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NEWS: AnimEigo Reveals Megazone 23 Anime as 'Next Project'


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GeorgeC



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:36 pm Reply with quote
Oh yes!

I wanna see this!

The original OVA and its sequel are worth it.
MegaZone 23? A lost, disappointing opportunity.
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penguintruth



Joined: 08 Dec 2004
Posts: 8458
Location: Penguinopolis
PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 8:59 pm Reply with quote
Megazone 23 is pretty neat, I guess. Mostly style over substance, but I guess you could say that about Bubblegum Crisis and a lot of other classic anime OVAs. It's still fairly enjoyable. Well, at least the part I watched.
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Romuska
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Joined: 02 Mar 2004
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:06 pm Reply with quote
OOOOH!! I'm SO down!!!
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zawa113



Joined: 19 Jan 2008
Posts: 7357
PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:12 pm Reply with quote
Oooh, the first AnimEigo Kickstarter I'm actually interested in! I was under the impression ADV last had the rights though?

I wouldn't mind them making a new dub though. Preferably one with a different voice actor for Shogo (not to open that can of worms, which I am going to avoid like the plague to avoid turning this thread into yet another one of those threads, in this case, I am complaining that he literally brought his Edward Elric voice here and I found it incredibly distracting because it was the only character I could picture while trying to watch something completely unrelated).
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
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PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:12 pm Reply with quote
So, is Justin going to get to work on this? Isn't this one of the titles he said he wanted to do in the last ANNcast?
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GeorgeC



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:44 pm Reply with quote
zawa113 wrote:
Oooh, the first AnimEigo Kickstarter I'm actually interested in! I was under the impression ADV last had the rights though?


Yep!

I've got the ADV releases of the original Megazone 23 OVAs.

Streamline and Orion/Image had the rights previously. Image (laserdisc licensor; major early licensor/releaser of anime on DVD) did the first Western release of Megazone 23 on DVD. That was with the Streamline dub-only; there were no releases of Streamline-licensed anime on DVD there bilingual to my knowledge. The Streamline version of Megazone 23 Part 1 also aired briefly as part of a syndication packaged that circulated on local TV stations in the 1990s. It was pixel-censored in parts for nudity but otherwise uncut. Crying Freeman also aired in that syndication package and was ridiculously pixel-censored all over as well as The Fist of the North Star feature film! Laughing

There have been at least 3 Megazone 23 dubs if you count the Robotech movie edit (which I don't!). Streamline did a dub in the 1990s that was more faithful after the Robotech movie fiasco. ADV did the last dub of Megazone 23 Part 1 to keep the OVAs consistent. ADV also redubbed the second Megazone 23 OVA and dubbed the third OVA in English for the first time (for all the good it did that OVA)!

I just watched them all the Megazone 23 OVAs for the first time in total 5 years ago.
I had seen previous releases of the original OVA and the second (with the Harmony Gold dub on laserdisc) and have to say the third OVA was a waste of time. Very, very unsatisfying and it's the most classic example of "running out of money and ideas" before they could properly finish a series. Extremely rough, unfinished animation in sections of Part 3 and I absolutely hated what they did to the original protagonist of the first two OVAs. It was one of the most disrespectul character treatments on film or TV that I've seen and that's saying something with how regularly Hollywood and comics ruin classic characters.

I still prefer the art style and music from the first OVA. The second OVA had an abrupt change in style that discarded the Mikimoto character designs and went more realistic but it's a jarring chapter. I've never liked it as much as the first OVA but they should have stopped the storyline THERE instead of going with another OVA. The main character story arcs really ended with Megazone Part 2.
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1168
PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 10:20 pm Reply with quote
Nice. This is one of the major classics on BluRay in Japan I've been waiting to get over here for what feels like forever, so this is great. Honestly, it's the one I've wanted the most, so...super great!!

I'm curious to see if there's any reason we wouldn't be getting Part II and III either with this or shortly after, but it's clearly in good hands whatever the case.
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ZenAmako



Joined: 10 Jan 2011
Posts: 92
PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 10:45 pm Reply with quote
Toshihiro Hirano (Fight! Iczer-One, Dangaio) was the character designer for Part 1. Mikimoto was a "guest" character designer (he designed Eve for all three parts). A lot of the animation was by Narumi Kakinouchi (creator of Vampire Princess Miyu, another title I'd love to see on Blu-ray). Shiro Sagisu did the music (a few years before he worked on Kimagure Orange Road).

