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NEWS: Right Stuf Licenses Princess Knight Anime

So we're just getting the edited "Choppy and the Princess" dub?

Why not just do a separate set release for the original uncut Princess Knight?

Saffire wrote:

That's an interesting release format to say the least. I wonder if something happened to the original Japanese materials, or if they were just unable to acquire them?

I'm sure the older the show is the more difficult it is. I thought I remember hearings stories on ANNCasts or the TRSI podcasts as to how Shawne would even go to individual broadcasters in the U.S. in order to find episodes of Astro Boy back in the day. (Correct me if I'm wrong.)

You would think all of the telecines for Dr. Tezuka's productions would be put in cold storage somewhere for archival purposes.

Or were the telecines subject to the same junking policies just like BBC and Dr. Who?

Putting a license to get this title back into circulation, and including the original dub, has been a project I've been working on all the way back to the mid 1990s. There have been a very large number of hurdles to jump over.

In the mid 1970s, the original Mushi Production company went bankrupt, and there was no money to return anything back to Japan. There were also disputes as to who owned what after a liquidator sold off many of the old materials and intellectual property. A great many of the materials were junked. We were truly fortunate to be able to acquire over time some sort of materials from all 104 of the original Astro Boy episodes and 52 Kimba episodes, and from that even we had to do a great deal of salvage work piecing together video and audio footage from multiple sources to make a usable product.

I'm still looking for episodes of The Amazing Three, another great Tezuka classic that was dubbed into English in the 60s, in case anyone out there has some stored in their closet.

So now Right Stuf/Nozomi has Utena, Versailles AND Princess Knight? Talk about your holy trinity!

Do you have any facts to support that?
I have not seen any information about what is actually in the Italian release or if that original material, if it is still available, can be obtained by Right Stuf.

He has already been researching it for almost 20 years. I doubt that there is much that he has not found. And at this point I am sure that he knows a great deal more about the subject than you do.

You also have to consider that English dubs have never been a priority for Nozomi. If they could release the original I feel confident that they would.