The Region 1 Pokemon DVDs are terrible and yet nobody cares

[Dogasu]

Whether it's the TV series or the movies or the specials, the DVD situation in North America is terrible.

Depending on the release the video quality is laughably horrid. Virtually every DVD authoring problem that exists - whether it's artifacting, ghosting, bleeding colors, oversaturation - is present on the Pokemon discs. I'm pretty sure I have VHS copies of episodes recorded off Kids' WB! that look better than some of the Kanto / Orange Island DVDs, it's that bad.

The DVDs are the edited-for-TV-dub only. I'm pretty sure Pokemon is the only Japanese cartoon still being released that way in the U.S. in the year 2014.

The movie releases are even worse. It is the year 2014 and yet North Americans still cannot buy Movies 1, 2, 3, or 8 (I'm pretty sure those are the ones) in anything other than cropped to 4:3. That is, if you can still find them; infrequent re-releases mean that the only legal way to get any of the movies is to pay exhorbant prices on sites like e-bay. And at this point it's actually cheaper to import the Japanese DVDs, if you can believe that.

Movie 5, to my knowledge, still has that godawful blue tint problem. Eleven years later and that never got fixed.

More recent movies have been released in their proper aspect ratio but they're given bare bones releases. No extras, no commentary, no textless openings / endings, on translations of the extras off the Japanese DVDs...nothing. Just "Here's the movie you saw on TV a few months ago, only now it's been downscaled to SD and we're charging you $15 for it. Enjoy!"

And then there's the stuff that hasn't been released at all. The final two episodes of the "Johto Journies" season never got a DVD release, though that might change with the oddly timed Johto DVD sets we're supposed to be getting next year. Europeans and Australians got "Pokemon Chronicles" on DVD but Americans never did. "Pokemon Origins" never got a DVD release. The Mewtwo Awakening special never got a DVD release and I'm willing to be that the Diancie special won't get one either. The two most recent Pikachu shorts never got DVD releases.

And yet nobody cares.

Nobody complains about the video being crap. Nobody complains about the lack of a Japanese language track. Nobody complains about the sorry state of the movie DVDs. Nobody complains about the stuff we're not getting.

What gives? The DVDs are incredibly cheap - you often pay less than $1 per episode in most releases - but is the quantity really better than quality here? Or - and this is what I suspect - do most fans just not bother buying the DVDs in the first place and so none of this matters to them? Show of hands: how many people here actually buy the DVDs as they come out?

The DVDs are crap, but it seems like people don't care, so unfortunately they're going to remain crap. And that's incredibly frustrating.

 

[johnnyd2]

yeah, i admit, despite buying said USA DVDs myself here and there, i get a tad jealous when i see all the awesome DVDs the australians get X_D

 

[DasManiac]

Many people have complained but Viz Media refuses to do anything. Johto will never be released and neither will season one of Hoenn. Warner Bros also doesn't care one bit.

 

[Hidden Mew]

The DVDs are the edited-for-TV-dub only. I'm pretty sure Pokemon is the only Japanese cartoon still being released that way in the U.S. in the year 2014.

I think that most toyetic anime titles are still being released like that. All of the Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh! DVD sets have been given a dub only DVD release. The only exception being the Bonds Beyond Time movie that includes the subbed version of the movie. Although, there are a few series from both franchise with legal online subs, so that's a significant difference between those series and Pokemon.

And then there's the stuff that hasn't been released at all. The final two episodes of the "Johto Journies" season never got a DVD release, though that might change with the oddly timed Johto DVD sets we're supposed to be getting next year. Europeans and Australians got "Pokemon Chronicles" on DVD but Americans never did. "Pokemon Origins" never got a DVD release. The Mewtwo Awakening special never got a DVD release and I'm willing to be that the Diancie special won't get one either. The two most recent Pikachu shorts never got DVD releases.

