Studio Ghibli Movie Archive

Originally Posted by Rich Straceski

My fiance actually has that set. We haven't sat through all of it but watching it here and there the quality seems pretty good. It's a very decent set. Looks good, sounds good, and the subtitle translation is well done too. I'm not sure if it's an "official" set, since it's region free as far as I can tell, but if you wanted a collection of Miiyazaki flicks in a decent presentation for a decent price it's probably a good way to go. I think they're covered up through Princess Mononoke on that set. Totoro set my fiance off and we snagged the set a few years ago and have been getting the US releases as they come out too.

Originally Posted by Giant Baba

I happen to have that set right next to me, though I wonder if that's a priated version of the gray market release. I don't see the "A Video Animation" logo on it, nor any of the color pictures, arranged in film strips that border Totoro (who has a color reproduction of a Ghibli-esqe villa behind him). A Video Aniamtion released a slew of cool animated boxed sets with English subs, as well as the entire Kamen Rider(s) series' and Gavaan series' with equallly sweet sets. So, I kind of wonder if this is a pirate of those pirates, and if so, then they probably shrank the DVD 9s to DVD 5s.

Given E-Bay, I'd put my chips on pirate of the gray market set.

Anyway, I picked it up in Taiwan in 2002.

The quality is very good. It is gray market, for sure.

The subtitling is good, and for Princess Mononoke it isn't that piece-of-shit, fuckified Neil Gaiman hyperbole that really ruined the film for me. I was able to enjoy it as-was, before the crapification.

Here's what you get in the set:

Disc One: Naussica of the Valley of Wind/ Only Yesterday
Disc Two: Whisper of the Heart/ Princess Mononoke (un crapified, Gaiman-free version)
Disc Three: My Neighbor Totoro/ Pom Poko
Disc Four: Porco Rosso/ Laputa: Castle in the Sky
Disc Five: Grave of the Fireflies/ Kiki's Deliversy Service
Disc Six: Ocean Waves/ the Sora Iro No Tane commercial/ all of the Nandarou commercials/ the Chage & Aska music video animation "On Your Mark."

It was only US $10, too. Each DVD is a DVD 9, excpet the sixth disc, which is DVD 5, but the compression is very solid and nothing blocky/chunky. Image is very good. English and traditional Chinese subs for every film (except the comemrcials and music video). All are mastered in NTSC and are region free and macrovision free despite the hilarious anti-copy lable on the box.

These were available long before the Disney/Buena Vista Deal. I know that the boxed set disappeared shortly after the legitimate releases hit shelves (as you can see, this isn't a complete Ghibli collection, but a very nice sampler). I'm glad it doesn't have the waste of space Animation horseshit extras Buena Vista saddled their releases with, since I'm not otaku, nor am I hikikomori.

If you can get it for $20 or less then jump on it.