Macross Plus Ultimate Edition Blu-ray Release Thread

[CollectorCanine]

4 hours ago, Ando said:

Is it true the discs are extremely difficult to remove from the book? I'm on the verge of ordering but the only unboxing video I can find show the guy bending the discs so much it looks like they're about to break! And @Uxi mentions above that they are tricky to remove.

https://youtu.be/XxOJqktKs6Q?t=274

They were difficult to remove at first for me, but after doing it a few times I have found a technique that prevents the bending and gets them out semi-easily. Still not easy, but better than them bending...

[Ando]

12 hours ago, CollectorCanine said:

They were difficult to remove at first for me, but after doing it a few times I have found a technique that prevents the bending and gets them out semi-easily. Still not easy, but better than them bending...

Cool, this is great to know. Does your technique involve pressing quite hard on the center clip to release the disc, as @Uxi mentioned? I also contacted Crunchyroll and they said they haven't received any support tickets regarding damaged discs/clips.

I will place my order today!

[azrael]

4 minutes ago, Ando said:

Cool, this is great to know. Does your technique involve pressing quite hard on the center clip to release the disc, as @Uxi mentioned? I also contacted Crunchyroll and they said they haven't received any support tickets regarding damaged discs/clips.

I will place my order today!

I won't expect them to receive any calls about disc cracking this early. Disc cracking usually occurs over time, popping the discs in and out from the holder. Amazon has a 5-pack of blank cases for $13 (Cheaper if you look for it on AliExpress or Temu).

[Ando]

10 minutes ago, azrael said:

I won't expect them to receive any calls about disc cracking this early. Disc cracking usually occurs over time, popping the discs in and out from the holder. Amazon has a 5-pack of blank cases for $13 (Cheaper if you look for it on AliExpress or Temu).

Yeah, I will end up putting them a separate case if I find myself struggling too much. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I like the idea of the book holding the discs and I'd prefer to keep them in the book. It will encourage me to flip through the book every time I watch! 

[Uxi]

Who's got good artwork for the custom cases?  

[Seto Kaiba]

My copy arrived today.  I was surprised by how hefty the box is.

Definitely not thrilled with the decision to put the discs inside of the book instead of in a separate case.  The print quality of the art seems nice though.

[Steady]

I used to have an account like over 15 years ago and can't remember my username. 

Anyway, just wanted to drop by and weigh in on this set.  I just received mine and these are my initial impressions.  I live in Canada and this set was an eye-watering $250 bucks.  Ouch.  But it is a nice presentation.  Its a heavy box set and reminds me of the old Laserdisc days.  In fact, its the exact size of a typical Laserdisc set (12inX12in).  This would display nicely with my Macross the Movie Perfect Edition Laserdisc box set but its packed away in a box and I don't have the space to display it anyway.  The book is well made with high quality materials, and I'm looking forward to reading though it.  This isn't some throw-in afterthought.  After flpping through the book, It looks like its chock full of info and concept art which is cool.  However, I am surprised they didn't run this through a basic spelling and grammar checker for an otherwise lavish book.  The artwork on the 12x12 cards and the little Sharon Apple poster is nice in a nostalgic 90s way, but I will never look at them again and will only get in the way when I open this set.

As for the discs, they are indeed difficult to remove like others are saying in this thread.  I may put them in a simple DVD case later.   The image quality is fantastic and is a massive improvement over the old ancient DVDs, which honestly, was I always thought was a shoddy VHS transfer.  The 2.0 stereo is fine on the episodes.  I haven't watched the movie edition yet.  The biggest issue I have with this set is how the subtitles were handled.  The audio tracks and subtitles settings are combined into one option and I think that is an odd decision.  If you select Japanese audio, you get the subtitles whether you want them on or not.  The subtitles are cannot be turned off from the disc's menu. Thankfully my 4K Blu-ray player can turn them off in the player's  menu settings if I just want to watch the program without subtitles.  One more thing...and I realize this is a thing for many Japanese animation fans, but I don't like having subtitles for the pop song sequences.  I really don't care at all.  For me, they get in the way.  I wish there was a "no subtitles for songs" option. 

