×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

News
Sen To Chihiro DVD debate

posted on by Christopher Macdonald
Not even Ghibli is spared when they release a DVD deemed unacceptable by fans.

For the past week a debate regarding the Sen to Chihiro DVD has been raging in Japan. The debate is similar to the one that ocurred here recently regarding AnimEigo's release of Kimagure Orange Road, except that in Japan the number of people who purchased the Sen DVD number over 3 million so far.

The issue, the DVD's image features a red tint that does not exist in the theatrical print. Nausicaä.net has posted an image with an example of the tint at http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/video/sen/r2_dvd_tint.jpg.

A comparisson with the movie trailer found on the same DVD shows the difference as the red tint is not present in the trailer. According to BHVE the trailer was taken directly from the DLP version of the movie, while the DVD version of the movie had been re-masterd.

According to an article in Mainichi Shimbum Buena Vista Home Entertainment explains, "The DVD has been examined at Studio Ghibli. It is not faulty." Ghibli also explained that they would not issue another version of the DVD with the tint removed.

A much more blatant side-by-side screen-capture comparison can be seen at http://bekkan.omosiro.com/img-box/img20020719011308.jpg. It should be noted however that there have been some questions raised as to the quality of the various screen captures available.

In a seperate statement BHVE explains that, along with Miyazaki and the photography director, they re-mastered the video to be more suitable for home video viewing on top of the line liquid crystal and plasma displays.

Despite the official statement explaining that this was done on purpose, many fans and industry experts believe that the red tint is the result of an error in the video transfer process and that BHVE and Ghibli are merely trying to cover up the mistake.

As with all debates of this type, fans are split into two camps, those that are dissapointed and annoyed by the changes, and others who are arguing that the changes aren't that apparent and do not ruin the viewing quality of the movie.

bookmark/share with: short url

News homepage / archives