Media Blasters Remastering Berserk
- Thread starter berserker88
- Start date
Somewhere in the not-to-distant future the complete series will be re-re-released for Berserk's 20th Anniversary with Aazealh doing audio commentary on a few eps or something, Blue-ray or whatever. But, thats just my opinion anyway.
Aazealh said:What are you, a soothsayer?
Hear me out, Over in the UK the DVD company Metrodome who do the Transformers DVDs have an expert, Chris Mcfeely who comments on a few of the episodes and knows the knowledge about the transformers mythos back to front. I'm only saying that if there is a 20th anniversary re-re-release of the complete series of Berserk maybe theres your chance to do the audio commentary then Aazealh. Since you are expert on Berserk afterall.
Skullgrin140 said:
Yeah but I'm not even from the USA, and what would define the 20th anniversary anyway? The reason I ask is because the Berserk prototype was first published in Monthly Comi Comi exactly 20 years ago, in November of 1988. And even if we go by the first publication of the actual manga, it'd make for two very close releases. Unlikely.
Aazealh said:
Fair enough, its just an idea.
S
synchg
Guest
Damn, I wish I saw this thread earlier, in September. I'm very interested in the technical aspect of this release. Is there a possibility that the SK.net member overseeing the project can come foreward, for a few questions. 
Vampire_Hunter_Bob
Cats are great
synchg said:Is there a possibility that the SK.net member overseeing the project can come foreward, for a few questions.
I doubt it, he's probably busy.
S
synchg
Guest
Vampire_Hunter_Bob said:
With other activities in his life or with the DVD set still? I doubt he's busy with DVD project, cause if anything, I would imagine it's already being mass produced and ready to ship.
Hey everybody,
I had no idea they were releasing a triple dip of this box set before i saw this board, and I am a huge berserk fan. So on that note, sales will probably not go that well with this box set when allot of people don't even know of it being released- sadly.
The tech spec of this dvd are extremely disappointing, just the fact that it is not on blu-ray, i won't be buying it. First off, 2.0 stereo.... come on now! its completely possible to remix the audio into dolby 5.1 surround sound- prime example would be the cowboy bebop remix double dips which went from 2.0 to 5.1 (yes i know the originals of berserk were in mono). Another great example would be the recently released blu-ray dvd of Sleeping Beauty 50th Anniversary edition which has 5.1 dts master audio (uncompressed audio)- mind you this movie was released in 1959 with mono audio so it is completely possible to get 5.1 out of the new boxset for berserk. Now on the subject of the bebop remix dvds, ign.com reviewed the releases and noted that when viewing a side-by-side comparison of the two different versions of the dvds they could find no difference whatsoever in the picture quality transfers- even though a new digital transfer was one of the features that was boasted for the new release. The point of that is, i really hope that won't be the case with this new berserk boxset. However, just the fact that its not on blu-ray is going to turn allot of people off, the anime scene is made up of mostly young adults who are usually more knowledgeable of new technology and of coarse want to get there hands on it because they have no sense of money. Plus people who already have blu-ray players usually hold out until films are released on blu-ray to finally buy.
Why wouldn't you want to be one of the first anime blu-ray releases out there so than you can maximize your sales and give new to life to the series!? I think that could be the best thing for the series.
I'm not try to rip on the guy on this board who is helping on the project, its just that from a marketing perspective this is not the best move to maximize sales.
I had no idea they were releasing a triple dip of this box set before i saw this board, and I am a huge berserk fan. So on that note, sales will probably not go that well with this box set when allot of people don't even know of it being released- sadly.
