Defective or Disappointing UK Anime Discs

NormanicGrav said:
Meanwhile over at Manga UK's latest release - The Devil is a Part-Timer! (DVD, Blu-ray TBC)
While the show itself is great overall though, it is badly let down by the release it is saddled with. It gives a good first impression with some nice, clean menus but what is contained behind those menus is, frankly, sloppy. The subtitles are poorly timed, at times obscure the action through daft placement, and whenever more than one conversation is on-going (which is quite frequently) it becomes impossible to untangle the threads as the subtitles are all the same colour, change placement on the screen and swiftly blip in and out of existence. In one case the show displays subtitles for an important text message on-screen for a matter of frames, making you pause through the show to read it. It really sucks both drama and comedy out of a scene when you have to watch it twice to piece together what people are saying! This is especially true of episode twelve, where the subtitles are a good few seconds ahead of the action in this climactic episode. Perhaps the Blu-ray is better in this regard (we didn't receive Blu-ray review discs in time for this review), which is something we may try to revisit in the near future.

Even more damning is the dub track. The English voice performances themselves are fine, but the audio mixing is utterly terrible. In order to accommodate the dub, the background music and sound effects have been noticeably turned down across the board, making the audio sound tinny and cheap. It is, quite honestly, unlistenable and when I discovered this I had to try the DVD in two other players to make sure my PlayStation 4 wasn't mangling the audio output somehow, and was dismayed to find the same issue all three devices. As a final note, the chapter markers make no sense and are sprinkled around at roughly equidistant points, rather than taking into account the structure of the episode. I couldn’t fathom a rhyme or reason behind this seemingly random placement.
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Source - UK Anime Network
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I hope it gets a second print run or a quick re-release because if the Blu-Ray has the same issues I am not buying this.
 
Yukifan said:
I hope it gets a second print run or a quick re-release because if the Blu-Ray has the same issues I am not buying this.
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If they don't bother to fix these issues, there is always the option to get Funimation's release (US BD, which is Region B compatible) and Siren Visual's release (Australian BD).
 
NormanicGrav said:
Yukifan said:
I hope it gets a second print run or a quick re-release because if the Blu-Ray has the same issues I am not buying this.
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If they don't bother to fix these issues, there is always the option to get Funimation's release (US BD, which is Region B compatible) and Siren Visual's release (Australian BD).
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Oops, I meant to say I hope it gets a second print run or re-release in the US. Haha, sorry for the confusion.
 
How on earth can the subtitles be that bad and yet nobody notices (or cares)? How can that garbage be considered acceptable for a professional release?

I'm guessing Manga had this one authored locally.
 
fabricatedlunatic said:
How on earth can the subtitles be that bad and yet nobody notices (or cares)? How can that garbage be considered acceptable for a professional release?

I'm guessing Manga had this one authored locally.
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Yeah, this ones bad even compared to their other releases in the last few months. Stupid chapter marks are one thing, making it near impossible to enjoy (or even watch) a series is another.
 
Manga UK almost never fix their mistakes so that's another fantastic series ruined for the UK; hopefully the BD is passable, at least. I hadn't realised it already sold through its initial print run in the US.

On the flip side of the coin, well done to Andrew for the phenomenal customer service lately. I know which company really deserves the title of being the UK's best anime distributor (it's the one whose releases I actually buy!).

R
 
Got home and got my GL parcel. Glue still tacky so fixed the packaging. Watched a bit of the movie... Stunning quality. Can't wait! When you point out that it's just 22 seconds of the whole thing it really does put it into perspective. Lovely release, when all is said and done.
 
Still waiting on my GL set as I'm in Australia. Customs will probably open the package as it is not regular dvd size. Wonder if they find a detached disc tray, they'll think they broke it?
 
SnowWolf said:
Still waiting on my GL set as I'm in Australia. Customs will probably open the package as it is not regular dvd size. Wonder if they find a detached disc tray, they'll think they broke it?
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My copy arrived in Canberra today, Amazon UK shipped it last Thursday so that's 5 days to get here. Shipping delivery speed was great, but the packaging is utterly pathetic with the packaging box being slightly thinner then the release! So guess what? The outside slip is bent, the case is bent, and the digipack is bent, and the only thing undamaged was the book. Oh, and for me it was 2 trays that weren't glued properly with both hanging on to the bottom corners.

So asking for advice - get Anime Ltd. to replace packaging or Amazon UK?

SnowWolf, please let me know how your package arrives.

EDIT: Just watched the first episode. English track sounds fantastic, but since the Japanese is only 2.0 it doesn't sound as full. However, I noticed the Japanese track has been mixed to the right speaker whereas the left speaker has hardly anything at all coming out.

Anybody else notice this?

EDIT 2: A solution to the problem I was having was to change my settings on my amp manually. I had it set for "Automatic Detection" and for some reason it wasn't finding the right one for the Japanese dub.
 
