The Castle of Cagliostro (Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro No Shiro) (1979) |
|
The Castle of Cagliostro (Rupan Sansei: Kariosutoro No Shiro) (1979) |
|
|
| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Anime |
Main Menu Audio & Animation Gallery Theatrical Trailer DVD Credits Trailer-Princess Mononoke, Wings Of Honneamise Trailer-Macross Plus, Street Fighter Alpha |
|
| Rating |
|
||
| Year Of Production | 1979 | ||
| Running Time | 101:56 (Case: 109) | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Hayao Miyazaki |
|
Studio
Distributor |
 Madman Entertainment |
Starring | None Given |
| Case | DV-4 | ||
| RPI | $29.95 | Music | Yuji Ohno |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Japanese Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
|
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
||
| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | Yes | ||
| Subtitles |
English English |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
The Castle of Cagliostro is a classic movie from Japanese animation great Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service).
The professional thief Lupin III and his partner head to the small nation state of Cagliostro in an attempt to uncover a massive counterfeiting scheme. During their journey, they attempt to rescue a young woman who is being pursued by a group of armed men. They soon discover that the young woman is being held against her will in the castle and is to be married to the mysterious Count. Lupin takes it upon himself to rescue the woman and in the process discovers the secrets of Cagliostro.
This film was Hayao Miyazaki's directorial feature debut and he went on to become one of Japan's most influential film-makers. Miyazaki is possibly best known for his direction of the animated feature Princess Mononoke, which became the most successful Japanese film in history.
This movie is a highly entertaining feature that may be watched by the whole family and should appeal to most viewers.
Unfortunately, this transfer seems to have been taken from a theatrical print as numerous reel change marks are visible throughout the movie.
The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.
The transfer is acceptably sharp during the movie and due to the style of the animation this never poses a problem for the viewer. No low level noise was detected during the transfer. Shadow detail is excellent throughout with the dark scenes clearly showing all the available information.
The colours in some scenes appear to be slightly muted but for the majority of the transfer they are accurately reproduced.
Numerous MPEG artefacts may be seen during this transfer. Some examples may be seen at 7:20, 26:10, 31:30 and 54:53. Most of these artefacts are quite minor but a small number are reasonably distracting. The extra space provided on an RSDL disc may have been able to avoid these compression artefacts.
Some small instances of aliasing may be seen at 17:29 and 25:36 but due to their short duration these are not distracting to the viewer.
Numerous film artefacts may be seen during the transfer. Some examples may be seen at 0:04, 2:13, 9:01, 35:01 and 43:10. The majority of these artefacts are quite minor and expected considering the source materials used and age of the film. These artefacts are only slightly distracting to the viewer.
Numerous instances of telecine wobble are also visible during this transfer and are mildly distracting to the viewer. Some examples of these errors may be seen at 5:46, 36:25, 75:57, 76:09 and 94:52.
The reel change marks, displayed as large black circles in the top right section of the image, are quite distracting to the viewer. These marks may be seen at 15:21, 31:04, 43:49 and at every ten to fifteen minutes thereafter.
Two sets of yellow English subtitles are provided on the disc. Both have identical content but the second set is positioned over the image so that viewers with 16x9 sets may zoom into the non anamorphic image and still read the subtitles. This is a very nice option and will be appreciated by all widescreen owners.
| Sharpness |   |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
The dialogue on both tracks is always clear and easy to understand.
As this is an animated feature, there are the expected obvious problems with audio sync for each soundtrack. During the Japanese audio track, a single slight break-up in the audio track may be heard at 54:48 but this is not distracting to the viewer.
The score by Yuji Ohno suits the animation but at some points does seem a little dated.
The surround channels were not utilized during this transfer.
The subwoofer is used to support both the effects and score during the action scenes.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use |  |
| Subwoofer |  |
| Overall | |
This trailer is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mix at an aspect ratio of approximately 1.66:1. This trailer is of very poor quality but shows some of the differences in the new English track.
This trailer is presented with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 mix at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. This is another fantastic animated feature by Hayao Miyazaki that will hopefully be released in Region 4 in the future.
Five stills from the feature are presented in this gallery.
Presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with a musical Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.
Presented at an aspect ratio of approximately 1.78:1 with an English 2.0 soundtrack.
Presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;
The Japanese Region 2 version of this disc misses out on;
The Region 2 Buena Vista release contains the interesting extra on a second disc showing the story boards and the feature as alternate angles. Unfortunately this release includes the previous English dub version which is significantly different to the original Japanese track. The Region 2 disc also includes subtitles for the English dub track and not the Japanese track. This results in timing problems and additional dialogue being displayed. Obviously, no version is perfect but if you prefer the Japanese audio track and do not require subtitles then the R2 release would be the version of choice, but if you do not understand Japanese, the R4 release would be the preferred one.
The Castle Of Cagliostro is a highly entertaining animated film that can enjoyed by the whole family.
The video transfer is slightly disappointing and would have been improved with an RSDL presentation.
The inclusion of the original Japanese track and the updated English track will please both fans of dubs and subs.
The small collection of extras would have been enhanced with some information on the Lupin series or the other works of Hayao Miyazaki.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Toshiba 1200, using S-Video output |
| Display | Sony KP-E41SN11. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Front left/right: ME75b; Center: DA50ES; rear left/right: DA50ES; subwoofer: NAD 2600 (Bridged) |
| Speakers | Front left/right: VAF DC-X; Center: VAF DC-6; rear left/right: VAF DC-7; subwoofer: Custom NHT-1259 |