Update Jan 2014 – Read my review of the blu-ray here.
Anyone who knows me well is aware of my adoration for Miyazaki Hayao’s Mononoke Hime; it is still my favourite Ghibli film to date and I like it almost as much as Akira.
And it is finally coming to blu-ray on the 4th of December 2013. Here are some disc specs and details :
– Running Time : 133 Minutes
– Aspect Ratio : 16:9 Widescreen 1920×1080 FULL HD
– Mastering : MPEG-4 AVC/MGVC
– Languages (dubs): Japanese/English/French/Italian/Spainish/Portuguese/Finnish/German/Korean/Cantonese/Chinese
– Subtitles : Japanese/English/French/German/Korean/Cantonese/Chinese
Supplements :
– Storyboards (Picture In Picture Mode with film)
– Voice-over Script
– Princess Mononoke In USA (documentary, about 20 minutes)
– Trailers
Price : 7140 Yen (5296 Yen on Amazon Japan)
Unfortunately there is little upgrade to the supplements, most of which were ported over from the dvd version. The most comprehensive making of Mononoke Hime still comes from this 3 disc edition documentary dvd, but unfortunately it’s only in Japanese.
(below) Blu-ray for The Cat Returns will also go on sale on the same day (4th December 2013)
You can pre-order Princess Mononoke here, and The Cat Returns here.
Hit this page for Ghibli’s entire library of blu-ray films.
ps. I was expecting character on Mononoke Hime’s cover to feature either San Or Ashitaka, but a Kodama will do just as nicely. When I was in Tokyo studying film I had a classmate whose family name was Kodama, how awesome is that ?!!
Mononoke Hime ( Princess Mononoke ) Blu-ray Review
Princess Kaguya Blu-ray + Making Of Documentary Details
Princess Mononoke – The Storyboard Book
Spirited Away, The Wind Rises, Miyazaki Collection Blu-rays.
Kingdom of Dreams & Madness – Ghibli Studio Documentary
August 22nd, 2013 at 12:22 am
Thanks for the update. Is going to be a good year end for me with these blu-ray coming. I’m share the same excitement as many people who are waiting for Mononoke blu-ray.
With that, I think we will most probably see Spirited Away and the new films blu-ray in 2014.
August 23rd, 2013 at 3:44 am
Long time lurker first time poster chiming in.
I’m very excited for this, as well. I re-watched it on DVD earlier this year and can’t wait to see how it looks on BD.
August 25th, 2013 at 10:30 pm
Dennis – I totally forgot about Spirited Away ! We need that on blu-ray too ! :]
Josh – Thank you for visiting. :]
I’ll be disappointed if the video quality doesn’t show a significant improvement from the dvd version.
September 3rd, 2013 at 3:32 am
This is terrific news. Is there a 5.1 SS OST for Mononoke Hime and the earlier Ghibli films? Or will there be iTunes/digital versions of them? The ones that I have are all extremely LQ by today’s standards.
September 3rd, 2013 at 10:59 pm
petitorenji – Unfortunately there hasn’t been any news with regards to the soundtracks. I’ll let you know if anything comes up. :]
February 15th, 2014 at 5:12 pm
I know this might be old but how do these box sets compare to the USA releases on the other Bluray movies you see here in the usa for around $20?
February 17th, 2014 at 10:41 pm
This Mononoke Hime blu-ray isn’t a boxset, but Japanese boxsets do come with plenty of extras like storyboards books, etc. The caveat is that they seldom come with English subtitles though – and the price is very expensive compared to US blu-rays.