My apologies if this should go in the anime forum, but it's my opinion that, like Miyazaki movies, this is a series whose fanbase transcends those who give themselves the title of "anime fan".

source

I hope it looks/sounds great, includes the dub (one of the few dubs I actually enjoy) and isn't ridiculously expensive.

Cool news. Funimation seems to acquire all the biggest properties these days.

This.

I originally bought a DVD of this series just because I'd heard the awesome theme music.

I have the individual remix DVD's when they originally came out. I'm not a big anime fan, but this is one of the series that I love and I'd be happy to upgrade to blu-ray.

Great news. Just offloaded my Remix set for a cool $40.

Funimation did all that and more with their release of FLCL, so I have quite a bit of faith that they will do a good job

Then just like FLCL, it will be an upconvert on Blu-ray.

Take my money, I will gladly triple-dip for this one.

True, but it looked nice enough :P

Day one purchase for me. Its the only anime series i've ever seen.

To be fair, FLCL was produced in SD.

There are already several Cowboy Bebop releases overseas (UK and Japan...maybe more?) to give you a general sense what to expect here. All of them have been interlaced, strangely, and apparently the CG bits are upconverts, but everything else really is in high-def. No reason to expect any different here.

Screenshots from the blu-ray.com forums:

http://i1.minus.com/iwaxZwLmwbNb2.png
http://i3.minus.com/ihwq3SKMcMUhe.png
http://i2.minus.com/i0Mf1xvlyNoaC.png

Nice, look forward to seeing this again.

A must buy. Wonder if it will be a good price like the recent remix boxset?

Unless, G, it gets the Serial Experiments: Lain treatment, which technically got a restore in Japan first. It'll be interesting to see whether or not this BD release will somehow be Native HD or and SD Upconvert. Either way it's a day one purchase.

FUNimation is getting great properties due to the other studios failing and having to sell them off. It won't be long until we see something for Akira, since that's a title that won't stay OOP for that much longer.

I'm still waiting for the Neon Genesis Evangelion series, hoping that with the release of 3.33 or 4.44 it and the amazing End of Evangelion (fuck death/rebirth) will get a tie-in. Original series is too damn good to not have, even if it has to be an upconvert in the anime classics line.

Indeed. And I reckon my sources tell me that 2014 will be the year of a new Akira BD. I'll be selling off my OOP version any day now.

Many think that Funimation will take the interlaced Hi-Def transfer and reverse telecine it for 1080P, which they have done for other shows. Only a small portion of the actual running time needs to remain in 1080i for a proper release of Cowboy Bebop.

December

Fucking A!

I will be buying one of the premium editions with no complaints!

That's awesome, in for 1 premium edition as well. Now please re-release the movie with HD audio tracks and extras. Unless it's part of this set.

That would be sweet, a la Twin Peaks: Entire Mystery.

The movie has separate rights holders, doesn't it? So it wouldn't be possible?

In for whatever premium edition has the best stuff.

Awesome, will wait to see what else might actually be in the premium edition to decide though.