Count me in also - I watched my old Akira VHS and laserdiscs so much, I have the old dub memorized!! Sure, it's not as accurate as the new dub, but I would still like to have it on there.
There has been a release of the first GHOST IN THE SHELL in Japan. Sort of. They went back and redid the CG as well as adding in new CG scenes. It doesn't ruin the film, but there are times when it pulls you out of the film because of the disparity between the cel animation and the new CG. It's interesting, but not great. Unfortunately, I suspect if we ever get a BD release over here, it will be this new version.
the jap 5.1 true-hd and ac3 track are not that good as many might hope. the sound stage presented feels way to artificial. i highly recommend only to listen to the japanese pcm or english true-hd track. the japanese 5.1 upmix is really bad. i couldn't listen to it anymore after 10 minutes and skipped to jap 2.0 pcm audio. this was a lot better. sure, it's only dolby surround but atleast it sounded right. as for the video quality, it's much better then i had hoped for. good job!!!
btw, all included trailers are in 1080p with optional english subtitles.
They just sent me a shipping notice. According to them, Akira is definitely in the box. It'll be here tomorrow (yay, Amazon Prime and nearby shipping center!), so I guess I'll know then.
I like some of the re-foley work done for the English dub. That's the only thing positive I'll say about the dub, the score sounded flat and horrible compared to the original Japanese.
I'm fairly confused by the myriad of audio options available on this disc. I don't have an aversion to subtitles, so which track is the 'purest'?
Additionally, I'm confused by the 192MHz Japanese Dobly Digital TrueHD soundtrack, as I'm pretty sure my receiver can't handle 192MHz and might downconvert it to 2 channels if it plays it at all.
I will say I was tickled and then slightly annoyed by all the talk in the booklet about "hypersonic" audio and blah this and blah that about the hi-res sound option Blu-ray.
I mean, hi-res audio has been with us the better part of a decade via SACD and DVD-A. What's so revolutionary about hi-res audio at this point?
I watched this the other night (with the Japanese TrueHD audio). I must say, while the booklet that came with was a bit hyperbolic, the audio really is outstanding. It's one of the best I've heard. Extremely active rear surrounds, very crisp dialogue, good range of sounds, etc. Definitely worth a watch/listen.
Picture looks very nice too, but I have to commend the sound more.
With all the wanking about audio in the booklet, I'm still confused...
Is the supersonic, universe-expanding TrueHD 5.1 Japanese track a different mix compared to the DD 5.1 Japanese mix, or a different encoding of the same mix...?