That always bothered me, especially Johto Journies not getting the last two episodes. Not re-releasing any of the older seasons passed the Orange Islands always bothered me since the prices for Johto DVDs, as well as many of the AG DVDs, are ridiculously high due to being out of print. I would have loved box sets for those seasons. At least they are going to release Johto Journies on DVD next year and they do have all of AG on iTunes. I prefer physical releases over digital ones, but they were able to get the whole series available much sooner than if they did go for a physical release only. I was always confused as to why Chronicles didn't get a release and especially with Origins since there would probably be a few more people interested in picking that DVD up. I wasn't a fan of the Mewtwo Awakening special and the Diancie short could have easily been a part of the movie, but not releasing them on DVD or including them with their respective movies seems kind of odd.

Many people have complained but Viz Media refuses to do anything. Johto will never be released and neither will season one of Hoenn. Warner Bros also doesn't care one bit./

Except that Viz Media has said that Johto Journies will be released next year, although I'm not sure if they've given any kind of date for it yet. All of AG is available on iTunes and I also on Amazon as a digital release. They're just labeled as Pokemon the Series: Ruby and Sapphire instead of any of their original season titles most likely so that people would be more aware of what games the series promotes to tie in with the hype for OR/AS.

And yet nobody cares.

Nobody complains about the video being crap. Nobody complains about the lack of a Japanese language track. Nobody complains about the sorry state of the movie DVDs. Nobody complains about the stuff we're not getting.

What gives? The DVDs are incredibly cheap - you often pay less than $1 per episode in most releases - but is the quantity really better than quality here? Or - and this is what I suspect - do most fans just not bother buying the DVDs in the first place and so none of this matters to them? Show of hands: how many people here actually buy the DVDs as they come out?

The DVDs are crap, but it seems like people don't care, so unfortunately they're going to remain crap. And that's incredibly frustrating.

 

[DasManiac]

Viz Media is releasing Johto? All of it? As for iTunes and digital, I never buy videos from digital stores. If companies aren't willing make it DRM free then I don't support it. If it won't be released on DVD or Blu-ray then I'm not interested. Blu-ray would be nice since Pokemon could benefit from it. I don't know why Pokemon isn't released at all on Blu-ray.

 

[charizardmaster125]

Wow it's been a long time since I've last commented on the forums but I haven't felt the need to recently, especially now because I have a job, my free time is now not as big as it used to be. The DVD situation is admittedly a shambles especially in the UK (Region 2 & Region B) where releases have been few and far between. As far as releases go, the UK has received patches of stuff from many different distributors.

Warner Bros released episodes 1 to 33 of Season 1 on VHS, Movies 1, 2 & 3 (The only movies to see UK Cinemas) and Mewtwo Returns on VHS & DVD. Things went quiet, then around 2005 we got Movies 4 & 5 from Disney's sister firm Buena Vista via Miramax. At the time of the 10th Anniversary, Paramount films released Movie 6 on DVD and then it wasn't until 2010 that we got Movie 10 from Network DVD who mainly specialized in releasing classic British television shows so Pokémon was a niche as far as Network were concerned.

Network were planning on releasing past and present tv seasons and movies with Pokémon UK but this was all swept under the rug when Pokémon UK merged with Pokémon USA so following that, Universal Pictures UK released Movie 13 after its airing on CITV which was subsequently followed by Movies 11, 12, 14 and 15 post CITV. CITV also aired Movies 8 & 9 in the UK on free to air TV for the first time after being Cartoon Network exclusive but these two are still yet to be released on DVD here. Of course we also got Pokémon Chronicles from Contender Entertainment at same time as Movie 4.

Finally, almost 10 years after its initial release, Studio Canal got rights from Miramax to release Movie 7 and latterly re release Movie 4 & 5 on DVD and for the first time in the UK, Blu Ray. Since Movie 16 has come and gone on CITV, things have gone quiet again on the home media front. Nowadays we have Pokémon.com to catch up on past episodes and CITV regularly airing the newest seasons but for me, it's still nice to have the physical copy on DVD.

