Maiden Japan licenses Patlabor The Mobile Police (OVA, TV series, The New Files, Movies)

[Lupin The Third]

Can someone clarify for me about the audio on the films? I know that they went and rerecorded the Japanese dub and made some soundtrack changes and that while the Japanese releases include the original audio Maiden Japan omitted this option. Is the original Japanese track the Linear PCM Surround? I am lookkng at getting the Korean release as I really like the way they did their set of the films but I want to have the original audio that MJ omitted.

[Lupin The Third]

So I finally started going through the TV sets even though I have had all the Maiden Japan releases from day one...lol...yes it is way over due. If this was addressed already my apologies, but the first disc of set two had an absurd amount of episodes (9 I think) and the second disc had all of three. I just started Set 3 and again the first disc has 9 episodes and the subsequent I presume again has 3. Huh???? Why on earth did they do this? It literally makes no sense. Also I did see a distinct PQ drop between the first episode on Set 3, Disc 1 and the 2nd episode. Could be the masters have this also but seems more likely to be a reduced bitrate. Anyone have any knowledge as to why the episode count per disc goes so wonky in sets 2 & 3. No idea yet about set 4 as it is still sealed.

However at least the series lacks the profuse amount of profanity not actually in the Japanese originals that Sentai LOVES to trash up the screen with.

[progress]

If this was addressed already my apologies, but the first disc of set two had an absurd amount of episodes (9 I think) and the second disc had all of three. I just started Set 3 and again the first disc has 9 episodes and the subsequent I presume again has 3. Huh???? Why on earth did they do this? It literally makes no sense. Also I did see a distinct PQ drop between the first episode on Set 3, Disc 1 and the 2nd episode. Could be the masters have this also but seems more likely to be a reduced bitrate. Anyone have any knowledge as to why the episode count per disc goes so wonky in sets 2 & 3. No idea yet about set 4 as it is still sealed.

First off, 9 episodes isn't really absurd. 26 episodes on three discs for full series sets is fairly common, and then you have two discs with 9 episodes. It should be even more fine for a 4:3 show. Issues with PQ probably have to do with the masters (notably interlacing issues).

They could have done 8/4 instead of 9/3 but there isn't much of a point since they could fit 9 anyway. However doing a more balanced 6/6 would have meant using two BD50 at a slightly higher cost. Set 4 has the same layout. Afaik the reason set 1 is different is because the first couple of dubbed episodes were edited and are different from the sub ones so there's two versions of the video on disc.

[dragonrider_cody]

Disc 1 is generally a BD-50, while Disc 2 is usually a BD-25 in most single cour sets. This is a fairly typical episode spread, even for publishers that arent Sentai or Maiden Japan. Their double cour sets usually include two BD-50s and one BD-25.

The reasoning is that it?s simply more cost effective to do 75GBs across two discs, rather than three. One BD-50 does hold double the data of a BD-25 after all. Probably also worth pointing out that most American TV shows place five or six hour long episodes on one disc, which is about equivalent to 9 episodes of anime. So the content per disc is not unusual in the least, and has been fairly standard for several years now.

[BlaizeV]

Yeah the 9-3 split for a single cour has pretty much been the norm across the industry for years now.

Only time I get a full 'Huh??' is with the Space Brothers releases by Sentai. Wherein some volumes are a single disc with 12 episodes and then another volume will be 2 discs with 11 episodes.

But yeah in general 9 episodes on the first disc is the norm.

[Lupin The Third]

Ummmm...I'm going to disagree that a 9/3 split is normal as this is the first time ever I have seen a weird split like this. My point was that...well basically it is a pointless split. The first set made sense given with the sync issues they basically had to put each episode on the disc twice and I believe those were 4 episodes each; which is small for BR but not when you consider that there are really 8 episodes on each of those.