The tech spec of this dvd are extremely disappointing, just the fact that it is not on blu-ray, i won't be buying it. First off, 2.0 stereo.... come on now! its completely possible to remix the audio into dolby 5.1 surround sound- prime example would be the cowboy bebop remix double dips which went from 2.0 to 5.1 (yes i know the originals of berserk were in mono). Another great example would be the recently released blu-ray dvd of Sleeping Beauty 50th Anniversary edition which has 5.1 dts master audio (uncompressed audio)- mind you this movie was released in 1959 with mono audio so it is completely possible to get 5.1 out of the new boxset for berserk. Now on the subject of the bebop remix dvds, ign.com reviewed the releases and noted that when viewing a side-by-side comparison of the two different versions of the dvds they could find no difference whatsoever in the picture quality transfers- even though a new digital transfer was one of the features that was boasted for the new release. The point of that is, i really hope that won't be the case with this new berserk boxset. However, just the fact that its not on blu-ray is going to turn allot of people off, the anime scene is made up of mostly young adults who are usually more knowledgeable of new technology and of coarse want to get there hands on it because they have no sense of money. Plus people who already have blu-ray players usually hold out until films are released on blu-ray to finally buy.
Why wouldn't you want to be one of the first anime blu-ray releases out there so than you can maximize your sales and give new to life to the series!? I think that could be the best thing for the series.
I'm not try to rip on the guy on this board who is helping on the project, its just that from a marketing perspective this is not the best move to maximize sales.
S
synchg
Guest
robinhood said:
i don't know why people keep asking for a blu ray version of berserk. a high definition master will not benefit the anime...it's not the most detailed thing ever, but the character designs are nice. and i wouldn't mind a stereo PCM uncompressed japanese track. do away with all the trailers, outtakes and "special" features, and just dedicate discs for audio/visual improvement. makin it a definitive collection.
@ robinhood: I totally agree. A Blu-Ray release would be far more logical. They could probably fit the entire series on one BD instead of 6 DVDs. However, they can milk sales further by releasing the remastered DVD version now and then force us to upgrade to the vastly superior and greatly preferred Blu-Ray version later. We'll just have to buy this remastered release as a placeholder until they give us what we really want, Berserk on Blu-Ray format.
@synchg: OMG yes!! If they could remove the rehashed intro and credits that liter every single episode, that would be godsend. They should show one intro before 1st episode and show credits after final episode, and that's it. All episodes should be spiced together to form one coherent & seamless epic show. :)
@synchg: OMG yes!! If they could remove the rehashed intro and credits that liter every single episode, that would be godsend. They should show one intro before 1st episode and show credits after final episode, and that's it. All episodes should be spiced together to form one coherent & seamless epic show. :)
Hi all! Okay, so obviously, most people on the boards know that the one handling the Berserk project is none other than me. Actually, I'm a bit nervous with the upcoming release, because if anyone has problems with it, well most likely people will blame me for it! But, let's put it this way... if I wasn't working on it, then Media Blasters wouldn't be re-releasing Berserk in the first place!
You see, I'm going to be straightforward... Media Blasters is a small company, and despite the success of how well Berserk has sold when it was first released, there is no real incentive for MB to put more money into Berserk because as far as most people are concerned... the show is long gone. But, there are some hardcore Berserk fans within the company, and we all agreed that the first release (ie the Box of War set, and the Brick collection) could use a serious makeover. However, the decision was essentially up to me because I was the only editor that would do the job.
So with the help of a few coworkers, we stayed at the office til 2-3am for several weeks, on our own time, just to work on this re-release. We couldn't work the normal hours for it because we had other titles to work on that had "priority" to the company. Officially, all that was "supposed" to be done was to release a DVD set with re-mastered video and a fixed Japanese stereo track. Of course, as the Berserk fan that I am, there was no way in hell that I would do ONLY that.
Here is what the Berserk re-release has to offer, that the original release didn't:
1. A beautiful progressive encode, straight from film masters
- Sharper image
- Better color
- Even better than the original Japanese DVDs
2. A Japanese stereo track
- As some know, the original release had mostly a Japanese mono track.
3. A tightened up English dub
- There were sync issues with the original, so I re-aligned as much as I could in the given time.
4. A balanced (volume) Japanese and English audio track
- On both the Japanese DVDs and our previous DVDs, the volume level of each episode fluctuates up to 9db sometimes, which I found to be really annoying when watching episodes back to back. I want my Berserk marathons to be seamless!
