The Right Stuf International News

Well, the moment I've been waiting 6 months for has finally arrived. This past Friday, my copy of the 空の境界: The Garden of Sinners bluray box set arrived at my home from RightStuf, and after some preparations (mostly involving a stop at the grocery store for Haagen Dazs and popcorn), I set out on a loooooong marathon. Life is good.
 
For those of you curious as to why on earth any sane man would spend the equivalent of a next-gen gaming console on seven and a half movies, this post is for you. 
 
First things first, upon opening the box that arrived in my mail, I was greeted by yet another (and much cooler looking) laptop-esque box:


You know you're getting a fancy product when even the cosmetic box has a fancy box for it :D
Upon opening the second box pizza-style, I was greeted finally with the beautiful cosmetic case
 
The jet black material of the box has the fancy psuedo-leather texture usually found on extremely high quality parchment, and all text is written in silver.
There's a ribbon attached to both sides of the door of the cosmetic box so you can tie it shut if you wish for display reasons I guess...
 
Moving on, when you open the main box...
 


...the series logo and chapter subtitle names are written in silver on the left, and both the visual artbook and bluray disc binder are in a compartment on the right.

 
Here's what the visual artbook and bluray disc binder's exteriors look like. The bluray's is blue and the artbook is red. The material they're covered in is a very soft felt material.... rather cool to touch.
 


And that's what you get with the Kara no Kyoukai: The Garden of Sinners Bluray box set. $400 of awesome and jaw dropping. All of the content on the discs is subtitled, and that goes for the extras disc as well. The 50 minute TV special on the bonus disc was particularly interesting since it gives a rather lengthy history on the creation of the franchise and talks about the movies' production.


All in all, if you're a Type Lunatic like me, this box set was made for you. Then again, if you're a Type Lunatic like me, you probably already bought one. Needless to say, the people that this is aimed at already know whether or not they want one.

I would be lying if I said that upon seeing this glorious image of the series logo in modified for my native language didn't almost bring tears of joy to my eyes. Aniplex has answered my (and thousands of other Type Moon fans') prayers and will be bringing the Kara no Kyoukai bluray box set to US shores on February 8th, 2011.
 
Before I say anything else, let me state this very clearly: THIS BOX SET IS AIMED AT ALREADY EXISTING FANS OF THE SERIES. I don't mean to scare off potentially interested viewers, but one glance at the $400 USD pricetag and it's pretty evident. All 7 movies on bluray in 1080p with (proper) English subtitles, the new never before seen Epilogue OVA, the Seventh Heaven -Remix- Recap movie, an extensive artbook encompassing all of the key frame animations and much of the production art and interviews (for which the US release is coming with a translated into English version) - you are definitely getting a lot of bang for the buck, but if you aren't an absolute diehard fan of the series then this collection probably isn't for you.
 
 Needless to say, I am going to be putting forth my best effort to save up and buy this collection. 
   
Even if it means getting my hand cut off in the process...

For the past twelve days and continuing through the 13th, Right Stuf (TRSI) is having a pretty huge anime sale.  Today marks the 12th and final day of new deals and they're some great buys for anyone wanting to beef up their collection.  There's too many to list here (they added over seven deals each day) but a few standouts for me are: 

• Ouran High Host Club Complete (BD) for $35
• Soul Eater Complete (DVD)  for $80
• Nana Box Sets (DVD) for $24 each and
• Eden of the East Complete (BD) for $30

Prescript: I am doing this because I have seen a lot of confusion around this issue, I am not an expert, but I do know a little bit about Video compression, DVDs, and other AV nerd things. I do not work for any Funimation or any other companies of their nature (I actually work as an office boy part time in a web business where I get to deal with things as complicated as cleaning up a dirty email list, to things as simple as getting the programmers their energy drinks. The other half of my time I am a college student studying Political Science and Japanese.) I hope you find the following information useful, informative, funny, and not so horrible written that it makes your eyes bleed like your a character from Elfien Lied.
 
There has been a lot of huff and anger floating around the internet (the internet from this point on shall be referred to as the tubes because I demand it) relating to Funimation cramming up to 7 EPs on one disk with some of their more recent releases.

