Yu Yu Hakusho: Season One [Blu-ray]

Not just blu-ray. Remastered frame by frame.
Update: Got it. Every bit as awesome as I expected and then some. I've already pre-ordered the next 2 seasons.

As of this writing, this has yet to be released. However I got FMA: Brotherhood part 4 early from rightstuf and saw in the trailers, Yu yu hakusho. I was thinking to myself, why are they advertising an old show on this new release? I knew that they had released the box sets a year or so ago, but w/e, so I clicked it and figured it was another re-release. I was instantly shocked by the picture quality! Even if it was blu-ray, no way yyh could look this good just by being upscaled. The trailer explained that it was a frame by frame remaster.
If you don't already own yyh in some form, trust me, it looks beautiful, so go with this. Also, it is in full frame, so don't worry it won't be like those orange box releases of DBZ.
Great Series, Great High-Def Remaster
Yu Yu Hakusho is one of my favorite, if not all time favorite, anime. YYH is the story of Yusuke Urameshi, a 14-year old delinquent who loves to skip school and pick fights. In a split-second decision, he sacrifices himself to save a boy's life. In a twist of fate, he is given a second chance at life. A well animated and extremely well written series full of action and drama, it's a series that I've always held close to my heart. Now let's get to the Blu-Ray remaster. To put it simply: It's gorgeous! Since older animation was filmed on high-resolution film, shows like YYH look fantastic in 1080p, especially with a frame-by-frame remaster. To see it in such pristine clarity is awesome. This season one release has 28 episodes on 3 discs, with English audio in 5.1 and 2.0 in Japanese. For extras you get the textless opening and ending songs; there are also some trailers, so nothing special. To people who already own the series on DVD, I would still recommend this Blu-Ray release because...
One of the greatest Anime Series' of all time gets a stellar Blu-ray release!
This series has a special place in my heart. When I first saw it on Adult Swim all those years ago, I loved it from jump street. So much so that I was suckered into accidentally buying a horrid Chinese bootleg with absolutely terrible quality just to see how it ended before the US release finished its run.
I wizened up shortly thereafter and got myself the whole series on DVD in the 8 volume 2nd release (the "First Battles", "Second Wind", "Third Strike" Boxes) and was finally content that my collecting was over. Barring potential FUNimation releases of the movies in the future, I thought I had the best there was.

I was wrong.

Studio Peirrot, the Japanese company who produced Yu Yu Hakusho back in the early 90s went back and did a gorgeous frame-by-frame remastering job, going back to the original film prints and restoring the series in such pristine condition. The art was crisp, the colors were brilliantly restored, the audio brought into TrueHD 2.0...
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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

The Greatest Animated Film of All Time
I have been an animation fan all of my life. I've seen almost every Disney animated flick countless times. I've studied the work of Chuck Jones and marveled at the best of Don Bluth.

I have been a fan of Japanese animation in partuclar for years. I have seen countless animated films and studied them in depth. I own almost every Studio Ghibli film ever made (including Whisper of the Heart, the Cat Returns, Castle in the Sky, and Castle of Cagliostro). I am here to tell you that Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind is without a doubt the greatest animated film I have ever seen in my life...

First of all, this is the first film that the animation genius Miyazaki ever attempted through his own studio. It is also a greatly condensed story, being adapted from a manga that it's creator wrote which was quite lengthly. That being said, this movie is PERFECT.

The animation may be old, but it rivals, and sometiems even demolishes, animation released in the theaters...
A Masterpiece Now Back On Track
Absolutely, BUY THIS FILM. IT IS ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF ANY TYPE EVER MADE.

Disney, after originally having scheduled the release of this masterpiece for August 31, having moved it to Feb. 22, and having taken it off the release list, has now reinstated its release on Feb. 22. It will be released with Porco Rosso and The Cat Returns; originally, it was to be released with My Neighbor Totoro, but The Cat has been substituted. This is mistifying, because Cat is a sequel to Whisper from the Heart, a sweet and endearing film that has never been released in the U.S.; a studio does not usually release the sequel first. What is Disney thinking, and what is to be done with Totoro?

That said, Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind was Miyazaki's first full-length original film (I don't count the Lupin films because they're part of someone else's work), and it is utterly superb. It is adapted from the epic manga series that he created in between projects while working for...
Lush, Moving, Fantastical: Miyazaki All the Way
This classic anime by Hayao Miyazaki pits a spunky, loving princess against those who misunderstand the precarious balance of nature in their diseased environment. Like most Miyazaki heroines, Princess Nausicaa is an independent girl, full of wisdom despite her young age, and one who approaches life with both awe and determination. When well-meaning but ignorant invaders from another land threaten to destroy the Valley of the Wind, Nausicaa must rely on her special understanding of nature to save them all.

Some of the themes and undertones of later Miyazaki works can be seen in this earlier film. In particular, the environmental interdependence of man and his environment that later defines "Princess Mononoke" begins in "Nausicaa." The "ohmu," giant armored bugs who attack when one of their own is injured, have the mysterious inner lives that many of the fantastical spirits/gods possess in "Spirited Away." His fascination with wind and flight , lush and complex scenery,...
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Evangelion: 2.22 You Can (Not) Advance [Blu-ray]

Sheer brilliance
For those who don't know, the Rebuild of Evangelion series is a four-part theatrical remake of the infamous anime Neon Genesis Evangelion. Evangelion was a deconstruction of the Giant Robot genre. The original series was very much love it or hate it. The polarizing issues ranged from the characters' notorious pyscholgical problems, to the confusing final two episodes, to the show's use of rather horrific imagery, peppered with pieces of Christian and Kabbalistic symbolism, resulting in one of the most brutal, influential, and controversial examples of Anime. I liked the original series, but I was fully aware of its flaws, and I considered it to be a flawed masterpiece.

Now onto Rebuild of Evangelion. Evangelion 1.0 sums up the first 6 episodes, with the continuity changed slightly, and the Angel fights given a massive makeover. I enjoyed it very much, and while it is very similar to the original, it sets the stage for Evangelion 2.0.

Now as for Eva 2.0...
Review of the Film itself
To understand truly how great this film is you should watch the original TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion which this Tetralogy is based on. The differences and improvements to the characters may seem subtle, but in a 2 hour film those differences are magnified compared to a 26 episode series which had a lot of time to develop characters.

That being said the animation, CG, lighting, etc are incredible and I can't remember seeing anime action look so incredible in a long time. I watched the English subtitled version of this film and voice acting and subtitles where fine, don't know about the English dub but the voice actors are supposed to be the same from the TV series so they probably did a fine job.

Also in case you don't know this is the 2nd out of 4 films, so if you haven't seen the 1st film you will be lost and be prepared to want more once the film is over. This film I will recommend to anyone regardless of a preference to anime or not, this is a great...
Great, but not a replacement for the original - A Comparison
I bought this and felt I needed to give my Amazon rant about it to provide some thoughts to the public - particularly those who know the original (or who are deciding between buying this or the original!).

After being an Eva fan since the release of the original series, I used to watch (and re-watch) every episode intently, fascinated by the multilayered plot, themes and amazing sound and visuals. What we have here with Rebuild 1.11 and 2.22 are a highly desireable and well received remake of the original series that, instead of simply retouching the original, attempts to 'retell' the story in a manner more suitable for a modern audience. There are new scenes, touch ups to original scenes, a new character, a fleshed out story with some slight alterations and 'new' angels. Anno and the Eva team have done this all to create a movie length feature which can summarise 8 or 9-odd episodes worth of material from the original series. While rebuild 1.11 stays quite true to the...
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