I too, like Dogasu am not fond of the current situation especially when it comes to the format of the release i.e. the content on the disc. Maybe if Pokémon was handled by Funimation *and Manga Entertainment UK* (in terms of distribution) for example then things might have been better in terms of value for money such as releasing the Sub & Dub edition, Funimation even do "Edited for TV" versions of shows and then release them un-cut later on, One Piece and Dragon Ball Z spring to mind.

It really frustrates me that Pokémon is not given the proper treatment that it deserves as an anime. I wish that Funimation could have got their hands on it when 4Kid's lost its licence though I think they should have gone for it before TAJ gave way to Du Art Film & Video (whatever it's called now).

I'm also disappointed in the lack of bonus content, to me that it is a must have for a DVD / Blu Ray. It's not the early to late 1990's where Betamax and VHS had very limited capabilities in terms of interactivity, it is now 2014 (2015 on the way in a week or two) and DVD & Blu Ray are able to offer much more value for money to customers on a format that lasts years longer than tape.

I'm starting to get the feeling that the "Higher Ups" at TPCi only class the show as a "generic Saturday morning cartoon for the west" hence the current predicament as to how the show is treated and Movie 17, even the re dubbed XY 1 & 2 with their non necessary musical score replacement is a good example.

Unfortunately, in terms of merchandise (anime included) the Pokémon franchise will always be associated as a quick cash grabber and with TPCi these days it's always one step forward and two steps back and unless there are changes now in terms of how the anime is handled and distributed outside of Japan then I don't think TPCi's customers are going to get true value for money.

At the end of the day their core audience is kid's under or a little over 10 years old, not people who have grown continuously with the franchise for nearly 20 years like myself. They will say that because kids are young they "don't care" but I bet that there are a few smart kids out there that want to see the best that Pokémon can offer.

Ramble over, man that was good! hew:

 

[Dogasu]

Many people have complained but Viz Media refuses to do anything.

When? All I ever see is complete apathy toward the DVD releases.

I wasn't a fan of the Mewtwo Awakening special and the Diancie short could have easily been a part of the movie, but not releasing them on DVD or including them with their respective movies seems kind of odd.

Especially when you look at the Japanese release.

Japanese DVD / Blu-ray: Genosect / Mewtwo movie, Pikachu short, Mewtwo Prologue special, extras
American DVD: Genesect / Mewtwo movie, no short, no special, no extras

I mean how does that *not* piss people off?

I don't know why Pokemon isn't released at all on Blu-ray.

I imagine there's something in TPCI's contract forbidding them to do so. Unlike with DVDs, both Japan and the US use the same Blu-ray region so reverse importation is a very real concern.

I'm starting to get the feeling that the "Higher Ups" at TPCi only class the show as a "generic Saturday morning cartoon for the west"

That is very much the case. Have you ever seen the TV series referred to as an "anime" on any official website or press release, ever?

(to be fair, though, Pocket Monsters DVDs are almost always put in the "Kids" section of stores here in Japan and not the "Cartoon" (Anime) section)

 

[DasManiac]

When? All I ever see is complete apathy toward the DVD releases.

I wasn't a fan of the Mewtwo Awakening special and the Diancie short could have easily been a part of the movie, but not releasing them on DVD or including them with their respective movies seems kind of odd.

Especially when you look at the Japanese release.

Japanese DVD / Blu-ray: Genosect / Mewtwo movie, Pikachu short, Mewtwo Prologue special, extras
American DVD: Genesect / Mewtwo movie, no short, no special, no extras

I mean how does that *not* piss people off?

I don't know why Pokemon isn't released at all on Blu-ray.

I imagine there's something in TPCI's contract forbidding them to do so. Unlike with DVDs, both Japan and the US use the same Blu-ray region so reverse importation is a very real concern.