In high school I treasured my copy of "Ä-Ni-Mè: The Berkeley Journal of Japanese Animation" because it contained the entire script for the first Megazone 23 OVA in English along with English translations for the song lyrics. In my 20s, I would jam to the soundtrack on cassette tape in the car. The original Megazone 23 was the first subtitled film I ever watched. Years later, I ended up working on the subtitle scripts for the ADV release of Parts II and III on DVD.

The Japanese HD remaster is a thing of beauty. I'm a little surprised this was picked up by AnimEigo (it seemed like a likely candidate for a Discotek release), but I'm sure they will do a good job. The Japanese Blu-ray set included a fourth disc full of terrific extras - it would be pretty cool if they could get some of that stuff like the music video clips.

Part III was for sure a bit weak. I still enjoy the soundtrack, but yeahh, that animation was rough. It's basically the Bubblegum Crash! of the franchise. Razz
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FLCLGainax





PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 11:47 pm Reply with quote
GeorgeC wrote:

Streamline and Orion/Image had the rights previously. Image (laserdisc licensor; major early licensor/releaser of anime on DVD) did the first Western release of Megazone 23 on DVD. That was with the Streamline dub-only; there were no releases of Streamline-licensed anime on DVD there bilingual to my knowledge.
Incorrect. I have the Image DVD and it has the Japanese audio on it with subtitles.
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Marzan



Joined: 29 Mar 2009
Posts: 514
PostPosted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 11:48 pm Reply with quote
I’m so up for this! Love the first 2 Megazone ova’s
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Psajdak





PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 12:29 am Reply with quote
IMO, the biggest thing about Megazone 23 is the mystery about what happened to Kumi Miyasato.
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Usagi-kun



Joined: 03 Jul 2013
Posts: 877
Location: Nashville, TN
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:58 am Reply with quote
If this was a test for leaks, they have their answer.
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Bamble



Joined: 30 Aug 2011
Posts: 130
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 6:55 am Reply with quote
Welcome news on relicensing for MegaZone 23. AnimEigo's recent Blu-ray anime re-releases have been excellent, but have taken a long time from the completion of Kickstarter funding to actual release, even where HD scans, subtitle scripts and dubs already exist.

If they have all three parts of MegaZone I expect any potential Blu-ray release might take a couple of years for them to finalize.

Assuming they have all three original OVAs, I wonder if this means AnimEigo potentially also have access to the alternate ending footage to the first MegaZone 23 that was created for Robotech: The Movie? This footage has been previously released on Japanese issues of MegaZone 23 Part II on Laserdisk and DVD.

Interesting to note that all three parts of MegaZone 23 have more than one English dub from various sources.

MegaZone 23
1986 - Harmony Gold (included for completion, but doesn't really count; heavily re-edited to form the bulk of Robotech: The Movie)
1995 - Streamline
2004 - ADV

MegaZone 23 Part II
1987 - International dub
2004 - ADV

MegaZone 23 Part III
1995 - Manga Video
2004 - ADV

It would be nice if, Discotek-style, all the dubs (obviously excepting the edited Robotech one) were preserved.

Ironically, it might be the case that the newest dubs from ADV are the most questionable for a potential new release, given events earlier this year.
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GeorgeC



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:52 am Reply with quote
FLCLGainax wrote:
GeorgeC wrote:

Streamline and Orion/Image had the rights previously. Image (laserdisc licensor; major early licensor/releaser of anime on DVD) did the first Western release of Megazone 23 on DVD. That was with the Streamline dub-only; there were no releases of Streamline-licensed anime on DVD there bilingual to my knowledge.
Incorrect. I have the Image DVD and it has the Japanese audio on it with subtitles.



Really? News to me.

Streamline didn't always include Japanese audio in their releases.
I can vouch for them NOT putting subtitles on the few laserdisc releases they had. They didn't want to pay for the subtitle captioning!
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jreffner



Joined: 09 Jan 2015
Posts: 10
PostPosted: Wed Apr 10, 2019 7:54 am Reply with quote
Is there anywhere we can be notified when it is time to pledge or pre-order?
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