I want to see Zatoichi and Ichi The Killer. How would you suggest I go about it? ;)

[Tom Whitaker]

Erm... that's it really. Heard LOADS about these films but would rather pick up DVDs than go to the cinema because it'll cost about the same anyway.

So where should I get them and which ones? I don't really care for extras (especially if they're not subbed), just a good, uncut presentation of the movie.

[Shingster]

At the moment you can only get Zatoichi on Japanese & Korean DVD, the main feature is subbed on both and the Japanese disc will set you back about £21 from YesAsia, the Korean DVD is considerably less and might well be a port of the Japanese.

If you want Ichi the Killer uncut then you'll have to decide between the Dutch or American DVD release, the US has an inferior transfer to the Dutch (but I think it's cheaper). Both discs have Eng-subbed extras as well as the main feature.

[BiscLimpkit]

Yup what Shingster said but Media Blasters are gonna re-release Ichi the Killer in a brand spanking new S.E......that may or may not be better than the Dutch R2 (in terms of extras).

I have a feeling they'll keep the same transfer though...

Aye, just get the Dutch R2...can't go wrong with that. £20 fae Movietime....and hopefully it will have English text on the cover. :thumbs:

[IsoArska]

And if you happen to know Japanese/any scandinavian language. You can get Ichi the Killer (1-disc version probably) from here:

http://www.dvdoo.com/dvdoo/film.asp?Command=11013

4.5 £ +postage = 7.5 £

That's if you order only one movie. The postage is 2.5 £ + 0.5 £/movie.

[f_drew]

There seems to be an Italian version of Zatoichi here (http://www.dvd.it/page/dett/arti/178446/zatoichi_dvd_.html). No idea if it has english subs or anything though .....:thinking:

[Chief Wiggum]

I've got the R2 Japanese version of Zatoichi and the quality's fine, film's great.

Cost a tad under £20 from Amazon Japan if memory serves.

[MarcusUK]

Anyone gone for the korean version?

[BiscLimpkit]

Originally posted by MarcusUK
Anyone gone for the korean version?

:lol: Judging by Korea's tight censorship laws...I doubt that'd get passed uncut.

[balstino]

Really? Musa wasn't exactly a picnic in the park and that was released uncut. :confused:

[xraystan]

Well, I won't go into it, but if you've got broadband they are easy enough to get.

I've watched the uncut version of Ichi and it was very good quality, same with Zatoichi.
Needless to say I now have both of these on order. :thumbs:

[bigb]

or buy a pirate copy-only joking:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Esteban - CotS]

Originally posted by balstino
Really? Musa wasn't exactly a picnic in the park and that was released uncut. :confused:

Agreed, Korean censorship (in my experience) only occurs when there is full frontal nudity on screen i.e. Malena, Fight Club..

And there's none of that in Zatoichi.

[Jimmyboy]

Originally posted by BiscLimpkit
:lol: Judging by Korea's tight censorship laws...I doubt that'd get passed uncut.

Nonsense.
I don't know where people get this idea that Korea has ridiculously tight censorship restrictions. The only material which causes concern is generally of a sexual nature (usually homosexual). Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Shiri, Friend, and Save the Green Planet (to name but a few) all contain high levels of graphic violence and none have been cut by the Korean censors.

[SheepDip]

I've got the Korean release on it's way (Prob be here tomorrow or by Tuesday at latest I'd guess). If anyone's interested I'll post what it's like for transfer etc. I can't find anything on the internet whatsoever to suggest it may be cut - and as there aren't full frontal sex scenes, I doubt it will be the case.

If anyone's interested CD-Wow are selling a R3 version (Looks like a HK release by the picture - and rather ugly packaging it is too:lol: ) for £8.99 here (http://www7.cd-wow.com/detail_results_2.php?product_code=10864affid=5502)

[BiscLimpkit]

Originally posted by Jimmyboy
Nonsense.
I don't know where people get this idea that Korea has ridiculously tight censorship restrictions. The only material which causes concern is generally of a sexual nature (usually homosexual). Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, Shiri, Friend, and Save the Green Planet (to name but a few) all contain high levels of graphic violence and none have been cut by the Korean censors.

Woops I wanna apologise. I was referring to Ichi the Killer (not Zatoichi)...when I was talking about the movie probably being censored there. Come to think of it, I dunno why I thought he meant Ichi the Killer when this is a Zatoichi thread...I must be losing it. :nuts:

About Korean censorship, yeah I've just been given so many warnings about their censorship rules. Even on Koreandvds.com, there's a warning. Someone on the KFC forums even said that Kill Bill (theatrical cut) got censored there. If that's the case then I have my doubts about Ichi the Killer being uncut. But hey weirder things have happened.

Oh and I reckon yeah, Zatoichi should be released uncut there. My appologies for getting it confused with Ichi. And sorry for causing any offence. :)

[Jimmyboy]

No offence caused mate, just thought I'd better say something coz you know how dvd spec inaccuracies can create mass public hysteria on the net. :)

[Chibouk]

Originally posted by SheepDip
[B]I've got the Korean release on it's way (Prob be here tomorrow or by Tuesday at latest I'd guess). If anyone's interested I'll post what it's like for transfer etc.


