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Gainax Releasing the FLCL Blu-Ray

Added by John Martone on Feb. 18, 2010

So, everyone is probably familiar with how FUNimation recently acquired the rights to the hit brain twist of the year 2000, FLCL. The show has a history of running on broadcast, so it seemed this was likely just a move to publish additional DVDs and maybe get a spot on Cartoon Network, right?

Wrong... well, maybe. The Gainax (Japan) website just announced that they will be also be releasing a HD, Blu-Ray version of FLCL this summer. While this could be a simple coincidence, its not likely. At the very least its a windfall for fans of the series.

As someone who never picked up the super expensive, 2 episode a disc DVDS, I'm super excited about adding this to my personal Pantheon. Even more so with the thought of glorious new definitions.

Interesting tidbits:

While the concept is, of course, delicious, there are some complications with bringing FLCL to high definition. The series, while entirely digital, was only rendered at a SD level. This means that they're either going to do a lot of work for this release, or we'll be getting merely an upscaled version. Either way I want it, terribly, and I'm glad that Gainax is in charge the rendering process... not FUNimation (no offense guys, they "made" the series.)

14 Comments

Void_Wizard on Feb. 18, 2010

I don't want an upscale...I wish they would make it 16:9. :p

gia on Feb. 18, 2010

@Void_Wizard: As I recall, one user mentioned that FLCL had been animated in digital SD, in that brief period where no one was doing hand-drawn stuff anymore (so nothing to go back to to get higher-res), but they weren't yet working in HD, so short of reanimating it straight-out, I'm not sure there's a way to get it in true HD (or widescreen) other than an upscale.

We can hope, however, that Gainax is working on it really painstakingly to make it look good, though.

scottfrye on Feb. 18, 2010

Honestly, I think i would prefer Gainax working on it than FUNimation.

crusader8463 on Feb. 18, 2010

Oddly enough I tried watching the first couple episodes of this last night and i couldnt make heads or tales of it. Is there a dubbed version of this? The one i tried to watch was subbed and they talked so fast and there was so much going on on the screen i had no idea what the hell was happening.

HSaabedra on Feb. 18, 2010

@gia:
I'm not sure that Gainax can do anymore than Funimation can when it comes to upscaling video footage. I'm not expecting miracles, but the Japanese upscaled releases are at least consistent, unlike Funimation's past work.

Konanda on Feb. 18, 2010

Did you mean Parthenon or pantheon? I'm confused. I mean the first is a temple of Athena where the other is just a temple to the gods of some particular mythology/religion or just all deities in general.

DJTyrant on Feb. 18, 2010

Yeah there's a dub and a very good one at that.

Also they just started reairing these on Adult Swim last week.

MoonStorm on Feb. 18, 2010

I just hope they put on one Blu-Ray. If not two as long as it priced right.

Oneeyedjacks on Feb. 18, 2010

Funimation is doing their own FLCL blu-ray release. Hopefully it won't be postponed due to this.

John_Martone on Feb. 18, 2010

@MoonStorm said:

" I just hope they put on one Blu-Ray. If not two as long as it priced right. "

Its still only 3 hours of animation. That'd be like saying "why don't they release the 1st Lord of the Rings movie on 2 discs"

@Konanda: FIXED.

@HSaabedra said:

" @gia: I'm not sure that Gainax can do anymore than Funimation can when it comes to upscaling video footage. I'm not expecting miracles, but the Japanese upscaled releases are at least consistent, unlike Funimation's past work. "

Though being the original producer you might think that they'd be the best suited to the tasks. I mean, they'll, at the very least, have access to absolutely every resource (original encodes, etc. etc.) whereas FUNi would have to jump through hoops to do the same.

HSaabedra on Feb. 18, 2010

@John_Martone said:

Though being the original producer you might think that they'd be the best suited to the tasks. I mean, they'll, at the very least, have access to absolutely every resource (original encodes, etc. etc.) whereas FUNi would have to jump through hoops to do the same. "

When Funi undertook their first wave of Blu-Ray releases, they created their own materials for the HD transfers from the masters they already owned, which led to really uneven results depending on the series and they didn't request additional materials until recently for their second wave of releases.

As far as Gainax having complete access to materials, its not like they can magically resample 480p footage into 16:9 aspect ratio footage at 1080p, there are limitations with digital video and digicel animation of the era that have to be observed and taken into account. We'd all love to see Gainax/Production I.G. to go back and reanimate the entire series in 1080p, but it's an expenditure with very little return on investment, which is why Gainax is doing an upscale from original masters instead.

There's a lot they can do to clean up the video for the upscale with what they have, like edge enhancement, noise reduction and deinterlacing for progressive video output, but that's pretty much it. Anything more would require reanimating the series completely and ditching materials that have already been created, which would be a waste.

Karasu on Feb. 19, 2010

@crusader8463: Heh. I remember that feeling. It's part of what gives it such a high-rewatch value: you have to watch it about 10 times to understand it, but it's still great to watch the 10th time. It's really a thing of beauty that way. I feel like even the Japanese have to watch it a couple times to really make heads or tails of it. ^_^

Boddington on Feb. 19, 2010

I'm reluctant to think this is going to be an improvement over the original FLCL's visual quality and probably just part of the logical migration to Blu-Ray. That or a blatant cash grab.

John_Martone on Feb. 19, 2010

@Karasu said:

" @crusader8463: Heh. I remember that feeling. It's part of what gives it such a high-rewatch value: you have to watch it about 10 times to understand it, but it's still great to watch the 10th time. It's really a thing of beauty that way. I feel like even the Japanese have to watch it a couple times to really make heads or tails of it. ^_^ "

I borrowed the first DVD (episode 1 and 2) from a friend, and hated it. I just didn't get what everyone was talking about, yet for whatever reason I watched them again, and again. By like, the third pass through I was entirely enthralled.

Though I'm curious, did you read the manga. If so, what did you make of it?

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