lmsanch-ga,
Thanks for the interesting question! This one was a lot of fun to
research.
I'll start off with Ogon Bat, since I was able to find DVDs of this
series for you. There are two Ogon Bat DVD box sets in current release
in Japan. The first contains episodes 1-26, and the second contains
episodes 27-52. According to Anime News Network's Anime Encyclopedia,
this is the entire run of the series: "Number of episodes: 52.
Vintage: 1967-04-01 to 1968-03-23."
Anime News Network - Ogon Bat (TV)
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=1492
Amazon.co.jp has both sets, priced at 30,000 yen each (about US$275).
Amazon.co.jp also sells used Ogon Bat DVD sets at a lower price.
Amazon.co.jp - Ogon Bat DVD-Box 1
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005S7A3/qid=1066858832/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_0_1/249-0967595-9339522
Amazon.co.jp - Ogon Bat DVD-Box 2
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000060NF4/qid=1066859160/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_0_2/249-0967595-9339522
Each set contains five DVD disks, with 26 episodes and a total of 650
minutes per set. The sound is mono, and the picture size is Standard.
They're NTSC Region 2 discs, which means that you will need a Region 2
compatible NTSC DVD player to view them. These discs are
Japanese-language only, and do not contain English subtitles. I
translated this information from the following pages:
Amazon.co.jp - Ogon Bat DVD-Box Part 1 Item Details
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/dvd/B00005S7A3/tech-info/ref=ed_tecmore_dp_1_2/249-0967595-9339522
Amazon.co.jp - Ogon Bat DVD-Box Part 2 Item Details
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/dvd/B000060NF4/tech-info/ref=ed_tecmore_dp_1_2/249-0967595-9339522
If you decide to buy these items from amazon.co.jp, the process to do
so is relatively straightforward. First, go to one of the Ogon Bat DVD
Box Set pages listed above. Click on "Display in English", just above
the blue box on the right hand side of the screen. The text inside the
blue box should change to English. Next, click "Add to Shopping Cart".
Do this for all items you wish to buy, then click "Proceed to
Checkout". You'll want to create a new account with an international
address, and then you'll check out as usual. The instructions during
checkout will be in English.
Alternately, Yahoo.co.jp auctions may be a more inexpensive way for
you to pick up these DVDs. The going rate at auctions.yahoo.co.jp for
the first Ogon Bat DVD box set seems to be around 15,000 yen (about
US$138). Below is a link that will show you the current auctions for
Ogon Bat DVD, in picture format.
Auctions.yahoo.co.jp - "Ogon Bat DVD" search results
http://search.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/search?sb=desc,cat&desc=%b2%ab%b6%e2%a5%d0%a5%c3%a5%c8+dvd&cat=0&auccat=0&acc=jp&f=0x12&alocale=0jp&mode=1
Celga.com is a company that allows overseas customers to bid on
Japanese auctions. If you find any items you'd like to buy at
auctions.yahoo.co.jp, Celga can manage the entire transaction for you,
for a small fee.
Celga.com
http://www.celga.com
I had a lot of success finding Ogon Bat DVD, but unfortunately, it
seems that Paa-man hasn't been released on DVD yet. I found the
following (translated) phrase at one of the largest Japanese Paa-man
fan pages: "I started a Paa-man badge-shaped cell phone project, at
"Tanomikomu" [a web site]. Also, please check out my Paa-man DVD
project there."
Paa-Mania
http://homepage1.nifty.com/parmania/index.htm
The DVD project mentioned above links to a page at Tanomikomu, a
Japanese consumer input board. The text of the main post there reads
(translated, with my comments in brackets), "Paa-man Cine-Edition Box
Set (Moved to Proposals section) The movie part two is settled [I
believe this refers to television broadcast], so I think this is a
good opportunity for the box set, but the question is how. Personally,
it'd be nice to get the three specials and the 'Birdman Appears!'
movie. Or ideally, everything connected with Paa-man, in 4 box sets."
Most of the comments complain about the lack of Paa-man DVD: "What!?
There's still no Paa-man DVD out...!!" "There aren't even videos for
Paa-man. Right now, people want to watch it, but they can't. [...]
Fujiko's other works are selling well, so why aren't they selling
Paa-man?" "If a box set with everything is too ambitious, a 'Best Of'
set would also be great."
Tanomi.com - "Paa-man Cine-Edition Box Set", by Mr. Ohta et al.
(2003/10/03)
http://www.tanomi.com/metoo/naiyou.html?kid=1501
A search of the web and of Japanese consumer sites also failed to find
any Paa-man DVD. Given this, I have to conclude that DVD doesn't yet
exist for the series. However, when and if it is released, the
Paa-Mania site I linked to above should have a front-page link about
it. Also, you may want to check this amazon.co.jp link periodically.
For now, all they have is a special-order video, but if Paa-man DVD is
released, it should show up here.
Amazon.co.jp - "Paa-man DVD" search results
http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=vhs-jp&field-keywords=%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3&bq=1/ref=sr_aps_all_v/249-0967595-9339522
If you have any questions, please make a Clarification Request before
rating my answer, and I'll be glad to help. I'd also like to thank you
again for submitting this question - anime is always a real blast to
research, and it's quite interesting to learn a bit about vintage
series like these. Good luck in your search!
-vorfeed_ga
Additional Links:
Phantoma
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~roglen/phantoma.htm
Anime News Network - Paa-man (TV)
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=1438
Aladdin Shopping Search results for "Ogon Bat DVD" in Japanese
http://www.shopping-search.jp/cgi-bin/search.cgi?key=%B2%AB%B6%E2%A5%D0%A5%C3%A5%C8+dvd&num=15&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&submit=%A4%B5%A4%AC%A4%B9
Aladdin Shopping Search results for "Paa-man DVD" in Japanese
http://www.shopping-search.jp/cgi-bin/search.cgi?key=%A5%D1%A1%BC%A5%DE%A5%F3+dvd&min=&max=&cat=&so=8&img=1&num=15&tmp=&nky=&nsc=&nct=&x=0&y=0
Google search for "Ogon Bat DVD" in Japanese
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=%E9%BB%84%E9%87%91%E3%83%90%E3%83%83%E3%83%88+dvd&btnG=Google+Search
Google search for "Paa-man DVD" in Japanese
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=%E3%83%91%E3%83%BC%E3%83%9E%E3%83%B3+dvd&btnG=Google+Search
XE.com - The Universal Currency Converter
http://www.xe.com/ucc/
Search Strategy:
I began by getting the Japanese titles for "Ogon Bat" and "Paa-man"
from the Anime News Network, linked to above. Then, I used those
phrases to search at Google, amazon.co.jp, auctions.yahoo.co.jp, and
Aladdin Shopping Search Japan. |
