Walt Disney Home Entertainment and Studio Ghibli have officially detailed the 25th Anniversary Blu-ray release of My Neighbor Totoro and the Blu-ray edition of Howl's Moving Castle. Both Hayao Miyazaki animated classics are available for pre-order and arrive on May 21st.
My Neighbor Totoro: Follow the adventures of Satsuki and her four-year-old sister Mei as they discover their new neighbor is a mysterious forest spirit named Totoro who can only be seen by the eyes of a child. As Totoro introduces the girls to his extraordinary friends, they embark on the journey of a lifetime. Featuring the voice talents of Tim Daly, Lea Salonga and real-life sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning, My Neighbor Totoro is an amazing animated adventure the whole family will fall in love with, and features a new HD digital transfer. Exact audio specifications have yet to be revealed, although both English and Japanese tracks will be included.
Special features:
Behind the Microphone
Behind the Studio
Creating My Neighbor Totoro
Creating the Characters
The Totoro Experience
Producer's Perspective: Creating Gibli
The Locations of Totoro
Scoring Miyazaki
Original Japanese Storyboards
Original Japanese Trailer
Howl's Moving Castle: Sophie, a quiet girl working in a hat shop, finds her life thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome but mysterious wizard named Howl. The vain and vengeful Witch of the Waste, jealous of their friendship, puts a spell on Sophie. In a life-changing adventure, Sophie climbs aboard Howl's magnificent flying castle and enters a magical world on a quest to break the spell. With the voice talents of Christian Bale and Billy Crystal, as well as a new HD digital transfer and both Japanese and English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround tracks, Miyazaki's artistry comes to life with inventive characters, unique storytelling and richly detailed animation.
Special features:
Behind the Microphone
Interview with Pixar Animation Studios Director Pete Docter
Hello Mr. Lasseter: Hayao Miyazaki Visits Pixar Animation Studios
Original Japanese Storyboards
Original Japanese TV Spots and Trailers
Among the following videos is a clip from "Creating My Neighbor Totoro" (featuring an interview with Miyazaki), a film clip from My Neighbor Totoro, and a trailer for Howl's Moving Castle:
So looking forward to getting these both. The next three months can't pass soon enough! These once-a-year releases by Disney in North America are exhilarating and depressing. I'm happy because we're getting two more titles, but sad because it probably will be May 2014 before we get any more!
@Alex: Totoro definitely includes both English and Japanese tracks. The only thing that hasn't been entirely confirmed yet is whether both tracks are lossless (as is the case with Howl) and, if so, if the tracks are 5.1 surround or 2.0 stereo. (Most likely 2.0, based on the film.)
Totoro is amazing, and Howl's is entertaining. Excited for both. Though I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed everytime a Ghibli release announcement doesn't include Spirited Away.
@maidenbrain You will be disappointed for a very, very long time. Spirited Away will very likely be in the last batch of Ghibli blu-ray releases due to it's popularity. If they release everything BUT their most popular ones, everyone will keep buying the rest until it does get released out of anticipation.
Also, no Ghibli titles get a US release unless it's already had a release in Japan. Japan and America both share the same region code and considering how expensive the Japanese releases are, if they were released in America and Japan at the same time, every Ghibli fan in Japan would import the US release due to it being like 3 times cheaper.
That's why the US releases take so long to be released. I'm sure they're required to wait a substantial amount of time after the Japanese releases, so the fans in Japan would just buy the Japanese releases out of impatience.
With the way they're releasing Ghibli titles in the US, you'll probably be waiting literally years for Spirited Away.
Thanks Ken! Yes, lossless is important to me and will be a deal-breaker. As an aside, my wife likes to sew for relaxation and she just made Totoro last week. She's trying to figure out how to do the cat-bus now.
The only thing that concerns me: are these releases' subtitles for the Japanese audio REALLY actual subtitles, or dubtitles? They oughta offer both types imo but that never happens.
This is kind of redundant, isn't it? They just announced this in a thread last week.
Also, it would appear, by reading the above posts, that a whole bunch of people on this site can understand Japanese. Kudos! Personally, I'll stick with the English track.
as crazy as it sounds, I am no longer excited to get "My Neighbor Totoro" on Blu Ray since Disney bastardized the audio. I prefer the original English track created when first released on home video (by FOX)! Dakota Fanning is a joke! She ruined Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" for me--though Tom Cruise didn't help the matter.
Omg, I don't even care, just get Mononoke on Blu Ray out! Not a big fan of Totoro, its cute and all but one watch was enough for me. I want Mononoke and Spirited Away as well SO BAD!!
