The Manga UK podcast is back for its ninth episode, in which Jeremy Graves heads for Glasgow to talk with Andrew Partridge of Scotland Loves Anime, Hugh David, formerly of ADV Films, and Jonathan Clements of Schoolgirl Milky Crisis about film festivals, Japanese premieres and the drama of bringing old television shows back to life.
01:00 What does Scotland Loves Anime have to do with swans? The perils of scheduling a film premiere only three days after the Japanese finish making it. Includes the terms: “human playthings”, “community” and “Volkswagen.”
07:00 Last week’s Edinburgh University symposium on soft power and Cool Japan last week, and the controversial revelations of Shinji Oyama. 15:00 The Glasgow Film Theatre and the atmosphere therein. Comparisons with Fright Fest and Sci-Fi London. Takashi Miike and Ace Attorney. Hidden messages in K-on. Includes the words “can of worms,” “transvestites,” and “dog poo.”
40:00 Hugh David, formerly of ADV Films, discusses the trials and tribulations of film restoration at Network DVD. The phasing-out of film and its impact on archives and retrospectives. Why has there never been a dub of the original Gunbuster? Why do archivists put tapes in the oven? Macross Plus and its unexpected function as an ashtray. Censored footage in Rock & Roll Cop and From Russia With Love. Shooting “day for night” and the colour-timing of James Bond movies. Includes the words “electrodes,” “sympathy” and “Nigella.”
61:00 Ask Manga UK. Twinings Tea adverts and their role in anime history. Hiroyuki Yamaga’s advice on becoming a film director. The unlikely connection between Goodfellas and Schindler’s List. An unexpected appearance by Jeremy’s boss Jerome Mazandarani (or is it…?). The resale value of digital media. Include the words “Hitler,” “iTunes,” and “daggers.”
Available to download now, or find it and an archive of previous shows at our iTunes page. For a detailed contents listing of previous podcasts, check out our Podcasts page.
The Official Schoolgirl Milky Crisis Blog 
ok, one thing about the gunbuster problem (meant to ask this when you alluded to it in a reply to another question, but kinda chickened out), I’m sure i remember hearing that they changed part of the soundtrack for the dvd re-release (there was a bit of a controversy over it), so I’m wondering how they were able to do that, if they were missing the S&E track? (again, I’m aware I’m probably ignorant of something, but its going to bug the hell out of me if I don’t ask)
That’s a good question. The part they changed was a sequence in which only one sound asset was used — a piece of music pastiching the Chariots of Fire theme. That’s relatively easy to swap out. They just drop in a new piece of music. Job done.
The problem with Gunbuster is that the M&E (“music and effects”) *track* is supposedly lost. The music, and as far as I can see, most of the effects all exist in single fragments — I personally own the three-disc Gunbuster sound collection that includes all the music cues, even little two-second stings. So it’s not lost forever, but it would need to be reconstructed, piece by piece, from the ground up. Not impossible, but certainly fiddly, and not the sort of task that anyone would be willing to undertake for a series that is much loved by, well, me, and a handful of other people. Despite its place in anime history, a place which even many Japanese were late to realise (and thereby hangs another tale), it doesn’t have the potential sales of an Akira that would justify that kind of behind-the-scenes reconstruction.
And as Hugh mentioned in his piece on the podcast, even if it did, there would then be an inevitable temptation to add new, “better” sound effects, or otherwise lucas it up a bit.