading the file into an editor like Virtualdub or right-clicking the file and choosing properties. Then you can install only the codec you need.

[jeffbert]

Thanks, I already installed DivX, and have everything but subtitles.

[jeffbert]

On the end of the latest eps (34-36), there is an TV ad for the first legitamate DVD set. I suppose it would not likely contain English Subtitles, though.

[Dragonrider1227]

Originally posted by Mark@May 29 2003, 04:58 PM
Wow, that was insanely fast

I really dislike the way companies are still treating DVD's like video cassetes though, and only putting 4 episodes per disc, when they could easily fit an entire seires on there if they wanted to.

Still, it's quite tempting. I might hold out for the English version though, I'm not a huge fan of subtitles.

That whole DVD thing bugs me two. I saw Star Trek DVDs that only had 2 episodes. I mean, WTF? You can fit 6 hours on those things. It's like wasting space. By the way, if anyone orders and recieves these things, can you tell me if the translations are correct?