Region 4 Winners and Losers

    The Region 1 version of this disc was released a while back, at the end of 2001. I ordered it pre-release.

    The Region 1 disc has almost exactly the same extras (the trailers are different, with the R1 having trailers for the TV series, Angel Sanctuary, Harlock Saga, Night Walker, Shamanic Princess, and Night on the Galactic Railroad — none of which are available in Region 4...).

    The big addition to the R1 disc is the results of a fan contest: they have 10 winners, of which 7 are drawings, and 3 are photos of people in cosplay outfits. To be honest, I don't miss this on the Region 4 disc, especially given that the winners are all from the US...

    The Region 1 transfer is very good. At first I thought it might be sharper than the R4, but after some serious A-B comparison I concluded that the two are equally sharp, but the R1 has a slight edge on colour: it is very slightly more saturated (hard to pick without side-by-side comparison). Both transfers show a fair bit of aliasing on pans (especially vertical pans), but neither has a marked advantage.

    The Region 1 does have one feature I'd have liked on the Region 4, though. On the inside of the cover slick (the R1 is in a transparent case, too) they have printed detailed credits in English, including a list of all the voice actors for both Japanese and English.

    Both covers are very pink, but I prefer the Region 4 cover, with a picture of both Utena and Anthy, over the Region 1 cover, with a strange pose of Utena with the sword.

    I think that you could easily be happy with either version.