Norbie said:
SnowWolf said:
Still waiting on my GL set as I'm in Australia. Customs will probably open the package as it is not regular dvd size. Wonder if they find a detached disc tray, they'll think they broke it?
Click to expand...

My copy arrived in Canberra today, Amazon UK shipped it last Thursday so that's 5 days to get here. Shipping delivery speed was great, but the packaging is utterly pathetic with the packaging box being slightly thinner then the release! So guess what? The outside slip is bent, the case is bent, and the digipack is bent, and the only thing undamaged was the book. Oh, and for me it was 2 trays that weren't glued properly with both hanging on to the bottom corners.

So asking for advice - get Anime Ltd. to replace packaging or Amazon UK?

SnowWolf, please let me know how your package arrives.

EDIT: Just watched the first episode. English track sounds fantastic, but since the Japanese is only 2.0 it doesn't sound as full. However, I noticed the Japanese track has been mixed to the right speaker whereas the left speaker has hardly anything at all coming out.

Anybody else notice this?

EDIT 2: A solution to the problem I was having was to change my settings on my amp manually. I had it set for "Automatic Detection" and for some reason it wasn't finding the right one for the Japanese dub.
Click to expand...

Mine arrived today. Slip cover is a little creased in one place but not worth sending it back for. 3rd disc tray was near the top with another detached at one corner so I'll be getting a new one from AL. Hope they post to Oz.

Also I'm not a fan of the type of disc holders the series discs are in. I've had bad experiences with those and they haven't proven to be very secure. Avatar, Last Airbender anyone?

Overall an excellent set.
 
Yukifan said:
NormanicGrav said:
Meanwhile over at Manga UK's latest release - The Devil is a Part-Timer! (DVD, Blu-ray TBC)
While the show itself is great overall though, it is badly let down by the release it is saddled with. It gives a good first impression with some nice, clean menus but what is contained behind those menus is, frankly, sloppy. The subtitles are poorly timed, at times obscure the action through daft placement, and whenever more than one conversation is on-going (which is quite frequently) it becomes impossible to untangle the threads as the subtitles are all the same colour, change placement on the screen and swiftly blip in and out of existence. In one case the show displays subtitles for an important text message on-screen for a matter of frames, making you pause through the show to read it. It really sucks both drama and comedy out of a scene when you have to watch it twice to piece together what people are saying! This is especially true of episode twelve, where the subtitles are a good few seconds ahead of the action in this climactic episode. Perhaps the Blu-ray is better in this regard (we didn't receive Blu-ray review discs in time for this review), which is something we may try to revisit in the near future.

Even more damning is the dub track. The English voice performances themselves are fine, but the audio mixing is utterly terrible. In order to accommodate the dub, the background music and sound effects have been noticeably turned down across the board, making the audio sound tinny and cheap. It is, quite honestly, unlistenable and when I discovered this I had to try the DVD in two other players to make sure my PlayStation 4 wasn't mangling the audio output somehow, and was dismayed to find the same issue all three devices. As a final note, the chapter markers make no sense and are sprinkled around at roughly equidistant points, rather than taking into account the structure of the episode. I couldn’t fathom a rhyme or reason behind this seemingly random placement.
Click to expand...
Source - UK Anime Network
Click to expand...
I hope it gets a second print run or a quick re-release because if the Blu-Ray has the same issues I am not buying this.
Click to expand...

As far as I can tell the Blu-ray doesn't suffer from the same audio issue (I went and bought a copy of the Blu-ray while at the Expo), but it does suffer from the weird chapter points and grey subtitles (which is the same as Gargantia and Psycho-Pass).

In regards to the DVD I believe the audio issue is isolated to the English Dub, as the Japanese audio seemed fine to me, but more amusingly is when watching it through a 5.1 setup (which is how I watch my anime) it sounds fine; but upon watching it through TV Speakers, 2.0 Speakers or headphones it sounds terrible.

Yea its a great series but it's a flawed DVD release. The Blu-ray is better but still has some issues (i.e. chapter points)
 
The authoring house that does Manga's Blu-ray discs have shown themselves to be incapable of displaying two subtitle lines at the same time. If the DVD has lots of instances where this is a problem, I imagine the Blu-ray will too.
 
Hopefully the blu-ray is fine for the dub. Been waiting for The Devil is a part-timer and looking forward too it for a while, and I usually only watch dub if possible.
 
Joshawott said:
In response to the audio sync delay of Kill la Kill episode 4, Anime Limited have pushed the blu-ray release back to 1st December
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Yeah - better to fix it now we figure across retail stock than not - it's pricey to do but I would rather save it being an issue for anyone upset. I did check the rest of the episode out barring the clip shown and tbh without a reference it's pretty hard to spot outside of that scene but best correct it and save everyone a headache as I say :).

AP
 
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