I'm starting to get the feeling that the "Higher Ups" at TPCi only class the show as a "generic Saturday morning cartoon for the west"

That is very much the case. Have you ever seen the TV series referred to as an "anime" on any official website or press release, ever?

(to be fair, though, Pocket Monsters DVDs are almost always put in the "Kids" section of stores here in Japan and not the "Cartoon" (Anime) section)

There's apathy towards the DVD's because Viz Media cares so little about improving them. They won't even release full seasons for anything other than Kanto or the Orange Islands.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Viz Media is releasing Johto? All of it? As for iTunes and digital, I never buy videos from digital stores. If companies aren't willing make it DRM free then I don't support it. If it won't be released on DVD or Blu-ray then I'm not interested. Blu-ray would be nice since Pokemon could benefit from it. I don't know why Pokemon isn't released at all on Blu-ray.

I'm not sure about all of it, but I did hear that they were going to release Johto Journies on DVD next year on their Facebook page. As far as I know, there hasn't been a release date for it. I'm not sure if that means they'll release Johto League Champions and Master Quest afterwards, but I would hope so. As for the digital releases, I can understand that since I still prefer physical releases, but at least they're making an effort to have more episodes available digitally. That's important in this day and age and compared to the prices for the out of print AG DVDs, buying Advanced Challenge and Advanced Battle on iTunes sounds much more appealing to me and less painful for my wallet.

 

[DasManiac]

Viz Media is releasing Johto? All of it? As for iTunes and digital, I never buy videos from digital stores. If companies aren't willing make it DRM free then I don't support it. If it won't be released on DVD or Blu-ray then I'm not interested. Blu-ray would be nice since Pokemon could benefit from it. I don't know why Pokemon isn't released at all on Blu-ray.

I'm not sure about all of it, but I did hear that they were going to release Johto Journies on DVD next year on their Facebook page. As far as I know, there hasn't been a release date for it. I'm not sure if that means they'll release Johto League Champions and Master Quest afterwards, but I would hope so. As for the digital releases, I can understand that since I still prefer physical releases, but at least they're making an effort to have more episodes available digitally. That's important in this day and age and compared to the prices for the out of print AG DVDs, buying Advanced Challenge and Advanced Battle on iTunes sounds much more appealing to me and less painful for my wallet.

I can't believe they finally agreed to release at least part of Johto. I don't know why they didn't release the seasons when HGSS came out. Johto nostalgia was at an all time high and they would have made a fortune. As for Hoenn, if they don't a physical version, I'll probably end up caving and getting it on Amazon or iTunes.

 

[Yoshi1001]

Warner Bros also doesn't care one bit.

If you're referring to the fact that movies 1-3 are still out of print, there appears to be some sort of rights expiration issue involved-to this day we don't really know what the actual stumbling block is. WB did put 2000 on iTunes briefly in 2010 before their rights to that movie presumably expired 10 years after the theatrical debut (it was pulled literally the day before the anniversary).

I imagine there's something in TPCI's contract forbidding them to do so. Unlike with DVDs, both Japan and the US use the same Blu-ray region so reverse importation is a very real concern.

Movies 4-7 are on Blu-Ray in the US-have been for several years, though that may well be a different situation since it involves a different studio. On the bright side, for movies 12-15 you can import the Aussie Blu-rays that are region A compatible for some reason.

 

[henrymidfields]

Nobody complains about the lack of a Japanese language track.

I was going to say the very same thing about this, actually. Because, there was once where TV Tokyo actually ran the English dub in Japan, and there was once which I watched the Pokerap being featured in TV Tokyo as well. This was in winter of 1999-2000, and the Japanese broadcaster made a big deal out of this. Now, in 2014, anime in general is much better known these days. The Pokémon's Japanese origins are also made more explicit through the Japanese language TV show within Pokémon BW and XY. Given these two, I'm surprised that no-one at TV Tokyo, or TPCi/VIZ/Pokémon USA thought about making the Japanese originals (with official subs) available worldwide.