5. Audio pops / dropouts / noise removal
- There were tons of these glitches in both audio tracks, and even present in the Japanese release! Now gone.
6. Japanese disc art
- The new discs now have the Japanese disc art which is pretty cool
7. Japanese slates
- Some might or might not care about this, but cool for the purists
8. Re-timed subtitles
9. FIXED TRANSLATIONS and SPELLINGS (well minus B E H E L I T, sorry!)
- This is what gave me the most trouble but I think is one of the most valuable changes to this re-release. The translations, previously, were HORRENDOUS. Not just simple grammar and typos (to my horror there were a ton of them), but the very meaning and word choice of the translations were just wrong! To me, since I don't particularly like watching anime dubbed, the subtitles are the most important aspect of how the story is told, especially for a show like Berserk! There is so much philosophy and the characters are so deep, that misinterpreted translations can utterly ruin the whole experience. Now, granted, I don't know Japanese, so for me to fix the translation errors by myself is utterly impossible. But, I read through all the english subtitles over and over again, searching for sentences that sounded awkward or out of context, and brought them to our in-house translator. She would then study my proposed changes alongside the Japanese dialogue/script, and together we would re-write them if appropriate. Fortunately, the translator this time around (the original release was done by someone else) paid more attention to the context of the show and was very patient with me when we would spend 15 minutes searching for the perfect way to phrase something. In the end, we probably changed 30-40% of the subtitles, which is a shit load of editing!!!
Here are just some quick translation examples to see what I mean:
Original
Casca is always rebelling against her station, and her life as a mercenary.
Re-release
Casca gave up womanhood long ago and lived her life as a mercenary.
I mean, that original sentence is completely backwards!! Cmon now!
Original
He is coming...
His presence is imminent...
The King of the supreme beings...
It is the advent of the four guardian angels!
Re-release
They are coming...
They are near...
The rulers of the supreme beings...
It is the advent of the four guardian angels!
Simple mistake, but the original is confusing.
Anyways, you get the point! Now, to tackle some of the complaints I've been reading:
1. Blu-ray... I hear ya guys. Berserk on blu-ray would be awesome for us HDTV owners in THEORY, but not in REALITY... It's not a matter of SD or HD, because Berserk was originally done on 16mm, and that is the limiting factor for blu-ray. If Berserk is on blu-ray, you will only see more film grain! The only real advantage will be putting more episodes on a single disc, which is certainly cool, but not necessary by any means.
2. 5.1 audio track... We don't have any of the original Japanese stems, and they aren't available to us either. Getting permission to make our own Japanese 5.1 mix is difficult and improbable. I suppose we could have done an English 5.1, but for a low budget show like Berserk, the only real thing that would play in the surrounds would be music, some sword clangs, and reverb, and most audio receivers can handle that to a certain extent. For a show like Cowboy Bebop, (I own the original Perfect Sessions and the Remix DVDs) I definitely love the new 5.1 tracks but I mean, that is fitting for a show like Cowboy Bebop. Loud explosions, guns, bullets flying everywhere, lively music... But, me personally, I just couldn't see much benefit for a 5.1 track for Berserk. I guess we just have to agree to disagree on that front.
3. Same extras... Yeah, it would have been cool to put some new extras. I wanted to sneak in an easter egg slideshow of pictures of my Berserk kits but well... I wasn't sure if I'd get in trouble for that! LOL But yes, I do apologize, there are sadly no new extras. All the menus are the same as the original release too. That, unfortunately, was out of my hands.
IN CONCLUSION...
