Paprika and Jin-Roh in High-Def

Dates for the U.S. Blu-ray release of Satoshi Kon's "Paprika" and Mamoru Oshii's "Jin-Roh" have finally been announced. I still do not have a valid explanation to back up this major release delay. Nevertheless, Sony Pictures Entertainment will release "Paprika" on Blu-ray and DVD November 27th. On the same day, Bandai will release "Jin-Roh," already available on DVD, on Blu-ray. While the BD price tag of $38.96 for "Paprika" seems quite reasonable, Bandai presents a shocking $79.99 BD price tag for "Jin-Roh." I have yet to find any concrete evidence to justify this outrageous price -- it doesn't even look like this BD release is full of extras. One can only hope this is the case, but given Bandai's track record, perhaps this is truly the standard BD release price.

UPDATE 9/21/2007: Bandai's press release indicates that the "Jin-Roh" Blu-ray disc, retailed at $79.99 will include the movie in high-def with english and japanese language and subtitles. The movie will be packaged in a special artbox slipcase packed with a 20-page booklet exploring the world of Jin-Roh, with a new interview of director Hiroyuki Okiura, and the complete japanese 522-page storyboards book. Now that's more like it!