expired My Neighbour Totoro - Blu-Ray + DVD £13.94 (~ $21.66) Delivered @Zavvi
This was posted 5 months 14 days ago, and might be an out-dated deal
I guess it's only fitting that I post this…
My Neighbour Totoro was released on blu-ray in Aust and UK last month. The UK version has both blu-ray and DVD, whilst Aust version is blu-ray only. UK and Australia share the same blu-ray region. Zavvi and TheHut have the same price. The Australian edition is over $30. The Japanese version (region free) has been out for a while but at a whopping USD87.
Since it's a new release, the price will most likely drop if you can wait. Note that Zavvi and TheHut both say that it will take up to one week to dispatch, so there is no guarantee that it will arrive in time for Christmas. If you don't mind spending a little more at £18.57 (~28.55), Amazon UK has it in stock and I usually get things within 1.5-2 weeks with them.
Product details taken from blu-raydefinition.com:
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
Audio Codec: Japanese & English LPCM 2.0 Stereo (48kHz/16-bit)
Subtitles: English
Subtitles Color: Yellow
Region: B (Region-Locked)
Certification: U
Run Time: 86 Mins.
Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD)
Studio: StudioCanal
Blu-ray Release Date: November 12, 2012
Comments (Closed)
backslashio on 05/12/2012 - 14:02 ¶Never seen a Ghibli DVD/bluray with a dub option only :P Pretty much all anime is dual audio although there are UK dubs vs US dubs for Ghibli titles like Arrietty
OldGuyFromTheMuppets on 05/12/2012 - 18:23 ¶Pfff… The Disney dub of Totoro is brilliant. OFC as others have said, it has both.

I can't remember who exactly said it, (maybe Hayao Miyazaki?) but some at Ghibli was under the impression that dubbed is always better than subs as you can take more of the visual aspect from the movie, rather than having to watch and also read subtitles. Personally I always go for dubbed and the only time I dislike it is if I have already heard the original audio/voices.
tanoshiiki on 05/12/2012 - 13:24 ¶I'm pretty sure all "Western" releases from Studio Ghibli include both English and Japanese audio tracks.
I haven't summoned the "courage" to watch Grave of the Fireflies yet.


Watch it, it'll make you a better person - especially if you have kids. (it'll make you want to give them cuddles afterwards)
And watch Marley & me if you have a dog.
And watch Requiem for a dream if you have any sort of addiction.
And watch Irreversible if you feel aggressive against women. But don't watch that one if you are female, unless you tend to walk at nighttime alone.
btw, those 4 films are the most depressing films I've ever seen. Movie marathon theme night?
-2 votesI'm not sure you need blu-ray, surely standard DVD is good enough? Its animation. And the DVD is probably cheaper.
Anyway, this is a fantastic film and if you are looking for a present for a kid from about 6-10, highly highly recommended. Along with all the other kids films from Ghibli (not Grave of the Fireflies!). My kids particularly like Ponyo and Kiki's Delivery.
The English audio tracks are pretty good I think.
+1 votesamfisher5986 on 05/12/2012 - 16:23 ¶Clearly you haven't seen a cartoon on Bluray then…
DVD is horrible quality.

How does something great magically become crap. DVD was great, still is. Moving to digital made the lasting difference. Bluray simply expands on that. If you've compressed animation, you'll realise it doesn't need the massive bit rates Bluray affords. I still think Bluray isn't used for half of what it's capable of. Personally, I'd rather see a back catalogue on one disc, than a 10 foot Totoro.
Bluray is a disc format, and disc formats are finally dying.Don't hate the player…
samfisher5986 on 06/12/2012 - 11:34 ¶Because DVD uses a horrible codec.
a 700mb file in x264 will beat a 4-7GB DVD.
Even if you only have 5 minutes of footage, the dvd specification prevents the quality being any higher.
This also means that cartoon or not, the quality is reduced due to the bad codec.
-1 voteBeat it at size. The DVD standard is the limitation. The codec is capable of, and used everyday for 10Mbit+ 1080i/1080p. x264 is amazing, mainly due to efficiency. Much higher compression is possible.
Fitting your entire foot in your mouth didn't make your foot higher quality.
It's all a long and pointless discussion. You've got a ton of reading to do before you understand it all.