...this Berserk release is really for the hardcore fans out there that want a prettier, cleaner, as-close-to-the-original, better-translated Berserk DVD set. Honestly, when I was working on this project, I was thinking of you guys all the way through. I was in touch with Aaz (you can see his name in the credits even!), and I really just wanted to make the most definitive Berserk release that I could do for the community. I REALLY hope it doesn't disappoint and I seriously hope that I didn't do anything that will bite me in the ass later
. I'll have you know I pissed off a lot of my coworkers while working on this. There were times when me and my co-worker would find tiny audio glitches like an audio dropout in the waterfall sound in the right channel for 1 frame long, and we would have a whole new build made just for that one change. I have to say, a big special thanks to Sean Molyneaux, Clark Cheng, Yuki Urakawa, and Dave Beinlich for all their help!!!
[Update: uploaded a higher-res video clip]
And finally, for your viewing pleasure, here you can download a side by side comparison of the Berserk Opening!!! Also, down below you can see side by side screenshots, directly from the DVDs themselves. This would probably be the best thing to look at if you want to compare the image quality.
PS. The DVDs are still scheduled to ship on 12/23 but some retail stores might not have it until a few days later. Places like Amazon might have a quicker turnaround, but not quite sure. Me personally, I wanted to give this set as gifts for Xmas so hopefully the replicators will be able to finish it in time!
PPS. Yes, I've been busy and not responding to this thread (or other threads for that matter) but I'll be back in the groove soon! Berserk is now done so I can return to being a healthy mod on this forum.
On a side note, I got a killer surprise for all you Berserk merch collectors out there. I'm talking about a really REALLY cool Berserk collectible. I'll let you know soon!!!
You see, I'm going to be straightforward... Media Blasters is a small company, and despite the success of how well Berserk has sold when it was first released, there is no real incentive for MB to put more money into Berserk because as far as most people are concerned... the show is long gone. But, there are some hardcore Berserk fans within the company, and we all agreed that the first release (ie the Box of War set, and the Brick collection) could use a serious makeover. However, the decision was essentially up to me because I was the only editor that would do the job.
So with the help of a few coworkers, we stayed at the office til 2-3am for several weeks, on our own time, just to work on this re-release. We couldn't work the normal hours for it because we had other titles to work on that had "priority" to the company. Officially, all that was "supposed" to be done was to release a DVD set with re-mastered video and a fixed Japanese stereo track. Of course, as the Berserk fan that I am, there was no way in hell that I would do ONLY that.
Here is what the Berserk re-release has to offer, that the original release didn't:
1. A beautiful progressive encode, straight from film masters
- Sharper image
- Better color
- Even better than the original Japanese DVDs
2. A Japanese stereo track
- As some know, the original release had mostly a Japanese mono track.
3. A tightened up English dub
- There were sync issues with the original, so I re-aligned as much as I could in the given time.
4. A balanced (volume) Japanese and English audio track
- On both the Japanese DVDs and our previous DVDs, the volume level of each episode fluctuates up to 9db sometimes, which I found to be really annoying when watching episodes back to back. I want my Berserk marathons to be seamless!
5. Audio pops / dropouts / noise removal
- There were tons of these glitches in both audio tracks, and even present in the Japanese release! Now gone.
6. Japanese disc art
- The new discs now have the Japanese disc art which is pretty cool
7. Japanese slates
- Some might or might not care about this, but cool for the purists
8. Re-timed subtitles
9. FIXED TRANSLATIONS and SPELLINGS (well minus B E H E L I T, sorry!)
- This is what gave me the most trouble but I think is one of the most valuable changes to this re-release. The translations, previously, were HORRENDOUS. Not just simple grammar and typos (to my horror there were a ton of them), but the very meaning and word choice of the translations were just wrong! To me, since I don't particularly like watching anime dubbed, the subtitles are the most important aspect of how the story is told, especially for a show like Berserk! There is so much philosophy and the characters are so deep, that misinterpreted translations can utterly ruin the whole experience. Now, granted, I don't know Japanese, so for me to fix the translation errors by myself is utterly impossible. But, I read through all the english subtitles over and over again, searching for sentences that sounded awkward or out of context, and brought them to our in-house translator. She would then study my proposed changes alongside the Japanese dialogue/script, and together we would re-write them if appropriate. Fortunately, the translator this time around (the original release was done by someone else) paid more attention to the context of the show and was very patient with me when we would spend 15 minutes searching for the perfect way to phrase something. In the end, we probably changed 30-40% of the subtitles, which is a shit load of editing!!!
