Note: This blog post will be image heavy.
You can’t talk about the new Discotek Media OVA Collection without mentioning the original Bandai Entertainment DVD release from 2003. So I will start off posting about that first.
Click on the thumbnail to see the full-sized image appear in a new window/tab. (Images are hosted on my Imgur account.)
Reversible DVD Covers:
Disc 1:
Disc 2:
DVD Inserts:
Insert from Disc 1, Front and Back:
Note: The 1960 on the bottom right corner of the first image refers to the DVD Disc number.
Insert from Disc 2, Front and Back. (I rotated the back cover so you can see the image better.):
Note: The 1961 on the bottom right corner of the second image refers to the DVD Disc number.
Disc Menus:
The DVDs:
Bandai Entertainment used a double-sided disc for the first 2 OVAs. So Gaiden is on one side, and Legend of the Inferno Armor is on the other side. Message is on a single-sided disc.
The double-sided disc for the first two OVAs made them a pain to watch. When you were done with one OVA, you had to eject the disc, turn it over, and put it back in again. Double-sided discs are also difficult to keep from getting scratched over time.
In summary:
The DVD inserts were a really nice touch. The disc menus were not bad. And the reversible DVD cover solved the issue of the two different series names (Japanese original name and dub name). And we were grateful that the OVAs came out to DVD at all. (Before this release, the OVAs were only available in Japan on VHS tape. It was the original Yoroiden Samurai Troopers version only with of course no subtitles.)
The popularity of the TV Series DVDs released before these led to the dubbing of the OVAs years after the TV series was originally dubbed. It was great they went that far with the OVAs, though there’s some minor griping to be had about the voice acting in the OVA dub. Matt Hill returned as Ryo, which is awesome. Mike Donovan came back for Cye (Yay!) but for some reason didn’t also do the voice of Sage like he did in the TV series. O_o Ryo’s name pronunciation changed from Rhy-oh to Rio, and I swear the Japanese pronunciation sounds like Ri-yo. (And hearing Rio just makes me think of this song.) And some attack cries I believed were changed too. It just made the dub OVAs feel so separate from the TV series dub with the changes. But again they didn’t have to dub the movies. They didn’t even have to go as far as releasing the OVAs onto DVD. So I’m grateful these were released.
Next we’ll move on to Discotek Media’s release of the OVAs.
hi!
can we watch this in japanese audio too?
what is the region code of the dvd?
thanks!
The Bandai OVA DVDs are in English audio and Japanese audio with English subtitles. They are region code 1.
All of the Bandai discs though are out of print and have been for several years. So you’ll have to do some shopping around to find them.
“Ree-oh” is actually closer to the correct way to pronounce is. “Rhye-oh” was always a mistake (and unfortunately a common one in the 1990s–people who played Street Fighter II always insisted the one character was named “Rhye-yuu” or “Roo”).
See the deal is, in Japan “Ryo” is actually one syllable. Its hard as hell to pronounce right if you’re not used to it, and most people assume the Y is pronounced like Eye.
Back in the 1990s dubbers didn’t care about things like pronounciation accuracy, but these days that’s a big deal, so consistency with the old translation gets trumped. Which can understandibly suck if you wanted a sequel to Ronin Warriors, not an English-dubbed Samurai Troopers.
That said, watching the show again (I have the old Bandai DVDs, except for the OVAs) I think some of the translations work–both subtitled and dubbed. Seiji becoming Sage is natural, and “of the Halo” and “of the Heavens” means basically the same thing and gets the same point across.
I came here wondering whether, since I don’t have the OVAs, if I should be consistent and get the Bandai DVDs (they’re cheap as all hell) or get the Discotek one. If there’s no difference though then it doesn’t really matter, and that’s good to know.