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Ponyo BD to Ship in Japan with English Subs on December 8 (Updated)
posted on by Egan Loo
Walt Disney Studio Home Entertainment (WDSHE) has confirmed today that the Japanese Blu-ray Disc (BD) version of Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli's Ponyo film will ship on December 8 with English-language subtitles. The BD will feature Japanese, French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Mandarin Chinese, and Cantonese Chinese soundtracks. (The Japanese soundtrack will be available in linear PCM stereo or DTS-HD Master Audio 6.1ch, while the other soundtracks will be in Dolby Digital stereo.) While the BD's listing does not include an English soundtrack, it will have Japanese, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese subtitles. The regular edition will include the same sticker seal book that DVD version had, while the special keepsake edition will add the previously delayed Ponyo wa Kōshite Umareta ~Miyazaki Hayao no Shisō Katei~ (Ponyo Was Born Like This: Hayao Miyazaki's Thought Process) television documentary BD and the Kagai Jugyō Yōkoso Sempai ~Tsutawaru "Chizu" o Kaku~ DVD.
Although English-subtitled Ghibli DVDs have been released in the past, no Ghibli feature film has been released on BD until this year. (Unlike DVD players, North American BD players can play Japanese BDs without modification and vice versa.) WDSHE did release BD versions of the Iblard Jikan and Kazuo Oga Exhibition art showcases, the Joe Hisaishi in Budokan concert video, and two television documentaries of the locales that inspired Miyazaki. The DVD versions of the keepsake edition with the Ponyo wa Kōshite Umareta documentary DVD and the Joe Hisaishi in Budōkan concert DVD will also ship on December 8, as will the standalone version of the Kagai Jugyō Yōkoso Sempai DVD.
Ponyo has been playing in American theaters since August 14. The Japanese DVD release stayed at #1 on Oricon's weekly sales chart for four straight weeks in July.
Source: AV Watch
Image © 2009 Studio Ghibli
Update: While the specifications do not list an English-language soundtrack, AV Watch says that the BD video release's main disc will "include the complete North American version, which opened nationwide in America in August with Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, and others as voice actors, as a special bonus." Thanks, toru.
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