Introduction and Astro Boy vs. Atlas!

[Astro Forever]

Well, even at $130 US, it's still very expensive IMO, but thanks for letting us know, maybe it will help other fans (I own both).

I'm aware of the false information on the websites, as I said in my previous post. I wonder how many buyers even know about those episodes though. If it wasn't for the Internet, I wouldn't even know about everything that was missing when I watched it.

[astro_mcfly]

I do believe there was more cut from Manga's boxset scene-wise. It did kind of aggrivate me in the first episode when it jumped from Jump sniffing Tobio's hat to the building of Astro. Something about the music (and my prior knowledge of a missing scene) gave it away. Seriously, even if I know almost everything about this in particular, I'd like to see it the way it was intended to be seen. Also, I'm not sure if anyone else has experienced this, but Anapan's server isn't working on my computer. I will ask my father what to do, but for now I'll have to wait >o<. Thank you very much. It's always nice to talk to you all!
-Nat.

[Astro Forever]

I do believe there was more cut from Manga's boxset scene-wise. It did kind of aggrivate me in the first episode when it jumped from Jump sniffing Tobio's hat to the building of Astro. Something about the music (and my prior knowledge of a missing scene) gave it away. Seriously, even if I know almost everything about this in particular, I'd like to see it the way it was intended to be seen.

Oh, I agree about everything you said. I was just wondering how many knew before buying the set. Although it never crossed my mind when I was young, for sure a few things would have seemed strange to me now anyway. All I meant was that Manga's release, even without the missing episodes, was not a bad product at all. One would really have to be a very huge fan of Astroboy to be willing to buy a much more expensive product from a foreign country for those 20 minutes.

Even being the big Astroboy fan I am, if the US release had been available when I bought the Australian release, I'm not sure I would have bought it, even with the missing Japanese episodes, and even if they hadn't been available on the Internet. I don't regret my purchase at all and there is no way I'd sell either of my boxes. But to spend 100 or 150$ CAN more and to buy a DVD player that can read PAL R4 for 20 minutes, one really has to be a HUGE fan IMO. That option wasn't yet available when I bought my own Australian set, so I didn't even consider it, but I don't think I would have regretted buying my US set even if I had learned later that those full episodes were missing, especially since the box is so cheap and it includes things that aren't on the Australian release.

[astro_mcfly]

Well, I don't have any problems with it other than that. The box is actually not half as bad as some people think. n_n It's all okay!

[DrFrag]

The Manga boxset is a good release, and if you choose the Madman set just to get the extra 24 minutes then you're missing out on dual audio.

I'm a big supporter of Madman and the work they've put into releasing anime in Australia, so I'm not suggesting that everyone get the Manga release instead (regardless of region code and format). But if you bought the Manga release under the impression you were getting the original first two episodes, then *cough*anapansftp*cough*. Amazon, Digital Eyes, DVD Toons, Half by Ebay, and others give the wrong information about this. VideoCanada, The Right Stuf, Manga and Anchor Bay themselves are the only ones I've found who get right, but then you get ridiculous information like "Running Time 9792 minutes". Manga themselves still fail to mention the dual audio and correct runtime on their web site. This is really sloppy.

And if people didn't know about the missing episode before they bought it, they'd know after because it's listed in the booklet. "Original Japanese Broadcast Order" Great! I can watch it in Japanese with subtitles ... wait ... where's episode 2?

[Astro Forever]

The funniest thing about all of this is that to really have it all in English in the first two episodes, one needs both sets.

That's because, if I recall correctly, Madman didn't bother with the translation of the parts of episode 1 and 2 that were included in the English first episode. They simply wrote the English lines literally as they were and translated the missing part. So to get what was really said in Japanese, one needs the subtitles put by Manga Entertainment. I don't think it makes a big difference, but I still find this amusing.