07.26.11

Whisper of the Heart

Posted in Uncategorized at 3:48 pm by Administrator

Whisper of the Heart (aka Mimi wo sumaseba)
(34.8 GB – Studio Ghibli JP – AVC/H.264 Video Codec – Region: A/B/C)

Whisper of the Heart

7 Comments »

  1. David Mackenzie said,

    July 26, 2011 at 5:46 pm

    Beautiful!

  2. Erik said,

    July 27, 2011 at 6:09 am

    Glad to hear that. This was actually the first of their films to feature any major CGI… well, minor really compared with anything else animated.

    I wonder if the 2-3 films pre-PONYO didn’t have that “grain layer” added? Probably hard to tell from the DVD versions. Anyone?

  3. Christopher D. Jacobson said,

    July 28, 2011 at 5:09 am

    English subtitles included on the JP release, right? I own the JP “Nausicaa” BD and it looks gorgeous; heard the transfer got messed up a little in the US release. Thinking of just shelling out for all of the JP Ghibli releases if they’re all English-friendly like “Nausicaa”. (Although I think the US “Ponyo” BD looks identical to its JP counterpart. Anybody know? Either way I’m quite satisfied with my US copy.)

    Now if only more Japan-released anime BDs had English subs… Killing me that I can’t be watching “Bubblegum Crisis” in HD. It’s got a weak plot, though, so maybe in the end it doesn’t matter a whole lot… Just enjoy the sound and visuals.

  4. Erik said,

    July 28, 2011 at 6:34 am

    There are [English subtitles], forgot to mention it, but you can more or less assume that any Ghibli release has subs (and a dub on this film, for those who unfortunately choose it).

    NAUSICAÄ was Disney-fied in the UK, think the US disc is fine. All the grain — and many of the details in the animation in the process — was scrubbed away. Result was not pretty.

    PONYO is not a disc I have both copies of, but from what I hear, the differences in PQ are minute. The lack of lossless audio, on the other hand…

    The original BUBBLEGUM CRISIS, you mean? Maybe some more have been released. It is unfortunate, but also good for the ol’ wallet as the Japanese BDs tend to only have a couple of episodes per disc, and with their prices — yikes! FUNimation, Bandai, and Anime Works are doing a rather nice job with many of the “older” and more recent titles.

  5. Christopher D. Jacobson said,

    July 28, 2011 at 11:54 am

    If I recall, while not being the DNR’d mess the UK disc is, “Nausicaa” has some lesser encoding—not as high a bitrate or something. But it’s likely a minute difference like you say the US and JP “Ponyo” comparison is.

    Shame about there being no lossless Japanese audio on the US “Ponyo” disc. Whenever I upgrade to an HD receiver, I may just have to import the Japanese release.

    The original “Bubblegum Crisis”, yes. Bandai/Honneamise did a release of that two or three years ago. I’m impressed by their Blu-ray transfers for “Akira” and “Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise” (the US versions; I don’t know if the Japanese originals are any better, but I think the US discs look stellar) and would love to see “BGC” on the format. If the Japanese disc had English subs, I’d willingly fork over the 160 bucks since a US release doesn’t seem likely at this point.

  6. ChuckZ said,

    July 29, 2011 at 2:29 am

    This looks wonderful.

    http://www.hundland.org/hd/w/whisper11.jpg

    Uncanny valley?

  7. Erik said,

    July 29, 2011 at 9:43 am

    @Christopher: It’s possible, although as Mr. Mackenzie (Michael) will tell you, bitrate isn’t everything. The DTS-HD 6.1… I believe, is a tremendous lossless track on PONYO. ARRIETTY has an even more impressive sound mix (hint: the film is about small people of course, so the sounds might be from their perspective now and then — very nicely designed).

    Love the AKIRA and HONNEAMISE discs, not sure if the same guys released JIN-ROH, but that was another goodie. 160 bucks? You, good sir, are a true fan. At the moment I await the next HELLSING OVA and I guess the TRIGUN film.

    @ChuckZ: Perhaps. Not to get all artsy-fartsy… all right, I will. Think it’s one of the subtle “theme shots” Ghibli drops in here and there. The broken bottle in TOTORO is one of my favorites, if you’ve seen the film(s).

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