Ninja Robots on Blu-Ray with lost English dub!

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I would just like to use this thread if I may to discuss the anime Ninja Senshi Tobikage, aka Ninja Robots, which is coming to Blu-Ray for the first time in the west - courtesy of Discotek Media.

The series spanned 43 episodes and after it's mid-80s debut in Japan aired in the mid to late 1990s across Asia-Pacific on various Cartoon Network feeds. Namely it was shown in India, Australia and other markets in the action Power Zone block. In Australia them series premiered around March 1998. For Cartoon Network an English dub was produced - a hilariously legendary one. Since the show was a bit obscure to begin with and not many people had vcrs at the time, the English dub has become lost media basically for many years. First 20 episodes received a limited DVD release in Australia in the 2000s, but that was it. The remaining 23 episodes in English haven't been seen since. Until now. The current distributor releasing it will include the dub of the first 20 DVD episodes and is asking fans who recorded the show on tape back in the day to contact them to recover the dub. This is the only solution for a full English release, because the owners of the dub (Warner Bros/Turner/CN) in those regions no longer have the master tapes in their vaults. So far Discotek has managed to obtain through fans a majority with only about 10 episodes missing left to be found.

English promo

If any of you know someone who might have recorded them, feel free to contact the company and help them out.

Here's various info and clips Discotek has tweeted out over time...

September 2020 Update #1
Eh6_krPU8AA-XeO



December 2020 Update #2
EpPiK1tU0AMgNK9


The Blu-Ray should come out some time this year.

Feel free to discuss the series itself, its airing and English dub or the Blu-Ray release itself :)
 

PicardMan

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Wow. Mega obscure anime gets Blu Ray while Berserk 1997 gets stuck in out of print land for who knows how long. There is no justice in this world.
 

Mandouga

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"Home Recordings"?

Is Discotek Media REALLY that desperate to release the English dub ("Nin-ja Robots! Nin-ja Robots!..."), that they're willing to use (what I imagine to be) decaying VHS video transfers from private collections? Give me a break! I'm sorry if this sounds ignorant, but, isn't it enough that they're releasing the original Japanese version ("Love survi-vor! Love survi-vor!...")?
 

TnAdct1

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"Home Recordings"?

Is Discotek Media REALLY that desperate to release the English dub ("Nin-ja Robots! Nin-ja Robots!..."), that they're willing to use (what I imagine to be) decaying VHS video transfers from private collections? Give me a break! I'm sorry if this sounds ignorant, but, isn't it enough that they're releasing the original Japanese version ("Love survi-vor! Love survi-vor!...")?
That is one of the reasons why Discotek has gained a big following when it comes to American companies: they put a lot of effort in their releases. For instance, for their release of the Galaxy Express 999 TV series, they included and cleaned up a couple of compilation films produced by Harmony Gold.
 

Red Arrow

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"Home Recordings"?

Is Discotek Media REALLY that desperate to release the English dub ("Nin-ja Robots! Nin-ja Robots!..."), that they're willing to use (what I imagine to be) decaying VHS video transfers from private collections? Give me a break! I'm sorry if this sounds ignorant, but, isn't it enough that they're releasing the original Japanese version ("Love survi-vor! Love survi-vor!...")?
They will obviously only use the VHS audio and clean it up as much as possible.
 

Alexsketchy2004

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I know one of the actresses that participated in the dub, but i don't think she has any leads

And for what she told me, Sonic III is a dead studio since the 2010's
 

Red Arrow

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They found the entire dub of all episodes except for 30 seconds!! o_O :D (a total of 2 minutes had to be redubbed)

They say themselves that the English audio of 3 or 4 episodes doesn't sound perfect, but what you would expect from old VHS copies. The audio of the remaining episodes is either perfect (1-20) or completely restored (most of 21-43).

As promised, all fans who sent a VHS copy from episode 21-43 now receive the Blu-Ray for free.

 
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AdrenalineRush1996

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They found the entire dub of all episodes except for 30 seconds!! o_O :D (a total of 2 minutes had to be redubbed)

They say themselves that the English audio of 3 or 4 episodes doesn't sound perfect, but what you would expect from old VHS copies. The audio of the remaining episodes is either perfect (1-20) or completely restored (most of 21-43).

As promised, all fans who sent a VHS copy from episode 21-43 now receive the Blu-Ray for free.

Well, that's great news.
 

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Final update on the show before release:

Preview of 2 episodes is on Discotek's Twitch at the end of the stream:

It's for pre-order now on Amazon :)
 

homeofthebadguys

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It's for pre-order now on Amazon :)
All 43 episodes are on RetroCrush for U.S. residents as of 20th December.

There's no descriptions or SDH for the dub.
 

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The show is now out on Blu-Ray through Discotek and Amazon. If anyone happens to get it feel free to share what you think. So far, a week in, haven't seen any opinions online.
 

Bluebaron

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I'm amazed discotek decided to release this show on physical media even though it did not air at all in the US if only to preserve it's lost media? I wish they would do the same for something like Tama and friends for it's lost dub of the find Momo kva and episodes 13-26 supposedly.
 

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