This coming Tuesday, October 17 sees the first wave of Studio Ghibli Blu-Ray/DVD movies from GKIDS. The titles included will be My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, and Ponyo.
GKIDS has promised that all versions will include multiple language soundtracks, English subtitles, and new bonus features. We are hopeful that previous issues surrounding Mononoke (subtitles) and Ponyo (audio quality) will be resolved. Unfortunately, it has been confirmed that Kiki's Delivery Service will retain the "dubtitles" that have been present in all home video releases.
The cover designs are all terrific, although only Mononoke features new cover art. The slipcovers are welcome, as always, and fits into the GKIDS design very nicely. Picture quality should be identical to the previous Disney Blu-Ray releases, although we will be perfectly happy to be proven wrong.
For the most part, these releases exist to consolidate the Studio Ghibli catalog under one roof. If you own these movies under the Disney label, there are few reasons to make the jump. Princess Mononoke and Ponyo will be my first picks, for the aforementioned reasons. Fans will be happy to collect everything. And if you're just beginning to build your library, now is the perfect place to start.
I'm looking forward to watching these movies again, and can't wait for the following waves. What a great time to be a Ghibli Freak!
Update: Blogger is being a pain in the neck again. Stop chewing up my articles!
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