Let me clarify my point like this. 3 episodes on a BR discs as seen in the Disc 2 for sets 2,3,4 makes no sense aside from instances like the audio issues requiring separate copies of both the English and Japanese audio encoded episodes as in the first set. Sure 9 episodes is fine on a BR. But if that is the case that sets 2-4 have 1 disc with 9 and 1 disc with 3 then you don't need three sets for 2-4. All these episodes could basically be on a total of 4 discs of 9 episodes each...thus sets 2-4 become sets 2 & 3. Instead Sentai basically threw in 2 unnecessary discs and an extra unnecessary case is what this boils down to.

Basically I was trying to ascertain if there was some technical reasoning for this split. There is obviously not. Just $entail a $$hatery to milk a few dollars more from the customer. Look when even my wife who is not an anime fan nor care about differences between even VHS and Blu-Ray much less bitrates, data capacities, etc finds something like this to seem stupid...well, it basically is, lol...

[BlaizeV]

Disagree all you want it is the norm on the majority of BD single cour sets across most companies and it's easily provable. Even at a quick glance at a single shelf in my collection the following titles have a 9-3/4 split. Black Bullet, Canaan, Jokers Game, Btooom. I picked these at random from 1 shelf and they all had this split.

Also you have ignored all of the evidence. Bitrates might not matter to you but they do to most people and 9 episodes on a BD-50 for a modern series, especially with dual audio, is about as far most companies are willing to push it. The second disc uses BD-25 for the remaining episodes and any extras.

So having an even split may make sense to you but that would require two BD-25 discs and at 6/6-7 splits the bitrates are pushed too far.

Companies don't just burn money for the sake of it, there is a reason behind things like this so I really don't understand why this makes you annoyed? :S

[Lupin The Third]

Well I don't watch any of the shows you have listed nor do I recall seeing it on anything other than this set. But my point still holds. Sentai could have collapsed this down by two discs and one less case but strung it out for no discernable technical reason and a 9/3 split is still stupid.

[BlaizeV]

Nothing about your point holds, only your stubborness holds. Maiden Japan released it this way for the reasons that were explained to you.

[dragonrider_cody]

Ummmm...I'm going to disagree that a 9/3 split is normal as this is the first time ever I have seen a weird split like this. My point was that...well basically it is a pointless split. The first set made sense given with the sync issues they basically had to put each episode on the disc twice and I believe those were 4 episodes each; which is small for BR but not when you consider that there are really 8 episodes on each of those.

You must not buy many Bluray releases then, because almost every single Bluray on my shelves from Sentai, Maiden Japan, and Funimation utilizes this set up. You also have to remember at the time this was being released, nearly EVERY anime series on Bluray was getting released in sets that were 11-13 episodes long, as long as it was its first Bluray set. While Sentai and Maiden Japan now do complete double cour sets, or larger, for new releases, Funimation still splits their releases in this fashion. Usually only re-releases from them get complete sets if the series is over 13 episodes.

You have to keep in mind that these releases are a few years old now and larger sets just weren?t done then. The fact that Maiden Japan would probably have released the series in one or two larger sets now doesn?t matter. Of course, just because Sentai now does larger sets doesn?t guarantee that MJ would for Patlabor, as they are a separate company with different management staff. We haven?t seen any larger Bluray sets from them yet.

[WTK]

via Sentai Filmworks Shop & TRSI:

Patlabor The Mobile Police: Complete Collection (Blu-ray Special Edition) - 2161 minutes - $129.98 - 11/6/18

Patlabor The Mobile Police Ultimate Collection contains episodes 1-47 of the anime series directed by Naoyuki Yoshinaga, episodes 1-16 of Patlabor the Mobile Police: The New Files, episodes 1-7 of The Original OVA Series, and Movies 1-3.

