Patlabor 2 Changes - Bandai Re-Release

[booboo]

Hey, did anyone pick up the Bandai Visual re-release of Patlabor 2? The biggest change I am noticing is to the soundtrack. For example, songs that used to play in the Manga version do not even play in the Bandai version. It's like a whole other movie.

Either this version took liberties with the soundtrack, or the Manga version (which I've watched a billion times, of course) was the culprit. Anyone have any ideas which is the "true" version?

[Area88]

A 5.1 soundtrack was re-recorded in 1999 by the same VA's but as you stated changes in music and sound effects were also done.

The origiinal 2.0 stereo track made in 1989 was left out by Bandai Visual for it's US release probaly so they didn't have to re-encode the video to compensate for 3 audio tracks.

Bandai Visual's dvd release of the movie in Japan had both the 2.0 and the new 5.1 track so fans could choose the one they prefered. As a purist i always prefer watching the original 2.0 track.

It's unfortunate BV made this decision as it's the only factor which deterred me from purchasing their dvd release of Patlabor movies I and II. Instead i plan on importing the R2 version since the old Manga dvd release had poor video quality (i.e letterbox and too much brightness) while BV's release is remastered and anomorphic.

[booboo]

hmmm...so the 5.1 mix completely changed where some songs began and played? and the only way to get the original soundtrack pacing that the manga version used along with the remastered video is to import the bandai visual r2 release?

[Area88]

Correct!

There is also the cheaper R3 version which is exactly the same except it's half the price of the R2 version. Video quality and features are identical unless you get the R2 Limited Edition which comes with tons of extras.

[booboo]

Which one has english subtitles?

[Area88]

I'm afraid neither does so for the US fan there is no perfect release.

However what i plan on doing and what you could do too is use the R3 dvd and the subtitle track from the Manga release to author a new dvd. This gives you R3 dvd with remastered video, original 2.0 and english subtitles.

It's not difficult and there are loads of programs and guides on the net that do the work for you.

I'd recommend using the subtitles from the Manga release because BV changed the spelling and pronounciations of the names and thus you lose the consistancy from the tv series and ovas. Also the Manga release had yellow subtitles which i prefer over white since white subtitles tend to blend into the background too much.