So, I finally have this on Blu-ray.  Physical forms of entertainment are becoming more and more rare, and I highly doubt there will be a 4K release.  I don't really watch Japanese animation anymore, but Macross Plus is one of my favorites from way back in the 90s, so I pulled the trigger on this.  I only bought this set so I could get the 4 episodes, so its quite a steep price to get those.  Overall, I am glad to have this even though I think it could've been executed better.

 

Update:  I already slightly bent up the Sharon Apple poster trying to put everything back in the slipcase.  My advice--just put the poster inside the book.  

Edited 3 hours ago by Steady

[Gamma00Ray]

1 hour ago, Steady said:

I used to have an account like over 15 years ago and can't remember my username. 

Anyway, just wanted to drop by and weigh in on this set.  I just received mine and these are my initial impressions.  I live in Canada and this set was an eye-watering $250 bucks.  Ouch.  But it is a nice presentation.  Its a heavy box set and reminds me of the old Laserdisc days.  In fact, its the exact size of a typical Laserdisc set (12inX12in).  This would display nicely with my Macross the Movie Perfect Edition Laserdisc box set but its packed away in a box and I don't have the space to display it anyway.  The book is well made with high quality materials, and I'm looking forward to reading though it.  This isn't some throw-in afterthought.  After flpping through the book, It looks like its chock full of info and concept art which is cool.  However, I am surprised they didn't run this through a basic spelling and grammar checker for an otherwise lavish book.  The artwork on the 12x12 cards and the little Sharon Apple poster is nice in a nostalgic 90s way, but I will never look at them again and will only get in the way when I open this set.

As for the discs, they are indeed difficult to remove like others are saying in this thread.  I may put them in a simple DVD case later.   The image quality is fantastic and is a massive improvement over the old ancient DVDs, which honestly, was I always thought was a shoddy VHS transfer.  The 2.0 stereo is fine on the episodes.  I haven't watched the movie edition yet.  The biggest issue I have with this set is how the subtitles were handled.  The audio tracks and subtitles settings are combined into one option and I think that is an odd decision.  If you select Japanese audio, you get the subtitles whether you want them on or not.  The subtitles are cannot be turned off from the disc's menu. Thankfully my 4K Blu-ray player can turn them off in the player's  menu settings if I just want to watch the program without subtitles.  One more thing...and I realize this is a thing for many Japanese animation fans, but I don't like having subtitles for the pop song sequences.  I really don't care at all.  For me, they get in the way.  I wish there was a "no subtitles for songs" option. 

So, I finally have this on Blu-ray.  Physical forms of entertainment are becoming more and more rare, and I highly doubt there will be a 4K release.  I don't really watch Japanese animation anymore, but Macross Plus is one of my favorites from way back in the 90s, so I pulled the trigger on this.  I only bought this set so I could get the 4 episodes, so its quite a steep price to get those.  Overall, I am glad to have this even though I think it could've been executed better.

 

Update:  I already slightly bent up the Sharon Apple poster trying to put everything back in the slipcase.  My advice--just put the poster inside the book.  

Heads up in case you liked Do You Remember Love back in the day but are out of the loop enough since yo don't watch anime so much anymore that you would've missed the news, it's getting an official Japanese region A release with English subtitles in January.

The disc holders in the book are indeed pretty bad. I managed to find a four disc blu ray case and moved these discs and bootlegs I got years ago into that case along with the bootleg's art insert. The new discs will live on my anime shelf now.

[Steady]

41 minutes ago, Gamma00Ray said:

Heads up in case you liked Do You Remember Love back in the day but are out of the loop enough since yo don't watch anime so much anymore that you would've missed the news, it's getting an official Japanese region A release with English subtitles in January.

The disc holders in the book are indeed pretty bad. I managed to find a four disc blu ray case and moved these discs and bootlegs I got years ago into that case along with the bootleg's art insert. The new discs will live on my anime shelf now.

Hi Gamma...

Yes, I pre-ordered Do You Remember Love on 4K disc from CD Japan a while ago when I heard the news, but thanks for letting me know.  I'm really looking forward to that release.

As for the disc holders on this Macross Plus set, I tried to put the OVA disc back in the box, but I was afraid of damaging both the book and the disc, so I just put both discs in a temporary case for now.  I'll try to order a replacement case from Amazon or something.  Maybe they wanted to make sure the discs didn't fall out when opening the book.  But I think the design they chose works a little too well.