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Answerman - Why Don't DVDs Contain Japanese Commentary Tracks Anymore?


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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:10 pm Reply with quote
I dunno, it feels like I've listened to a bunch of Japanese commentary tracks in recent years. Gundam 00, NakaImo, Infinite Stratos and others I had in my head before I lost my train of thought :/

Anyways, I'd have to check when I get home.
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SonicFanA



Joined: 12 Jul 2017
Posts: 159
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:11 pm Reply with quote
I think Sentai's release of Hakkenden season 1 came with Japanese commentary tracks.
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BalmungHHQ



Joined: 11 Feb 2006
Posts: 390
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:24 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, Sentai Filmworks has been including a fair amount of Japanese Commentary tracks on their releases for the past few years.

I recently listened to the ones for "Himouto! Umaru-chan" and they were a lot of fun! One of them even featured the original mangaka Sankaku Head, which was a real treat. Smile
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moogrin



Joined: 12 Jun 2016
Posts: 43
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:16 pm Reply with quote
Another Sentai one I own is The Garden of Words which has both Japanese and English commentaries (iirc the Japanese one is with Shinkai).
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5296
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:22 pm Reply with quote
While the Japanese ones are informative. I didn't find them as interesting as some of the English ones. The one for Bakemonogatari, where the VAs play play their characters was good, it is a shame that Aniplex stopped including them.
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Codeanime93



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 599
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:31 pm Reply with quote
Media Blasters had actual commentaries for the three Genshiken OVAs that were released with the Kujibiki Unbalance anime which were pretty interesting to listen too, if not for the rambling talk of Tomokazu Seki and Kenji Nomura speaking about maid cafes (including Tsundere Maid Cafes) , airport security, collecting fish as a hobby and AV Idol videos. Seriously it's rather odd that the extra OVA episodes of Genshiken on those discs got an audio commentary and the actual spin off show that was meant to be the main part of the disc didn't get one.

Also I think Planetes did have a commentary tracks on it's discs, including one with Takehito Koyasu which I didn't listen too fully enough maybe in the future.

I do remember the MD Geist one as the director legit didn't understand any of the popularity that his anime was getting and couldn't remember I think much about the making of it besides he was a frustrated 20 something year old who wanted to make something cool he thought.


Last edited by Codeanime93 on Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:55 pm; edited 3 times in total
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Key
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Joined: 03 Nov 2003
Posts: 18137
Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley)
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:40 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, Japanese actor commentaries are usually pretty worthless unless it's one of your favorite actors. (English actor commentaries have a better track record, but not by a huge margin.) Production personnel commentaries, OTOH, are usually worth the time; I highly recommend the one which came with the Ninja Scroll BD, for instance, and Satoshi Kon had a reputation for being very insightful on these back in the day.
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Codeanime93



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 599
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:55 pm Reply with quote
Key wrote:
Yeah, Japanese actor commentaries are usually pretty worthless unless it's one of your favorite actors. (English actor commentaries have a better track record, but not by a huge margin.) Production personnel commentaries, OTOH, are usually worth the time; I highly recommend the one which came with the Ninja Scroll BD, for instance, and Satoshi Kon had a reputation for being very insightful on these back in the day.


I certainly found the MD Geist one to be insightful and enlightening I guess, if not for how earnest and honest Ohata acts during it.
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Hawkmoth



Joined: 29 Mar 2014
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 2:17 pm Reply with quote
I like commentary tracks if the people are interesting, but most voice actors are indeed quite bland, too terrified of causing offense to say much other than wow or cute. Hideaki Anno's commentary for the Nausicaa film is highly entertaining, howeer. He pulls no punches in criticising himself or Miyazaki's mistakes, and those of others, along with some nice anecdotes of working back on the film. He should do commentary tracks for all films.

And I concur with Key: Kon's commentary on Paprika (with Susumu Hirasawa) is a wonderful talk about the metaphysical concepts of his and Hirasawa's work. I heard somewhere that there was a commentary recorded for Perfect Blue, but it either doesn't exist or could not be brought over to the west. If the latter, I shall commence crying immediately.

Let's not forget the Cowboy Bebop commentary track where Yoko Kanno provides comprehensive proof as to who the character Ed is based on. Watanabe literally does not get a word in and it's hilarious. (Episode Mushroom Samba for those curious)
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 2:24 pm Reply with quote
Hawkmoth wrote:
Let's not forget the Cowboy Bebop commentary track where Yoko Kanno provides comprehensive proof as to who the character Ed is based on. Watanabe literally does not get a word in and it's hilarious. (Episode Mushroom Samba for those curious)
That's the one where he talks about getting high, and how he just happens to have a friend(or did) who was a user.
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rizuchan
Collector Extraordinaire



Joined: 11 Mar 2007
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Location: Kansas
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 2:55 pm Reply with quote
Wow, I came here to ask if the person asking this question had ever actually listened to a Japanese commentary track, because every one that I've tried to listen to was basically a cure for insomnia. But it sounds like there actually are some that are worth listening to.

Edit: To elaborate, I actually tend to enjoy commentary tracks in general, obviously some are better than others. But I always got the feeling that part of the reason they stopped bothering with them in R1 releases (completely ignoring the difficulty of translating and subbing) was for similar reasons that they stopped including the interviews and stuff that were extras in the Japanese original - they're just not usually very interesting. Despite a lot of fun and silly interviews being aired on Japanese television, when it comes to on disc interviews, Japanese staff members seem to always be in ultra PC mode, like the whole industry will crumble if they say something remotely controversial. But I haven't bothered watching one in probably 10 years, so maybe they've become more entertaining recently.


Last edited by rizuchan on Tue Nov 14, 2017 10:24 am; edited 2 times in total
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 3:06 pm Reply with quote
They're also difficult to watch--
Commentaries have to be subtitled, so unlike listening to a Hollywood movie commentary where you can sit and listen to the director, you're chained to reading the subs either way. You either have to watch the dub, while the subtitled commentary throws you off by not matching the onscreen dialogue...Or, like most movies, you have to turn on the audio commentary in mumbling, rambling Japanese with the subtitles, without the audio of what's happening onscreen.

Either way, they'd have to say something interesting:
Only two anime disks with director commentaries I ever owned were CPM's two "special edition" DVD's of Project A-Ko and UY: Beautiful Dreamer...And while Mamoru Oshii might have a few interesting, if pretentious, things to say ten years later (he finally answers the question of "Who's watching Shinobu from the window?", if you can call it "answered"), listening to how Project A-Ko came together is pretty much standard anime-business-as-usual.
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ScruffyKiwi



Joined: 25 Oct 2010
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Location: New Zealand
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 4:53 pm Reply with quote
The Bakamonogarati release by Hanabee in AU/NZ luckily has the commentary tracks. These are amazing as they are done by the different voice actors in character. They are a MUST LISTEN for fans!!!
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Zhou-BR



Joined: 28 Feb 2008
Posts: 1419
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 5:29 pm Reply with quote
ScruffyKiwi wrote:
The Bakamonogarati release by Hanabee in AU/NZ luckily has the commentary tracks. These are amazing as they are done by the different voice actors in character. They are a MUST LISTEN for fans!!!


The US release includes the in-character commentary tracks as well, but it's a shame that Nisemonogatari and the subsequent Monogatari releases didn't get the same treatment from Aniplex of America. I wonder if it was due to reverse importation fears or because it would be too much of a hassle to translate all those commentary tracks.
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Heishi



Joined: 06 Mar 2016
Posts: 1314
PostPosted: Mon Nov 13, 2017 5:48 pm Reply with quote
I really wish I could have some commentary tracks for some of my favorite anime.
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