R2J Shaolin Soccer
 

http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00006LPLP

Cover
http://images-jp.amazon.com/images/P...9.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

T-shirt
http://images-jp.amazon.com/images/P...1.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

Look interesting. Here's the specs, as translated by Babelfish (Which translated Shaolin Soccer as "little forest soccer.") along with some help from a friend who's taking Japanese:

Contents introduction
The large hit movie ' little forest soccer ' in the DVD, the box set to which the few forest party replica T shirts become set.
< Benefit >
- Little forest party replica T shirt enclosure
- Specially made box specification
- Picture disk specification

< Commodity contents >
* DISC 1: Main part

* DISC 2: Bonus disk
- Making of " little forest soccer " (approximately 20 minutes)
- the Japanese edition theater trailer & original trailer recording
- TV spot recording (all the 4 kinds)
- stage greeting recording at Shibuya Tokyu theater (long bar Shaun)
- Stephen Chow visiting Japan press conference recording
- Stephen Chow & Vicki Zhao interview recording
- the Hong Kong Academy Award awarding ceremony image recording

Release information:
Selling agency: Pioneer LDC
Sale day: 2002/11/22

Specification:
Audio specification: DTS 5.1/Dolby Digital 5.1
Subtitle: Japanese / Japanese dubtitle
Sound: The Guangdong language / Japanese

Edition:
. DVD (2002/11/22)
. Region 2 (for the Japanese country)
. NTSC
. Limited board
. Pioneer LDC - ASIN: B00006LPLP

I guess that means that there is language in Cantonese and Japanese, and Japanese subtitles.

No English subtitles, so not worth buying.

The South Korean release looks more promising, and probably a lot cheaper.

Yeah, but it comes with a T-shirt.

The Korean DVD, from what I've read, is not a signifacant step up from the Hong Kong DVD.

that t-shirt sucks too. :)

get the HK version. cheap and decent.

Fancy meeting you here. ;)

Yes, the Hong Kong Universe Laser & Video disc is not great - an average anamorphic widescreen picture, brilliant sound and a few extras.

But for about £8 it's great value for one of the best Hong Kong films I've ever seen.

This was also my first Stephen Chow film I'd seen, and I'm now a Chow fan.

Paul490 - Hmmm ... I think the HK picture is a lot better than just average. Its close to one of the better transfers I've seen coming out of HK.

I was talking about the disc from Western standards. To Western standards, it's pretty poor. Video quality wise anyway.

As a HK disc (which aren't that great generally, but bloody cheap) it's very good indeed.

Happy? :D

I do think there is a cropping problem on Shaolin soccer though ... but thats another whole kettle of fish!

Soccer ball icon
 

According to a review elsewhere, there's no messing with the yellow and white icons to see the extended scenes. You opt for the standard version or the extended version and voila, that's it. If I didn't have the original version, I'd go for the Korean release.

No ... the reports on the Korean release is that it is the exact opposite of the HK release in regards to the extended scenes and mini making offs.

Whereas the HK DVD you can't get the icon to turn off ... the Korean DVD icon doesn't even show up but if you press the enter button at the correct time the scenes will appear!

I didn't notice any cropping problems. Are you seeing Shaolin Soccer widescreen or as 4x3? I know that if your DVD player is set to "4x3 Pan N Scan," the DVD will crop the sides and just show the middle in 4x3 mode.

Jay G - no the cropping off the top as I have seen comparisons between the DVD and VCD versions. If watch shaolin soccer on DVD again keep an eye out for the tops of everyones head throughout the movie ... it is annoyingly lopped off on many occasions.

I just did a comparison of one scene, and the DVD image is cropped when compared with the VCD. Not just on the top either, but on all sides.

However, I never noticed any distracting cropping when watching the film, so perhaps ignorance is best when watching the DVD.