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The Mike Toole Show - What's The Criterion?


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omiya



Joined: 21 Sep 2011
Posts: 1823
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 1:31 pm Reply with quote
Tenchi wrote:

Yeah, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya is pretty much my favourite anime film of the century thus far, but it wouldn't be a good fit for Criterion as it's absolutely not a standalone film. You really need to have seen (or read) at the minimum the core Melancholy arc episodes plus "Bamboo Leaf Rhapsody" just to have any grasp at what's actually going on as there is practically no exposition.


I think a lot of ANN members just bought the Japanese blu-ray box set with English dubs for the series (plus bonus orchestral concert video) and the blu-ray of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 2:10 pm Reply with quote
There's always Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise. If anything cries "anime classic" it's that.
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Tenchi



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 4463
Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer.
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 2:43 pm Reply with quote
omiya wrote:


I think a lot of ANN members just bought the Japanese blu-ray box set with English dubs for the series (plus bonus orchestral concert video) and the blu-ray of The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie.


I bought the Blu-Ray import of the movie back when I had money, thinking it would take a year or so longer to hit physical media in North America then it actually did. I did also buy the Bandai Entertainment release when it was still in stores for the subs.

Would love to buy the import Blu-Rays of the series, but, like I said, I had "import Blu-Ray" money... once... and maybe I will again at some point in the future... but not right now.
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RHorsman



Joined: 13 Aug 2003
Posts: 151
Location: Loch Loman
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 3:38 pm Reply with quote
kevinx59 wrote:


I always thought that Ghost in the Shell would make a good Criterion release, but we have plenty of it available. I was thinking they should make an Oshii before GITS box set, with Angel's Egg, the Urusei Yatsura movies, and maybe even the Patlabor movies.


i could see that working in Criterion's eclipse line, which tend to be sets of less marquee stuff with pretty good transfers and minimal extras if any.
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Lord Geo



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 2532
Location: North Brunswick, New Jersey
PostPosted: Mon Jul 28, 2014 4:25 pm Reply with quote
Criterion is a company that I appreciate on a level of "Hey, if they're releasing it then it's probably really good on some level", but it's a name that I have never been able to think about on a level of "What titles do I think would fit the Criterion name?"

This especially becomes true for anime. I can agree with others that titles like Patlabor I & II, Robot Carnival, Angel's Egg, & Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (but might as well toss in the original OVA as well to make it a double-pack), but when I think about it the titles I come up with just don't seem like they'd be "Criterion-worthy", at least in terms of the cool extra content that the company adds to their releases.

For example, I really enjoyed Sunrise's 1986 movie Arion, based on the manga by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (who actually directed the movie), but I'm not sure it would exactly be worthy of a Criterion-level release. I guess one that could fit the Criterion name would be the Barefoot Gen anime movies. A release that had both the original Japanese versions, like Geneon's old DVD, as well as the Streamline-dubbed version of the first movie would be awesome.

Maybe Roujin Z, too.
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gatotsu911



Joined: 18 Jul 2006
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Location: US of East Coast
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 1:38 am Reply with quote
Fantastic Mr. Fox got a Criterion release because every Wes Anderson film gets a Criterion release. Certain filmmakers - Anderson, Noah Baumbach, Richard Linklater - have some kind of special relationship with the company that practically guarantees their films release in the Collection, sometimes the same year they come out in theaters. While I'd love to be proven wrong, I doubt any anime film is going to get Criterion's attention unless it has some serious defenders among the New York arthouse crowd. (Not that this is completely beyond the realm of possibility - Anderson himself is a champion of films like Akira and The End of Evangelion.)
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Cptn_Taylor



Joined: 08 Nov 2013
Posts: 925
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 2:15 am Reply with quote
[quote="RHorsman"]
kevinx59 wrote:

i could see that working in Criterion's eclipse line, which tend to be sets of less marquee stuff with pretty good transfers and minimal extras if any.


I'd prefer the films be released by Funimation, Visual Maiden etc... that at least add extras where possible and don't price the release at Criterion levels. And another thing to consider is this : the presence of extras is dictated by the Japanese. Having an anime film published by Criterion does in no way imply they would be able to present extras if the Japanese didn't want to. So you would end paying only for the Criterion brand for something that could be published just as well by any other anime publisher. Of course if you think the CC logo + spine number is worth it well you're beyond saving in any case. Laughing
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Waffitti



Joined: 17 Mar 2013
Posts: 55
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 7:18 am Reply with quote
Some stuff that I would pick has been already mentioned, so I'll skip those.

For directors, it would be nice to see new transfers of stuff from Mamoru Hamatsu (To-y, Arslan) & Hiroyuki Kitakubo (Rojin Z, Blood the Last Vampire); for writers, it would be nice to see commentaries by Kunihiko Ikuhara (Utena, Penguindrum) & Yôji Enokido (in the end, this is a very pie-in-the-sky topic, isn't it? I don't think I even mentioned movies here...)
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Maidenoftheredhand



Joined: 21 Jun 2007
Posts: 2633
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 8:37 am Reply with quote
Cptn_Taylor wrote:

I'd prefer the films be released by Funimation, Visual Maiden etc... that at least add extras where possible and don't price the release at Criterion levels. And another thing to consider is this : the presence of extras is dictated by the Japanese. Having an anime film published by Criterion does in no way imply they would be able to present extras if the Japanese didn't want to. So you would end paying only for the Criterion brand for something that could be published just as well by any other anime publisher. Of course if you think the CC logo + spine number is worth it well you're beyond saving in any case. Laughing


Criterion is expensive but they give you a lot of bang for your buck and there are always sales.

