LD rip for each movie, maybe VHS rip for Nausicaä (ghosts) and R1 DVD rip for Mononoke but it was recompressed and it shows. On the box, it is said that this video is 16/9 but actually, only Mononoke has a real 16/9, the others movies are 16/9 Letterbox.

Stereo for each movie, no 5.1 for Mononoke :( I tried to watch Laputa with a Dolby Prologic 2 sound (stereo remixed in 5.1), but the sound became crappy with pops and a lot of stuff you don't hear when you use a stereo sound system.

Stereo for each movie, no 5.1 for Mononoke :( I tried to watch Laputa with a Dolby Prologic 2 sound (stereo remixed in 5.1), but the sound became crappy with pops and a lot of stuff you don't hear when you use a stereo sound system.

This set is excellent but now you maybe should consider the newer releases with a single disc that are R2 rips (Porco Rosso, Totoro...).

This review is for the Nausicaa movie on the set. THe video in this set is a letterbox widescreen. The video itself is a little blurry. This is to be expected since this was most likely taken from an LD source as opposed to a DVD source. However, it doesn't look like a VHS source. THe video itself is pretty good considering it's an 18 year old anime. The video had a pixelated distortion once through the movie, however, I'm probably going to attribute that to player/disc error rather than encoding error. I inflated the score slightly since this is such an old movie. The video does look a lot better on a TV screen than a PC monitor, and watching it on a 40 or 50 inch projection TV (albeit an old one) was still a pleasure to watch. The only problem from the video was the fuzzyness from the source, and didn't look over compressed.

The audio was pretty good, and it wasn't muffled, with any hums or buzzes. However, the audio didn't seem as fulla s it could be. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, but the audio seemed to Be a little closed, and a little more in the center than on the sides (as if it were mono rather than stereo). For all I know, it may have been mono, but I'm not sure.

The audio was pretty good, and it wasn't muffled, with any hums or buzzes. However, the audio didn't seem as fulla s it could be. I'm not sure exactly how to explain it, but the audio seemed to Be a little closed, and a little more in the center than on the sides (as if it were mono rather than stereo). For all I know, it may have been mono, but I'm not sure.

This was a wonderful movie, and the DVD was really great considering the only version available is the heavily cut, and mistranslated warriors of the wind. I don't know if the set is worth it for this movie alone, however, this movie should weigh in heavily on your decision to buy this movie.

I purchased the 4-disc version of the this boxed set, but from what I understand it is essentially the same as the 6-disc set but with 3 movies per disc, as opposed to 2. Of course, this will result in slightly inferior video quality and no Dolby Digital 5.1. VIDEO: The video (for a bootleg) is superb. I was expecting something much worse. The colors weren't as vibrant as I'd hoped, but the lines were sharp. There was some pixelation in fast-action sequences, but overall I was pleased with all the movies. Keep in mind that some movies like Nausicaa and Laputa are over 10 years old, and so the colors are not going to be as vibrant as today's anime (like Gundam Wing). AUDIO: Not a true Dolby Digital, but I doubt that these HK bootleggers have the capacity to make high quality, discrete Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. I have a Dolby Digital/DTS receiver, and so using Dolby Pro Logic sounded decent enough, and there were no audio "artifacts" or "echoing" like on some other titles. Good stereo-quality audio! SUBTITLES: Here's where it gets "sub-par". On Laputa there is a serious delay of about 1.5 seconds before the subtitles appear, and it gets confusing because there is only one color for the subtitles, and when you have more than one person talking to each other, it gets frustrating. Also, on "Only Yesterday" (one of the better films in the lot) the subtitles were way too fast in some spots. I'm a notaive English speaker, and even I can't read that fast. Overall, it's worth it because if you've seen these movies before, then you already have a general sense of the the dialogue, but I just want to warn people that the subtitling is not as good as commercial products or even some really good fan subs (like Maison Ikkoku or Orange Road). Another minor gripe is that the subtitles appear on the film itself and not in the black bars at the bottom of the screen. PRESENTATION: Cheesy HK style, with menus that aren't always in English for all the movies. Nothing special, and no extras whatsoever. There is a little "Anime Studio" logo at the top left orner of the screen every 15 minutes or so that displays for about 10 seconds. Annoying. OVERALL: Worth buying for about $40. If you pay anything over that (even for the 6-disc set) then I'd say it's not worth it. Look at eBay and animeniacs.net for some deals.

