Fist of the North Star...Did i get ripped off?

[wuggles451]

Ok after hearing numberous times how freakin sweet this anime is i decided to check it out. ive looked high and low and the only place that i could fine this bloddy beast was online for INSANE prices. It looked liked id never be in on the head poppin good times but oh what luck i happend to be in a used cd store in town and there glowing silver lining and all was a copy of Fist of the North Star on dvd for the low low price of $7.99. I greedily snatched it up and plunked down my last ten dollars. Oh oh the luck i went home imediately to pop this bad boy in...what do i find? Well first of all the the setup is atrocious  first select between 2 sound options (english dialog or Japanese with chinese subs).OK? Next screen the movie is divided into six sections I checked and some of these sections start mid sentece? Well really this is all nit picking up to this point. When i start the movie all looks good cool opening fight scene now we are 25-30 minutes in we see the first head explode AWSOME THAT WAS TOTALLY SWEET, but wait why did the picture quality shift it almost looks like some one sat in front of a tv with a camcorder,huh?(Smooth transition back to regular looking picture) Another head explodes and the same shift in quality im guessing now that this is just for a bit  of style ok i can live with it. Later in the movie i see what looks to be blood, big blocky blood, blood that looks edited in digitaly. I also have a sneeking suspition that the scene wear ray cuts off a warriors arms and he stands screaming and bleeding was cut short, also the RANDOM GRATUITOUS BREAST SHOT was conspicuosly abbsent not that missing violence and nudity is a big deal its just furtherevidence i got a different version of the film. I double checked and the bow art is not the same as the picture shown on amazon.com and the dvd was released by a company i hadnt heard of namely anime studio inc. anyone? well over all i really did like the movie i just cannot help but wonder if this is an inferior cut of the film. By the way the length was just shy of 105 minutes. If you took time to read all this thatnk you very very much and please if you have a superior versoin of Fist of the North Star could you please let me know what, who, where?
--------Again thank you all very kindly

[Ash]

Sorry to hear that you actually dropped your hard earned $$ on anime.

I'm probably the only one on this board who absolutely despises anime.

I never understood the fascination with it.

Japanimation sucks!

From the horrible dialogue to the ugly characters with enormous mouths and eyes....I think it sucks!

I wouldn't pay $1 for any anime.

But remember...that's just my opinion.



Post Edited (06-26-03 21:24)

[Dunners]

I'd say you got ripped pretty bad :(

[Fearless Freep]

Japanimation sucks!

Depends on what you mean.  Dragonball-Z, Sailor Moon , and some of the others popularized byt Catroon Network over here are pretty bad as far as animation quality.  Then there's "A Perfect Blue" and "Ghost In The Shell"....

[Dolph Lundgren]

Sounds like you found yourself a bootleg, wuggles.  Especially if the price was too good to be true.  IIRC, the Image DVD of Fist of the North Star has been out of print for some time now, hence the outrageous prices you've found.  Anyways, what exactly does the cover art look like?  What's on it?  Here are some things to look for; if these are true for your DVD, then it's most likely a bootleg:

1.  It's made in Taiwan, Hong Kong, or the Phillipines.  Look on the cover of the DVD or the disc itself to see where it was made.  If it was made in these places, it's probably a bootleg.
2.  If the disc is Region 0, it could very well be a bootleg.
3.  If the disc has japanese language with english subtitles.  I know you said your DVD has a dub track, but it could've been ripped from another source.

If any of these are true, it's likely that you have a bootleg.  I don't condone getting bootlegs, but in this case, where the original DVD is OOP, you really can't help it.  

Nick

[wuggles451]

thanks a bunch

[Dolph Lundgren]

Yeah wuggles, it's definitely a bootleg.  Check this site out, under the link "What about DVDs from Hong Kong?"  Anime Studio Inc. is listed under the bootleg companies.  Here's the link:

http://members.austarmetro.com.au/~mwhitley/faq.htm

And ASH, what anime movies have you seen?  I'm not trying to second guess you, or blast your opinion at all, I'm just genuinely curious.  There are a lot of titles out there that turn people off of the genre.  If you hate the animation style and don't watch because of that, then that's cool.  Just curious if you've seen anything or not.

Nick

[wuggles451]

the region is listed ntsc but says all ,the cover art is a pretty close shot of ken glowing red clenched fists with foriegn writing and english. it has a logo that says copy with a red slash over it . there is a big long warning to potential bootleggers and says hong kong i think i got a legit chinese all region dvd, huh go figure

[wuggles451]

ignore my last post those lying hong kong bastards i feel like an ass because i laughed that the clerk was selling this for sooooo cheap i said something to the effect of "HOly crap i cant believe this 8 bucks haha id have to pay 100 online ha hahahahahhahahahha"

[Dolph Lundgren]

It's amazing what lengths they'll go to trying to convince people that their DVDs are real.  Anime bootlegs are a VERY tricky thing.. they'll look real, seem real, and even try to say they're real by denouncing bootlegs in general.  

It's been awhile since I've seen Fist of the North Star (and I really need to see it again.. great movie!) but I think I remember some of the killings shifting to a fuzzy, not-as-clear type of animation that you described.  I could definitely be wrong though.  It's weird if they did in fact cut/censor your DVD.  I don't know why they would do that.  

So what did you think of the movie itself, wuggles?

Nick

[wuggles451]

the movie was totally rad though after the first fight i thought it was kinda slow for 20 minutes but once Ken was wakened  the head poppin, blood flowing, gut crunching action didnt stop i ecpecially liked Ray's attack where he carve people up and down so brutal yet so awsome. Strory wise...well ugh it was alright ive seen more pointless animes before but this is definatly a turn off your brain kinda movie.