I certainly understand that some people may find it hard to buy a number of disks in order to complete an anime series, but before you decide whether or not it is a good idea to invest in a series you must consider one very important issue:

If you buy licensed dvds (or any other product for that matter) you are showing your support for the anime industry, and as such you are helping the companies that produce anime to bring even more titles to your home. Simply stated, without the supporting consumer there would not be an anime industry here in the US. No one can tell you whether or not you should buy anime, but certainly if you like a certain series, show your support, that way even more titles titles (for example, ones as quirky and insane as Hare+Guu) can be brought to the US.

August... 9th!

Maybe... possibly...

please let there be a box and please include a Pokute plush with it!

i guess 7 dvds are standard these days....no more 6 from now on....

at least it's still better than 12-13 for lots of Japanese release.....

Hmm, this makes me think. If there was a box, what do you all think would be a good 'extra' for Hare+Guu?

I like max's Pokute plush extra idea. :)

A Guu plush that turns inside out to reveal an entire parallel universe!

A little Guu bobble-head that does the laugh (think episode 4 to know which laugh) when you press the head. That would be awesome. It probably won't happen though.

I certainly wouldn't mind paying $15-20 more than the SRP of the first disc for a nice, hard box and a plushie...

I'd like for it to include marshmallow Pi's that I can eat. Yum.

In regards to many questions asked.....

Discs?- Seven instead of six? I'm not crying. Frankly, I'm just happy that the series has been picked up. As for DELUXE... Well, I imagine that AN will market it 3-4 Illusions per disc. That would likely be the most viable option for everyone interested, given the market. However, if they DID choose to market it at two illusions a disc, I expect that we will see it reflected in the price, the same way Gantz is marketed (2 eps per disc for about ten bucks).

Extras- A box. Oh, dear GOD, a box. I sent AN an email with a wonderful box idea the day they announced that they picked up Guu. Never got a reply... Well, they're busy :D In any case, the idea was for a hinged box, the idea being that the box was Guu, the hinge was Guus mouth, and the DVDs of course would be kept inside. Quite proud of that idea. But if there was to be a free toy inside (YUM!), I'd put my vote for a small figurine of Guu, herself.

to the people complaining about the series being on 7 discs:

to fit more than two hours of video onto a dvd, you have to reduce the quality of the video greatly. i ran into this problem trying out my dvd burner for the first time. since these are dvds produced by a professional company, i assume they want to give their customers quality dvds, unlike the bootlegs you can find from china. (6-8 hours on a dvd sounds good until you see how bad it looks).

~kitty

Well, actually kitty, that isn't true. Professionals use professional grade (Super 9) DVDs. DVD+/-Rs that you can buy at retail chains are different. Consumer grade DVDs hold 4.7 GB of information, while Professional grade DVDs hold 9 GB. The reason for this is, as you found out, apparent. It is a way to discourage piracy. Its not foolproof, but as you noted, it makes it much more difficult to have high grade stuff on a consumer purchased DVD.

You're almost right - there are actually two different types of DVD, "DVD9" dual layer (9.2Gb) and "DVD5" single layer (4.7Gb) (actually, there are many more types, such as double-sided dual-layer, but we won't get into that). As their nomenclature suggests, the difference is that dual layer discs hold two layers of information, one of which is semi-transparent so the layer underneath can be read by the laser when focussed on one or the other. While it is relatively easy to make pressed dual-layer discs, where the two layers are formed separately then glued together, recording dual layers on consumer equipment is much trickier - you're trying to focus the writing beam of the laser onto a semi-transparent layer to heat it up and cause a pigment change in the dye without affecting the layer beneath; the tolerances involved are ridiculously fine! Dual-layer recordable discs have just come on the market, but the blank media are rather expensive and suffer from relatively poor compatibility with existing DVD players (relative to single layer recordable media). It wasn't really done as a way to combat piracy (a lot of anime and other niche titles still come on single-layer pressed discs, since they are easier to master and cheaper to manufacture), but simply out of necessity due to technological limitations.

It is perfectly possible to fit four or more hours of good quality video on a dual layer DVD (even more with a good quality encoder and a skilled operator - I've managed to squeeze over 3.5 hours on a single layer recordable disc at full D1 resolution and still retain very good picture quality). When you start adding more audio tracks, then the run time starts to drop - look at the extended Lord of the Rings DVDs, which are dual layer discs but had to split each 3.5-4hr film across two discs because they had up to seven different audio tracks (Dolby Digital, DTS, stereo and four different stereo commentary tracks)!

Incidentally, modern digitally-produced animation (like Haré+Guu) does compress better for DVD since they're usually taken from the original digital master tapes, and don't have the noise, film grain and film wobble of older titles.

To conclude, it would be possible to release a 26 episode modern anime series on maybe four or five dual layer discs and still have very good picture quality, but then each disc would be more expensive anyway (the anime company has to make their money back on the cost of the license, translating, dubbing and mastering their releases - fewer volumes means each volume has a higher overall production cost). It all comes out in the wash, really.

I stand corrected. Or sit corrected.Thanks for the clarification on that, Matt! A small aside on your mentioning of audio tracks. I've noticed (through the use of editing software) that when splitting audio and video streams, that the pure audio file tends to be much larger than the pure video file. Now one would think that the opposite would be true, but I noticed the change as well when encoding a few videos on my PSP. I changed the audio to the next step lower in quality and the file dropped nearly 30mb. When doing the same for the video, it only dropped about 14mb. Interesting. Perhaps that is a good reason why when you get anime that is divided up with a larger portion of episodes per disc, you tend to get a lot of artwork extras- design, character bios, etc. instead of things such as audio outtakes. Just a thought :)

The Guu CD-holder box idea sounds great, but it would need to go *bafu* any time you opened it! LOL!

I also like the laughing bobble-head idea.

Plushies of each character (probably over time) would be GREAT, but I would hope they would PLEEEASE remember to include "cute Guu."

How about Pokute recipes for a DVD extra? Then again, considering the surreal world of Guu, can you just IMAGINE the potential for DVD "Easter eggs"?

I can't wait for this series to hit America, I can finally show people this series so they dont think my crazy ramblings about Hare+Guu are not just crazy ramblings. I would love a Guu plush if there were a DVD set. I carry it in my bag at all times for those moments I need emotional support the kind that only Guu can give. Shout "Waiii" if you want a Guu Plushie ^^

I completely agree "Guulover666" I have been rambeling on and on about Guu forever too. and my friends have no clue waht the show is like. I can't wait to show them!!!

Just one question: The Ending music for Jungle Wa Itsumo Hale Nochi Guu, I heard it was changed for the US release? Please don't tell me this'll be one of those 'Westernization' choices; to make it "more marketable" they change the music to "fit" with the targeted audience (i.e. the music's some crappy fake-rap or Boy Band song [See: Pokemon, Digimon, One Piece, and soon to be Naruto])

Whoa! The idea for a Guu-plushie or figurine coming with the
DVD box is such a great idea! I'd totally buy that.