People are going around saying this is killing both audio and video quality due to excess compression on Funimation's part, because they are putting 7 EPs into a disk that should only hold 4.

First off let me point one thing out. DVD's come in many forms, not only Readable, but Writeable, and Re-Writeable forms. On top of this they come in single layer and dual layer versions as well.

Remember way back when, you know when people still bought both VHS dub and sub tapes for a show, Bill Clinton having sex with yet another intern was news, and no one could point out Afghanistan on a map (not that many people now can sadly) DVDs where some times dual sided, with the wide screen on one side and the Letter Box version on another. Well now days we have something similar, a DVD which has two layers on the bottom side, doubling the space on the disk.

These are what Funimation is currently using. Now remember back in the day when most Anime DVDs had about 4 episodes on them. Well that was 4 episodes on a single layer DVDs, i.e. 4 episodes taking up around 4.7 GB. Well now we have 7 EP taking up 8.54 GB. Thinking about it that way the old school DVDs allowed for 1.175 GB per EP, while the new method allows for 1.22 GB per EP.

This doesn't mean that old school 4 EP per disks DVDs were, and are all printed only on single layer DVDs, but a lot of the time half or near half the space is left unused. For instance Full Metal Panic Fumoffu Disk 1 by ADV is dual side but only uses up 5.9 GB out of 8.54 GB, even with 4 EP, 5.1 Audio, and extras. With this in mind ADV could have easily printed the whole 12 EP series on two DVDs, with the extra's in tacked (The other disks aren't nearly as big about 5.3GB each). The reason they didn't though was to be able to spread the EP out over disk and be able to charge people more per EP, because that was the industries business model at the time.

That is ultimately the thing with the new Funimation discs they are done to make things cheaper, because the industries business model has changed with the drastic change in the economy. They are printing things on less disks, and not worrying as much with extras, so they can get more anime to you cheaper, so you can afford to buy their products in this tough recession. Its why the new ADV films is not dubbing as many things, and why Bandia has been canceling dubs as of late.

They are not killing the quality of your anime because they are an evil corporation, they are rebuilding their business model to lower prices, with minimal to no effect on quality, so you can afford their products, its the system working, not failing! Hell for all you greenies out there, its good for mother earth too! Thank you that is all..... well except....

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
 
PS This is my first blog post for please forgive me if I did something that broke an unspoken rule of the site, or spoken one for that matter.

RIGHT STUF’S NOZOMI ENTERTAINMENT Announces the
RENTAL MAGICA Part 1 DVD Collection for November 24, 2009
First of two sets to include 100+ page book;
ability to view show in both “broadcast” and “chronological” orders.

GRIMES, IA, August 12, 2009 – Anime producer and distributor Right Stuf, Inc. and Nozomi Entertainment are pleased to announce the RENTAL MAGICA Part 1 DVD Collection will be released on November 24, 2009.

The Part 1 DVD Collection will offer the first 12 episodes of the series in both “broadcast order,” as seen on Japanese television (and on the Japanese DVD release), or “chronological order,” according to the timeline presented in the novels that served as the anime series’ inspiration. Additionally, the release will include a book that features well over 100 pages of background information about the series and its mythology. (These supplemental materials were originally included with the Japanese limited-edition DVD releases.)

About RENTAL MAGICA

A supernatural action-adventure, Rental Magica is set in a world where magical organizations – staffed by specialists wielding both Eastern and Western disciplines – vie for work, prestige and power.

Written by Makoto Sanda and illustrated by pako, the Rental Magica novel series currently spans more than 14 volumes and was named “Best Action Story” by Japanese fans as part of the 2007 Light Novel Awards. It has been serialized in Kadokawa Shoten’s magazine The Sneaker since its 2004 debut, alongside the novels that inspired The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Trinity Blood anime series, as well as the official novelization of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion. Manga interpretations of Rental Magica also appear in the shoujo (girls’) anthology Asuka and the shounen (boys’) anthology Comp Ace.