Special Features: Deleted Scenes; English Dubbed Episodes of Griffon Ressurected, SCHAFT'S Counterattack, The Greatest Showdown in History, GAME OVER; MINIPATO 1, 2 & 3; Clean Opening Animation; Clean Closing Animation

Disc 1 (100 min) eps. 1-4; Disc 2 (100 min) eps. 5-8; Disc 3 (125 min) eps. 9-12; Disc 4 (225 min) eps. 13-21; Disc 5 (75 min) eps. 22-24; Disc 6 (225 min) eps. 25-33; Disc 7 (75 min) eps. 34-36; Disc 8 (225 min) eps. 37-45; Disc 9 (50 min) eps. 46-47; Disc 10 (210 min) eps. 1-7; Disc 11 (200 min) eps. 1-8; Disc 12 (200 min) eps. 9-16; Disc 13 (99 min) Movie 1; Disc 14 (107 min) Movie 2; Disc 15 (107 min) Movie 3


Title: PATLABOR THE MOBILE POLICE COMPLETE COLLECTION BLU-RAY
Published by: Maiden Japan
Distributed by: Section23 Films
Run Time: 2161 min.
Street Date: 11/6/2018
Format: BD
Language: English & Japanese with English Subtitles
SRP: $129.98

SYNOPSIS: Building the city of the future is a tough job, but the development of Labors? giant robots specifically designed for construction and other heavy duty tasks? is transforming the world. Unfortunately, when someone puts that much power in a machine, the one thing that?s certain is that someone somewhere will find a way to use it to commit crimes. That?s why Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has its massive Ingram Patrol Labors and the brave men and women of Special Vehicle Section 2, Division 2? including the teams most recent recruit, the mecha obsessed Noa Azumi. Get ready for some of the wildest, most incredible adventures ever as Noa and her new comrades in arms hit the street in the ultimate collection of one of anime?s most legendary creations ? MOBILE POLICE PATLABOR!

[NJ_]

Patlabor The Mobile Police: Ultimate Collection (Blu-ray) - 2161 minutes - $129.98 - 11/6/18

Disc 1 (100 min) eps. 1-4; Disc 2 (100 min) eps. 5-8; Disc 3 (125 min) eps. 9-12; Disc 4 (225 min) eps. 13-21; Disc 5 (75 min) eps. 22-24; Disc 6 (225 min) eps. 25-33; Disc 7 (75 min) eps. 34-36; Disc 8 (225 min) eps. 37-45; Disc 9 (50 min) eps. 46-47; Disc 10 (210 min) eps. 1-7; Disc 11 (200 min) eps. 1-8; Disc 12 (200 min) eps. 9-16; Disc 13 (99 min) Movie 1; Disc 14 (107 min) Movie 2; Disc 15 (107 min) Movie 3

Well this is odd, why is the first OVA disc being placed after the TV series?

Anyway, if it's not too much to ask, could you contact & confirm if they're the same authored discs as the previous releases? I ask because of the known subtitle glitches that were in some of the TV discs and judging by the amount of discs and episodes in them, they look to be the exact same as before.

[JeffDM]

That's a lot of quality anime for the money. I was really impressed with the Blu-Ray transfer on the previous sets.

[lockmastah]

That's a lot of quality anime for the money. I was really impressed with the Blu-Ray transfer on the previous sets.

No kidding... I just ordered the 4 TV blu-ray sets last week for $93, which I thought was a great deal. Still waiting for the discs to arrive, but definitely going to return them and get the new collection instead.

[NJ_]

That's a lot of quality anime for the money. I was really impressed with the Blu-Ray transfer on the previous sets.

Yeah, the first OVA & TV sets in particular were done back when DLW was the Blu-ray authoring guy and unlike most Sentai & Maiden Japan releases he did at the time, there weren't any video-related problems here. It's just a damn shame that there were issues but with the subs on some TV episodes.

EDIT: Since the reports are split between this thread and the Glitch Disc section, I'll post the sub issues here with links to said reports.

-Episode 1 has the eyecatch sign subs shown too early.
-Episode 23 has a white screen shown for 5 seconds.
-The subs for episodes 35 & 36 default to the song & sign track.
-Episode 38 has a full sentence shown for less than a second.