Tuesday, June 9, 2009

2003 Anime Single Disk Re-Release

The 2003 Astro Boy anime is being released again on DVD in North America to capitalize on the interest in the character being generated by the upcoming animated movie by Imagi. The initial 2005 release contained the complete series in one box set. This time, each of the 5 disks comprising the box set will be available individually for a SRP of $14.94 US a piece. It seems that the complete box set may also be offered to retailers again as well.

TV Shows on DVD has the scoop. The image to the left is intended for retailers, not actual customers.

These 5 individual volumes are likely not going to be any different from the 5 disks that comprised the box set. No Japanese language option and no widescreen equals fail in my book. But if any kids see the movie and really like the character, these could be a great gift. Expect to find them on store shelves August 18th of this year.

EDIT: I just noticed that the ad mentions the Astro Boy movie is "from the people who brought Twilight to theaters. UGH! While technically true, it seems like a completely random point to bring up! That's just... why?

4 comments:

Fauna said...

One would think Sony had learned from the box set's previous mild disaster and add the Japanese track. Knowing that the 2003 series was recently put on Youtube in widescreen, couldn't they do the same on DVD? Sony is dumb.

I might buy one of them; I had a few favorite episodes but I wasn't really willing to spend $50+ on a whole set.

Ninjatron said...

From what I can tell, they are just making more copies of the disks they already made and selling them individually. It costs money to create the files that eventually get copied onto DVDs during the manufacturing process. Clearly they don't see the value in doing it over again correctly this time around. This is just something cheap for parents to buy for kids, not for the fans who would appreciate a decent DVD release.

But yes, Sony is dumb. If there ever was a good time to release the show on DVD and do a proper job of it, this would have been it. Of course, they should have just done it right in the first place anyway.

And they should have released the complete 2004 Cyborg 009 on DVD too. But that's a different rant altogether.

Sayonara.

Manetoys said...

yeeeah, I'm not interested unless they give us the Japanese version too

Fauna said...

The only animated features Sony has ever handled correctly were The Real Ghostbusters and Metropolis, but I'm almost considering sending them an email and saying something to the effect of "People, you know you've turned a gold brick into a turd, and've just missed your only chance to turn it back?", the gold being the 2003 series.

Wouldn't it be great if they had bonus features, like character art? That would be great, but this is Sony. If anything, I'm happy to see they have the more accurate and slightly better-sounding Spanish dub included. I am a sad, sad girl.