Macross Plus Ultimate Edition Blu-ray Release Thread

[Pontus]

I got mine yesterday.  This is my second shipment from Crunchyroll after returning the first, and although it arrived without damage this time, it's not for better packaging.  This time, they chose a "box" that was actually just a prefolded cardboard piece with no corners just slapped around it, and it was way too narrow so they just bent it over the edges, slapped some more miracle paper in there, taped it once across the middle, and called it a day.🤦‍♂️

For those that had issues extracting the disks from the book, I see what you mean, and I found the solution.  It's tempting to wanna crank on that disk to get it out, but that only makes it harder to extract like an inverse finger trap.  It's actually a rather nice retainer imho (better than too loose), but you have to really press hard in the center while supporting the back of the book with your other hand, and DO NOT pry on the disk - only use enough pressure such that it pops out when you press.   It pops right out without stress that way, or at least it did for me. 

[The Shade]

17 hours ago, Steady said:

Ok.  Here's the jpg if you or anyone else would like to use it.

Thank you very much. It's beautiful.

[sh9000]

The Korean market get Steelbook Editions from Mirage Entertainment.

[seti88]

2 hours ago, sh9000 said:

The Korean market get Steelbook Editions from Mirage Entertainment.

How is this different from the crunchyroll's release? Am not familiar with mirage entertainment releases. 

Edited November 16 by seti88

[JunkerWold]

14 hours ago, seti88 said:

How is this different from the crunchyroll's release? Am not familiar with mirage entertainment releases. 

Korea's somewhat getting three versions of the set: same price, but each with a different outer slip case.  Going by the product pages (link) and speaking just of the on-disc material, the content appears to be the same as the AnimeLimited/Crunchyroll release, but the only available subtitles listed are Korean (no clue whether the subs are also locked, like on the English release).

Edited November 16 by JunkerWold

[sh9000]

https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2024/11/26/macross-plus-ultimate-edition-blu-ray-review-dedicated-to-all-pioneers/

[etnav382]

I ordered during Black Friday and it was delivered yesterday. The box looked like this. The only damage I could see was this C shaped scratch and two smaller ones. Not sure if I should try for an exchange or not. 

[onnasake]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Japanese subs being locked is done on purpose so that Japanese customers are discouraged from buying the cheaper overseas releases.  They are unable to watch in native Japanese without subs obscuring the screen.  If they want that, they have to buy the much pricier domestic version.  Pretty sure when Cowboy Bebop was released it was mentioned in the reviews.  US price was like $20 as opposed to the several hundred for the Japanese release, and they (rightly) complained they couldn't turn the subs off.

It's the same reason Japanese CDs used to come with bonus tracks.  This was done to encourage people to buy the far more expensive domestic releases instead of just importing the US version at a fraction of the price.

[Big s]

4 hours ago, onnasake said:

It's the same reason Japanese CDs used to come with bonus tracks.  This was done to encourage people to buy the far more expensive domestic releases instead of just importing the US version at a fraction of the price.

I remember having to buy an import of Soundgarden’s Bad Motor Finger album that I believe was a maxi pack. It was a Japanese version and when that album was released here it didn’t have the extras, but the Japanese version had this amazing cover of Into The Void that I absolutely loved and had to have. It was before the age of streaming and average people couldn’t just burn a copy onto a blank disc at the time. I had a friend at the music store that was able to put in an order for me and was super appreciative about it.  Although, I think this was more of a licensing issue as to why it wasn’t available here.
 

[JunkerWold]

7 hours ago, onnasake said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Japanese subs being locked is done on purpose so that Japanese customers are discouraged from buying the cheaper overseas releases.  They are unable to watch in native Japanese without subs obscuring the screen.  If they want that, they have to buy the much pricier domestic version.  Pretty sure when Cowboy Bebop was released it was mentioned in the reviews.  US price was like $20 as opposed to the several hundred for the Japanese release, and they (rightly) complained they couldn't turn the subs off.

Yes, to dissuade reverse importation, Japanese licensors began requiring (or in some cases offering as a cheaper licensing option) many North American, anime Blu-rays to maintain locked subtitles, as a means of diminishing the quality of the usually cheaper, overseas discs.

For a variety of reasons, including cost to import and somewhat similar pricing to Japan's OOP version of the materials, locked subtitles on North America's (and by extension some of Europe's) release of the OVA + Movie feels unnecessary, since it's hard to imagine any appreciable amount of either the existing or forthcoming vinyl set hitting Japan's secondary market.  I do wonder, if we aren't getting screwed by the eventual movie-only disc; assuming it'll be priced in a manner that undercuts the existing Japanese version, the decision may have been to just lock subs on everything. 

I recognize many don't care, but the addition of locked subtitles made it incredibly difficult to purchase the goofy set that AnimeLimited produced.  I will, at least, give the company credit for openly acknowledging the lock subs, prior to release.

[Steady]

Macross is such a messed up franchise with all the licensing problems.  The locked subtitles are frustrating, but I guess I can live with them.  But what I find completely unforgivable are the additional subtitles for the songs at the top of the screen.  The more I think about it, the more I get upset about how this boxset was done.  I do not care at all what the lyrics to a song are when I'm watching a movie.  Its ridiculous.  I haven't watched this nearly as much as I thought I would and its because of the forced song subtitles.  Its very distracting to have subtitles all over the screen.  If I had know about this before hand, I'm not so sure I would have bought the set.  

I'm worried that the 4K release of Do You Remember Love (already pre-ordered)  will also have subtitles for the songs.  Ugh...I hope I'm wrong.