Japanese Blu Ray collection

[Godzillian]

So since blurays in America and Japan are of the same region Toho's blurays are perfect for US collectors. I've purchased a handful myself and they are great. Anyone else collect them as well?

[UltramanGoji]

I do! Mine are English-subbed bootlegs, but they come with everything the Japanese originals come with (And sometimes more!)

I own:

- Mothra vs. Godzilla
- Ghidorah the Three-Headed Monster
- Destroy All Monsters
- Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
- Godzilla vs. Biollante
- Godzilla X Mechagodzilla

It's great to have the original Japanese title cards for both Mechagodzilla films (instead of the awful superimposed International prints) and the Destroy All Monsters and Biollante discs both come with all the special features that their OOP American Blu-Rays have. It's also great to finally have two of the best Golden Age films in high quality. Just wish they came with their English dubs and then I'd be golden.

And of course, the special features! They're probably the most amazing part of these releases and really show how much effort and love these films get in their home country compared to here.

[G1985]

So since blurays in America and Japan are of the same region Toho's blurays are perfect for US collectors. I've purchased a handful myself and they are great. Anyone else collect them as well?

I have the original Blu-ray release of Godzilla (1984), including the sparkly first edition slipcover. I've considered picking up more of them, but only if I can get them with matching sparkly slipcovers.

[GodzillaBurgh]

I'm STILL waiting for the 4K KING KONG VS. GODZILLA on Blu-ray.

[Goji]

It's great to have the original Japanese title cards for both Mechagodzilla films (instead of the awful superimposed International prints)

Except those had unique title cards exclusive to those versions, which weren't "super imposed" over anything. They only did that with the Heisei and Millennium films.

The original international title card for Terror of Mechagodzilla has never been seen on a U.S. release, so most aren't familiar with it.

It's also great to finally have two of the best Golden Age films in high quality. Just wish they came with their English dubs and then I'd be golden.

Ghidrah and Godzilla vs. The Thing are literally different edits of the film though, so you can't just slap a dub on top of the Japanese video and expect everything to sync up.

[UltramanGoji]

It's great to have the original Japanese title cards for both Mechagodzilla films (instead of the awful superimposed International prints)

Except those had unique title cards exclusive to those versions, which weren't "super imposed" over anything. They only did that with the Heisei and Millennium films.

"Superimposed" was exclusively referring to the Millenium series, just poor wording on my part.

Ghidrah and Godzilla vs. The Thing are literally different edits of the film though, so you can't just slap a dub on top of the Japanese video and expect everything to sync up.

Obviously, that's not what I'm referring to.

The bootlegger I bought these from usually includes separate discs with their English versions if they are different enough (for example: King Kong vs. Godzilla or Godzilla 1985). Including discs like that for Ghidorah and Mothra would've made them better.

[Goji]

It wasn't "obvious" the first time because you had to clarify what you meant in your reply, just now. I'd imagine "English dubs" was supposed to say "English versions" instead, or something.

Said bootleger probably didn't include them because they would just be rips of what's on the Classic Media discs (which I'd imagine you already have). Toho have no English elements for the U.S. versions, which is why so many of them had to be patched together with Japanese elements for those releases, so you'd be getting nothing new if he had offered that alongside the Japanese versions. It's not like Japan has better looking/sounding versions of our edits. They literally don't have squat, other than what CM did 'for' them.

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

People who buy bootlegs with regurgitated fan-subs might as well torrent the movies lol

[tymon]

Said bootleger probably didn't include them because they would just be rips of what's on the Classic Media discs (which I'd imagine you already have). Toho have no English elements for the U.S. versions, which is why so many of them had to be patched together with Japanese elements for those releases, so you'd be getting nothing new if he had offered that alongside the Japanese versions. It's not like Japan has better looking/sounding versions of our edits. They literally don't have squat, other than what CM did 'for' them.

I just find it strange that there aren't any quality 35mm prints of the English versions floating around here in the states. You'd think one or two would turn up at some point.

[Terasawa]

There are 35mm prints of these movies out there. You can see them at special retrospective events. For example, there was news recently that WOTG and FCTW would be screened in L.A. at a special event. A theater in Georgia used to show kaiju movies from film every fall. Hell, I drove an hour to see the Myron Healy version of Varan on 35mm in 2011 at a horror movie marathon, and I live in the middle of fucking nowhere.