 

[Dogasu]

There's apathy towards the DVD's because Viz Media cares so little about improving them.

But why should they bother improving them if the fans seem to be happy with what they've been doing?

When have the fans ever let Viz know that they're not happy? When have they asked Viz about the lack of a Japanese language track on the DVDs? When have the fans boycotted their DVDs until more acceptable ones are released? When have they done anything other than give Viz their money for their lackluster DVDs?

If the fans don't make their voices heard then Viz has no reason to change any of what they're doing.

 

[Moe]

When have the fans boycotted their DVDs until more acceptable ones are released?

I think this is a tough one - do you not buy the DVDs because they aren't as good as they could be, or do you buy DVDs to make the equal contribution to proving the demand in the market?

I'm in an Region 4 location so I'm certainly spoiled in terms of what I have access to, but they could obviously still be better. With basically every movie release I'll send off an email asking if there's going to be a Blu-Ray release - but I'll still buy the DVD because I think that as a consumer you do need to occasionally accept good enough, against the potential of delayed or non-existent releases.

I buy the regular episodes on iTunes because being in full HD within a few hours of the dub premiere is well worth the cost. Sure, I wish they knew how to deinterlace properly, and would be even happier with subtitled simulcasts from Japan, but it's better than how the show is treated on TV here and the delay of the DVDs, so I'm happy to support it with my wallet.

That all said, I've not seen the Region 1 DVDs, so they might be sufficiently awful to justify a boycott.

 

[Piplup]

Especially when you look at the Japanese release.

Japanese DVD / Blu-ray: Genosect / Mewtwo movie, Pikachu short, Mewtwo Prologue special, extras
American DVD: Genesect / Mewtwo movie, no short, no special, no extras

I mean how does that *not* piss people off?

I'm totally supporting your point but, did the Movie 16 Japanese DVD/BD really include the prequel? I seem to remember something about it only being included on a separate special edition set including Movie 1 and Mewtwo Returns too. But correct me if I'm wrong.
On that note, is the Japanese DVD/BD for Movie 17 set to include the prequel? (which was kinda pointless due to its length compared to the previous movie's prequel)

Anyway, it truly confuses me how a big franchise like Pokémon fails to get a proper DVD release anywhere in the world. Even Japan seems to hardly offer any episodes on DVDs that you can actually purchase rather than rent.
Australia seems to have got the best handling of Pokémon anime releases, having complete season box sets (that also go by the official seasons rather than the fan made idea of "opening=season", which the US DVDs oddly follow)
I actually really wished to be able to get the Australian box sets one day but sadly I don't have the money for that, and not sure how ordering from there to my location would work. Also, it seems like the newer Australian releases are now affected by the "Jynx ban", omitting these three Season 2 eps, so if I were to ever get these box sets I hope it'd still be possible to get the pre-ban sets.

As for the whole iTunes thing: I never used it, but to my understanding it's literally paying for direct watching online. You don't truly download the ep and have a file on your computer. You can't do whatever you wanted with it the same way you'd do with a DVD/BD copy. Or the same way you could do with a vastly superior "illegal" download, which these online release are supposed to stop, or at least try to stop. But why would anyone choose to pay for an inferior copy? I'm sure many people would gladly pay for a true download rather than for the right to watch it on iTunes... but that's probably never gonna happen.

 

[DasManiac]

There's apathy towards the DVD's because Viz Media cares so little about improving them.

But why should they bother improving them if the fans seem to be happy with what they've been doing?

When have the fans ever let Viz know that they're not happy? When have they asked Viz about the lack of a Japanese language track on the DVDs? When have the fans boycotted their DVDs until more acceptable ones are released? When have they done anything other than give Viz their money for their lackluster DVDs?