I'd appreciate knowing what you think of the Korean release mate.

I had the Japanese disk which was an outstanding transfer, but I sold it on and now I'm sort of regretting it. :lol:

I might buy it again, but I'm not sure which version to go for. The disk at CD-Wow looks excellent at that price, but I wonder how it compares with the Korean and Japanese releases? :confused:

[ian turner]

er the cd-wow r3 version will be the one with 13 minutes cut coz they object more to nudity that violence against women. If you watch the UK r2 and r3 versions then chances are that'll include all the film thats in the dutch release due to completely different cuts (though a somewhat pointless exercise unless studying the difference in UK and chinese social mores).
Is the Dutch release still readily available as I think dvdzone2 indicated it had run out

[Fat Man Hackett]

Ian will be talking about Ichi in that above post...

[p_chally]

Anyone know if the Zatoichi r3 advertised on cdwow is uncut (awful cover I could forgive because all my dvds sit in a cupboard anyway) its stated as 115 mins although imdb list as 116. Release date is monday 19th, and ive not heard anything about a uk/usa release yet. For £8.99 it seems a bargain, but with the debacle of the recent kill bill r3 release i'll wait for confirmation i think.....really want to see this.

[eechiwawa]

Think I'll go for the R3 Zatoichi from CD-Wow, great price! YesAsia have the same item listed and state 116 mins. I'm guessing the bonus disc will be lacking English subs, but I'm more than happy at getting the film itself at that price.

[Shingster]

Zatoichi clocks in at around 116mins, no DVD company is that accurate with their runtimes on the back of cases (particularly asian DVD companies) so I wouldn't worry about it being cut chally.

[SheepDip]

Well my copy of the Korean release arrived today (At last), and as I said I would - here are a few thoughts:

This two disc set comes in a digipack - but it's a really sexy one. It's made of a hard shiny card, with glorious full colour pictures

http://members.lycos.co.uk/sheepdip41/zat001.jpg
The inside

http://members.lycos.co.uk/sheepdip41/zat002.jpg
A shot of the other side

So far, so good - especially if you're partial to packaging, now for the movie. As soon as I popped the disc in, it oozed quality.
The menu's are animated very nicely - all in Korean, but hardly difficult to navigate (And you can always select subs etc later anyway). There's a choice of DD2.0 and DD5.1 - hardly a contest!

http://members.lycos.co.uk/sheepdip41/zat003.jpg

Soundwise, I have no complaints at all. Personally I'm a bit of a DTS freak, but this DD is extremely good. It registers as 448kbps, but sounds the business. The scene with rain sounds like the front room has sprung a leak - exactly as it should do. As for when drums are used - well the sofa rocks nicely thank you very much:)

http://members.lycos.co.uk/sheepdip41/zat004.jpg

It's been reported that this movie has a muted colour scheme to say the least - well that's how it was filmed, but I noticed no problems. leaves look green (albeit a pale green), colour was there when it had to be.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/sheepdip41/zat005.jpg
Aaaah Gahhh Do Do Do

My pc tells me that it was averaging a bitrate of 8.5ish, the picture overall looks clean, very crisp and I haven't noticed any damage whatsoever. This by the way is coded R3 (Sometimes R3 is not actually coded).

These are just first observations - I haven't had time to watch the movie all the way through yet, also the screenshots will look better on any TV - my pc isn't picking these up so well and I've had to lighten them a bit.

Lastly - the second disc (Extras) is subbed only in Korean. This is of course pretty normal for a Korean release Or most R3 releases for that matter.

So, my thoughts - I'm pleased i've gone for the Korean release - good packaging, great pic quality.
Hopefully the cheap HK release (By Panorama - hmmm!) will be as good.

I hope this has been of use to someone.

[Jimmyboy]

The Korean set looks really nice, glad I paid the extra for it now.
Hopefully I'll have it any day now.
Thanks Sheepdip. :thumbs:

[megatron]

I think the Jap embossed slipcase and amaray looks nicer personally.

[Shingster]

Sheepdip, have you adjusted the aspect ratios at all? Those grabs appear vertically stretched and not enough to be down to anamorphic grabs.

EDIT - Noticed you say you beefed up the brightness for PC monitors, did you touch the contrast at all? The changes actually makes the transfer look worse rather than better.

[Tom Whitaker]

Erm, so is my R2 2-disc 'Emotion' release now worth naff all? :(

[Tom Whitaker]

By the way, it's Jap (I think), in a white Amaray but no embossed case. Anything amiss there?

[Splinter]

Originally posted by Tom Whitaker
Erm, so is my R2 2-disc 'Emotion' release now worth naff all? :(

Why should it be worth naff all? It's a damn nice quality set with DTS (unlike the K-release) and with nicer looking packaging. The metallic, dragon embossed slipcase is the best in my collection.

