Cyber City Oedo 808

Cyber City is brilliant, one of my favourites from back in the Manga VHS era, and sadly another one of the many amazing releases which didn't make it to DVD over here. The VHS of this was one of my favourites, which I got as part of "The Cyberpunk Collection" box set, which packaged it in with AD Police (the only one of the three available on DVD here in its original form) and GenoCyber (a little hard to come by on DVD now but the American release is region free so it's doable). It was a little frustrating that Cyber City, probably my favourite of the three, was so hard to find a good release of, so I'm going to use this space to help you get your hands on the best version, since if you're reading this you're probably going through the same confusion I was. Your best bet really with these old anime is to get a multi-region DVD player, but for me half the fun with these films has always been showing them to friends and seeing their reactions to them, and you can't usually bet on others having a multi-region player!This review is of the POLISH release of the DVD, which I have found to be the best one to get if you're in the UK and don't have an all-region DVD player. To make sure you have the correct one I've attached two photos of this version, since Amazon seems to merge all the different versions' reviews into one, so this is probably showing up on several different product listings. For comparison, the US releases all are region locked except for a particularly rare older one which contains a lower quality transfer and comes in an oddly shaped DVD case, the Australian release is also region locked (and sadly unlike Blu-Rays, Australian DVDs don't share the same region coding as us), the most common version that pops up is an Italian release which has disappointed a lot of people on here due to lacking any English audio or subtitles. There are a few others but they all appear to be either missing an English language track or locked to a different region. I loved Cyber City enough to give it one more try though and this Polish release looks like it's the answer!The DVD fires up with some Polish warnings, the menu is in Polish (but "START" is nice and clear and easy to select, heh), but once it starts it defaults to English, which is nice. If the Polish subtitles pop up for you you can turn them off with a quick press of the button on your player. If you want it Japanese with English subtitles I'm afraid you're out of luck, but most people who remember this thing have fond memories of the dub so I'm not docking points for it. Picture quality is as good as this old thing is going to get. Much better than the previous only region free release with an English language track. There are maybe one too many production logos before it starts up, I must have counted about 5 different company logos before the thing started, but otherwise it's a really excellent release.Now finally to the really awkward part that always seems to come with these DVDs... So many of these classics seem to have a different translation in the US and so often when looking for the classic Manga videos in DVD format, we find ourselves watching different dubbing with different scripts, and it can be a disappointment when we have such fond memories of the ridiculous dialogue and some of the hilarious one-liners Manga UK's translations used to entail, as well as some of the music being different. A load of classics have been jarringly different when they came to DVD because of this, most infamously "Space Adventure Cobra" had the American dub and none of its beloved UK soundtrack on the actual UK DVD! In the case of Cyber City it's a little good a little bad. The original Manga UK voice dubbing is all present here, with all the hilarious one-liners and profanity, but the VHS' chugging heavy metal soundtrack is sadly not, instead the original Japanese music plays underneath the English dub. Honestly once you get over it, the Japanese soundtrack is actually pretty great, and in some ways more fitting, and with the voices being from the original dub, the show's edge and humour is still present.So pick up the Polish release if you want it in English and don't want to buy a multi-region player. It's all here, it all defaults to English, it all looks and sounds great and it's the original Manga UK dub. The only caveat is that you'll be hearing the original Japanese music instead of the metal soundtrack you might remember from the VHS, which I guess is sadly lost to time.

Got burned by the language limitations being hidden in the product details instead of front and centre on the item title. Italian/Japanese only. Has happened a few times to me with DVD/blu rays available on Amazon.co.uk, but usually English is at least an option on foreign-produced movies. Not in this case, I'm afraid. A shame as it's a great anime that I have fond memories of.Seller did offer to refund on receipt of item, but given the price it's not worth the P&P and effort for me to return.

I'm seeing a lot of people had problems with different versions of this. I have spent a long time looking for a version I can play in the UK. I can confirm the Polish version works fine, with a bit of of surreptitious google translating (my Polish is none existent).This is classic Anime I remember watching this on Channel 4's Anime season years ago.It's a bit potty mouthed but is beautiful nineties CyberPunk Anime.I am so happy to have found this version.

This is the best manga I have seen!

Love cyber city but disappointed that the subs & language both do not have English

thanks

Love the anime, Cyber City - one of the best ones ever made, and beautiful crystal clear DVD transfer.. But no English language track on this version.. so RM'd one star...