[hydes] FLCL『The Ultimate Correct Version』[R2 JP DVD Remux][Dual-Audio] + OST, Artbooks, & Storyboard

FLCL - The Ultimate Correct Version

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This is the best possible version of FLCL out there without doing moderate to heavy encoding and filtering.

Let me tell you why that is: This release uses the R2 JP DVD which is the only version of FLCL that has the correct cropping, colors and arguably motion. For the the US DVD they cropped & squeezed the video and messed with the colors. So, what about the Blurays then? They're also no good because they most likely (seems to be the case when comparing them) used the original US DVD release's master tapes as a source and simply upscaled them to 1080p. In addition to the bad source they use heavy filtering which causes all the lines to look way too sharp or smeared compared to the JP DVD. Also evident on them is the loss of overall detail and texture in the backgrounds. Sure they're "HD", but the extra resolution came at the cost of the image looking like it's on crack.

Another weird thing about the Bluray is how they handled some of the scenes with slow(?) animation with lots of delicate movement. I'm guessing it's hard to turn cuts like that from interlaced (and weird IVTC cadence) to progressive without some tinkering. For example in the beginning of the first episode (@ 00:01:05) when Mamimi puts her hands on Naota and runs them over him, the frames seem to be morphing and it looks hella weird. On the JP DVD there is no morphing of any kind so they definitely did something funky. So then, taking all of these things into consideration, the Japanese DVD is, in my opinion, the closest to the viewing experience originally intended by Mr. Tsurumaki.

3 comparison cases: JP DVD vs US DVD｜JP DVD vs Bluray

Required steps from the viewer

The JP DVD is a basic NTSC interlaced release at 29.970fps, so you’ll have to deal with having to use IVTC deinterlacing, which is never perfect (though the IVTC function in MadVR is lovely IMO). I’d still take some deinterlacing artifacts over botched colors, wrong crop, and an SD->HD upscale with too much filtering any day. Important to note, though, is that the interlacing used in FLCL is weird in the way that the required deinterlacing cadence changes a lot when in most interlaced anime that I’ve come across, the video plays smoothly with a largely constant 3:2 IVTC cadence. Here the cadence changes so often that you’ll easily end up dropping or repeating frames. So… for the best experience I recommend you do the following:

1. Set your monitor's refresh rate to 59.940Hz (usually marked as 59Hz in Windows) If your monitor or TV doesn't support 59.940Hz straight away, you can use Custom Resolution Utility to force it
2. Use MPC-HC with MadVR and make sure deinterlacing is turned on (CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+D)
3. Check the "force film mode" box in the "processing" tab in MadVR

And that’s it! You’re done! These settings should work the same for everyone. With this configuration, the worst thing I experienced was the IVTC pattern possibly deleting the wrong frames or something occasionally, which caused the picture to become slightly choppy for a second, and that only happened 2-3 times total when watching the whole thing through. Boy am I glad NTSC interlaced releases aren’t the norm anymore.

The sights and sounds of this release

I have collected an exhaustive list of audio tracks and subtitles for this release as it is supposed to be the be-all-end-all version until someone decides to do the right thing and releases a non-upscaled SD Bluray that’s not cracked out the wazoo. Alternatively, someone more versed in encoding could do the Japanese DVD justice and get the most out of it with their own encode.

I have also included all three soundtrack CDs for FLCL. The mastering is actually better on the first two than on the Pillows’ own album releases (only by a margin but for audiophiles it’s important, you know) You can hear ever so slightly more detail and separation between instruments, which is very good, as all of the Pillows’ albums after “Please Mr. Lostman” were hit especially hard by the loudness war. There are the two artbooks and the storyboard collection in there as well.

All audio tracks and subs were retimed when needed.

Video:

1. R2 JP DVD Remux 720x480 (29.970fps interlaced)

Audio:

1. Japanese 2.0 FLAC - USBD (default)
2. Japanese 2.0 FLAC - R2 JP DVD
3. English 2.0 FLAC - USBD
4. Director's Commentary: Kazuya Tsurumaki AC3 640kbps - USBD
5. No Dialogue (Isolated Score + FX) FLAC - R2 JP DVD
6. English VA Commentary AC3 192kbps - R1 DVD Ultimate Ed. (episodes 1, 2 and 6)

Subtitles:

1. Signs/Songs [NPC] (.ass)
2. Full (Charater-Specific) [NPC] (default) (.ass)
3. Full - USBD (.pgs)
4. Director's Commentary - USBD (.pgs)
5. Storyboard Comparison - R1 DVD Ultimate Ed. (.idx / .sub)

NCED torrent MEGA link for NCED (Mirror)

MEGA link for all attachments (Mirror)

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- hydes