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DVD profile -
Starmax (Korea)
Special Version

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THE STATS	DVD TYPE: DVD-5 (single layer) Region 0 (Region-free) NTSC (two discs) SUBS: English (removable, on Disc 1-feature film only); Korean (removable) AUDIO: DTS, Dolby 2.0 DISTRIBUTOR: Starmax CATALOG NUMBER: SDVD-047 RELEASE DATE: January 2003 EXTRAS: WOWOW TV special; Rehearsals footage; Behind the scenes footage (different from Gaiden); Fukasaku's Birthday; Stills Gallery; SFX clips; more Warsaw Symphony footage; Tokyo International Film Festival footage; Government controversy notes; Posters and website screenshots; Behind the scenes of Basketball game shoot; SV trailers and TV spots WHERE TO BUY: Yesasia.com and other Asian import DVD stores
THE GOOD	Plentiful Crisp transfer Playable on any NTSC DVD player DTS Audio Extras disc
THE BAD	Extras have no English subs Sections of the film are very poorly translated Minor inaccuracies in the translation Bootlegs hard to distinguish from legitimate copies
MIKE SAYS	This release is a repurposing of the first Korean DVD release by CreamDVD, which went out of business in 2002. Starmax split the contents of the DVD-9 disc over two lower-capacity (and less costly) DVD-5 discs, gave it a DTS audio track and made the release region-free. The transfer is rich and sharp, maybe a tad bit brighter than the Japanese release (which, it goes without saying, is the ideal transfer), but it's razor-crisp. All these make for a very good release, except for a couple of painful drawbacks: As with a lot of Korean releases, the English subs are found only on the feature film itself and not on the extras (click here for the subs!). And more importantly, while the bulk of the film has decent subtitles, the subtitling for the scenes that were added for the Special Version is downright wretched. Another issue is that with the disc being R0, bootleggers are having an easy time of making knockoffs of these discs, hard to distinguish from the real thing just by looking at an eBay listing. Warning signs include the item being sold without its beige slipcover; a price significantly lower than the $25 you'll find on most legitimate online stores; and certain dealers on eBay sell bootlegs as a matter of course. My advice: if you're going to buy this version, don't buy it on eBay.

IS THE TRANSLATION REALLY THAT BAD? It's not horribly bad...the scenes from the original have decent subs (I think it's derived from the Hong Kong version), but the additional scenes are wretched. "Mitsuko" turns into "Mizko" in her flashback. Here's one of the particularly bad ones:
STARMAX KOREA SPECIAL VERSION	TARTAN UK SPECIAL VERSION
NANAHARA (narrating during a flashback to a basketball game): But this demm actual situation...Takin' the day off cause we want to (the last part's apparently a misplacement of the writing on the chalkboard in the previous scene, which had the subs "we refuse classes--Class B").	NANAHARA (narrating during a flashback to a basketball game): But no matter how crazy the world was getting, we all managed to have fun.
Here's Requiem 3:
STARMAX KOREA SPECIAL VERSION	TARTAN UK SPECIAL VERSION
KITANO Is it okay? NORIKO What? KITANO Anyone see this must be scribble NORIKO Doesn't matter. KITANO Are you sick of my class? NORIKO Yeap KITANO What? KITANO When I entering first class, everyone looks like same. But time's gone, everyone is so cute. But not right now! No, caution to the students. All teachers are just dumb and dumber. NORIKO I want to tell you something? KITANO What? NORIKO The knife, that I stabed of you, still I care of it. Sometimes I thought I just threw it. But, now it's my treasure. It's secret, between you and me... KITANO Nakagawa... NORIKO Yeap? KITANO What is the best thing about adult? (titles on black): Now what?	KITANO You okay? NORIKO What? KITANO Anybody sees us together, they'll lock you right back in the toilet. NORIKO It'll be somebody else's turn. (that is, the bullies change their targets.) KITANO Are my classes boring? NORIKO Yes. KITANO How dare you! KITANO I go into class...you guys all look like a pile of potatoes. Slapping 'em around helped me tell 'em apart, even got to like 'em. But not anymore. Now you touch a student, you're fired. Can't even lose it (your temper) when a student stabs you! NORIKO I'll tell you just one thing. KITANO What? NORIKO The knife that stabbed you...actually (the truth is) , I keep it in my desk at home. When I picked it up, I wasn't sure (why) ...but now, for some reason, I really treasure it. Our secret, just between us. KITANO Listen, Noriko. NORIKO Yes? KITANO What do you think a grown-up (like me) should say to a kid (like you) now (that you've told me this) ? (titles on black):"What do you think a grown-up should say to a kid now?"
That makes a world of difference to me. It may not bother those of us who are die-hard BR fanatics (and in fact, from now on, any of us can just look up this thread for the right dialogue), but the fact is, IMO, the bad subs ruin the experience for the first-time viewer. Unless I explain that the subs are horrid and translate the awful parts for them, I'm embarrassed to show this edition to my friends who haven't seen the Special Version before, and that's why I'm harshly critical of the Korean Special Edition.

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