You should have had a slipcase with yours though :confused:

[Tom Whitaker]

Umm, no slipcase and from what I can see no DTS. There's only a Dolby logo on it and PowerDVD can only see 2 languages (I assume one is stereo, one DD). I don't have my DTS player and amp hooked up right now.

I'm not sure I've bought what I thought I was getting.

Barcode is 4 934569 618115, white Amaray with *the man* on the front, crouching, sashing with the sword against a blue-ish background. Code on spine, BCBJ 1811

Is this different to yours?

[Tom Whitaker]

Here it is:
http://www.cinemasie.com/fiche/video/5484/jaqHR.jpeg

Suggest here there's no DTS
http://www.cinemasie.com/vente/fiche/video/5484/

[Splinter]

Argh, I cocked up - sorry mate. :o Just pulled it out from my shelf and there is no DTS. I'm getting muddled up with another JPN release.

My barcode and spine code is the same - you should have a slipcover.

[Tom Whitaker]

OK, thanks for getting back to me. I've contacted my seller. Cheers mate.

[SheepDip]

Originally posted by Shingster
Sheepdip, have you adjusted the aspect ratios at all? Those grabs appear vertically stretched and not enough to be down to anamorphic grabs.

EDIT - Noticed you say you beefed up the brightness for PC monitors, did you touch the contrast at all? The changes actually makes the transfer look worse rather than better.

You are totally right. I'm having big difficulties with doing screengrabs, and these came out originally almost black! They were also very stretched, and I thought I'd corrected it to 1:66.1, but I later realised this isn't the correct ratio.
edit - I've corrected things a bit and re-posted the pics. The screenshots of course are just to give an idea - the actual picture quality is way better than I'm managing to get for these stills.

[GPR79]

Originally posted by Splinter
The metallic, dragon embossed slipcase is the best in my collection.

When you say metallic I assume you mean the colour/look because from what I'm told it's actually just a cardboard slipcase, yes?

[Splinter]

Originally posted by GPR79
When you say metallic I assume you mean the colour/look because from what I'm told it's actually just a cardboard slipcase, yes?

Yeah, metallic look. It's not reflective though - it has the look of brushed steel.

[Shingster]

Originally posted by SheepDip
You are totally right. I'm having big difficulties with doing screengrabs, and these came out originally almost black! They were also very stretched, and I thought I'd corrected it to 1:66.1, but I later realised this isn't the correct ratio.

It's ok, I was expecting this Korean release to most likely be a port of the r2j but the grabs made me wonder if that wasn't the case. Dunno if you're using PowerDVD or not, but if so you can make grabs of anamorphic titles without the stretching if you go to:

Configuration > Player Setting > Advanced > Snapshot

then look for the section called: Captured Aspect Ratio
choose: Current Video Window Size.

Hopefully your grabs won't be stretched then.

[DuncanSWardle]

I ordered the one from CD-Wow - is it not going to be any good ?

[dmb6473a]

I went to the Memorabilia show at the NEC last week, and one stall was trying to flog Zatoichi for £34!!! :eek: Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003 wasn't any better priced either. :oh-hum:

[5x5]

I received my £8.99 Region 3, Special Edition 2-disc set from CD-wow today. It's in an amaray case with cardboard slip and has three nice postcards inside. I won't get chance to watch it until later in the week, but disc, slip, and case all have DTS logos. Feature disc has On/Off Chinese/English subs, bonus disc just On/Off Chinese subs.

I'm very happy with it so far.

[JohnMid1098]

Originally posted by 5x5
I received my £8.99 Region 3, Special Edition 2-disc set from CD-wow today. It's in an amaray case with cardboard slip and has three nice postcards inside. I won't get chance to watch it until later in the week, but disc, slip, and case all have DTS logos. Feature disc has On/Off Chinese/English subs, bonus disc just On/Off Chinese subs.

I'm very happy with it so far.

:nuts: :clap:

Just ribbing :) Mine came in the post today too. Can't say whether I'm happy with it or not yet, though!

[bozman]

Finally got round to watching Zatoichi at the weekend with a couple of mates. After all the positive reviews etc. I must say I personally found it very disappointing. The visuals, CGI effects etc. were great but I found the film very slow. Having not seen any of the original movies I presume they are similar in terms of action and pace and therefore I was expecting too much from it. Also having recently watched a few of the Baby Cart series which are excellent - perhaps I was expecting the pace of Zatoichi to have been along the same lines.

With regard to Ichi The Killer - great flick - well worth investing in the Dutch 2 disc edition!

[Chibouk]

It's funny isn't it, but my opinions of the 2 films were the other way round.

I loved Zatoichi and the pace issue you raise didn't bother me at all.
However, I expected so much from Ichi and got very little from it. In fact, it's probably my least favourite Miike film.

[JohnMid1098]

Watched it last night. I really enjoyed it- the pacing was fine for me, and the end was superb. Some really good humour throughout the film and the characters were well portrayed.

It reminded me more of the Samurai films, than the Lone Wolf series, but it's all good to me.