Several in-store displays have been showing off the substantial visual improvements in the upcoming Card Captor Sakura Blu-ray release for some time now, but these new photos, in substantially higher size and quality, give a much better representation of how much better the shoujo classic now appears.
These are photos taken of a store display at Soft1 in Chiyoda:
New BD video is on the left in all photos, marked “HD”
A good comparison surely cannot be made from the rather crude method of snapping photos of of a TV display, but the sheer amount of difference visible in the new HD master shows excellent promise for the upcoming release.
Also, yes – I know that only decent comparison images would be PNG files with resolutions rivaling the size of small buildings. Forgive me.
I perhaps should be glad to own only a few of the soon to be obsoleted DVDs, but as the BD release will only be sold in two boxsets, the first for ¥62,000 (or here)and the second for ¥38,000 (or here), I likely won’t be able to upgrade my collection immediately upon their release in March…
Photos via Akiba Hobby.
Sd is better than BD..
I am very disappointed that it is not even widescreen! 1440×1080 (or even if it is 1920×1080, it is still displayed in 4:3).
I would so buy this but now I am hesitant.
does this include English subtitles??
ummm. . . sorry. . .i can’t catch the different
( ;;^^)a
perhaps ,is it because the anime it self is too old enough?
Start by replacing your eyes or buying some glasses. It will help.
Wow… You people are freaking BLIND
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/wp-content/gallery/misc-images-xvii/card_captor_sakura_bd_comparison_06.jpg
click that…. If you can’t see a difference in the left hand side vs. the right hand side….
meh, nvm…
Seems to me JP anime publishers know their time is coming up with all the stupid and assine price fixing they do and are going to run it into the ground in grand JP fashion.
I know someone that paid the same price for the two R2J DVD boxes of Dragon Ball Z and he even had to pay for custom taxes, so the Japanese studios know how to milk their animes before dropping the prices.
and yet, all the crazed jap otaku will buy this in droves…. Hell, If /I/ had an extra 100.000 yen to blow, I’d get it…
Oh eh Gee such a huuuuuge difference. /dripping sarcasm
Because a photo of a screen displaying the differences is the same thing as watching the real thing.
When I first saw the Blu-Ray was up for order, my thought was, “COUNT ME IN!”
When I saw the price, I told myself, “NO FUCKIN’ WAY!”
I like anime but there is only so much I can push myself before I decide, enough is enough.
The most important question for me is what they’ll do about the aspect ratio, since CCS was shot in 4:3. Surely they wouldn’t chop bits off the top and bottom of the frame, would they?
If I remember correctly, they said that it will be in 4:3 which means they won’t letterbox it (thank god…)
By what I’ve seen on the recent Zeta Gundam BDrips, it will probably be 4:3 with no chopping for “widescreen version”.
lucky for me this has bean on my To Get List for ages just never saw it around.. Hope they Do a UK version.. ha.. im dreaming there huh
I have the entire series in individual R1 DVDs, on VCD and on my HD. I don’t think I’ll need another.
Enjoy Madison and Julian…
i would rather buy those loli doll. c’mon 70000 yen for a loli doll or 70000 yen for sakura HD version?
That picture of Sakura and Tomoyo is worth more than the CCS Blu-Ray set.
Truths, my friend… Truths.
i’ll wait for BD to drop prices =P
enjoy waiting for the next 10 years…
or just do what everybody else is gonna do and get it from Perfect Dark…..
Id totally buy it just for the fact its loli 😀
I thought this is another troll by artefact looking from the first picture…. hahaha/..
Ups sorry… Quen is the one who make this news…. hahaha…
I don’t troll. ^^
I know.. Sorry… It was Astefact… hahaha
I saw the differences, but no Blu-Ray vs DVD comparison convinced me so far that it’s worth buying a Blu-ray player only for that, let alone paying such a ridiculous price…
And I’m not trying to resist the new technology and all, but I really can’t see the point.
I mean, VHS up to DVD I can understand, LPs to CDs and then DVD, no problem.
DVD to Blu-ray? Only when we get cheap medias and recorders.
Because to watch movies alone, if media storage formats still go on and are not replaced by online counterparts, the next generation I’ll be buying is when the media gets somewhat more secure, less succeptible to scratches and damage, and cheaper…
Oh, and yes, I did watch Blu-ray movies and I did compare. Yes, the image is quality is visibly better, it’s sharper and more crispy, etc etc…
But in the end of the day, what’ll matter most to me, is always the story…
Indeed VHS -> DVD because of degrading VHS and DVDs are cheaper to produce, LPs -> CDs for the same reasons, and CDs -> DVDs because of there being enough space on DVDs for movies and such in reasonable resolution. What convinced me to not get BD is pretty much the state of my monetary fortitude, which is practically non-existent.
Even then, I’ll probably end up getting a PS3 because of the fact it can do BD movies and…MGS4, but it won’t warrant getting new copies of anything I have because like you, the story is what matters. Although, characterization is just as important to me too.
$600…you could buy tons of figures from that, including higher quality ones. What’s better, this or one Sakura-chan figure for your every room? ..$600 make that two per room instead…or three or even 10 if you buy cheaper ones, you get the idea I think… and in the not that unlikely case you actually like other anime series as well, you could say…buy one figure from your 10 favorite ones instead?
Personally I’m comfortable enough with my plush Sakura I got for $10 who is always on my side while I’m sleeping and the figures on my computer for while I’m awake. They are not all Sakuras, there are other ones too. Unlike the anime, which I only see when I have time to watch it again (would rarely happen, as I already seen it 3 times, and have about 500 new series to watch before I have time to re-watch something), they are always with me whatever else I might be watching.
Or, you could spend a bit more and buy an 1/1 figure? I’ve seen a picture of that somewhere so it probably exists. I wish I were rich enough to buy one.
