The Big O on Blu-ray

[EyeOfPain]

For those of you who are still interested in The Big O (this being CoA), it looks like our favorite show about giant robots and tomatoes is finally coming to high definition. The Blu-ray box will street on December 22 in Japan, at a retail price of ¥ 37,800, and will include all 26 episodes from both seasons, as well as the English dub and subtitles.

(more information)

I can't say I ever expected this day to come.

[Professor Vogler]

Wow, I am surprised.

More surprising... Audio Commentary. I don't think I have any commentary on the boxsets I own of Season 1 + 2.... was there commentary on the International Boxset (which sold for a small fortune)??

[EyeOfPain]

CDJapan does not list commentary, but I don't know whether or not their information is comprehensive. And I think that that "EMOTION the Best" is just a reissue of The International Box.

Didn't notice the commentaries before. Depending on who Bandai Visual pulled into the studio, those could be interesting.

[Professor Vogler]

CDJapan does not list commentary, but I don't know whether or not their information is comprehensive. And I think that that "EMOTION the Best" is just a reissue of The International Box.

Didn't even see that boxset. I've seen a couple other boxsets with completely different coverart (usually montages of images from the show rather than handdrawn art like the Intl Boxset).

The only different between the "Emotion the Best" (which sounds so very "Hong Kong bootleg" to me) and the Intl Boxset is that the EtB has only the English dub, and no Japanese audio. Therefore it's 300 dollars cheaper (?!).

[Yuko-san]

The commentaries for season 1 and 2 are on youtube and only in Japanese. I like how rogers voice actor keeps laughing about when Roger jumps from extreme heights and saying "he thinks he's super man".

There won't be the first opening in this boxset however. Makes me sad. Also it makes sense to release it on blu-ray. Big O is making a huge comeback right now in Japan. With both Figma Roger and Dorothy dolls (roger's comes out in August) the max factory models and Club bandai releasing a Griffin model (which costs $300 in USD) Japan is now taking a bigger interest in America. Needless to say if this keeps up Bandai will more then likely fund an ova. Maybe only a 2 episode ova, but one will be made if this interest peeks.

[Professor Vogler]

The commentaries for season 1 and 2 are on youtube and only in Japanese. I like how rogers voice actor keeps laughing about when Roger jumps from extreme heights and saying "he thinks he's super man".

Links please? Because this is the first time I've ever heard of audio commentary existing for Big O.... ever. I'm hoping there are subtitles, but not surprised if there aren't.

Big O is making a huge comeback right now in Japan. With both Figma Roger and Dorothy dolls (roger's comes out in August) the max factory models and Club bandai releasing a Griffin model (which costs $300 in USD) Japan is now taking a bigger interest in America. Needless to say if this keeps up Bandai will more then likely fund an ova. Maybe only a 2 episode ova, but one will be made if this interest peeks.

I'm not sure "comeback" is the right term... probably Japanese people are finally realizing how good a show it really is. It took a while for Blade Runner to become a classic, and maybe the same is happening to Big O. Consider that at this time in Anime history Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and their ilk were all released... they are leagues better than Big O (arguably) and have overshadowed it to a significant degree.

Could you link me to a website selling the Roger figma? I have not heard of that release... only the R.Dorothy and Big models are the ones my contact informed me of.

As for an OVA... wouldn't that be great? But remember it was a miracle Season 2 happened after 3-4 years of hiatus. This Summer marks 8 whole years since the initial American broadcast of Season 2 (I believe 8 years since the Japanese broadcast this past Spring). Big O, as great as it is, isn't Evangelion which can be revived easily after a decade. I'm watching the Big O merchandise scene carefully, and I hope more comes our way, but more actual canonical material would be a 2nd miracle the likes of which have never been seen before in Anime history.

[EyeOfPain]

Roger Smith Figma

Looks like he's coming out this month, too.

[Yuko-san]

if any of you used a currency converter you would know that the Japanese Bluray box on sale is $344.04. Not on sale it's over $400. I hope they release it in the US. At least here it would only be about $80 max.

[Professor Vogler]

Psst. Yuko.... any chance for a link to those youtube videos you mentioned above?

[Yuko-san]

They where taken down 0.0 But they where there a week ago. IDK why but the user removed it. And I can't find an alternate.

I'll see if I can find it on nicovideo, but most likely it will block my IP, cause you know, the Japanese think Americans can't understand Japanese.

[Sharpshooter005]

Even if I brought animu anymore I wouldn't, because honestly screw blu-ray. I'm not buying a new t.v. and a player for things, particularly when they re-release stuff..do I really care if citizen kane is in whatever tech-geek resolution blu ray offers. No because either way its citizen kane, watching it on dvd isn't really inferior. I fail to see how pixels or resolution really factor in here.

..Then they released the new version (with a bunch of real interesting looking extras) on the itunes And this was basically my reaction

[Yuko-san]

I plan on buying it. I never bought an original DvD boxset. And you don't need a new tv to view bluray. You just need a bluray player and a standard TV made in the last 5 years.

I hope it has some cool extra's. I'd like some art inserts and maybe those little case files that where released in the first season DvD's.