so if the Australian/UK version has both English and Japanese sound tracks what does the Japanese version have that this doesn't have?
My 3yo loves this but already has a copy that she watches in Japanese.
Might have to get her Grave of the Firefly that has come up in this thread.
Japan version on YesAsia - looks like it's has lots of other languages and subtitles.
Blu-ray Region Code: All Region
Release Date: 2012-07-18
Language: English, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, French, Italian, German
Subtitles: English, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Italian
Disc Format(s): Blu-ray
Publisher: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment)
illusionarybreeze on 05/12/2012 - 17:10 ¶Fell asleep during Ponyo.
Laputa, Totoro, and Nausicaa are my favourites.
tanoshiiki on 05/12/2012 - 15:23 ¶I haven't watched it, but I wouldn't recommend Grave of the Firefly for children. It's more of a very serious adult animation.

I think a kid would find Grave of the Fireflies boring.
And they probably (hopefully) wouldn't get the ending. On the other hand, kids tend to handle the theme/denoument (trying to avoid spoilers here) in Grave of the Fireflies more pragmatic than adults do, as they don't form the same attachments the same way.
+2 votesMyth and has debunked by the Studio Ghibli themselves.
http://losthitsu.tumblr.com/post/17312494579/totoro-is-not-b...
(if you can read Japanese)
http://www.ghibli.jp/15diary/003717.html
Not true, and even if it was, it's still a great kids film.
And if it was, that would make it even more magical - great happy movie for kids, depressing movie for adults. Perfect family movie.It would remind me a bit of Pans Labyrinth (with the ending that can be interpreted several ways).

+1 to the detailed info in the listing.
-1 To the usual haters of "dubbed" versions. Ghibli/Disney use top Hollywood voice talent, and veterans of animation voice-overs. It's animation, it doesn't matter what the 'original' language is. Ignore the try hard elitists. If English is available, then why feel guilty using it. Japanese is cool, but not to the point of hating on non-Japanese. Most of the best animation has come from France and Japan, and we've only had it English… So quit being lame.

I agree to the certain extent, but I'm not sure if some western veteran voice talent capable to capture the essences of Asian culture (Japanese Culture in this example) which root deeply on every Ghibli's movies.
For example, the bathing scene in Totoro - it's perfectly normal for Japanese peoples but plainly awkward for non Japanese, imagine try to voice that part.
+1 voteJohnny-Kun on 06/12/2012 - 11:09 ¶Ah Totoro, whenever I hear that name my mind fills up with the song. Can't wait to see the Studio Ghibli Museum :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1WZoyUdlfE or the Japaneses version where they say Totoro To-To-Ro
Johnny-Kun on 06/12/2012 - 19:29 ¶I heard about the queuing, is it true that they are VERY strict with photography?
hollykryten on 06/12/2012 - 21:26 ¶There's 10% off store wide using this voucher code 10VCUKZ
It brings it down to £14.45 (22.20 AUD) delivered.

Amazon UK have dropped in price from £17.99 yesterday to £15 today (around $23 AUD).
I just bought Totoro & Ponyo (both double play), though I have no idea why, never been into Anime / Ghibli / whatever, but thought I'd give it a chance… I am studying Japanese so I'm hoping the amazon uk discs have the original Japanese audio tracks, with sub English just in case :)
If I like these, I'll go back for Grave of the Fireflies etc
Thanks


74
Dont get it in dubbed format! Watch it in subs with Japanese audio!
I have the original Japanese version which I got from cdjapan.co.jp $90 but worth it imo.
Studio Ghibli rocks!
Get Grave of the fireflies too! :(~~