Oh yeah, a huge difference in quality is apparent when you look at it full res. I’m nearly blind and I can see it easily. It’s still too much money for a cartoon series though.
>cartoon
For those not seeing the difference, click the image.. then click the bottomright icon that’s covering the image.
If you then still don’t see a difference.. don’t bother buying this, money is better spend on a pair of glasses. Mighty fancy glasses for $600!
Oh cool, I didn’t think about clicking on that symbol and never took a second glance at it…how I’ve been doing it is on firefox right click, open in new tab/foreground tab, and that does it just fine for me…or it did before now. o_o
So yes, I am insulted by not being told, but only because of my own decision to not examine everything, and nothing more.
even if you don’t wanna do it the right way….
1. Right click image
2. Hold CTRL key down
3. Click ‘View Image’
4. Look at picture in new tab
5. ??????
6. Profit
Perhaps I should’ve mentioned that in the post, but that might be insulting the intelligence of some readers…
Quen, after all this time you still think that you don’t have the right to insult everyone that reads your posts by explaining simple stuff like that?
If people don’t like that you are explaining it like you were writing to a 5 year old, then they should pick up some of that “intelligence” stuff that you were talking about, because if they already have it, they won’t be bothered by it and will laugh it off.
Sarcasm was lost on the tubes. What I meant is if people already know what to do, they don’t need to protest against an explanation for those that lack the intelligence, because there are always people like that. No exceptions.
Even so, you’re welcome, Quen.
Yes, I meant something along that line.
Your support is appreciated nonetheless, ManaYagami.
I think he was referring to the people who -do- know what to do, so they don’t need to be told, and might find it a little insulting that the author had to include it in the article.
no you’re not….
They’re just sum n00bs…. Of course they can’t see the difference
Absolutely stupid price. Not worth it.
I don’t really see the point in putting this on Blu-Ray.
The series was created way back 1998 using the old fashion hand drawn cell method.
Due to this, they can only take the old film, upscale it, and if remastering properly, go through frame by frame cleaning the film damage.
Ideally, they should have released this on DVD as you’ll get little benefit from HD apart from greater noise and grain levels. It also wouldn’t have cost an arm and a leg then.
Still, I’m sure we’ll see lots of companies jumping on the Blu-Ray train soon with these older shows, seeing the chance to milk a dead property.
“Due to this, they can only take the old film, upscale it, and if remastering properly, go through frame by frame cleaning the film damage.”
You fail to grasp the meaning of the word ‘remastered’. They make a BRAND NEW master from the original film stock, scanned at a much higher resolution. There is no upscaling involved.
They did release this on DVD, my uncle bought all of the CCS franchise, and yes if it wasn’t thanks to him, I possibly wouldn’t be here because I might not have been interested in anime if not…but ehh, who knows.
I just hope someone gets these things out in the Internet, because I sure as hell can’t afford these Blu-rays. What the hell is up with the price of digital media in Japan?
The colour is slightly brighter, and, if you look at the kanji in the note book, it’s slightly less blury.
Plus, there is slightly less pixalisation on Sakura-chans hair.
There IS an improvement, and this series IS worth owning….. But for that price, when the difference is hardly going to be noticable, when actualy watching.
Seems pointless.
I WANT TOO!
The best improvement would be the Sakura x Tomoyo
TOMOYO IS HOT!
That was one hell of an attention-grabbing pic, yeah.
Even though lolicon doesn’t do anything for me, I’m fond of Sakura and Tomoyo doujinshi, being a huge fan of he pairing. True most of it is ero, but since it’s not that easy to find romantic Sakura and Tomoyo doujinshi, you have to take what you can get. Thank you very much for posting the soul kiss pic. That’s how Cardcaptor Sakura should have ended..
Yes, that picture is full of win. It’s probably one of the most erotic pictures I’ve seen.
They turned me both into a lolicon and a yuricon, 9 years ago, so since I saw the title followed by that picture I had to know what those improvementes were. Unfortunately, they only have better image quality and no Sakura x Tomoyo.
Quen should be damned for giving false hope to the fans!
Is this just me or aren’t their any differences in the comparison images? (Except for the last one)
Or is it necessary to stare a few minutes at each pic to realize minor changes?
How are you people viewing these? Look at it in its full res, you guys seem to be using the scaling pop-up. Or not even that? Each image is 1500×1125.
Well, yeah. Those images are that big. But I can’t see any significant differences.
After reading the headline I was somewhat deluded, that the blue-ray version would involve less clothes, which would justify a higher prize. But … just this?
If the differences aren’t obvious when viewed at original size, then you may want to book an eye exam.
Maybe this is something you have to see in person, but I can barely notice a difference. That’s not to say that I don’t, just no difference worth shelling out a fortune over.
look at #6 Expand it to its full size. If you don’t see a difference, I really can’t help you…
It’s just not fair. If I had that sort of a throwaway income, I’d happily pay that much…
I wonder if this will make its way overseas. I’d be happy with a DVD rerelease, honestly, one where I can get box sets for UNDER 200 dollars. >_>
damn! 600 smackers? no way!
It’s 70000 yen… which is closer to US$700~800…
But damn, the DVD version is not bad… I wouldn’t want to invest that amount of money on that… I would rather buy 2~3 blu-ray players than buy that set… not like I NEED 2~3 blu-ray players… wait, maybe I do. One for the living room, one for showering with, and one to sleep with. Yah. Three blu-ray players.
But what would you play on the blu-ray players if you didn’t buy any discs?
Probably some PS3 games.
Those minigames that come on the Harry Potter DVDs of course. Basilio can become a quidditch master while showering.
Damn 600 bucks for part of a blu-ray set? Ouch.
Its-a…. SONY!
T0rr3nts exist. Why bother?