Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Masaaki Yuasa's phenomenal "Mind Game" finally gets a DVD release... in Australia!

by Chris MaGee

I don't get it! I don't get it! I don't get it! Masaaki Yuasa's "Mind Game" is one of the most transcendent animated experiences that I've ever witnessed (right up there with "Spirited Away" and "Ghost in the Shell: Innocence") but four years after it was released in Japan it has yet to get a North American DVD release. I can only think of two other films that are so highly-praised and wildly sought after, those being Kinji Fukasaku's "Battle Royale" and Gen Sekiguchi's "Survive Style 5+", but at least it's known why those have not found their way onto a North American Region 1 release: Toei's asking price for the former has become way too high and the latter has been tangled up with the international rights for the muisc in the film. What's the excuse for "Mind Game"?

kay... I've had my rant for the day, so now onto the good news... "Mind Game" is finally getting a foreign DVD release, it's got English subtitles, and in fact it's coming out in a double-disc set loaded with extras... in Australia. I mean, that's fantastic news for folks in Australia. You're going to get a set complete with interviews, commentary tracks and storyboards (you can get all the details here), but that's in Region 4 PAL. What about us Region 1 NTSC folks?

Hopefully this Australian release will be the the first leak in the dam and soon we'll see "Mind Game" here on this continent... I hope... I pray.

Thanks to Kaiju Shakedown for this report.

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