Rental Magica’s anime adaptation features direction by Itsuro Kawasaki (Sengoku Basara, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: The Movie), series composition by Mamiko Ikeda (Emma: A Victorian Romance), animation character design by Minako Shiba (.hack//SIGN, Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE), and animation production by ZEXCS (Chrome Shelled Regios, Mushi-Uta).

Its vocal cast is led by Jun Fukuyama (“Lelouch” in Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion, “Kimihiro Watanuki” in xxxHOLiC, “Lawrence” in Spice and Wolf), Kana Ueda (“Yumi” in Maria Watches Over Us, “Rin” in Fate/stay night, “Mikan” in Gakuen Alice), Mikako Takahashi (“Amy” in Burst Angel, “Ayumi Yamada” in Honey and Clover, “Gyokuyou” in Coo ~ Our Guardian), and Junichi Suwabe (“Archer” in Fate/stay night, “Greed” in Fullmetal Alchemist, “Fuuma” in X TV).

Visit rentalmagica.rightstuf.com for more information about Rental Magica, to view the trailer and to pre-order the first of two box sets.

About RENTAL MAGICA – Part 1

Destroying supernatural monsters… dispelling dark magic… It’s all in a day’s work for the mages of Astral! However, after the mysterious disappearance of the company president, they’re left in a lurch. His son, Itsuki Iba, begrudgingly fills in, but Itsuki’s unfamiliarity with magic could spell bad news for Astral – especially with their rival Goetia vying for the very same contracts. As the jobs grow ever more dangerous, they soon find that staying in business is the least of their worries. Episodes 1-12 in both “broadcast” and “chronological” orders.

RENTAL MAGICA Part 1 DVD Collection
Pre-Book: 10/27/2009
Street Date: 11/24/2009
Runtime: Approximately 525 minutes, Dolby Digital Stereo, Color
Genre: Drama / Supernatural / Action
Suggested Rating: 13+

Format: DVD (Japanese Audio, English Subtitles, English On-Screen Translations)
Catalog #: RSDVD0919
ISBN: 1-57032-762-9
UPC: 7-42617-0919-2-6
SRP: $49.99

Discs/Set: 4
Case Qty: 9 / case

DVD Features:
Scene access, Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo audio for Japanese dialogue, English subtitles and English on-screen translations. PLUS: View episodes in both “broadcast order,” as seen on Japanese TV (and the Japanese DVD release), and “chronological order”; character bios; special promo 1; commercial spot 1; clean opening 1; clean closing 1; Rental Magica Part 2 trailer; and Nozomi trailers. AND: A book with more than 100 pages of background information about the series and its mythology.

* Cover Art: http://outgoing.rightstuf.com/sleeves/rsdvd0919.jpg  
RENTAL MAGICA © 2007 MAKOTO SANDA/pako/KADOKAWA SHOTEN/Rental Magica Partners.
* To view this image, cut and paste the URL into your Web browser.

** Product specifications and content may be subject to change.

ABOUT RIGHT STUF, INC.
Currently celebrating its 21st year in business, Right Stuf, Inc. was one of the first players in the U.S. Japanese Animation ("anime") industry, as both an anime producer/distributor and a retailer. Right Stuf works to promote knowledge of its own products, as well as the anime and manga industry, in general, through its online storefront at RightStuf.com and a variety of media including podcasts and special publications.

Nozomi Entertainment, Right Stuf’s production division, is dedicated to the highest quality releases. True to the Japanese word that inspired its name, Nozomi’s focus is on “what fans want.” By focusing on a limited number of anime properties each year, the Nozomi production team ensures each release receives the care and attention to detail it deserves.

From anime classics like Astro Boy, Kimba and Gigantor to modern comedies, dramas and favorites such as The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, His and Her Circumstances, Gravitation, Shingu: Secret of the Stellar Wars, Ninja Nonsense, To Heart, The Third: The Girl With the Blue Eye, Emma: A Victorian Romance, Maria Watches Over Us, ARIA and Gakuen Alice, Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment produce quality programming for fans of all ages and interests. For more information, visit www.rightstuf.com and www.nozomient.com.