They're obscure because there aren't many venues that can or want to show these movies. And if they do, they have to use prints from collectors. There's also the possibility that Toho finds out and the theaters/organizers have to deal with their lawyers.

If you want to see these movies on film you have to be diligent and patient. Know the repertory theaters in your area and Google "Godzilla" (or whatever) and "35mm." In time you'll be successful, but probably as long as you live within a reasonable distance of some big cities.

[Malchik]

I'd buy some of the Japanese Blu-rays but I don't feel like spending a couple of grand collecting films with sub-par transfers.

[Mr_Goji_and_Watch]

I'd buy some of the Japanese Blu-rays but I don't feel like spending a couple of grand collecting films with sub-par transfers.

Yeah they're pretty terrible. Even some of the DVDs have sharper images or better colors. King Kong VS Godzilla seemingly has a decent 4K transfer from what I've seen, even if it's DNR'd a bit much.

[tymon]

There are 35mm prints of these movies out there. You can see them at special retrospective events. For example, there was news recently that WOTG and FCTW would be screened in L.A. at a special event. A theater in Georgia used to show kaiju movies from film every fall. Hell, I drove an hour to see the Myron Healy version of Varan on 35mm in 2011 at a horror movie marathon, and I live in the middle of fucking nowhere.

They're obscure because there aren't many venues that can or want to show these movies. And if they do, they have to use prints from collectors. There's also the possibility that Toho finds out and the theaters/organizers have to deal with their lawyers.

If you want to see these movies on film you have to be diligent and patient. Know the repertory theaters in your area and Google "Godzilla" (or whatever) and "35mm." In time you'll be successful, but probably as long as you live within a reasonable distance of some big cities.

That's all well and good (I would love to see at least one of these films via projector one day), but I'm more concerned about what home video companies are willing to do with these materials for HD and/or 4K releases, or if they're even willing to seek them out in the first place. Hell, I've been out of the loop for a couple of years at this point - does Classic Media still own the rights to the AIP films?

[Goji]

Who knows what the deal is with Classic Media nowadays. Their releases have seemingly gone OOP judging by prices online, after they reprinted them in 2014 to make some easy cash, but I'd imagine they're just sitting on them now, with no plans for BD releases.

The thing is, Classic Media, and to an extent, Media Blasters (except they *never* do their own transfers), are the only two companies in this country that have released Godzilla and Toho sci-fi on home video that went that extra mile. The issue though is that they're small companies, with even smaller budgets. For as much flak as they get, I still think the CM releases were well meaning, and they did actually use Ed G's print for Gigantis the Fire Monster since Toho seemingly had nothing to offer them (which was the case with *all* of the U.S. versions), but that's where they ran into problems. Lack of time and money meant that they could only do so much to present the heavily altered U.S. versions, and unless someone came to them offering the use of their personal prints, they had to resort to patching together approximations of the U.S. versions using Toho's transfers, like they did with Ghidrah, Monster Zero, and Terror of Mechagodzilla, or using MonstersHD transfers, which came with their own set of problems (Godzilla vs. The Thing being in the wrong aspect ratio, etc.). Sony went all out with their Icons of Sci-Fi Toho set, but that is sadly really the only example of them giving a shit. The lack of a BD release of all of that great restoration work they did on those shows how little they really care about it, too. If Godzilla isn't in it, then it's not even worthy of a barebones BD release, apparently.

It would be great if another company came along, and did more than just slap a Toho transfer on a disc, with zero supplemental material, and just called it day. Kraken at least released the awesome Sony transfers for Ebirah, Gigan and Hedorah on BD in 1080p, but that is likely only because that's what Toho offered them, and not because they asked for them. Their Return of Godzilla release more or less reaffirmed that they're just out to make a quick buck..just like Sony.

[Godzillian]

Toho seems to always make it difficult to do extras for companies here. Also how much do Godzilla and Toho kaiju films make here on home video? If the sales are just ok it's hard to justify to a company with the goal of profits going the extra mile

[Mr. Yellow]

I can’t imagine they do terribly well, look how long it took for them to all see DVD, let alone Blu-ray, plus the rights to the movies themselves are a bitch to get let alone any bonus features.

If Toho put subtitles on their Japanese discs, most would import.