Here are just some quick translation examples to see what I mean:
Original
Casca is always rebelling against her station, and her life as a mercenary.
Re-release
Casca gave up womanhood long ago and lived her life as a mercenary.
I mean, that original sentence is completely backwards!! Cmon now!
Original
He is coming...
His presence is imminent...
The King of the supreme beings...
It is the advent of the four guardian angels!
Re-release
They are coming...
They are near...
The rulers of the supreme beings...
It is the advent of the four guardian angels!
Simple mistake, but the original is confusing.
Anyways, you get the point! Now, to tackle some of the complaints I've been reading:
1. Blu-ray... I hear ya guys. Berserk on blu-ray would be awesome for us HDTV owners in THEORY, but not in REALITY... It's not a matter of SD or HD, because Berserk was originally done on 16mm, and that is the limiting factor for blu-ray. If Berserk is on blu-ray, you will only see more film grain! The only real advantage will be putting more episodes on a single disc, which is certainly cool, but not necessary by any means.
2. 5.1 audio track... We don't have any of the original Japanese stems, and they aren't available to us either. Getting permission to make our own Japanese 5.1 mix is difficult and improbable. I suppose we could have done an English 5.1, but for a low budget show like Berserk, the only real thing that would play in the surrounds would be music, some sword clangs, and reverb, and most audio receivers can handle that to a certain extent. For a show like Cowboy Bebop, (I own the original Perfect Sessions and the Remix DVDs) I definitely love the new 5.1 tracks but I mean, that is fitting for a show like Cowboy Bebop. Loud explosions, guns, bullets flying everywhere, lively music... But, me personally, I just couldn't see much benefit for a 5.1 track for Berserk. I guess we just have to agree to disagree on that front.
3. Same extras... Yeah, it would have been cool to put some new extras. I wanted to sneak in an easter egg slideshow of pictures of my Berserk kits but well... I wasn't sure if I'd get in trouble for that! LOL
But yes, I do apologize, there are sadly no new extras. All the menus are the same as the original release too. That, unfortunately, was out of my hands.IN CONCLUSION...
...this Berserk release is really for the hardcore fans out there that want a prettier, cleaner, as-close-to-the-original, better-translated Berserk DVD set. Honestly, when I was working on this project, I was thinking of you guys all the way through. I was in touch with Aaz (you can see his name in the credits even!), and I really just wanted to make the most definitive Berserk release that I could do for the community. I REALLY hope it doesn't disappoint and I seriously hope that I didn't do anything that will bite me in the ass later
. I'll have you know I pissed off a lot of my coworkers while working on this. There were times when me and my co-worker would find tiny audio glitches like an audio dropout in the waterfall sound in the right channel for 1 frame long, and we would have a whole new build made just for that one change. I have to say, a big special thanks to Sean Molyneaux, Clark Cheng, Yuki Urakawa, and Dave Beinlich for all their help!!![Update: uploaded a higher-res video clip]
And finally, for your viewing pleasure, here you can download a side by side comparison of the Berserk Opening!!! Also, down below you can see side by side screenshots, directly from the DVDs themselves. This would probably be the best thing to look at if you want to compare the image quality.
PS. The DVDs are still scheduled to ship on 12/23 but some retail stores might not have it until a few days later. Places like Amazon might have a quicker turnaround, but not quite sure. Me personally, I wanted to give this set as gifts for Xmas so hopefully the replicators will be able to finish it in time!
PPS. Yes, I've been busy and not responding to this thread (or other threads for that matter) but I'll be back in the groove soon! Berserk is now done so I can return to being a healthy mod on this forum.
On a side note, I got a killer surprise for all you Berserk merch collectors out there. I'm talking about a really REALLY cool Berserk collectible. I'll let you know soon!!!
