Masaaki Yuasa: Five Films - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Masaaki Yuasa: Five Films



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


WARNING: THE SCORES ABOVE ARE A COMBINED SCORE FROM ALL 5 FILMS, THE INDIVIDUAL SCORES ARE CONTAINED BELOW IN THE INDIVIDUAL SECTIONS OF THE REVIEW


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Movie
Well, in the world of Anime there is not a single director who can compare to Masaaki Yuasa in my personal opinion. By that I don’t mean to imply that Yuasa is THE best Anime director out there, but more leaning towards the fact that his works are some of the most unique and interesting in the animated sub genre. His films range from free wheeling, zany, high on LSD visuals, down to some downright “normal “storytelling’ (his work on Devilman: Crybaby is absolutely amazing), and no two films are ever the same. Shout Studios and Gkids have been pumping out his latest films directly onto Blu-ray the last few years and I’ve been enjoying the tar out of them to say the least. So color me more than pleased when Shout Studios conglomerated all 5 films that they have the rights to so far into a giant 6 disc boxset, complete with a new disc full of bonus features, a booklet, and art cards packed into a classy foldover boxet.

For an individual review of each of the five films, you can visit the links below

Mind Game

The Night is Short, Walk on Girl

Lu Over the Wall

Ride Your Wave

Inu-Oh





Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

For a full breakdown of the individual video reviews, follow the links below

Mind Game

The Night is Short, Walk on Girl

Lu Over the Wall

Ride Your Wave

Inu-Oh










Audio:

for a full breakdown of the audio tracks, you can visit the individual links below

Mind Game

The Night is Short, Walk on Girl

Lu Over the Wall

Ride Your Wave

Inu-Oh




Extras:

Exclusive Features:

• English-language dub of The Night is Short, Walk On Girl for the first time on Blu-ray
• Two short films by Masaaki Yuasa: Happy Machine (2007), and Kick-Heart (2013)
• Filmmaker commentaries for MIND GAME, Lu Over the Wall, and INU-OH
• Scene breakdowns and commentaries from each feature film
• Masaaki Yuasa draws characters from MIND GAME, Lu Over the Wall, and INU-OH
• A Night Out with Yuasa: An exclusive interview with Masaaki Yuasa at a Los Angeles speakeasy, where he discusses his inspirations, favorite type of restaurants, perfect vacation, dancing, and more
• A 60-page book featuring an essay by Emily Yoshida and excerpts from Masaaki Yuasa’s sketchbooks
• And more!

MIND GAME (2004):

• Feature-Length Animatic
• Production Artwork Galleries
• Trailer

THE NIGHT IS SHORT, WALK ON GIRL (2017):

• Interview With Director Masaaki Yuasa
• Trailers & TV Spots

LU OVER THE WALL (2017):

• Audio Commentary With Filmmakers (Producer, Eunyoung Choi; Director, Masaaki Yuasa; Anime Critic/Moderator, Ryota Fujitsu)
• Interview With Masaaki Yuasa
• Trailers & TV Spots

RIDE YOUR WAVE (2019):

• Interview With Eunyoung Choi
• Animated Storyboards
• Character Still Gallery
• Theatrical Trailers

INU-OH (2022):

• Audio Commentary With Lead Performers Avu-Chan, Mirai Moriyama, And Masaaki Yuasa
• Biwa Performance
• Original Cast Interview
• Q&A At US Premiere
• Interview With Masaaki Yuasa
• Character Drawing
• Trailers & Teasers

BONUS DISC:

• Mind Game: 2022 American Cinematheque Q&A
• Mind Game: Character Drawing
• Mind Game: Scene Breakdown
• Lu Over The Wall: Scene Breakdown
• Lu Over The Wall: Character Drawing
• The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl: Scene Breakdown
• Ride Your Wave: Scene Breakdown
• Inu-Oh: Scene Breakdown
• A Night Out With Yuasa - An Exclusive Interview With Masaaki Yuasa At A Los Angeles Speakeasy, Where He Discusses His Inspirations, Favorite Type Of Restaurants, Perfect Vacation, Dancing, And More
• Happy Machine: Short Film By Masaaki Yuasa
• Kick-Heart: Short Film By Masaaki Yuasa

Final Score: ​

Gkids and Shout Studios giant 6 disc boxset is quite the stunner. It includes all of the extras from the original releases over the last 5 years or so, plus a whole host of brand new ones on a special 6th disc, a poster, and a beautiful Art booklet all housed in a nice foldover case. Fans of the prolific director’s films will definitely want to grab this collector’s edition while they can, as this one is incredibly cheap for the amount of films plus all the swag Shout has thrown in. Highly recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Avu-Chan, Mirai Moriyama,
Directed by: Masaaki Yuasa
Written by: Various
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC (Mind Game, Inu-Oh) / 1.78:1 AVC (The Other 3)
Audio:
Inu-Oh: Japanese, English DTS-HD MA 5.1 (English DVS)
Lu Over the Wall: English, Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1, French DD 5.1
Mind Game: Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1
The Night is Short, Walk on Girl: English, Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1
Ride Your Wave: English, Japanese DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles:
Inu-Oh: English SDH, English, Spanish
Lu Over the Wall: English, French
Mind Game: English, French
The Night is Short, Walk on Girl: English, French, English SDH
Ride Your Wave: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Shout Studios/Gkids
Rated: NR
Runtime: 98 Minutes / 113 Minutes / 104 Minutes / 92 Minutes / 96 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: December 19th 2023

Recommendation: Good movies, Solid Set

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will get this.