Not a very well designed boxset. I purchased it overseas and when it arrived every single disk holder inside was broken because they'd been crushed in transit - all my disks fell out as soon as I opened the box. However, I will say that the boxset is very beautiful and I nearly cried when I found that I wouldn't be able to use the boxset to store my disks in. Anyway, onto my review... Video (3/5): I own some of the official releases of the shows so I was able to compare them with the boxset. The video is a bit jerky, especially noticeable when panning - probably because they had to reduce the frame-rate to squeeze two movies onto each disk. Some pixellation though not so noticeable on the television. Occassionally there appeared to be flashes of missing/incorrect frames. Because the movies are so good though, you tend not to focus so much on the faults however. Audio (4/5): No problems as far as I can hear, but then, that's just from the television speakers. Subtitles (3/5): Depending on which movie you watched, the subtitles ranged from excellent (Kiki's Delivery Service) to poor (Pon Poko). Some mis-spellings, a bit of engrishness, and some mistimings to varying degrees. Packaging (4/5): Beautifully designed artwork gatefold, although I feel the disk-clip holder thingummies are designed poorly and probably break easily. Other minor gripes: Not very attractive menu screens. Very annoying how the MI/AC logo appears in the top corner at the beginning of each chapter for about 5-10 seconds. Only four chapters per movie except Laputa which had six and something else (can't remember which) that only had three. Overall, despite all my gripes, I would definitely recommend purchase of this set. I bought this set because there were movies which I probably would never have gotten an opportunity to watch otherwise. I think EVERYONE should watch these FABULOUS ANIME at least once in their life, and the movies are so fantastic that you tend to forget all the faults with the occassional mis-spellings, engrishness and bad timing as you become engrossed by the characters and the stories that are told. Buy it, watch it, and then when you fall in love with them, go buy the official versions if they're out or when they come out!!! edited by Aurora on 20 Sep 2002 5:33 am

Few split second dropouts now and then, but still very good LD rip. On few occasions I had some compression artifacts, but that may have been due to dirt on the discs or my low quality dvd player.

Excellent stereo.

Excellent stereo.

You must get this set! Period! Fantastic movies and tremendous value for money. If you haven't seen this movies, then you won't know, what anime can be.

Watched Nausicaa and Princess Mononoke. Had seen the first five minutes or so on un-subtitled video in Japan (there is hardly any dialogue there anyway). Had seen Mononoke twice at the cinema (subtitled version, not the dubbed one). Nausicaa is undoubtably a great film , but Mononoke is basically a remake (a thematic remake at least) and the superior film. Supposedly Miyazaki was unhappy with the deus ex machina aspects of the ending of Nausicaa and the themes (nature vs. science) and other aspects (God soldier to forest God etc) ended up in Mononoke. I prefer the remake. Both look good but my copy (new) may have had some damage on Nausicaa (the picture seems to freeze briefly at one point - normal ? ), and the "watermarks" were further down on thje picture on Mononoke, not above the frame as on the other films. Annoying. But I'd still recommend it. Definitely

Just watched My Neighbour Totoro. Had seen it before on nth gen video and (in Japan) on video dubbed into english. Wonderful movie. Aimed at children but a film that anyone can enjoy. Really a kind of modern folk tale. It was originally released in Japan as a double bill with Grave of the Fireflies, which was seen to be a more commercial option due to the fame of the novel it was based on (read at school in Japan). It's interesting to watch them together because of the similarities between the films. Besides both being about an older sibling taking care of a younger sister, there are certain images and other things that act as motifs connecting the films. Such as the use of camphor trees, frogs and young children unsuccessfully trying to catch small living things in their hands (sorry I couldn't put that better). The films work very well when viewed together, sheddding extra light on each other, sometimes in rather ironic ways. As to quality, picture is very good with only occasional small glitches, sound is good & the sub-titles are fine although sometimes a bit jumbled (but easy enough to understand). Subs for the title song are ridiculously over- literal but improve at the beginning of the film proper. Hope this is of use & interest to someone.

Watching the films one at a time, not in any particular order. Next is Grave of the Fireflies, directed by Isao Takahata, not Miyazaki. I'd seen the last 5 minutes or so on Japanese tv (without subs, obviously) & thought it seemed to be one of the saddest films ever made. The animation is a little cruder than the other Ghibli films I've seen so far. The use of still frames is very intelligent though, not just cost cutting. Characters beautifully drawn. A realistic animated movie. The film COULD have been made live action but this would have drawn attention to the special effects (spectacle) aspects of the film. Animation is the special effect of the film & doesn't distract from the real small-scale story (if you get my point). DVD: a couple of glitches picture-wise & a few confusing or missing subtitles (& the logo thing) but definitely very highly recommended. A beautiful film.

Only just got this. Watched "Kiki's Delivery Service", which no one has mentioned yet. Great movie & very good quality (I'd only seen a nth gen boot video before.) No real problems with the subs, although maybe a little bit fast on occasion. It has to be said, however, that that "watermark" or logo in the top corner of the screen is annoying. Especially in the way that it JUST overlaps the picture. Its not there all the time though. And its worth it despite the distraction.

