The epic quest for fansubs

[Bad Username]

Yep, originals still in shrink-wrap, from Amazon.co.jp. They're pretty expensive, but I can't find any cheaper alternatives. At least I'm not going for the absurdly priced Collector's Editions...

[AstroRex]

I got Season 1 of the 2003 series of Astroboy from iTunes for $14.95 which includes the first 25 episodes, all in English. You can play them in Quicktime, in iTunes, or on the iPod. You just need an account on the Apple iTunes store in order to download the episodes. The episodes are also available on youtube.com if you do a search on Astroboy.

[Bad Username]

I don't want them in English, I want them in Japanese.

[sgupta]

I own the American set myself, and it's a perfectly nice set (and good value for the price as well). I actually think the voice actors do a wonderful job here. The reason a lot of us want to find a good quality Japanese version with English subs is because they hacked up the American release quite badly unfortunately and there's a lot "missing". Personally I'm waiting to view the series as ideally I'd like to watch the US version first, then the Japanese version so I can note all the differences (yeah, I'm weird like that). Here's a list of what I've read is different/missing from the US release:

- 5.1 sound

- Widescreen format (instead of 4:3 as the US version)

- Original Intro Music/Video ("True Blue")

- Original Ending Music/Video ("Boy's Heart")

- ALL music has been changed in American version. Japan has a completely orchestral score, whereas in the US it's all been changed to a more technoish rock score. (I happen to be in the minority who's heard and quite like both versions, though most seem to prefer the orchestral score).

- Dialogue changes (to make Astro sound "cooler").

- More than 2 minutes cut from each episode (~4 if you count intro/ending). A lot of this is said to be Astro acting more innocent or like a kid. Apparently some of the darker things have also been changed (Tobio's death, etc.).

- An entire episode (20; Eternal Boy or sometimes called Eonian Teenagers) has been cut from the US version, presumably because it makes heavy reference to the Disney character Peter Pan. This was replaced by a "clip show" episode (which I'm assuming means recap episode,though I haven't checked it out yet).

- I've heard the Japanese version may have some neat DVD extras, though I'm not sure what.

[sgupta]

BTW, If anyone happens to be interested in the watchable but dubious and poorly subtitled bootleg I got, I'd be glad to rip the DVD as ISO's and share it. (I'm assuming this is within the rules since this is an unlicensed version as far as I can tell; I still of course recommend purchasing the licensed US version as well). Bad Username, I'm really not sure what value it would be for you, but it's yours if youw ant it. Just anybody give me a PM if they do and I'll figure out the best way to rip/share it.

[Bad Username]

Nah, don't worry about it. I haven't actually seen the whole series; I fell in love with the GBA game when it came out, recently found out YouTube had the series, watched the first couple of episodes and the voices and obvious cuts (I'd never seen it before and I could still tell they were cutting things!) made me cringe. Then I found six fansubbed TV rips on Veoh, which inspired me to start this project.

[sgupta]

Ahhh. I really don't mind the US version, but I also wanna see what I'm missing from the original Japanese one. hehe. This bootleg'll do in a pinch as at least the missing scenes are viewable, but I agree fansubs on a high quality audio/video experience will be awesome. I've watched the first 12 or so before stopping (to wait to watch both versions back to back) and I really love the series.

Re the GBA game, I'm actually playing that through right now. Absolutely fantastic!

[Bad Username]

Make sure to stick around after the credits if this is your first time playing.

[sgupta]

Hehe yeah. I'm...quite far actually (in the process of trying to find everything).

I can seriously say I haven't seen this much actual *love* poured into a game in a long time. (On a similar note, if you haven't already tried it, leave the Start Screen [initial bootup screen] going for a few minutes.)

[TasZero]

Sounds like an interesting project. I wish you good luck with it.
I don't know how I could help but if there is something that I may be able to help with then let me know.