Also one thing I do appreciate about Criterion that unlike most US anime companies who often only have English related extras they aren't afraid to put extras with subtitles on their releases.

Still I am not saying I need Criterion to release an anime film as I am pretty happy with most of the anime companies with have here.
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Marzan



Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Posts: 514
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 1:59 pm Reply with quote
penguintruth wrote:
There's always Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise. If anything cries "anime classic" it's that.


I agree. Amazing film and the first work by Gainax. There's so much story about it too.

Anything by Satoshi Kon would merit Criterion treatment, although I think Perfect Blue is his most memorable work.

Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer would be an amazing yet very unlikely choice.

Finally, I think Macross: Do You Remember Love would be a beautiful BD release if it could ever escape the licensing hell it's in.
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kevinx59



Joined: 27 Jan 2012
Posts: 959
Location: In sunny California
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 2:38 pm Reply with quote
Cptn_Taylor wrote:

I'd prefer the films be released by Funimation, Visual Maiden etc... that at least add extras where possible and don't price the release at Criterion levels. And another thing to consider is this : the presence of extras is dictated by the Japanese. Having an anime film published by Criterion does in no way imply they would be able to present extras if the Japanese didn't want to. So you would end paying only for the Criterion brand for something that could be published just as well by any other anime publisher. Of course if you think the CC logo + spine number is worth it well you're beyond saving in any case. Laughing

You have a point, but another thing about Criterion releases is they usually undergo heavy digital and audio restoration, so (based on how many complain about r1 blu/DVD quality) the releases typically will look better than something funi or sentai puts out. Not to mention they also like to pack in essays as well as a lot of extras. I also think they commission some extras themselves specifically for their releases. I've seen some Criterion releases with minimal extras, and those are typically priced cheaper than the more with a lot of bonus content.

Also I think some people are exaggerating a bit with prices. Sure they're expensive, but from the ones I've seen on Amazon, Fry's, and Best Buy they are usually around the price of Aniplex's movie standard editions (only with a lot more bonus content Twisted Evil ) A lot of their year old releases are 24, around the price of a Funi movie combo pack. The eclipse sets are 40ish for 4 usually hard to get movies, with nice video quality, so that isn't too bad. And I like their spine look. The cover art they use is typically sharp as well. That said, I really don't care who releases the movie so long as it gets released with good quality.
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Posts Sometimes



Joined: 27 Jul 2014
Posts: 38
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 2:54 pm Reply with quote
gatotsu911 wrote:
Fantastic Mr. Fox got a Criterion release because every Wes Anderson film gets a Criterion release. Certain filmmakers - Anderson, Noah Baumbach, Richard Linklater - have some kind of special relationship with the company that practically guarantees their films release in the Collection, sometimes the same year they come out in theaters.

I forgot that they like Linklater so much. Maybe they can put out Waking Life if they're going to do more animation. That'd be a nice one, and I could see it actually happening.
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Ingraman



Joined: 07 Feb 2005
Posts: 1077
PostPosted: Tue Jul 29, 2014 6:30 pm Reply with quote
kevinx59 wrote:
Ingraman wrote:
[_Hells_ is c]urrently available on AmazonJP for a 50%-off price of ¥2591 (w/tax, which gets dropped when it's shipped internationally), plus relatively cheap practically-overnight shipping.

I got my copy earlier this year...

Plus I hear it has English subs on it.

Mike said so in his column:
Quote:
But maybe Hells is still a little too new. (You should still seek it out; its Japanese blu-ray has English subtitles!)
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Mr. sickVisionz



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 2171
PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 12:33 am Reply with quote
End of Evangelion and Perfect Blue would get my vote.
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Zalis116
Moderator


Joined: 31 Mar 2005
Posts: 6864
Location: Kazune City
PostPosted: Wed Jul 30, 2014 4:11 am Reply with quote
Quote:
If you've been kicking around for at least 20 or 25 years, you can probably remember when letterboxed versions of movies started showing up on video store shelves. Some viewers scratched their heads at the black bars, but true film buffs relished seeing the movies in the correct aspect ratio, even if this meant a slightly smaller image on regular TVs. The approach persisted, and by the time DVDs started hitting shelves, the demand for widescreen versions of widescreen movies ramped right up. It's a feature we all expect now, but back in the before time, it was an innovation introduced by Criterion.


It's just a shame that this collective lesson about faithfulness to original presentation got thrown out the window when people encountered older 4:3 content on their newer 16:9 TVs. Now people set their TVs to "Permastretch Everything" Mode and demand widescreen versions of fullscreen content, on dubious grounds like "The calendar says it's [some random year], get with the program and give me widescreen, 4:3 is soooo outdated!" And that's how we get Dragonball CroppZ: The Oversaturated Saga.
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