If the fans don't make their voices heard then Viz has no reason to change any of what they're doing.

I have read that Viz Media has no control over including Japanese language tracks for Pokemon. That is apparently up to TPCi and they have no interest in putting them on the DVD's. Viz can only publish what they're given and the Japanese language tracks are not something they are given. As far as TPCi is concerned, there is no interest in it. It's sort of a problem here these days with a lot of media companies. Like Disney, they don't really care about you if you're not a parent. They know parents will shell out money on something regardless of the quality, if their kid wants it. Since kids really aren't interested in Japanese language tracks, then we'll never see them on American DVD's.

 

[JacobYBM]

It is the sad truth of popular franchises. Quality is by its very nature something only for the passionate. The franchise is so popular that it can sell at a devalued price. Because the consumer is taught by the publisher to consider the product of little value they have no standards. Publishers publish at such devalued prices because it means casting a wider net. Casting a wider net, especially for a 'popular' franchise, might mean more money.

 

[SammyW27]

Like you said, Dogasu: no one cares.

You bring up a lot of technical aspects that, unfortunately, most consumers don't really care about, let alone kids. All they care about is that they're able to watch it and that's enough for them. I know a few people who are like that. Heck, I've been there myself.

Another issue is that the DVD industry is a lumbering dinosaur in its death throws. Streaming media and Blu-Ray is where it's at now. (Heck, Blu-Ray is even in a little trouble because of streaming media) Unfortunately, TPCI (and/or whoever else is involved) can't--or doesn't know how to--make enough money from that to suit them, so they're like "Fuck that!". It also doesn't help that there's a LOT of litigation complicating & confusing the issue :dizzy:

DasManiac and Yuugi's Back Magcian hit the nail on the head: all that matters is that the product is making money, regardless of quality. We gaijin are forced to settle for whatever is given to us by the powers that be...and they just don't give a shit.

The kids & their parents don't care about a quality product or seeing the original Japanese version while us older fans have absolutely NO say in the matter, and that' all there is to it :dead:

 

[Dogasu]

I'm totally supporting your point but, did the Movie 16 Japanese DVD/BD really include the prequel? I seem to remember something about it only being included on a separate special edition set including Movie 1 and Mewtwo Returns too. But correct me if I'm wrong.

The regular editions DVD / Blu-ray included it too.

On that note, is the Japanese DVD/BD for Movie 17 set to include the prequel?

Yes.

As for the whole iTunes thing: I never used it, but to my understanding it's literally paying for direct watching online. You don't truly download the ep and have a file on your computer.

No, you actually do download it to your computer. It's not just for streaming, though that option exists as well for people who don't have enough hard drive space.

You bring up a lot of technical aspects that most consumers don't really care about

I'll post screenshots later tonight when I get off work. Because even without knowing exactly what everything's called it's still clear that what we're forced to buy is an inferior product.

 

[Thingamajig]

Funny how the Australian releases still have some pretty glaring issues, but in comparison the situation really doesn't look so bad when it's compared to the US. Our discs still have pretty ordinary image quality. The movies looked pretty good on Blu-ray... for the brief period that was a thing, but are still bare-bones releases. Sure, for a "crank-em-out" show like Pokemon it's pretty silly to expect extras for the TV season DVDs, but the shorts produced specifically for the movies really should be included like they were when WB was in charge.

Still, here the DVD distributors won't stop re-releasing old episodes. In the last few years we've gotten an insane amount of giant box sets.

One for Kanto and OI (including BF Kanto)
One for Johto
One for Hoenn (just Hoenn)
One for Sinnoh
One for Unova
This Beast (seasons 1-9)
A new box set with classic Kanto
Another much cheaper Hoenn box set (With the new "Pokemon the Series: RS" name) coinciding with ORAS

All these (mostly "limited edition" sets) are on top of the standard 6-disc season box sets. And yet... the movie Blu-rays get discontinued.