Card Captor Sakura Blu-Ray RELEASED!

Card Captor Sakura Blu-ray has been released finally. Many people were expecting a big improvement for this BD edition mostly because of the expensive price CCS fans must pay for it: $600.00 – $900.00! and that price could increase very fast thanks to auctions sites, once the shelves are empty.

CCS fans bought it and in some forums, they are discussing the subject. I took sometime to read those reviews and the discussion is really a mixed bag. Some people are already complaining about the quality of the transfer for BD edition. It is understandable that kind of situation because of the high price they had to pay.

Actual Screenshot of CCS BD!

Some complaints includes chroma artifacts around the black lines, Color Smearing, and graininess. The following are some opinions from the CCS BD forums and screenshots from the CCS BD (Click the images for a wide view)

There’s quite a bit of artifacting here and there, and the color smears along inking lines are unforgivable. Here’s an example if people are having trouble seeing the problem:

Notice the yellow line on Sakura’s chin. All exhibit that problem for the black lines, and some even have a purple one below in addition.
How’s the grain while in movement? About the only saving grace at this point is that it doesn’t have the aliasing issues the remaster DVD had.

However, there are some positive reviews as well:

I’m impressed, frankly. The color “highlights” on the lines are there, but as Skywise said, they are static effects that are easily ignorable. In fact, and I might be shot for this, they have the visual effect of making the line work “pop out” a bit, along with the shadows from the individual cells in some shots, giving it this organic feeling I really haven’t seen elsewhere. It feels almost like watching the cells directly…Plus I really didn’t remember the animation being so good as this…Could it looks a little bit better, with the lines having a few less jaggies and the color bleeding being fixed? Yeah. But I would really be happy owning this (well, if it were cheaper, anyway).

For more reviews and screenshots, visit the CCS BD discussion forum!

I managed to check a copy on “near” BD edition videos and saw many interesting things that CCS fans should know about or probably already knows:

• Resolution for the CCS BD edition is MPEG 4-AVC 1920×1080 (Aspect ratio is 4:3) It is not widescreen! For the price that one have to pay for this, one could expect a widescreen edition, but guess the price would have increased.
• The resolution really shows all minor details on every single shot. I must admit I was surprised to see every detail. Like some reviewer said: “It feels almost like watching the cells directly” I am not sure if that kind of effect will have a positive or negative impact on some viewers.
• Unfortunately, I think the producers for this BD edition could have improved a lot more. They transferred everything intact and I noticed some silly mistakes in the original TV broadcast, DVD version and now the BD edition as well. There is an scene where Sakura is using her baton during a practice and her left pigtail is missing.

Final Impressions

I don´t own a Bluray player or this CCS BD edition set, but for what I read, this CCS BD edition set is far from perfect. Of course, I would love to own this set as I am a Card Captor Sakura fan, but to pay that price, it is a little bit unforgivable that Geneon couldnt give more attention and loving care to this. Take notice at DRAGON BALL KAI for a good example of what I am talking about. Let´s hope someday, there is a North-American release with english subtitles and a lower price…meanwhile, for this BD edition, I will not “Release!” my wallet for the time being.

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