JTurner Active Member

Member since: Jan 2011 Blu-ray collection: 115 DVD collection: 101 Blu-ray reviews: 12

I hope I don't stir any controversy about GKids or anything, but I recently purchased GKids' Kiki from NYCC, and I have to say that I'm honestly...







...disappointed.





If you already own the Disney BD, there's no major reason to upgrade. For fans of dub and sub, there are reasons to be cautious about GKids' version:



The subtitles are still the same from the Disney BD. Kiki still says "Fat, fat, fat" and the airship news reporter says "Oh, the humanity!" Considering GKids promised they would make these subtitles updated, it's disappointing to see that this hasn't been fixed. Dub fans will be even more dismayed that the dub mix still suffers from the same audio problems. I usually like GKids, but they dropped the ball with Kiki, which is something I never thought I'd say. The video quality isn't that much different from the Disney one either. The only positive is that the John Lasseter intro is not there anymore, but otherwise if you own the Disney BD, the GKids isn't necessary.



The Totoro BD is mostly identical to the Disney BD release as well, with no noticeable difference in video quality to my eyes. Only noteworthy extra is the textless opening/ending credits. Otherwise if you own the Disney BD, the rerelease may not be necessary.



I hate to come across as though I'm being a naysayer, but I'm honestly not as blown away by the two GKids release as I thought. I still have Nausicaa and Castle in the Sky on preorder, and hopefully those will be noticeably better, but neither Kiki nor Totoro impressed me enough to make me double-dip (aside from the clean-credit credits on the Totoro rerelease).