8 | / 10 |
Users | 5.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
During the beginning years of the Great Depression, life in the Mediterranean has become difficult. Aerial pirate raids are gaining in frequency, thus requiring the need for capable "bodyguards". One of the best is a pig known as Porco Rosso. Once a human and an ace pilot during World War I, he now freelances his services to those in distress. The fascist regime that has taken over the Italian Air Force has grown tiresome of his exploits and places a bounty on his head. On top of that, a hotshot flyer from the United States arrives and not only wants to steal Porco Rosso's glory, but also the woman he loves so dearly.
Starring: Shûichirô Moriyama, Tokiko Katô, Bunshi Katsura Vi, Tsunehiko Kamijô, Akio ÔtsukaForeign | 100% |
Anime | 82% |
Fantasy | 41% |
Family | 33% |
Adventure | 26% |
Romance | 15% |
History | 3% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0
English, English SDH, French
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Shout! Factory has reissued Porco Rosso, one of Hayao Miyazaki's least known works, with identical special features save for a textless opening and ending credits sequence. The image transfer and audio presentation appear to be very similar if not the same as the previous Blu-ray released over two years ago.
This Blu-ray & DVD Combo Pack comes with a slipcover, an Elite case for the discs, and a slim leaflet (see Screenshot #3). Cover art on the slip and keep case covers is the same (see #s 1 and 10). For thoughts on this 1992 film, please see my colleague Kenneth Brown's review of Disney's 2015 BD/DVD twin pack here.
Front of slip cover and back of BD case.
Porco Rosso appears in its native ratio of 1.85:1 on a BD-50. The MPEG-4 AVC-encoded transfer sports an average bitrate of 35000 kbps and a standard bitrate of 41.73 Mbps for the full disc. I don't have any finite data about the prior US BD but I would expect Shout!'s encoding to match or be at least a little higher. Capture #s 5-9 are taken from the new disc.
Shout! has supplied eighteen scene selections.
The three audio codecs on the Blu-ray consist of an English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo remix (2056 kbps, 24-bit), the original Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Stereo (2069 kbps, 24-bit), and a Dolby Digital 2.0 track (192 kbps) dubbed in French.
Shout! gives viewers the choice of three subtitling options: English SDH for the hard-of-hearing, English subtitles for the original language version, and French subtitles.
The extras come with English subs where needed.
Porco Rosso is one of the more obscure titles in Miyazaki's oeuvre but it deserves a place in every anime fan's collection. Brand-new copies of the discontinued Disney disc are going for $30 so you'll save over $10 by purchasing this re-release. A SOLID RECOMMENDATION for a title that I'm glad is available again on high-def.
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