Rhombaad
Video Game Time Traveler
Thanks for all that detailed info, Derek! I think I speak for everyone on the board when I say we appreciate your dedication to Berserk and the fact that you went to all this trouble for us, the fans. You rock!
P.S. - Agent A has slipped into the DVD's now. Sneaky...
P.S. - Agent A has slipped into the DVD's now. Sneaky...
X
Xem
Guest
I can honestly say I'm honored to have you do this for us, DirectDK. Also whoever the translator is, Aazealh, and whoever else put in some blood and sweat.
Thank you, sir! I will buy it!
edit: screw Blu-ray anyway, it'll be replaced in <5 years.
Thank you, sir! I will buy it!
edit: screw Blu-ray anyway, it'll be replaced in <5 years.
Anyway guys, I think that by all means this is a pretty cool set. The previous one had many defaults and while this one won't be perfect, it'll already be much better. Comparing it to something like the Sleeping Beauty 50th Anniversary Edition is a joke if only because the gap in production costs must be ridiculous. Media Blaster isn't Walt Disney Pictures and the Berserk TV series isn't a cornerstone of worldwide animation. Keep in mind it's only going to cost about $30.
Personally I'm not even a big fan of the animated TV series in the first place, but I'll take this opportunity to publicly thank Derek for his dedication. He's been doing his best and that's more than most people can say.
Personally I'm not even a big fan of the animated TV series in the first place, but I'll take this opportunity to publicly thank Derek for his dedication. He's been doing his best and that's more than most people can say.
Vampire_Hunter_Bob
Cats are great
Huh well that explains where DK has been all this time. Anyways great job, I'll make sure to pick up a copy for my self in the near future.
In regards to my sleeping beauty comment, my only point was to show that it is possible to indeed to create a 5.1 surround format for a show such as berserk- in the case of sleeping beauty even a uncompressed audio format. Thanks for clarifying Derek that you indeed could have, if it wasn't for the funding issues. That of coarse is completely understandable.
In referring to a blu-ray release, my point was that if you go into a blu-ray dvd section of a Best Buy or another retail store, you'll never find more than a two row selection because there is obviously not a whole lot to choose from. Thus, put an eye catching cover art on the dvd and it'll get noticed by a large majority of customers. Plus, there is a demand for anime on hi-def cause all there are is dbz, evangelion, and a few other stuff. But hey, i gotta ask, is there ever gonna be a release on blu-ray?
If your stingy such as myself with these sorts of things here are some solutions: use five channel stereo setting on your receiver to get virtual surround and watch your dvds using a playstation 3 or any other player that has a Faroudja DCDi chip in it (gives the best upconverting for sd discs on hdtvs) hahahah now i'm just nerding out
Anyway, Thank You a ton DerekDK for all of your hard work and i'm glad to hear that this project was worked on by a fan who takes our suggestions into consideration and for that I will be buying this boxset without a doubt
In referring to a blu-ray release, my point was that if you go into a blu-ray dvd section of a Best Buy or another retail store, you'll never find more than a two row selection because there is obviously not a whole lot to choose from. Thus, put an eye catching cover art on the dvd and it'll get noticed by a large majority of customers. Plus, there is a demand for anime on hi-def cause all there are is dbz, evangelion, and a few other stuff. But hey, i gotta ask, is there ever gonna be a release on blu-ray?
If your stingy such as myself with these sorts of things here are some solutions: use five channel stereo setting on your receiver to get virtual surround and watch your dvds using a playstation 3 or any other player that has a Faroudja DCDi chip in it (gives the best upconverting for sd discs on hdtvs) hahahah now i'm just nerding out
Anyway, Thank You a ton DerekDK for all of your hard work and i'm glad to hear that this project was worked on by a fan who takes our suggestions into consideration and for that I will be buying this boxset without a doubt
Man, that picture looks great! My brother said he was buying this as a Christmas present for me (we don't surprise each other with Christmas presents--saves money). Mmmm...Berserk on our Sony Bravia.