Just for any hardcores out there: Laputa is ripped from the original LD not the 'Ghibli ga Ippai` $900 special collectors set. Basically that means that it's presented in Letterbox(1.66:1), not Scope(1.85:1) Advancedly that means the sides are a little cut off Oh well... I gues the people who pay $1000 deserve more Buy it anyways. edited by krunkster on 03 Apr 2002 9:53 am

This is a great set of films.... Truly works of art and not just anime... What can I say that hasn't already been said... Well really only bad things. I don't want to discourage you from buying this set, becuase It truly is worth the money. But I did notice somethings that I don't remeber being mentioned below. Mainly the watermarks. Just check the screenshots I uploaded you can clearly see the AnimeCartonn watermark. These things really bum me out because the tend to remove you fromthe movie while you are watching it... However it's only once every 15 minutes and only lasts about 10 seconds. So maybe I'm just whining.... Also the subs are not perfect because they tend to start after they speak not as they speak, especially in Tanuki War Pon Poko... and that's too bad because that's the only movie you'll ever see with mysticaly racoon-like creatures that attack people with super transforming ball-sacks. Yep Magical Morphing Scrotums. Oh well watch the movie you'll see. Menu's are also a little funky... some in english some in nihongo (see my screen shots). But they are all basically the same. Disc menu w/ two choices, then Play All, Subtitles, Chapter Selection, and Main Menu option for each movie. So those are all my complaints and as you could tell they are piddly, so over all it's a really great buy.

This set is great. Video is sharp and sound is good. Subs are good for the most part. Every now and then a line of dialogue is missing but not at very critical scenes. A very solid buy.

Title: Studio Ghibli Movie Colection Version: AC # of discs: 6 # of episodes: 12 Miyazaki movies 1) Nausicaa - Valley of the wind Video: 4.0 - Looked very good, just had one or two small compression artifacts but nothing bad. Audio: 4.5 - Perfect for me, but I don't have any high tech equipment, so I can do without 5.1 sound. Subs: 4.0 - Very good, with some occasional typos, maybe on ore two lines missing, correct timing, some lines very fast, but totally understandable. All in all nothing to disturb or distract me from the movie. 2) Only Yesterday Video: 4.5 - very good, once or twice there was something like a "wrong frame" for a split second Audio: 4.5 - nothing to complain for me Subs: 4.0 - very good, sometimes a little bit fast so that you will miss a line, on one occasion they were mistimed, but that lasted only one minute or so. 3) My neighbour Totoro Video: 4.0 - very good, I saw no compression artifacts, just one or two "flashes" or "missing frames" Audio: 4.5 - very good for me Subtitles: 4.5 - very good, very few typing errors, no timing problems, only two or three missing lines 4) Princess Mononoke Video: 4.5 - nearly perfect, would have been 5.0 if there weren't two or three "flashes" as I call them, split seconds of a wrong or missing frame Audio: 4.5 - perfect for me Subtitles: 4.5 - also nearly perfect, no mistiming, very very few typos. 5) Pon Poko Video: 4.0 - very good, one ore two occasional "flashes" just as in the other movies Audio: 4.5 - perfect for me Subtitles: 3. 5 - the subs itself are very good, but the timing is inconsistent. Most of the time they are a little late, but at some times they are correctly timed. It keeps changing through the whole film. It is not that bad, that you can't watch or understand the movie. It only becomes irritating in conversations with more than two participants, but in the parts where there's only the narrator you don't notice it at all. Overall: This movie would get the lowest rating of the five movies I have seen from this set so far, both for content as for subtitles, but it is still worth watching. 6) Laputa - Castle in the sky Video: Good - One or two dropouts, but nothing to worry about Audio: Good - At least for me with my Lo-Fi equipment Subtitles: Very good - nearly perfect, I even don't remember any typing errors. 7) Porco Rosso Video: Good - noticed no errors Audio: Good - no problems for me Subtitles: Very good - I almost noticed no errors here, timing is correct, can't remember any typing errors, somtimes there was a word or two missing, but really no problems with that edited by peppy on 10 Mar 2002 1:07 am

A great set to own! Videos: the video quality is very good. I do remember a little flicker at the beginning of Nausicaa but it was minor. A couple other films may have had minor problems that weren't noticeable unless you watched every scene very closely. All in all, good quality Audio: good figuring I saw it on 2 channel. Humming or feedback coming from the speakers. Subs: the subs were great. The timing is off by about 2 secs on most of the films. I had to do a lot of pausing and rewinding in order to read the subs. No mispellings found and perfect english in the translations.